 |
Gary,
On a recent Saturday I took the .375GNR#2 in hand to harvest a bison from a private herd in South Park, Colorado. The winter sun felt wonderfully warm on my back at 9,000' and, I was glad the wind had died down by the time my guide, Jeff Elem asked, "Are you comfortable shooting from here?" I sat in the snow and rested the Encore's fore end over crossed shooting sticks, bracing my elbows on my knees. |
|
Through the 4X scope I surveyed a compact group of buffalo. My hunting partner, Jeff
Wellen, read his range finder and whispered, "It's 114 yards." "This is good," I answered.
The herd numbered about 30 animals, consisting of 2-3 year old cows and bulls and calves. "The cows and young bulls will weigh between 650 and 750 pounds," Jeff (the guide) said. "You can shoot what you want." We waited patiently, observing the ebb and flow of the herd, waiting for a single animal to saunter away from the group. "There is a slightly bigger bull on the right, if you want him," Jeff said. "No! Shoot that other one! He's a four year old bull. He's got good horns. He'll weigh 900-925 pounds. And he'll be good eating."
As the herd fed to our left, the larger bull repeatedly disappeared in and out of the throng of cows and calves. Finally, he stood alone, almost broadside. I waited; looking around to be sure no other buffalo were going to move in front of or behind him. "That's him," Jeff confirmed.
I took extra care to squeeeeeeze the trigger and touched off the shot. The bull spun around in place and stood rock still! The bullet had entered his left side immediately behind the upper leg bone, just below the shoulder blade. From there it had gone through both lungs and exited through the ribs on the right side. The bull stood facing us.
We moved a couple yards to our left to get a better target. I plopped down again behind the shooting sticks, took a steadying breath, sighing a slight exhale, and touched off a second round. The bull didn't even flinch! Later, we discovered the second bullet had entered his right side, mirroring the placement of the first shot. Then, due to the quartering angle, it had traveled back, crossing through the lungs, punching through the diaphragm and coming to a stop under the hide covering the flank on the far side. The perfectly opened 275 grain Nosler Partition had penetrated over 40" of buffalo. But, somehow, the bull appeared unfazed.
Before I could feed a fresh round into the chamber, the bull started to sway. It looked like he was about to topple over, but couldn't because his feet had taken root in the snow. "He's going to drop," we told each other. Miraculously, his body stopped swaying, even though he continued to swing his head from side to side, as if trying to find some momentum to uproot himself and follow after the herd. Then, he collapsed. He jumped to his feet for a second and fell again. He kicked and thrashed for a few seconds and lay still. We approached and could see the lights were going out. At the suggestion of my guide, I hurried those final seconds with a coupe de grace to the neck from Jeff's .357 magnum sidearm from a distance of 5".
This bison harvest proved to be an exciting, satisfying introduction to handgun hunting. Thanks for making the .375GNR#2 available.
Chuck Place
Copyright 2004 Chuck Place/C.Place LLC. |
