Down to 3 roasts in the freezer, until today. Scored not 2 miles out of town, after spending too much time digging out of 2 unseen holes I found on the unplowed road in flat, flat, flat light. Should have been out on the windswept lagoon ice. Or maybe not at all. Couldn't see much definition on the snow, bare eyes was best, but I was running with amber goggles for the wind.

Funny thing, sweaty and exhausted, and with the dangerous flat light, I'd abandoned the idea of hunting, but decided to take the 6 mile loop back to town, on the higher, more windswept portion. I'd heard shots up by the AF radar dome when I was digging out the first time, so went up there (about a mile past the loop intersection road) to see what I could (and found another hole before getting there....that one only took 15 minutes to get out of- the first had been over an hour. Not a good idea to put a snow machine into a hole thats 6 feet deep and exactly machine sized in width and length!). Could be, but wasn't hard on the scope settings, it turned out.

At least one fresh kill site (blood spatter, head, lower legs), and maybe 1 or two more by blood spatter sites, but no remnants. Or all 3 of those guys might have shot her. They had passed me on the far side of the lagoon while I was digging out the first time. Over where I should have been traveling.

Headless and legless animals work better in the toboggans. Glassed lower ground from dome hill-top but saw nothing.

Headed back to the Loop intersection to follow that around, as it looked less drifted than the lower ground, ;just on a wild-hair off-chance. No one had been around the loop yet, from the lack of tracks.. Half a mile down the loop, I spotted an antler-less bull on a hillside 347 yards away. Easy shot, but not legal until February. Stupid regs!

A quarter mile on, terrain feature change showed me about 20 animals, about 3/4 mile away back toward and in line with the dome, in a depression that couldn't be seen from up there. I had looked! A couple nice, still-antlered bulls in the bunch, but mostly cows and calves. Works for me.

Low ground and 15 mile crosswind let me get within 124 yards, motoring slow and quiet. Windscreen for a rest, with a half body height, low hold under hair (rifle is zeroed for 300), and she was down. The rest took off, and I don't do running shots if I don't have to. One animal was enough for today, anyway. I've got all winter.... smile

Gutted, legged, and headed, I loaded her in the sled with a tarp under for blood, and then it was just a 15 minute run back to the house.

It IS better to be lucky than good!

I'll skin her tomorrow and check that Superperformance GMX hole.....first animal i've used it on. Looks about like the SST holes...

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Last edited by las; 12/03/17.
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.