Last elk hunt I was on was pretty exciting. Very near the place I killed the one at 35 yards, I bungled into a whole herd at roughly the same distance, certainly not over 50 yards. They were coming over a rise and I had heard them approaching, so I brought my rifle to my shoulder to prevent excessive movement in case there was a shooter among them. Lead cow comes up broadside, stopped, and stared at me. Cows and calves go by down the mountain which seemed to take hours and then, horns, lots of horns appear on the other side of lead cow! I now got into shooting position just waiting for bull to walk past the cow as the others had done. Waiting, waiting, waiting, seems to be hours but, was only seconds. And then, bull takes a step forward and.......the cow does too, and they walk together down the mountain and I didn't have a shot! So, they disappear and I unshoulder my rifle, the adrenaline kicks in and I start shaking like a dog trying to pass a peach seed. I had to sit down until it subsided and the thought passed through my mind that a fellow could have a heart attack pursuing a love. All of my hunts have been wonderful, whether my tag was filled or not but, this one stands out in my memory.


Shew me thy ways, O LORD: teach me thy paths.
"there are few better cartridges on Earth than the 7 x 57mm Mauser"
"the .30 Springfield is light, accurate, penetrating, and has surprising stopping power"