a levergun hunting trip charged with Adrenaline !!!

new pig hunter · Post by **new pig hunter** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:01 pm

Just spotted this one at another favorite forum:
http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/ind ... pic=167021

Cheers,

Carl

jengel · Post by **jengel** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:18 pm

Looks like you have to be a forum member to view the post. Copy and paste maybe?

new pig hunter · Post by **new pig hunter** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:16 pm

copied and pasted:

Me and two guys from the board here have been planning a cow hunt this last sunday and we managed to make it happen. We met at the trailhead around 6 and started on the trail. It was a nice walk in and we got there at 9ish. We hung out at the end of the trail for a bit to catch our breath and stop sweating. Soon after we started up the river again, about 200-300 yards up the river I spotted some brown. Jason performed a textbook stalk and downed a small one. The day had started off as it should. After butchering it we started up the river again. Jason chose to stay behind and hunt the river and the small drains along it. So Ed and I headed off into the forest to get us some beef or pork. We ended up at a giant cliff face waterfall thing which was dry, I think Ed may have a pic or two. So we backtracked a bit and climbed up some muddy slope back into the bush. We headed northwest for a bit more or less aiming for where I believed the grassy area begins. About an hour into the hike I stepped out from behind a huge ohia tree and saw a cow about 40 or so yards away. I tucked back behind the tree and told Ed to step up for the shot. He kinda lagged a bit and by the time he poked out the cow started jogging away. He fired a shot and clearly hit it somewhere in the front quarter. I saw it stumble and turn from us and keep running, I put 3 rounds into its butt as it ran away hoping to maybe get a spine or texas heart shot. No such luck, we saw a small ammount of blood but nothing guranteeing a kill. We looked for a bit but couldn't find it. I have a feeling his shot hit shoulder and might have not penetrated vitals. While mine probably felt a bit like flea bites on it's butt.

At this point we started arching our track back towards the trail, about a quarter mile or so in from the river. We saw tons of sign, some places more than others. After crossing a few huge ravines we saw a real fresh pig wallow, another 5 minutes after we stopped to have a snack. About 10 feet from us a pig jumped up from a tangle of ferns and ran away. We never got a look at him though. As we rounded south towards the river we started to get into these real marshy little draws full of some sort of reed. There was a lot of fresh cow track everywhere and I knew we'd see one eventually.

Then I saw a branch shake about 75 yards through the trees. I let Ed know there was something ahead and we both dropped down low. They were behind a big tangle of ferns about 50 yards away. I crept up to maybe 40 or so yards away with a bunch of trees and logs in between us and picked the closest cow, waited until I could tell which way it was facing and put a 150gr slug right into his vitals. I saw it drop to its front knees when the shot hit and heard a lot of commotion. There were a bunch of cows running away from us and I assumed our cow was in the group. I waited a minute or so and poked my head into the trail to see if he was still there or not, I didn't see him so crept a bit closer to check for blood. Right then I saw its butt about 20 yards away, he was standing still behind a clump of uluhe fern. All I could see was his butt so I waited a bit. He took one step backwards and his vitals were exposed. BAM, one shot, BAM, two shots, BAM three shots! All these shots were aimed straight at his lungs and it looked like I hadn't even hit the darn cow. He didn't do so much as quiver like when a fly lands on their backs. Right then he took a step backwards and caught sight of me. I hadn't seen the head of the cow at this point and it was a giant mature bull. He lowered his head and started running at me from about 20 yards. I turned tail and started down the trail towards Ed.

I remember reading something on an online forum by a bunch of cape buffalo hunters. They unanimously (sp?) agreed that when you are charged it is best to wait and pick your shot wisely, rather than shooting as many bullets as you can into the neck, chest or snout of the animal. My brain flashed on this and I spun to face the cow with my last bullet. It's funny what your brain is thinking during times of severe stress. At this point the cow had gained on me and was only 10yards from me. This all happened in slow motion it seemed like, me spinning and cocking my hammer, planting my feet and centering my sights on the forehead of this massive beast. In this time the cow had taken another two steps at me, covering another 2 yards. As my sights centered I pulled the trigger and......*click*

After putting three rounds in the butt of the first cows I had only reloaded another 2 rounds. Very bad mistake. Right after my attempted last ditch effort I spun around again and saw Ed raising his gun, still 5 yards or so in front of me. He blew three 12ga slugs right by my shoulder and into the charging beast at a distance of about 10-12 feet. This put him to his knees and I kept running through the open swampy area, fumbling with my last two cartridges in my shirt pocket. I remember yelling at Ed to shoot him again but Ed had dropped his gun in the shuffle. He forgot to take out the plug in the magazine for it to hold more shots, so it was still in crappy California mode with only 3 shots. At this point he dove out of the way of the bull and over a small log dropping his gun on the bull side of the log. He had to climb back over the log with a still live 1000lb bull only 10 feet from him. He retrieved the gun and put one more final round into the head of the bull. I fired my last shot into its head to be safe.

This whole experience, as exciting and relieving it may be, is something that I could go the whole rest of my life without experiencing again. I nearly crapped my pants afterwords the adrenaline was surging through my body so hard I was stuttering and shaking like a leaf. Ed pretty much saved my life out there. I am SO lucky he was there and manned up to the threat instead of turning tail like me. Looking back at the event I can see how many faults I made. Didn't have a full magazine, sneaking up on a wounded bull...the list goes on, the biggest of which is being totally undergunned for a half a ton animal. But all I can say is I am so so happy to be writing this story on here and not in some swamp in the Hilo Watershed with a rotting bull on top of me. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, we got the bull butchered and nervously laughed for an hour or so. We got back to the river about 3:15 and met up with Jason. We started hiking out and it took us all of the 2 hour alotted time. We made it to the truck and parted ways.

I still feel like I can't tell the story right, it doesn't sound nearly as intense as it actually was. The whole thing took place in under 15 seconds or so. It's all such a blur. The whole 'dangerous game' thing kinda has me freaked out, Im actually considering ending the cow hunting and sticking to pig hunting.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f281/ ... evbull.jpg

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:08 pm

Seems to me, I recall something about "being sure of your target." No further comment.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:13 pm

I guess that gives new meaning to a COW HUNT. I thought you meant an ELK. GRIFF, if I am not mistaken thats the animal he intended to shoot. Although, after having ridden bulls in the past, I am not sure that a Wild Cow/Bull shoot would be at the top of my list on an addrenaline rush. You do know its easier to load them up in a trailer and then have them shot at the slaughter house!

20cows · Post by **20cows** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:13 pm

Are we talking US Grade A beeves? Bovines? If so, he seems to over use the word cow.

I was unaware there were places where these were considered game animals. Mine sure wouldn't be hard to hunt!

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:16 pm

But then you might have to change your profile name to 19cows

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:54 pm

I believe they must be in Hawaii. I seem to recall reading an article about their wild cattle hunts. Maybe Ji will see this and verify.

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:23 pm

....more proof that God protects children and fools.

Sounded like he was describing an airsoft game.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 12:18 am

Yes, Ganjiro; can you shed any light on this?
I am confused

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 12:28 am

That's a kid I know from Kaua'i Evan Bouret, he's attending college on Big Island of Hawaii UH Hilo, and he's hunting wild Vancouver Cattle in the Waiakea Forest Reserve on the Big Island. That's the reason I originally picked up my 45/70 "Smelly Nelly" to hunt these wild Hawaiian bovines. He's a tad undergunned with his 30/30 but I think he learned his lesson. Since I'll be unemployed at the end of next week I may go on a meat gathering hunt sooner than later. Me and Evan share mutual friends so may wind up hunting with him in the future.

Here's a 2007 video of another wild cattle hunt in same area with a couple other guys I know Bruce, and Nic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_3VXlevehw

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:03 am

FYI, there are wild cattle here in the U.S. that can be hunted. Down on the Mexican border and in the Grand canyon there are feral cattle that nobody could say anything about you killing.

Any cattle over one year old with no earmarks or brands on public land are fair game, according to open range laws. (FYI, when you see an "Open range" sign, it doesn't mean there's a shooting range nearby, it means cattle are running loose and have the right of way. If you hit one with your car, you have to pay for the cow. You have nobody to sue.)

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:15 am

I gathered that; but... to mistakenly shoot a bull when you're intending to take a cow isn't what I'd call good game identification, whether you're talking bovine or elk. I figured what was coming by his use of the male pronoun in referring to the "cow" he'd shot.

But... adrenaline can do strange things to ya!

A .30-30 is fine for bovine, in the ear; but Ji, I gotta agree, a tad light during a charge by an enraged bull

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:46 am

Griff,

Ya gotta remember, people from town think anything with horns is a bull.

El Chivo · Post by **El Chivo** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:55 am

first thing I thought of was the hunter having to deal with a p'o'd rancher at the end of the story.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:12 am

Ganjiro,
Thanks I did not know about wild cattle on the island, I do know about the ones on the border; I just alwawys stayed away from them.

new pig hunter · Post by **new pig hunter** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:49 pm

ganjiro,

yessir, that's the fellow, Ev Bouret !!

Cheers,

Carl

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:14 am

It sounds like the Keystone Cops have retired and taken up wild cow hunting.

dbateman · Post by **dbateman** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:06 am

feral cattle can be dangerous to hunt a few people have
died over here in the last couple of years wile hunting scrub bulls

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:31 am

Yeah, I used to hunt wild cows for a living. I wasn't shooting them, either. I was catching them and bringing them in. Never had any real close calls doing it.

A few years later, however, I took a jeep to the top of the mountain to pick up a hunter's elk, and darn near got chewed up by a yearling bull. I had my waist harness on, pulling a hindquarter behind me, and the bull and I kinda turned the corner at the same time. Surprised the hell out of both of us.
Thank God I learned years ago that, no matter whether or not you know you're screwed, you do better if you just decide to win. The bull turned tail, I said a word of thanks, and started looking for a sidearm to carry.