So Saturday evening I took my smokepole out back to test the Hornady Great Plains bullets I had picked up. I fired three shots at 50 yards and had a good group about 6 inches high. I moved back to 100 yards and grouped 3 inches directly below the first group. To say the least I was impressed with the performance.
Sunday morning I awoke ready to go. I loaded up the pickup and headed over to my hunting buddy's house. Here in Eastern Oregon we have a late season cow elk muzzleloader hunt that extends through the end of January. We both had tags, so with our gear in hand it was off to a farmers field that we had gotten permission to hunt. We spotted the small heard of about 25 elk as soon as we got there. The only problem was that they were out of range of my range finder let alone the ol .54. So we waited...and waited. After about an hour or so, they all jumped up and started running toward us. We couldn't believe our luck. They stopped and I ranged them, 352yards. We waited and they kept walking toward us. We were pretty well camo'd in the trees and brush. I ranged them again, 217yards and closing. I asked my buddy if he had a shot from his position. He said he did, but we needed them closer. As they continued they closed to 125 yards. I asked again, this time he said there was to much brush. I told him I was clear. About then the elk started to get really antsy... After the smoke cleared I saw the bullet had done it's job. I had held a little high, but didn't
need to, as the bullet hit right where I aimed. I snapped this photo with my old school flip phone, and how I got it here is still a bit of a mystery to me.
The load was 100 grains of Goex ffg and a Hornady Great Plains bullet. The bullet hit her in the spine, and I recovered under the hide on the off side. It was perfectly mushroomed. We got her home and taken care of, and my wonderful wife cooked up some fine backstraps. All in all, a good day.
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Originally Posted by Screwbolts
