Wayne in BC
New member
The Browning auto .338 mag always lived in my saddle scabbard when i was guiding hunters, Elk Moose, Blacks or Griz. As i said before it had only "iron sights" for close up use and speed of aiming in close quarters. With heavily contructed bullets in the 250 gr range it had many more ft lbs of energy and penetrating bone crushing power than the average hunting rifle. I seldom used it other than that as i preferred my Ruger 7mm mag for my own hunting, which in itself is no slouch.
This day in mid november, the guiding season was over a few days previously and i was still in my camp located high in a valley on the east slope of the Rocky mountains in west central Alberta. A young guide i employed was with me helping to clean up and put the camp away for winter. The weather had turned cold, 15 below zero, with a foot of snow and the Mule Deer were everywhere, having come down from the high elevations for the "rut' and the better feed on the valley slopes and floor.
He "Tom" had wanted a big trophy buck and was intending to hunt after the chores were done and asked me if i would come along. I had long given up on hunting deer for myself as i did not care for venison, having had to eat too darn much of it when i was young! Also as i told him, "horns don't eat good"
but he was young and full of enthusiasm, i remembered being there myself so went along with him. The pressure was off, our hunters had taken good animals and all went home happy that season. The guiding business though appearing to be an almost idyllic lifestyle, is a very physically difficult and stressful business. The expectations of your clients as well as the logistics of dealing with up to 20 head of horses and lack of sleep for weeks, up at 4:am and seldom to bed before midnight while climbing mountains at 7000 ft is no picnic! The chance to do some relaxed hunting seemed fine to me.
That morning we had glassed a couple of outstanding Mule Deer bucks a mile or so from camp, nearly a thousand feet up and feeding in a little gulley below a rimrock. I knew they would bed down in the thin timber that ringed the head of the gulley for the day and come out to feed again in the evening. We would use the horses to get up through the heavy timber and snow to the base of the gulley. The deer would not be alarmed at the sound of the horses as my herd free roamed and fed there between hunts. Also we would travel light and tie off any items that could jingle, using only rope halters to guide our mounts, no "bits" to rattle or clink. We would then tie up the horses in the thick timber below and climb around to one side to scale the rimrock, getting above our quarry and possibly having an open shot just at dusk when they came out to feed.
4 in the afternoon 1/2 an hour before dusk, found us in position on the rimrock, about 150 yards above and downwind from the bucks, quietly waiting. I was muttering to myself because i had just hung my scabbard on my horse when leaving, the Browning was still in it and i normally would have had the 7mm, flatter shooting at long range and scoped, just in case a nice Elk showed up (i like Elk meat). Tom whispered that he had decided to get a little higher and closer so would back up and out of sight follow the ridge to the position he wanted. I said i would stay put and watch.
A few minutes after Tom disappeared i heard an odd deep "whuff whuff!" coming from above and knew instantly Grizzly!!! That particular sound meant ....."warning i am po-ed!!!" These big bears do not den as early as Black bears and are often aggressively feeding in early winter when there are Deer, Elk, or Moose that are less alert and worn out from the rut, not to mention carcasses left by hunters.
Worried now and wondering if Tom had heard it i quickly and cautiously trotted up the slope to see a large bear shape in a patch of brush broadside to me and 100 feet away, Tom was standing to my left 150 ft away from and facing the bear with his rifle at his shoulder, then i heard him begin yelling and swearing a blue streak, he was doing the right thing, making the bear know that he was a "human", not "prey" or a competitor!
continued..........
This day in mid november, the guiding season was over a few days previously and i was still in my camp located high in a valley on the east slope of the Rocky mountains in west central Alberta. A young guide i employed was with me helping to clean up and put the camp away for winter. The weather had turned cold, 15 below zero, with a foot of snow and the Mule Deer were everywhere, having come down from the high elevations for the "rut' and the better feed on the valley slopes and floor.
He "Tom" had wanted a big trophy buck and was intending to hunt after the chores were done and asked me if i would come along. I had long given up on hunting deer for myself as i did not care for venison, having had to eat too darn much of it when i was young! Also as i told him, "horns don't eat good"
but he was young and full of enthusiasm, i remembered being there myself so went along with him. The pressure was off, our hunters had taken good animals and all went home happy that season. The guiding business though appearing to be an almost idyllic lifestyle, is a very physically difficult and stressful business. The expectations of your clients as well as the logistics of dealing with up to 20 head of horses and lack of sleep for weeks, up at 4:am and seldom to bed before midnight while climbing mountains at 7000 ft is no picnic! The chance to do some relaxed hunting seemed fine to me.That morning we had glassed a couple of outstanding Mule Deer bucks a mile or so from camp, nearly a thousand feet up and feeding in a little gulley below a rimrock. I knew they would bed down in the thin timber that ringed the head of the gulley for the day and come out to feed again in the evening. We would use the horses to get up through the heavy timber and snow to the base of the gulley. The deer would not be alarmed at the sound of the horses as my herd free roamed and fed there between hunts. Also we would travel light and tie off any items that could jingle, using only rope halters to guide our mounts, no "bits" to rattle or clink. We would then tie up the horses in the thick timber below and climb around to one side to scale the rimrock, getting above our quarry and possibly having an open shot just at dusk when they came out to feed.
4 in the afternoon 1/2 an hour before dusk, found us in position on the rimrock, about 150 yards above and downwind from the bucks, quietly waiting. I was muttering to myself because i had just hung my scabbard on my horse when leaving, the Browning was still in it and i normally would have had the 7mm, flatter shooting at long range and scoped, just in case a nice Elk showed up (i like Elk meat). Tom whispered that he had decided to get a little higher and closer so would back up and out of sight follow the ridge to the position he wanted. I said i would stay put and watch.
A few minutes after Tom disappeared i heard an odd deep "whuff whuff!" coming from above and knew instantly Grizzly!!! That particular sound meant ....."warning i am po-ed!!!" These big bears do not den as early as Black bears and are often aggressively feeding in early winter when there are Deer, Elk, or Moose that are less alert and worn out from the rut, not to mention carcasses left by hunters.
Worried now and wondering if Tom had heard it i quickly and cautiously trotted up the slope to see a large bear shape in a patch of brush broadside to me and 100 feet away, Tom was standing to my left 150 ft away from and facing the bear with his rifle at his shoulder, then i heard him begin yelling and swearing a blue streak, he was doing the right thing, making the bear know that he was a "human", not "prey" or a competitor!
continued..........
