Annual Caribou hunt

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Some folks on here need education, Bill Bagwell happens to be one of the founding members of the ABA. If you don’t know what that is you’re ignorant and need to read up on it. Bill is a Master Blade Smith, Not just anyone making knives, to infer so is just plan hubris, go look it up if you don’t know what that means, cause it sure as hell fits here.

And he is my friend.

As for this thread, great to hear hunting stories, but this isn’t 24 hour campfire or Graybeards outdoors, and that’s where stories of modern rifles and hunts belong. Now if you’re hunting with smokeless loads in a single shot that’s ok, cool.

I would be curious to know how a 338-06 compares on Bison, aka Buffalo. I know from personal experience that a 45-110 Shiloh Business Rifle with a 550 gr PP kills well. 4 dead buffalo in 6 shots.

The landowner, was quite emphatic in his opinion, my 45-110 kills better than any smokeless rifle he has ever seen on buffalo, that’s over the past 20 years and over 750 buffalo harvested.

Too watch a 2-7/8ths Sharps at 90 yards nearly knock a very large cow over, is incredible, to see it knock a 2200 pound Bull Buffalo off his feet and kill it stone dead at 60 yards is awesome. Done with a 520 gr Government bullet, an 104 grs of very hot Goex Express, with a black Magic lube wad.

We have autopsied all 4 buffalo killed, the first one was killed by Michael Jackson with my rifle and the only GG bullet used in my rifle his shot busted a rib angled up struck the spine and traveled over 10 inches of spinal column and lodged somewhere in the hump. That was impressive it literally knocked the bull off his feet.

2 cows one shot by me and one by Bryan Youngberg both received 2 shots at the ranchers request, mine I shot in the bare spot behind the front leg at a lazed 167 yards, the rancher requested a second shot to anchor her, same with Bryan’s both were dead on their feet just didn’t know it yet .

The last was a wounded and very amped up trophy Bull, that charged up to were I was standing, steep cut bank, he stopped 40 yards short, and I killed him with a single shot. And....no I wasn’t the one that wounded him. I went back to the ranchers truck, fetched my Business Rifle and walked down the draw were I goaded the big bull to come check me out.

Hunting stories are cool, doing it with modern rifles and smokeless is yawn.....sorta boring.

PS I have guided big game hunts since the age of 12 on a 6500 acre ranch in NE Wyoming.

Seen plenty of hunting.

The Lunger KW

[Glen Ring]

I love the hunting stories with any kind of weapon and I appreciate them being posted here. Please keep posting them.
ne sis et imperiosi

[bruce m]

one of the things I would like to do most is one of mike's floating trips.
what rifle he uses is of no concern to me, not is what powder.
as an aside, rumour has it that more shilohs shoot smokeless than black.
a personal opinion is that a 9.3x62 mauser actioned rifle would suit the job in hand.
since I have discovered swift aframe bullets killing power has taken on a new meaning.
they cost more per bullet, but work out cheap as you need less of them, and all the other costs far outweigh the few extra pennies .
most of my nearly got hurt moments have been wounded pigs shot with 577 muzzle loaders, a hawken replica and a far better gun a parker hale musketoon.
actually the best bear gun might be a double rifle in 450/400 nitro, but for caribou would be a bit more limiting than the 338/280.
I would like to do brent's trip to Alaska, but would feel a little uneasy in bear country with a single shot, smokeless or black.
sleeping up a tree sounds like a good idea there
bruce.

[Glen Ring]

I've read that there are a LOT of high fence hunts in the African countries...I know there are in Texas, but I have never read about anything like that in Alaska..which, to me, makes those hunts so interesting.

My aunt was an Alaskan homesteader in the 30's and I have a bud that sees moose on her morning walks...I hope I get to go there someday so in the meantime PLEASE keep posting those Alaskan hunts and links to pics if you can.

One of the best stories with pics was posted on this forum by Brent and Woody ref the Nationals at Raton New Mexico. They reflected the whole experience..right down to the slab of bacon!!

Keep posting guys...those tales and pics keep me going to this forum 1st thing every morning...especially when they written in such a classy way.

[slopok]

could,nt agree more.

[mdeland]

Made it back in one piece and had a wonderful float but caribou were sparse this year, Wolves driving them in our area. We had one come out of the brush on the far bank right at last shooting light but decided to let him go as we have three days to report a kill and did not want to cut the hunt short. Then all we saw was tracks about a day old by the time we got to our favorite caribou river crossing. Also one smallish (150-200 lbs I guess) black bear came out that could have been taken Thursday evening but no one seem inclined to shoot him so we let that one go as well.
Was a bad year for caribou in this sector.
Did have a ball watching a Golden Eagle defend his territory against a Bald eagle for a few hours. The Golden ( notably larger bodied) gave the Bald "The Bums Rush" twice then followed him up on a thermo to almost out of sight, making sure he left. A couple hours later there were two Bald Eagles waiting in the Golden"s perch tree. When the Golden showed up they ganged up on him and ran him off. It was both fascinating and humorous to watch this interaction play out.
There was one bold Peregrine falcon that came by and stopped in the Golden's perch tree and didn't seem impressed with the Golden at all. I have seen them harassing Eagles in flight which is fun to watch.
At first I thought it might be an Osprey but viewing closer with my binoculars could plainly see it was a Golden.
Not so many Falcons as we usually see this year but some.
New raft worked beautifully and was well worth the purchase. I love these float hunts as it is very quiet, peaceful and takes most of the packing out of the equation.
We shoot free ranging buffalo here in AK ( Delta heard) is the main one. These are the larger variety "Woods Buffalo" and the bulls can get up to 2200 lbs. These are drawing permits only and have one friend that has taken a bull from the Delta head and another that has taken one on Kodiak. The Delta bull I think was taken with a .338 Mag and the other on Kodiak with a 45-70 smokeless round and the 500 grain government bullet.
One grizzly was spotted on the drive home crossing the Taylor hwy to Eagle just about dark. None were seen on the river. My thinking is when you see black bear there generally are no grizzly around but that is just my notion.
Sorry I had no game pictures to show this year but that is hunting in AK!

[Lumpy Grits]

Thank you for the write up.
How was the weather for this hunt?
Gary

[mdeland]

No rain at all except a bit at night on the tent fly. I still enjoy my pup tent and "Big Agnus air mattress for sleeping on the ground but I should have had my cold weather sleeping bag as we got frost two of the nights and had to cover up with my hunting coat to keep warm.

[mdeland]

Some shots from the trip:
New raft rigged out for loading and the trip down river.

About loaded after two nights at Walker Fork:

Looking down stream from Walker Fork. Caribou was on the left shore below camp right at dark.

I call this Falcon Rock and is usually where I begin to see them on the trip. I think this is my 12th float over this stretch of the Forty Mile.

I dearly love this country around Chicken and Tok!

[mdeland]

Here is my favorite rifle and cartridge for all of AK hunting. Note the flip up spring loaded aperture sight machined into the rear scope mount. The scope rings are one piece S&K mounted in low profile S&K mounts. Light and strong as is made.

[Glen Ring]

Cool Pics...Looks like an older weaver scope.

[mdeland]

Leopold 1-4 with duplex cross hair. One of the best small combo's I've yet to find for a big game rifle.

[mdeland]

This was the 2017 hunt pic's in my old raft . Did not get to go in 2018.

Bear that just about got Chris, my ole hunting pard.

[Michael Johnson]

Sweet shooter rig. I have a similar flip up peep on my 375 Mike. What aircraft did 40 mile Air use to get you up there? About the lack of game, that's why they call it hunting and not getting. You value the outdoor experience most of all! And yes, this is the "Shooter to shooter forum". A lot of us live vicariously through your experiences. Keep on keeping on!

[mdeland]

Here you go Mike! Took this shot when leaving Fast Eddy's on the way to our put in. Did not fly in with 40 mile air.