Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Deer Photo - A Blast From The Past

ingwe;
Good day to you sir, hopefully this still, cool Sunday finds you folks doing well.

Seeing as we're dredging up scans from Africa, which I heartily enjoy by the way, I've found one of the first big game animal I shot.

It's a long story as to how a Saskatchewan farm boy got out on the Escarpment of the Rift Valley in Kenya on the second last day of 1975 - but anyway there we were and this is one of the things that happened on that day.


That particular skinny fellow hasn't changed much in size really - but my goodness look at the hair.....

Thanks for all who've contributed and commented here, it's been a grand thread for me.

All the best to you folks today ingwe.

Dwayne

Coke's Hartebeest?

ingwe;
You know I'm not really certain.

The Canuck farm boy we were hunting with - who had been in Africa since the late '50's by that time - just called it a kongoni.

He sort of pronounced it K'N GO KNEE if that makes sense?

Maybe a Coke's Hartebeest?????

Sorry I'm not entirely sure.

All the best to you folks this week ingwe.

Dwayne

PS;
Looking at a taxonomy map ingwe, it must be a Coke's then, no??

Looked real good next to the mashed taters.

Dwayne,

That in itself must be a heck of a story. How many teenagers can say the went on safari on summer break!

OK, I'm back. Been teaching RCIA all morning long. And Dr. Park and I had a protracted discussion (about doing a book) after.

Anyway, here are a couple more photos.




It's a tailgate photo of a couple of bucks I busted one morning. The vehicle is our 1969 Jeep Jeepster which was affectionately known as "The Kidney Machine. The rifle is an early Ruger M77 flat bolt in .308 and I was using Speer 150-grain Spitzers. The scope looks like a Leupold 3-9 (prolly is because the only other scope I've ever trusted afield was the early B&L Balvar 8 ... and this is later than that.)




This was a massive buck I killed up the Middle Fork of the John Day River, here in Oregon. His antlers were tiny when compared to his body size. I shot him through the neck with a Ruger Number One in 7Mag ... loaded down Hornady 175-grain Spire point.

The knife in my hand is a prototype I was commissioned to do for Gerber.

This photo was used in an early Nosler Reloading Manual.

Blessings,

Steve

Wife just before"lighting one off"in a Merkel .470 NE with a "light load."


Daughter just after shooting the same .470 NE "light load."



Me shooting the .470 NE with a "heavy load."



And the .470 NE "light load."

Now I know why I didn't see the MT zebras near Plevna last week.

first deer in 74. i still have that bloody sweatshirt. it was my moms and she let me keep it after that. it hangs behind the door at camp for those chilly morning walks and that bucks horns are the first thing you see when you walk in the door.

I came across this photo recently, and figured it fit with the theme of this thread. This is me at age 12 coming home with my first grouse. At that moment I had killed every grouse that had ever flew out in front of me, the percentage has fallen considerably since then . It appears as if my feet are actually touching the ground, I assure you this is an optical illusion.

During the reading of this thread I realized that at one time I had owned one of those Browning BBR guns. Bought it when a local hardware/gun store closed down. If memory serves me correctly I didn't keep it very long because I found it to be too heavy and not especially accurate. Of course, that long ago maybe the problem was me and not the gun.

Thanks for the recollections.

Jim

Great thread, guys! Appreciate the pics and stories.

I put this photo on the 24HCF a few years ago, but it is so darned great that it should be reposted.




This is Karen with her first (of many, many) elk. It was a decent cow, down in Hells Canyon, near Rattlesnake Creek.

I spotted the cow kinda lurking behind the only hackberry bush on a bare hillside. I whispered to Karen, "Quietly hand me your reins, get your rifle out of your scabbard ... then take all the time you need because she's absolutely not going anywhere. Use that boulder over there as a rest and KILL THAT ELK."

Hey, the elk thought it was hiding. Karen gave me her halter rope, got her rifle, assumed a fine and solid position over the boulder and proceeded to make a perfect shot.

One shot through the upper neck at maybe 200 yards and the elk was a bang-flop. The rifle was a Remington 700 .30-'06 with 150-grain Hornadys.

The lady is just a tad happy in this photo.

Blessings,

Steve

Steve, love that pic of Karen and the cow. Your pic above reminded me of one of mine. Antlers are pretty pedestrian but he was the biggest bodied mule deer I think Ive ever killed, and it was 20 years ago, so I think it qualifies for this thread!





For point of reference Im 6'4" and 265 at the time of the pic...

Great thread. Just add my pronghorn to the mix. Taken in '07 on my second trip west. Savage bolt with 24" 1:9 Pac-nor barrel, .25/06, 115 Berger.

Here's the first Burchell's zebra (of many) I've killed. It was way down south in Zim. The Rhodesian War was kinda over, but it was still not a place for the timid of heart.

I saw this disco donkey when returning to camp about noon one day. He was in a glade and the game guard (Sindahele) indicated that I could kill it.

The zebra was a stallion and he was standing out in the middle of a glade with his ... well, his dick hanging down ... kinda like a big old horse.

For a manic moment, I thought about shooting him in his ... boy part. After all, the blood supply there is magnificent. Then, when friends asked, "Where did you shoot your zebra?" I could answer, "Right through his thingie."

Anyway, reason trumped fantasy, so I shot him at the base of his left ear. If you know opera, I shot him through the medula oblongata, and he was instantly most fuggin' sincerely dead.

Gorgeous stallion.

Blessings,

Steve

Ingwe, 20 years ago...hell you must be a hunnert! powdr

We didn't have a tailgate, my dad drove a car so you get a trunk picture instead circa 1986:



And a ditch picture, 1987:

Steve,

Of the multitude of pictures I've seen you post of the years, I have to say, this one is still by far my favorite buddy.

Dale

Friend Dale,

It's my very favorite hunting (or anything) photo, as well.

Capturing total happiness in a single photo is an almost impossible task ... this photograph absolutely did it.

Karen and I wish you a GREAT New Year.

Steve