stid2677

The 3rd day found as taking care of meat and capes and glassing for more bulls. That evening we were sitting around the fire when we spotted 3 nice bulls. We jumped in the raft and crossed the river and the chase was on. The Caribou go up a saddle and we race to the top only to see them at over 400 yards, I check the yardage to the largest bull 425 yards, I take a steady rock rest and fire my first shot from the prone. I was able to stay in the scope and see that my shot had fallen low and bloke his away front leg, he rears and starts to spin and I adjust my aim using my B&C reticle and fire for effect hitting him 3 times though the ribs. He was still on his feet and I reload and missed the next shot and broke his back with the next. The others had caught up and watched as I finished him off, The other 2 bulls just stood there at over 400 yards, too far for the wife. Rod and Flor moved to close the distance and Rich and I approached my bull. Rod glassed the other 2 and decided they had both taken larger bulls and let them pass and walked to help us with mine. We dressed him out and headed back to camp before dark. The next day my bull and the ones from the second day.

While the others were gone we heard shots and knew they connected. We watched as they packed the meat back to the river. The next day I helped them pack back the last of the meat and heads. This is 3 of the 4 heads One of the largest.

The float to our camp was hair raising to say the least, one of the other rafts got a hole put in it. Got setup at camp and stated hunting the next day. The wife and I glassed from a high knob and the others set off for sheep. Not long after they left we heard shots and knew they had connected. We had 19 pass by us and let them walk as we had both taken larger caribou already.

The wife and I just got back form 10 days chasing Caribou across the North Slope of Alaska. Had the trip of a life time. We had 6 in our party, the wife and I and my buddy and his wife and also his father and brother. They were after Sheep and bear and Caribou and the wife and I wanted a shot at Caribou and bear. We flew our rafts and gear form Dead Horse into the Brooks Range to begin our float hunt adventure. Got dropped off and started blowing up the rafts getting ready to float to our camp.

Hit the range today, My R-1 is still ready to hunt. We fly out on the 26th for a Caribou hunt. Will post the pics if we get lucky. Steve

ERDept, Thanks for your kind words. The Army was good to me. I was a poor kid, raised by a single Mom, never enough money. Had no one to take me hunting, lived in Florida kinda near West Palm Beach. All there was to hunt were Rabbits in the cane fields near my house. My 20 plus years in the Army were hard on both my body and my family, however I saved and invested enough to allow me to do a few thing now. I always wanted to hunt as a kid and never really got the chance, guess I'm making up for it now. If you know a kid that don't have anyone to take them out into the field, step up and share your time, you will be glad you did. I take as many as I can and enjoy their hunts as much as mine now. Happy Hunting Steve

My dream hunt is a horse back pack in elk hunt into the high country. When I get back to the lower 48, my back is not getting any better and I want to do it while I'm still able. I love hunts that call animals in, thats why I love moose hunting and calling bears as well. Making a big bull hunt you down gets the old heart thumping. Steve

A picture of the last two seasons of bear skulls. Steve

I shot this buck in Texas with my bow. Steve

Using photbucket use the IMG link or the last choice. Steve

Yea we see moose a lot, but not like this one. This moose will go close to 60 inches. Quite a nice bull. Steve

Wife wife is small, 5ft 3 and 115lbs. But she can get it done. Here is a bull she saw close to home. Steve

I use Photobucket.com. Try a photo hosting site. Steve

My R-1 is scoped with the Leupold VX-L 3.5x10x50mm. Mine has the B&C redicle. Here is a link http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/scopes/vx-l-riflescopes/vx-l-3-5-10x50mm/ Steve

Got one of my bears back from the taxidermist. I think he looks nice. Steve

Here is a set of Dall sheep horns I mounted old school style on an old Trapper Nelson Pack. Steve

This is the wifes 1st Black bear. Got her to within 30 yards. Setup her shooting sticks and she put a smack down on him with her 270 WSM. I fired an anchoring shot but she had hit him behind the front leg and broke his away leg. His sow ran up a nearby tree and for a minute she thought she had killed a sow, but I knew from the size that he was a big male. 6 ft 3 inches with a 19 inch skull. A real nice bear. She will be having him made into a rug. Steve

Still had the inch to hunt the Blacks so headed up the mighty Yukon river to do some bear baiting with a couple buddies. We scored on this mating pair. An old sow and a younger male. I took the male because of his black face but my R-1 helped made sure that their moose eating days were over. We had been hunting from an elevated stand but after 3 hours we were both freezing, we had been dropped off by boat and we were there for the night. We decided to climb down and build a fire. After warming up for an hour, my buddy J says that he is going to check the bait. He returns excited and says that there was a bear on the bait. It was my turn to shoot so we sneak up to have a look. We spot the big sow and she starts to move off. I fire and drop her on the spot and my buddy anchors her with his .308. He then spots the male and we both fire at him and we score a double. We drag them over to the river and skin them both while we wait for our ride. We head back for home as soon as the boat arrives. Two bears in less than 18 hours and no sleep after 36. I was worn out and bug bitten by the time we got them checked in and got home. Time to clean the R-1 and get ready for Caribou and Grizzly season. Spring bear is about over and the hides are stating to get thin. Both these bears had great coats and will make nice rugs. Happy Hunting All Steve

Just returned from 2 weeks of hunting on the coast of Alaska. I'm in total awe every time I go there. Saw lots of bears and even got a couple. Here is one more my R-1 had a hand in bringing home. Steve

Added another bear to my R-1s resume. Had a great hunt with the wife out in PWS running out of Valdez, Alaska. Am I the only one that hunts with a R-1????? Steve

one of the claws. Steve

Well, the wife are and I are out trying to get her a black bear and I'm trying to get some more trigger time in with my R-1 on back-up. No luck yet as we are having a late spring and the bear are just starting to move. I did get my Brownie back for the taxi. Here he is 7.5 male with frosted tips. Cje61, let me now what you think about that lifeliner. Steve

I don't hunt with the EZ trigger, everything I have taken with this rifle was killed with factory Federal Premium with 180 grain Barnes TSX BT. This rifle comes to the eye very nice. With mine it is shoot, breath and reaquire the target and fire again. I have stood shoulder to shoulder and fired at bears with my hunting partners, I can fire 2 rounds to their one. On my brown bear I shot it it in the shoulder, it spun and ran. My partner, by my side fired and missed. I fired again and hit it in the rear end as it ran. My friend was never able to chamber another 338 round until the bear was out of site. As we got near the bear it tried to attack. Again I fired twice to his once and I was ready with the third round but it was over. I have not heard about any new issues. I served in the Army for over 20 years and trained and saw hundreds of people fire. IMHO most rifles including the R-1 will out shoot the people trying to fire them. I only started hand loading for mine this winter. More because ammo is getting hard to find up here in 300 WM. Factory ammo these days is hard to beat if you can find the combo you want to shoot. I have a friend that just bought a R-1 in 300 WSM. Will get a range report from him as soon as he gives it a test drive. Good Luck and Happy Spending Steve

I prefer the 24 inch tube and I had good luck shooting factory Federal Premium 180 grain barnes TSXs in my 300m WM. Steve

Do I feel like I'm sacrificing anything? Well, maybe my R-1 is a good shooter for an automatic. I get right at 1 MOA. For a belted magnum the recoil of my R-1 is worth the trade off. I hunt with this rifle and it is plenty accurate for what I do with it. I don't like that it fouls so much at the gas port/piston area and that darn screw that holds the fore grip is a beast to keep tight and the last thing is the trigger. The trigger is okay for a hunting rifle but I prefer a lower pull. I leave for my spring bear hunt in a couple weeks and I will have my R-1 in hand again this year. The four things I love about it. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM and BOOM, "Grin" :-) Happy Hunting Steve