Bad judgement + bad luck = bad day

[pete]

It's with some reservation that I write this but here goes.

On the 3rd day of my antelope hunt we found a couple of decent bucks with a compliment of does. One buck in particular I wanted to go after. When we started our stalk the wind was about 20-25 mph. 3 hours later after much sneaking, crawling and passing on a 91 yd shot at the smaller of the bucks my wife and I narrowed the distance to 150 yds. of the one I was after and the wind had increased to 40 mph in advance of a cool front.

We were behind some sage and waited out a stare down from a couple of the does and the buck until they decided we no threat. It was then that I set up the shooting sticks and waited for a shot.

I didn't want to shoot cross wind in these conditions so we waited while they moved more in line with the wind and what I thought was a better situation. After he cleared the does I fired and missed. Between the recoil and watching him for signs of a hit as he ran off I wasn't sure exactly where I hit.

They ran off another 20 yds or so and stopped. I had reloaded my Lonestar rb 45-70 and prepared to shoot again. I aimed and fired again but the hammmer hit the breech block because in my haste I didn't push on it hard enough for the fouled bore. I recocked and pushed the block in further, aimed through the peep portion of the open and peep combo. sight and fired again. My wife and I both heard the bullet hit with a whack as the antelope all ran over a hill and were gone.

We walked up over the hill and found to my disbelief a doe lying down wounded. She got up and moved off little ways and I shot her again. I still couldn't understand what happened.

I dressed and skinned her then called the Division of Wildlife and reported it.

My wife was video taping the trip so I watched the footage and it was then that I found out what happened.

There was a doe standing next to the buck and as I was aiming she turned and trotted behind him and was in line with him as I fired hitting her just forward of the hip. I was aiming behind his shoulder and the bullet hit behind his butt for a miss of a little over 2 feet. So I had my answer.

I was surprised by the amount of deflection for shooting a little off center into a head wind even a 40 mph one but it happened.

The next day I shot at my life size antelope target at 170 yds. I compensated a few inches for a 15 - 20 crosswind and put 2 out of 2 shots behind the shoulder where they belonged. So it wasn't the gun it was just my dumb ass.

The game warden was cool and gave me the smallest punishment he could which was a $70 fine and 5 points off my license. The offense was not abiding by the provisions of the license which is to say I had a buck license and I shot a doe. I can't argue with that. I did get to keep the meat though which was good.

So for mostly bad judgement on my part and some bad luck it was a bad day, especially for the doe.

[Marathonman]

Pete, that was an honest mistake made by a very honest man. I salute you for what you did in reporting it.

Marathonman

[Stephen Borud]

Pete you have bigger jewels then most for admitting what you did, it was a mistake and that's that, you didn't have to share it here that's for sure. When hunting today with my son, we came across 2 dandy antelope bucks that were wounded within a mile of each other, one had a front right leg blown off and the other had a left rear leg blown off, shot by modern guns, we called the game and fish and reported it, I don't know if the guys that wounded these 2 bucks even looked for them.

Stephen

[pete]

Thanks Marathonman I really appreciate that. It's my first issue like this and hopefully my last. This year was the 30th anniversary of my wife and I's first antelope hunt together. The first time we got a buck. She's all stiff and sore from all the crawling and it sure isn't as easy at 49 as it was at 19.

[mdeland]

In Alaska they would quite possibly throw the book at you regardless. You would be fined very heavily and would not get to keep the meat.
It is conceivable you could loose your gun, car or plane, be fined and give up the whole animal after cutting it up your self. Jail time is not unheard of as well if the offense is deemed serious enough.
Some have even been busted when putting an animal out of it's misery when injured by a vehicle.
If you make a mistake up here your plum nuts to turn yourself in as you will be at the mercy of what ever attitude you get with the luck of the draw and when it comes to game animals the attitude is generally not favorable to the offender.
The powers that be seem way more stringent about game laws than they are about human enforcement. As far as I know there is no written game amnesty law for making a mistake and trying to do right by it.
This example is another reason I would not recommend using open sights and rainbow trajectoried cartridges especially for heard animals, when scoped rifles and flat shooting rounds could very easily prevent such things happening.
Trying to relive what great grandfather did when detrimental to game and perception by the general public toward hunting and shooting makes no sense to me.
With a scoped rifle, flat shooting cartridge and the right bullet one can greatly lessen the chance of shooting through even an antelope and killing another animal or over shooting and doing the same thing.
Not a popular view I'm sure, especially on this site, but none the less true. MD

[pete]

Thank you to you too Stephen. Yea, I thought about it and figured most of the guys here are pretty good and if this weren't a bp cartridge forum that I've been on for awhile I wouldn't have put it on.

That's sad about the ones you found. Between chasing them with pickups and other malicious stuff I think antelope get the worst of any big game animal.
Good luck on your guy's hunt.

[rdnck]

pete--Tough break, but you handled it the right way.

I am curious. What was the load you were using? Was the bullet the 457193 by any chance? Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Stephen Borud]

Pete

I've seen more animals wounded with flat shooting modern guns with scopes then with old black powder guns, WHY? It seems to me that any Tom,Dick and Harry can go down to the local store, buy themselves a off the shelf, black stocked, stainless steel barreled junk pile with a scope and a box of shells and start shooting at animals without little or no practice, and guess what most do. The 2 goats that we saw today were shot with modern, flat shooting scoped guns. It still comes down to making the right choice. It doesn't matter if you hunt with a long bow,compound, modern or old bp gun, if you place the arrow or bullet in the right spot it kills all the same. Pete you were honest about what happened and thats what counts in the end.

Stephen

[pete]

rdnck;
Thank you. It wasn't the 457193 but close. It's my design out of a Brooks mould of a 430 gr flat point with a .200 meplat. It's got 3 grooves so I can get a little more powder under it. Velocity is 1323 average.

[pete]

Stephen;
You're right about animals wounded with modern style rifles there are plenty of them. Some of that no doubt comes from the fact that modern guns are used much more, but it also shows that bad things happen no matter what you use. I made a mistake trying to shoot a bp cartridge rifle the distance I did in the conditions we were in regardless of wind angle. The follow up shot on the doe was about 60 yds. and windage was ok, so shooting at 60 yds. would have been ok and 170 not ok. Thanks again.

mdeland ;

Thank you to you too. It does seem like Alaska's Game Dept. philosophy is extreme from what you say. There is probably alot of wasted meat that's a result of such an attitude.
As far as the use of bp rifles for hunting goes, there's no doubt that a modern scope sighted rifle is more efficient at killing things no argument from me. I think though that it's because of that eficiency that has pushed some to take up other tools. The choice to use bp rifles is similar to the use of archery equipment.
I admit that in addition to the added challenge the historical aspect of these rifles is a big factor for me but I also realize that what they did back in the day can only partially be put into effect today because back then their sense of hunting ethics and our's isn't the same. If they hit the wrong animal they didn't care.
I know there are those that question the use of such antique styled rifles when more efficient means are available but when the game warden was investigating my situation he didn't say anything negative about bp cartridge rifles, in fact he admired the rifle I used.
Like I said to somebody else I'm going to have to reevaluate my strategy in case this scenerio comes up again. The possible alternatives are;
1. Quit hunting for the day/s 2. Try to get much closer. 3. Use another rifle at those times.
With the limited time available to hunt number 1 really isn't a viable option which leaves no's 2 and 3.
Now when somebody is hunting in the archery or muzzleloader season going to a modern gun isn't option. I'll still have to think about it.

[Lazer]

Pete:

When a person accidentally backs into somebodies parked car in a parking lot, he has a few choices:
1. Wait for the owner and make it right.
2. Leave a note with contact information on the vehicle's windshield and make it right on a later date.
3. Leave a fake not on the windshield, like "tooo bad!" and leave..

Accidents do happen while hunting. You were given a test and you passed.

I'm certainly glad the officer used his good judgment and discretion.

Lazer

[rdnck]

pete--I second what lazer said. I also would like to suggest that you go to a 500 to 520 grain round nosed bullet. In addition to giving much better penetration if you are shooting large animals, THEY ALSO WORK BETTER IN THE WIND.

That is why I asked you if you were using the 457193. I tried it as a chicken bullet in silhouette and found it to be a LOT more wind sensitive than a 457125 Govt bullet or a Postell.

There is no need to quit hunting when the wind comes up. I killed a buffalo a number of years ago at 186 yards in a 30 to 40 mile an hour wind by shooting at his ear with a 511 grain paper patched bullet out of a Shiloh 45-110. I could never have made the shot with a light bullet. I suspect you would have killed that buck antelope if you had been using a heavier bullet that got through the wind better. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[pete]

Lazer; Thank you very much I appreciate that. I agree about the Warden. He's a young guy and was accompanied by a young female trainee and the thought occured to me that I hope he doesn't try to impress her by being a tough guy. But he didn't.

rdnck; Ever since you asked about the bullet earlier it got me wondering about that. Your experiences sound like heavier is the way to go because the wind hardly ever stops around here. I use a 508 gr. Brooks Creedmore for silhouette. It has the same 3 groove setup as the lighter bullet so there's decent powder capacity and velocity.
My only concern is even with pure lead which I use for hunting is that a bullet with that nose will just poke right through without doing enough damage. A round nose would probably work better than it I suppose. Thanks alot.

[Top Dog]

Pete,
You are an honest man and I applaud your candor in the way you handled the situation.
I am sure that the Game Warden took those facts into consideration.

I have found that the folks that hunt with traditional gear tend to hunt close to their game after a long careful stalk. I guess you can say that they match their hunt to the gun.

Thank you for being the person that you are.

Top Dog

[fatbelly]

I once took a reaction pot shot at a duck on land where we were only supposed to be decoying pigeon.

Business had been slow and I was positioned on the high side of the rape field in a bale hide. The others were getting some shooting near the woods at the bottom end but I'd been there an hour and nothing. Suddenly this streak of feathers rocketed towards me and was about to go overhead and clean away and I reacted and fired (too slowly as it turned out) and the bird sailed over completely untouched. To this day I thought it was a pigeon as I couldn't see it depart clearly because of some bushes. I was later told in no uncertain terms it had been a female Mallard.

The guys down the other side had seen this and promptly packed up and headed home without a word to me. I realized something was up as the shooting had completely stopped and I could see pigeon in the distance where the other guys had been. Me and the dog trudged towards the truck only to see the others departing, not before they had spoken to the landowner and reported I had tried to shoot one of his duck!!

Most of those guys never spoke to me again because they thought I had spoiled the trust betwixt our little group and the landowner, who it turned out wasn't that bothered either way. I did go apologize to him for the incident some days later. One of the guys, who was a gunsmith by the name of Earp, (supposedly related) died a few years after and I never had the chance to set the record straight. It's bugged me ever since but now I've got it off my chest!

Heck, I know the difference between a Mallard and a pigeon in flight, if I get the chance to see it!! I guess I shouldn't have shot if I wasn't 100 per cent sure of what I was shooting at! It was a hard lesson learned that's for certain. BTW this was some forty years ago.