My body hurts.

NdIndy

NdIndy

New member
Ill post more later, but 2 elk in rough terrain last night. Animals in the truck around 10 or so. Today i feel like i got hit by a car.
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Interesting lessons learned.
Being almost trampled by a herd of elk is an invigorating experience.

Elk can apparently be invisible at close range until startled.

While the xtp is considered a premium bullet, a .45 xtp at 5 feet and 460 rowland velocity, while impressive, is not a hunting bullet.

The ttsx at 30 feet and in a hot 30-06 load, is also impressive, ifmi find the bullet ill have a better idea of how impressive.

Gravity and a sled is your friend. Watching your friends be run over by an out of control elk sledding is hilarious. Being run over yourself, not so much.
 
Im almost 40. 2 years ago, literally, i was supposed to be dead. Only by changing doctors to a guy who actually listened to me and then ordered a few hundred blood tests did i go from "its in your head" to "we usually find this at autopsy" did that change. i currently have the record at a regional drs office for the most screwed up blood work they've ever seen outside of a bodybag. and i was still upright and functioning. I have a bad thyroid (thanks mom) and apparently hemochromotosis(iron poisoning). and each feed the other so one [beeep] of a doom spiral if you dont catch it. How much worse do you want it?
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But im basically ok, just donate a lot of blood to keep my iron poisoning in check(my blood is really good for everyone but me) and drink a lot of wine. Because i discovered I like wine. And red wine keeps your body from absorbing iron. And wine is the liquid form of all that is good in this world.
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Anyway... I love dissection after recovery. ballistics and bullet performance is really interesting and a decade as a cop makes it more so. At least half the reason i pull the trigger is to see how different bullets perform. No ttsx report though, I found the exit hole today so the bullet has departed to parts unknown. Ive read the all copper rounds performs like a heavier than weight bullet so i loaded 150 instead of my usual 180gr elk load. I expected a typical range for a shot but ended up at very short range, so planning went out the window. Im not sure what happened inside the body, i have a behind the shoulder entry, a severed spine, and a ribcage exit and healthy everything in between. A curved trajectory inside the body, 2nd time ive seen it. 1st time was my 1st ever deer when i was 16. The first was an apparent light 243 load, struck a rib and followed it, severed the spine and then followed the opposite rib down before finishing in the shoulder. No penetration inside the body at all. Rare, but it turned me off the caliber.

With the elk i had entry and exit in the ribs along with the severed spine and no lung/hear damage. I cant explain it.

After having her drop i located her and sat at about 10 feet waiting for her to pass for about 10 minutes. She stayed on her side and seeing the entry location i assumed she would pass quickly. When she rolled onto her legs and attempted to rise i drew my pistol and put a finishing round into her. The pistol round took her lungs and she passed quickly.

The xtp had full separation of the jacket and core. The lungs were destroyed, exit side ribcage i could put my entire hand into. I recovered the jacket initially, located the core today. Both were in the exit area, but not together. It would likely have held together if there had been a little more distance between us.
 
The story...

After a long day hiking and seeing a grand total of 3 rabbits, we relocated. Searching a valley we came across 4 cows at the top of the ridge, roughly 30 minutes of shooting light left in the day.. By laser, roughy 300 yards. My friend has been jonesing for elk for years is with me and really wants the shot. But the entire group is skylined and regardless of want, its no good to the hunter in me. I have faith in me behind the trigger, but if i miss that bullet is covering nothing but sky.

So the group moves off and we start up the valley to find them. Now looking at it, the climb is beyond 90 degrees vertical. Spiderman would have trouble with this climb, but being superhuman myself, i make the climb with only a couple breathers. Besides the climb, the entire canyon is covered in heavy growth and there is no easy way up.

My partner goes left and i go right, we end up a hundred yards apart. As i am moving in full ninja stealth mode, making only slightly more noise than an armored division wearing tap shoes and throwing fireworks, i spot a handful of cows. With the growth, no shot on any of them as al i see are the tops of their heads.. They begin moving and happily as they move i find a 2 foot square shooting lane with about 30 feet between us. I have never been inside 200 yards of an elk. Awesome.

The first few pass as a solid mass, no shot. The last leaves a gap between her and the group. My scope is a 4-12 and is far too much at this range even dialed all the way down. But i can set for elevation and as she enters the glass can judge by coloration to make sure im behind the shoulder. I pull the trigger, i know im on target, but im far too close to hear the bullet strike, so working a bit on faith.

At that moment the entire area around me explodes into elk. I had somehow walked into the middle of an entire herd that only could i not see, but hung out while a marching band waltzed into the middle of them.. Against all logic, they dont like the 30-06 going off,in the middle of them. It is the first holy [beeep] moment in my hunting life. If i had a knife in my hand i could have probably stabbed one to death. It was nuts.

As the forest explodes, i chamber a 2nd round and note that my nickel plates brass goes flying to my right. I had 2 tags to fill and would love to do so, but everywhere i look is a solid wall of fur. No clean shot to be had so i dont try. But the entire herd is sprinting right at Will, my hunting partner.

So with my best cop voice which tends to really carry, i kick out a "theyre headed your way Will". And while it was probably only seconds, it felt like entirely too long before i heard him fire. I moved towards my shooting lane to check for trail, but after only a couple steps i see her about 20 yards to my right. The rest, is above.

Unfortunately i didnt recover my rifle brass and didnt recover the bullet. But i did recover the pistol brass and bullet, and have put a lot of meat in my freezer.

It was a very good end to a very hard day. At least 19 hours awake by the end of it and hopefully by tomorrow im walking normally. But im looking forward to january
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Been there done that, a friend shot a rag horn and another shot a cow out of the same herd, in a deep nasty hole, with the only way out being up....I thought I was going to die.........literally. Lol. And all I got was a front shoulder.
 
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