Day 3 and, surprisingly 4 (outfitter tacked on an extra hunt day!) were more productive. My partner and I each took two does.

Disappointingly, my doe kills were not as clean as my buck. On the second doe, at 220 yards, my first shot was too far ahead and spined her in the neck. She dropped immediately and was completely paralyzed but still breathing when we got to her.

I was a bit shaken up with my hair placement being too far ahead on both previous antelopes and on day 4 had a 325 yard shot on a doe and purposely held a bit further back than I would otherwise. Dropped her immediately. Few seconds later saw she lifted her head and finished off with a second shot.

Upon inspection the first shot was just slightly behind where it should have been and into the liver. The second was direct heart / lung.

I feel quite bad about these having heard about the 10s of one shot kills folks have had on here and elsewhere. and this is a good lesson that things in the field are not quite as they are on the range. A lesson for me to always treat each shot as brand new. Had I done that, the second doe would have been a clean kill.

It could have been much much worse. The first shot dropped each doe in its tracks and I never had to track an animal. Each was dispatched very quickly after the first shot.

I spent a lot of time at the range from prone and learned I need to spend a lot more time over the next year from a number of field positions.

I suspect that using perhaps too much caliber for this particular animal likely helped me keeping them down even though first shots were not quite right and I'm rethinking what the best caliber would be for moose and elk in the future. Yes my 280AI is adequate for elk and moose but if I can shoot a bigger caliber well I'm tempted to go with it for a bit more margin of error. Not sure how accurate my thinking is on this. Certainly would not rely on a larger caliber on its own and I understand the importance of shot placement and that is primary. Just thinking aloud.

Overall a successful trip and large learning experience. I'll do a writeup on some of my gear and what worked and what didn't.

Last edited by canoetrpr; 11/14/14.