As a follow up to last years antelope hunt, Ariel and I went back to Pinedale last week for this years hunt. She had the first shot again this year and took a nice doe at 212 yards, one shot through the heart. She was again using her original Ballard in 38-55, same load as last year (32 gr Accurate 2495/Walters card/SPG), but with a David Mos 250gr copy of the Lyman classic bullet.
The week-end filled out with Dave Casey taking a nice doe at 70 yds with a 32-40 on an original Winchester hi-wall action. I filled my two tags with shots from a Weber hi-wall in 30-40 Krag. The Shiloh comes out again in November for an elk hunt in the Carter mountains near Cody. Ariel has drawn a cow elk tag too, and after seeing how well the load did out of her 38-55, she’ll probably carry it again –wish her luck!
Rick Patton
Proud(er) Dad
2003 Antelope
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Poison Slinger
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Lee Stone
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Rick,
You post the most uplifting posts. That is just great. I am sure your children will do as well with the Shiloh as with the Ballard and the hi wall (I am envious of the hi wall, I really love that .32/40 cartridge. Wish I could talk Kirk into chambering a Shiloh in it for me. ).
Please keep up the posts on the your hunting trips with the kids. And how about some articles for the SPG mag? I have your last one saved.
You post the most uplifting posts. That is just great. I am sure your children will do as well with the Shiloh as with the Ballard and the hi wall (I am envious of the hi wall, I really love that .32/40 cartridge. Wish I could talk Kirk into chambering a Shiloh in it for me. ).
Please keep up the posts on the your hunting trips with the kids. And how about some articles for the SPG mag? I have your last one saved.
Lee Stone
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Ken Hartlein
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Poison Slinger
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- Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 10:59 am
- Location: Cody, Wyoming
After re-reading this post I realized that I didn’t update the story of the 2003 hunts. Ariel (my then 17 yr daughter) again took the original Ballard out in 38-55 (same load as described before) for Elk. After about three weekends of hunting we found them bedding in a small draw. She had one at 35 yards laying down, but we had never put that load on paper at that range. We didn’t know where to hold at that close range, so she chose two standing broadside at about 90 yards. She had to wait nearly 5 minutes (over buffalo sticks) for one to move away and give her a clean shot (so as not to hit two at once). All the while that one at 35 yards is still there (and feeling nervous). Finally, one moved and her shot hit perfect. The shot was a double lung shot, glancing off an off-side rib, turning back in and going through both parts of the liver. A 4-vital hit with one shot. The cow laid down about 30 yards form where she was hit and after a finishing shot to the head, was done. This was Ariel’s first Elk. We recovered the slug on the on-side, in the between her inner thigh and belly, just under her hide.
My Elk hunt was in the same area as Ariel’s a couple of weeks later. I was using a Cody - Ballard chambered in .40-70 SS. 32.0 gr AA2459, paper patched 1:30 bullet weighting about 330 gr. The cow was looking directly at me and the 50 yard shot (with a Lichert scope) hit her under the chin where I aimed. She went straight down. Of note was that this flat topped paper patch hit her so hard that blood went forward (towards me) almost 20 feet. The shot clipped her neck bone and kept going, I did not recover the bullet.
Since this is the Shiloh site…I should mention that two years ago I took another fat cow elk in the same area using a Shiloh .50-90 Business rifle. A poor shot on my part (I hate to admit that) lead to a hit in the back ham area. Lucky for me, the slug glanced off the hip bone and completely blew out that big artery to the leg. The blood trail she left was very big. Here is the plug for big chunks of soft lead going at reasonable velocities: we were able to eat right up to the bullet hole! The damage was minimal and we saved most of the rear quarter. Try that with a 300 win mag and see how much meat you would loose. I was not happy with the shot, but we still didn’t waste the elk due to my fault.
Good hunts all and I’m looking forward to this year. We plan to hunt Antelope and Black Bear with the Ballards and Elk with the Sharps. And if I get it ready…deer with an original ’73 Maynard in .40-40. If you want to see the biggest smile a girl can make, e-mail me at rickpa@trib.com and I’ll send you a picture of Ariel and her elk. Or take a look at Dave Casey’s web site www.rockymountaincartridge.com under ‘click here to see some of our friends’ for the picture.
Later,
Rick (proud dad) Patton
Cody
My Elk hunt was in the same area as Ariel’s a couple of weeks later. I was using a Cody - Ballard chambered in .40-70 SS. 32.0 gr AA2459, paper patched 1:30 bullet weighting about 330 gr. The cow was looking directly at me and the 50 yard shot (with a Lichert scope) hit her under the chin where I aimed. She went straight down. Of note was that this flat topped paper patch hit her so hard that blood went forward (towards me) almost 20 feet. The shot clipped her neck bone and kept going, I did not recover the bullet.
Since this is the Shiloh site…I should mention that two years ago I took another fat cow elk in the same area using a Shiloh .50-90 Business rifle. A poor shot on my part (I hate to admit that) lead to a hit in the back ham area. Lucky for me, the slug glanced off the hip bone and completely blew out that big artery to the leg. The blood trail she left was very big. Here is the plug for big chunks of soft lead going at reasonable velocities: we were able to eat right up to the bullet hole! The damage was minimal and we saved most of the rear quarter. Try that with a 300 win mag and see how much meat you would loose. I was not happy with the shot, but we still didn’t waste the elk due to my fault.
Good hunts all and I’m looking forward to this year. We plan to hunt Antelope and Black Bear with the Ballards and Elk with the Sharps. And if I get it ready…deer with an original ’73 Maynard in .40-40. If you want to see the biggest smile a girl can make, e-mail me at rickpa@trib.com and I’ll send you a picture of Ariel and her elk. Or take a look at Dave Casey’s web site www.rockymountaincartridge.com under ‘click here to see some of our friends’ for the picture.
Later,
Rick (proud dad) Patton
Cody