Rufus Krile
03-06-2016, 02:04 PM
These were taken last thursday NW of Austin, TX and two out of three buffs were taken with 45/70's. Apparently the 45/70 is still more than adequate for american bison. The two were taken with two different rifles pictured below. (The 3rd was with a .308 with those 'j' bullet thingies...) The first was taken with an '86 Winchester shooting 405gr Lee RNFP. The only bullet recovered was one of these that broke a rib going in, exploded the lungs, broke a rib going out and stuck under the skin on the far side. The animal was dead on its feet but still trying to get into the brush so I shot it high through the front shoulders to break it down. The 500gr RNFPGC worked as advertised and it went straight down. Here is number one with a little gun porn thrown in... that's a Turnbull takedown '86.162868162870 Well, I got the pictures reversed but you can figure it out... The second (on the right) was a couple of hours later and still in the cedar break country as you can tell. Same plan... wanted to put the 500gr through both shoulders to keep it from getting out in the dense brush, but due to the angle only got one shoulder and it managed to thrash its way about 15yds into the cedar. There was a full handful of spinal bone chips that came out the exit wound so we knew it wouldn't be very far in. And it wasn't. One more behind the ear and we were to the point where the work starts. The gun I was shooting is a Winchester model '85 BPCR Target. The vernier rear sight is not really the best for these hunting environs so I had one of Leupold's "Hog-Plex" scopes in 1 X 4 pwr on it. Pretty good choice in this area... up on 4X for out in the sendero and dialed back to 1X when you have to get into the brush. The bullets were all 25/1 alloy and pushed with AA5744 powder to about 1400fps each. I had given some thought to trying a NOE 350 cup point but I got talked out of it. They were right. These are big tough critters that need big tough bullets. All in all, had a lot of fun and would do it again.
As an aside for the other 'Texians' here... the Bluebonnets are out south of San Antonio, as well as the poppies and Indian Paintbrush. Mixed in with them are the ever-present white blossoms that serve as snowbird traps. For the un-enlightened, these are flowering bull-nettle and you will mistakenly pick one only once.
As an aside for the other 'Texians' here... the Bluebonnets are out south of San Antonio, as well as the poppies and Indian Paintbrush. Mixed in with them are the ever-present white blossoms that serve as snowbird traps. For the un-enlightened, these are flowering bull-nettle and you will mistakenly pick one only once.