we have a month before the HHC (Sept 30 thru Oct 4)

so I thought I better get my gear out and check it out. I normally don't worry too much about the 2 guns I carry, the 9" G-2 in 41 GNR and my 429 GNR Alaskan hunter.

About the only thing I usually check is the scope base and rings on the 41 GNR. The rings are really the only concern as the base is epoxied on. I had one time I didn't check the rings and getting the gun out of the gun case Kase noticed the rings were loose and the scope moving a bit. That is one time I really did a dumb shit move. Rather than lock down the screws and re-sight the gun in, I opted to go with the 356 GNR which is a duplicate of the 41 GNR except an inch shorter in the barrel length.

And that was my mistake of the day. It was raining that weekend and rather than get my ass wet sighting the 41 GNR back in I decided to go with the 356 GNR. Alan (head man at the lodge) told me he had a big black Yak that was causing trouble, goring the younger bulls and would I have a long talk with the Yak in question. I told him I would do so.

When we got to the area, Lynn, the major domo in charge, pointed out the bull. He was big for a Yak and had at least 8" of heavy wet hair all over. That in itself should have warned me, but if it did I ignored it. I walked out in the field and walked in a circle around the bull to get him used to seeing me and less chance of him running off or deciding to use me for a goring dummy. When he paused I poked a 41 caliber 210 grain silhouette bullet just behind his ear. He dropped at the shot but was back up in an instant. He stood there shaking his head and I hit him again at about the same place. Again he fell but came back up. Finally it got thru my thick skull that the heavy wet hair was slowing the bullet down and not reaching the little 2 inch spot I needed to hit. I pitched the 41 GNR down in the mud (Kase always hates it when I do that but it's just a gun, nothing I can do to it that can't be fixed and sometime I just don't have the time to gently place the gun on a dry spot). I pulled the 429 GNR revolver and put a round somewhere in the neck. The bull was spinning in circles looking for the asshole that was giving him a headache. It took 2 rounds of the 429 GNR to put him down, but he finally fell.

Kase and me checking to see why the bullets didn't put him down. The 356 GNR lying in the mud behind me.

I hate it when I don't do my job right and an animal has to be put thru that but thank the Lord, that has only happened a couple of times in all the HHC hunts.