Quote from: gitano;154160Eddie was right!

Paul

PS - Was Eddie, German?

Paul

His last name was Richardson which should indicate Scandinavian, but I have no idea what his heritage was.


Found his Obit:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldandnews/obituary.aspx?n=eddie-richardson&pid=187150923

Then I don't know why he would have used the term "fell". Although, the "Butcher's Guild (American) uses the term:

fell – The fell is the paper-thin covering of outer fat  on a roast. It is usually removed for small cuts, like chops, but kept  in place for roasts and legs because it helps retain the shape and  juiciness when cooking.

Paul

Quote from: gitano;154162Then I don't know why he would have used the term "fell". Although, the "Butcher's Guid (American) uses the term:

fell – The fell is the paper-thin covering of outer fat  on a roast. It is usually removed for small cuts, like chops, but kept  in place for roasts and legs because it helps retain the shape and  juiciness when cooking.

 Paul

It really doesn't matter, but he was a butcher by trade most of his life, whether German or not, if indeed the American Butcher's guild recognizes the term I'm sure he'd have been at least familiar with it.


But again, used the way it's explained there indicates a layer of fat is required to truly be "fell."




Wow, what a trip down memory lane this has turned out to be.

I was talking with j0e_bl0ggs today, and he asked if I had posted any  google earth photos of the hunt, to which I responded "No". It would  probably make the story a little easier to visualize, so here are some  google earth photos of the 'lay of the land'.
 
 
 To give some scale, here is all of Alaska. You can see both Delta Junction and Wasilla, clearly labeled. From my back door to the intersection of the Richardson Hwy with the AlCan Hwy, (the "junction" in Delta Junction), is 350 miles.
]

 
 
 Zooming in a bit, here is an image that just fits Wasilla in the lower left, and Delta Junction in the upper right.
 
 


Here is an aerial view of Delta Junction. Rick and I stayed in a motel just about under the "e" in the second "Delta" in the image. Note the "Bison Range" (about 20 miles outside of DJ), and the Helkenn's farm
 



Here's a close-up of the Bison Range with its proximity to the Helkenn's farm. The Range was plowed and planted with "bison forage" in an effort to draw the bison off the barley/hay farms and onto the Range. Even the kindest review could only say it has seen 'limited' success.




Here's a close-up of the Bison Range.




Here's the total of the Helkenn's farm. The dark vertical lines are stands of trees (windbreaks) between the fields. They are about 20-25 yd wide. The fields are about 100 yd wide. The light green stripes running the length of the fields are areas Steve Helkenn left "fallow" in each field. You can see the house, shop and hay barn in the bottom of the picture. This image was taken in 2004, and since then there was another building erected. I'd call it a tractor barn.




I turned this image sideways and enlarged it to show the orientation of the various buildings, and where we parked the truck (the white "x") and looked over the field. I have added the "tractor barn" in blue.




In this last picture, (also turned sideways), you can see all of the relevant features.
"A" is where the bull came out of the woods from the "top" of the picture, right at the end of the field.
"B" is where we were parked when we spotted him.
"C" is where we drove the truck, I got out, and Rick got in the driver's seat. Just ahead of the "C" is an opening through the windbreak. That's where I crossed the windbreak and headed up the field hugging the treeline to my left.
"D" is the swale I was coming out of when I spotted the bull at "E".
"E" is where the bull was standing (roughly) when I took the first and second shots.
"F" is where the bull died, and roughly where he was standing when I took the third and fourth shots.
The yahoo that scared the bison off the first and second mornings drove down the west side of the field (the side opposite where I walked). The three people that were walking the field when we came back Sunday afternoon, were walking that same side. The bison ALWAYS went into the woods to that side of the field because there were several hundred acres of "woods" that hadn't been planted in MANY years. There was PLENTY of woods for them to hide in. That's why the bull I shot didn't run towards the windbreak that was only 20 feet from where he was standing when I first shot him. He knew there was only 20 yards of woods in which to hide. If he ran to the woods on the other side of the field, there were hundreds of acres of woods to get lost in. What he didn't figure was that I couldn't have shot him or really even chased him through that thin windbreak. If he hadn't been shot in the heart, he could have easily escaped going that direction.


Paul

Paul, that is really putting detail in a great hunt & story. It's like I was right there with you & Rick. .......It's difficult to imagine an animal of any sort moving around after being shot thru the heart. Especially one on the American continent. I know  African big game animals hang onto life even after being fatally shot multiple times. Again, thanks for you & Rick taking me along on this hunt.    .......Paul H

It was a frustrating event until the last 45 minutes!

Thanks, Paul. Like Rick said, it was one frustration after another right up to the end. It was truly the 'eleventh hour', and that's no gunwriter (ptooey) dramatization. At least as far as the part Rick would have been involved with. I would have of course gone back as many times as necessary, right through February or until I was successful, but each time would have been harder, and, almost certainly I would have been alone.


In "all of it", (especially the work every day for three weeks afterword), the significance of using the .416 kind of faded into the background. However, now, as all the post-shooting effort begins to fade and the story-tellin' phase begins, the importance of having been able to use the .416 returns to my mind.

I was telling j0e_bl0ggs that I was pleasantly surprised that the rifle didn't beat me up. I had a "in the back of my mind" thought about 'scope-eye', and was prepared to be 'beaten brutally about the head and shoulders' by the recoil, but in fact neither happened. The truth is, I had not shot the rifle from my shoulder with a scope mounted. All shots at the range had been with the rifle in a 'lead sled', (which the rifle's recoil broke!), and when I was just checking muzzle velocities, I held the rifle 'at the hip' because of the MagnetoSpeed. The broken lead sled and attendant bruises on my shoulder had put a little niggle in the back of my mind. It wasn't anything that caused a flinch or any such 'anticipation' reaction, but it was something I would 'think about' while sitting and glassing and thinking about "the act". I didn't really expect to notice the recoil much in the 'heat of battle', but i DID expect to get bruised. Didn't happen. Of course shooting off-hand helped that, but even so, I did expect some bruising - especially since I'm taking blood thinners. Just didn't happen. And I did actually look that morning (2am) before climbing in bed. Four shots, and no bruises. I'm liking that rifle even more. :D

I'm not sure "why" - other than I don't like not knowing - but I would like to figure out what's 'wrong' with the 400-grain bullets. Also, I would like to get a reasonable load worked up for the 350-grainer too. (And maybe the Hornady and Speer bullets as well.) Now that the bison 'box' has been checked off, I don't have any good reason why to worry about how those other bullets shoot, but it bugs me not to know. It doesn't make sense that they won't shoot any better than they do.



Paul

I was cutting up a piece of meat from the shoulder - making stew - when I hit something 'hard'. Turned out to be another chunk of the lead core of the bullet that hit the shoulder joint: 50 grains worth. This piece wasn't too far from the joint. I just missed it until I started making little ones out of big ones. I really don't expect to find any more, but I suppose we won't know until all the shoulder meat is gone.

Paul

Paul, it was good the velocity wasn't higher. It "might" have been a bit better if it had been a bit slower. Slower would have likely given more penetration & not fragmented the bullet as bad. Regardless,  it  killed so it didn't fail. That's all that matters. All these "experts" that claim a bullet failed because it came  apart are full of .... . One bear I shot with the 22 Newton was quartering toward me  & I shot it in the neck at the front edge of the  left shoulder. The  bullet went through  everything between the shoulders destroying  jugular veins, windpipe & everything else. The bullet was a 71 grain homemade double jacket affair. We found the outer jacket with the  rifling marks just under the skin on  the opposite side in the rib area. We never found the inner jacket & core. I was disappointed with the bullet performance but it did a great job. ......Paul H .....

Paul, if you look here http://www.thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20287&page=8 at post #72 with the trajectory tables, you will see that the 500-grain bullet with a MV of ~1825 was likely only doing about 1735 f/s at a range of 80 yd. (The range I estimated for the first shot: The one we're discussing that hit the shoulder.) Assuming it was only 50 yd instead of 80, the impact velocity would have been ~1760 f/s. (I know it wasn't closer than 50 yd at the first shot.) Mid 1700's is not exactly 'fast' for an impact velocity.


I'm pretty happy with the performance of the bullet. I shot a caribou in essentially the exact same point of impact, (shoulder joint), using the 7x300 Weatherby with the 115-grain HP bullet, and the devastation was worse than for this 500-grain bullet on this bison, BUT... The damage done to the bison's shoulder was seriously impressive! I simply have no complaints about bullet performance. Zero. They did what I expected and went where I aimed. Bison are just beasts. I would expect any other North American big game animal - including coastal brown bears - to have collapsed at that first shot. Big bull bison are beasts!




The top of the humerus is broken into 4 pieces and the head of the scapula is almost pulverized. I don't know how the thing stayed on its feet! Impact energy was somewhere between 3300 and 3500 foot-lbs! That's pushing a ton-and-three quarters! Then he took three more hits with essentially the same impact energy, one of which center-punched the heart. And he never FELL DOWN! When he finally went down, he LAID DOWN. Nope. I have no complaints about bullet performance.

Maybe, a faster bullet like the 2600+ f/s .338 would have 'shocked' the bull's central nervous system sufficiently to have knocked him off his feet. We'll never know. Nevertheless, I would have no compunction whatsoever about using these 500-grain Hawk .416 bullets in the future.

Paul

Quote from: gitano;154482 I would expect any other North American big game animal - including coastal brown bears - to have collapsed at that first shot. Big bull bison are beasts!


Paul

Unless of course the "fluffy cow" is no longer moving/breathing.

I'm not sure I like that sign. I think people that can't figure that out on their own need to be removed from the gene pool by their own actions.


Paul

Quote from: gitano;154488I'm not sure I like that sign. I think people that can't figure that out on their own need to be removed from the gene pool by their own actions.


Paul

As true as that may be, and as much as I agree, you know how the media will spin it.


We'll have to endure yet another diatribe about how violence is always wrong,...
While they excuse stupidity.

Got the bison hide back from the tannery today. Very disappointing. They didn't take care of it, and major hair slippage on the face around the eyes. They tried to blame it on "whoever took the skull out of the hide", but I reminded them that THEY took the skull out of the hide. They must have asked me 15 times if I was "sure". Finally, I took out my camera and showed them a picture I took of them "in the act". Nothing can be done. What's done is done. Honestly, I'm not surprised. "Once in a lifetime" trophies just seem to find a way to get ruined/lost/damaged. Fortunately, I wasn't having it mounted, AND the hair on the nose and head and the rest of the hide was very good. They just didn't take care of the 'mask'.

It smells of the tannery, so I had it outside hanging over the rail of my deck to air out - until it started to rain.



Paul

Sheesh!!!!  Incompetent, uncaring idiots. I had about the same thing happen to my first bear skin back in the 1980's. The taxidermist said they forgot it was in the tumbler & it beat holes in it & destroyed all the claws. Must have had it in a rock crusher with rocks and scrap metal. Disgusting.  ......Paul H.....