I remember reading a '93 article in Hunting magazine wherein Ross shot a mule deer buck in the Breaks with a Dakota Model 10 in 7mm Brenneke. He described the location as being near the place where Lewis & Clark had a run-in with a grizzly bear. I remember him describing having to shoot off a cliff at nearly a straight-down angle and overshooting the buck on his first shot. I also remember him describing another hunter that was with him shooting a .375 with 300-grain bullets and being unable to connect with his deer. But I don't remember him saying anything about guiding other hunters. Perhaps I am referring to a different article, but I remember keeping that one for a long time because I thought Dakota Model 10's were cool.
Greg Perry
That very article is what started me hunting the South side of the Breaks for Mule (and Whitetail) Deer. My first hunt was in 1995. We even took a boat, as in that article Ross was with a guide in a boat motoring up and down the Missouri. The boat Ross used was about a 20' jet -- which is what you need on this stretch of Fort Peck. Our little 13 footer nearly got swamped in one of many storms that Fall.
We hunted in pretty much the same spot as Ross had and, as I remember, passed up many smaller 4 point Mulies and some decent 8-10 point Whitetail. Next time I went back (maybe 3-4 years later) the hunting was not nearly as good. A rancher that we got to know there blamed the article(s) by Ross for all the hunters that flooded the area.
