I'll take bad luck

Flybum

New member
Last weekend my buddy and I had planned a four day predator hunting trip. I had just recieved a Night Eyes gun light the week before and had ran it two nights in -10 degree temps with no problems around town. I was stoked with knowing we now had the ability to hunt at night also. This time of year that means from before four in the afternoon untill after nine in the morning. Over ninety six straight hours of hunting we couldn't wait.

The plan was for me to be done with work by ten on friday and not have to be back until tuesday night. I didnt' sneak out till a little after four. Not a great start. We had wanted to begin the nine plus hour drive during as much light as we could. We wanted to mark any good looking areas on the GPS so that we could find them if it was dark when we were coming back through.

Seven hours into the drive and the only sign of life we had seen was a single grouse as we were leaving town. Not even a road kill. Not looking good so far.

We had decided with the late start that we would get gas at the last gas station. Still two hours away from where we wanted to focus our hunt. We had extra gas cans and thought hard about pushing through. We didn't need gas. It would allow us to spend extra time farther down the road before having to head back. This also ment we had to wait till they opened for breakfast. More lost time. We caught a few hours nap and choked down breakfast only to find out they had just changed the pumps so you could now pay at the pump. We didn't need to wait. More bad luck and more cussing under our breath. This trip was not off to a good start.

As we pulled out of town around seven I put the Night Eyes gun light on my AR. I thought hard about throwing it on the 17 HMR thinking if we did see anything along the road it'd be a fox or a lynx and they'd get thier eyes crossed. For no really good reason the AR got the go-ahead though.

Twenty miles out side of town we seen the second animal of the trip. A beautiful wolf casually walked a crossed the road a hundred yards ahead of us. My buddy slowed to a stop as we reached his crossing point. As I fumbled for the gun, gear spewed out of the truck. No way was this wolf hanging around after this show.

I stepped off the road and turned the light on just going through the motions. This wolf had to be long gone. As the red light drifted acrossed the trees two large red golfballs glowed back at twenty five yards. My cross hairs split the gap in the spruce branches, searching for the wolfs chest behind them, as I eased the trigger.

Recoil, darkness, red trees, no wolf. No yelp. No branches breaking. Nothing. *&*^!!!!!!! I missed!!!! My stomach dropped. More bad luck.

I searched with the light knowing the wolf was gone. A twenty five yard shot on a standing wolf is the shot of a lifetime and I blew it. My light moved to the left and found the glowing red golfballs again at thirty yards. This time the wolf was in a little clearing. I could clearly see him. My cross hairs hit his neck as the trigger broke.

Recoil, darkness, red trees, no wolf. No sound. Again nothing. Just the Alaskan night, me and my beam of red. I choked back puke. I had missed again. I wanted to crawl back into the truck and forget this ever happened. I knew better, I couldn't. I needed to check my AR. I couldn't believe I missed those chip shots!!!

I slowly walked over to where the wolfs tracks went away from the road. I lost them after ten feet with the spotty snow and tussocks. I walked out twenty five yards looking for anything. The feeling in my stomach didn't get any better. No blood, I lost the tracks, I had to own up to the misses, dissapointment, and the ribbing I was going to get the rest of the trip at least. I was not in the mood for any of this.

As I slowly turned to suck it up and accept my fate my head lamp caught tracks in the new angle. They were left from the wolf as he ran from the first shot. The feeling in my stomach was still there as I reached the new found tracks and followed them with my eyes. Ten yards farther lay a beautiful wolf. Head laid on his crossed front feet just like a dog naps. He never moved an inch after the second shot. I was barely able to find the shots after he started to freeze. Both shots hit where they were ment to. There was no blood, even on his hair.

It just reminds me that every thing happens for a reason. Even when everything seems to be going wrong. Also the importance of following up on EVERY shot. Even if your positive of a miss. I know I'm glad I did.









 
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big doggy........Alaska sounds fun.
I'm thinking the kind of hunting activity you describe might lead to a little trouble down here in some of the lower states
 
Thanks guys. I'm very happy with him.

Possumal- I haven't weighted him yet. Hopefully I can when I bring him to the taxidermist tomorrow. I'm guessing around #90. I'm 6' and 230 lbs for reference so he's no small boy.

jf1073- Nothing illegal about it. Imagine driving a quarter of the way across the USA and only coming a crossed but a handful of houses, gas stations and only a couple of miles of that whole trip drives past private land. It's big boy land up here. No shooting on or a crossed a road, follow safe gun handling, and have fun. There are obviously more game laws but that’s the gist of it.
 
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