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Ruger Number One at 300 yds

15 FEET! ??

Ya, that was pretty intense. A small group of us were on a spot and stalk bear hunt here in Washington. One of the guys wounded a bear. Dropped it quickly, then doggone it, the bear was back up, and then rolling & running downhill into a brush choked ravine. It had obviously been hit, but was quite alive.

I was more experienced in that sort of thing - going in after things in the brush - and had the 375 H&H Ruger, with the 1.5-5x scope. Seemed like a good rifle for the task, except for that whole one-shot thing...

At any rate, the other guys watched and walked along nearby, but out of the brush while I tracked the bear through the brush.

Eventually I could hear it moving, but couldn't see it.

Then I could hear it breathing, but couldn't see the bear.

Finally I saw the bear through a little gap in the branches & leaves and shot it. As I recall I reloaded fast and shot it again, just because. Whew! Ya, 15' or so. Maybe a bit closer. :)

I actually enjoyed the experience, but am not eager to do it again.

Regards, Guy
 
I had a similar experience with a Cape buffalo. It was wounded by an inexperienced hunter I was with, and went into some tall grass. I crept around the outside of the stand of grass with my .375 H&H, and finally saw the buff lying down and staring through an opening right at me. I was probably 20 feet away. Moving slowly, I raised the rifle and shot below his muzzle. He died instantly. Gotta love the .375 H&H!
 
I had a similar experience with a Cape buffalo. It was wounded by an inexperienced hunter I was with, and went into some tall grass. I crept around the outside of the stand of grass with my .375 H&H, and finally saw the buff lying down and staring through an opening right at me. I was probably 20 feet away. Moving slowly, I raised the rifle and shot below his muzzle. He died instantly. Gotta love the .375 H&H!

Wow! Quite an experience. Did you use a scope or sights for that shot? And what bullet were you using?

Not sure I'll ever get a chance to hunt cape buffalo, but yes, the 375 would go along on that trip!

Regards, Guy
 
Guy

I had a low-power scope on that rifle, as I was using it on plains game at moderate distances (out to 300 yards). At the time, there were not a lot of choices in .375 caliber bullets. IIRC, Hornady made a 300 grain round nose soft point and a 300 grain solid. I would have been using the solids on Cape buffalo.

On another buff hunt, I was able to line up on a buffalo at about 110 yards, head-on, and put a solid right into him. Again, I was trying to shoot under his snout to hit his heart-lung area. When I shot he shook his head like he was getting rid of pesky flies, then just sat there.

I put another round into him, a little lower, and that did the trick.

When we got to him I could see the first shot had the hit top of his nose and ridden up the nose and exited through the boss on the right side. That's a .375 H&H magnum at around 100 yards, and he acted like it was a fly that was annoying him. Thinking about it later, I would have guessed the impact would have stunned him, but it didn't.

Those are tough brutes!
 
Quote from Guy's post.......And I've got a 375 H&H "Tropical" that has become known as "Dad's bear rifle" after three black bear from 15 feet to 306 yards. :)


I had a black bear, at a little less than that.....I could hear her breathing and could see her nostrils flaring as she was breathing! And, I was unable to shoot!

I was hunting over baits, and was approaching my bait and still around 100 yards away from my tree stand. I had the 100 yards to cover, with only two small evergreens between me and my stand. I was crossing the opening, when the bear (a young, dumb, blonde) came bounding out of the timber to the bait. I immediately fell to the ground to hide, and figure out what to do. I wasn't comfortable with the distance, knowing that I had to close. The trees were to off to my right, one at around 70 yards from the bait, the other around 35. I figured I'd use the dense evergreen to obscure my stalk. I crawled to the first tree, placing it between me and the bear. Now standing, I waited for the bear to face away from me.....when she did, I side-stepped, lining-up the second tree for the rest of the stalk! I made it to that tree, but made a bad mistake....I almost crawled into the limbs to get the best cover. It was at the time, she started feeding on new grass growth, right toward me! She fed right- up to the opposite side of the tree, turning to her left and continued....bringing her to my right side. I was watching her through tiny gaps in the thick conifer! I was so close to the tree and it was so thick....I would have to wait for her to clear the tree line.

Her head had just barely cleared the outer limbs, which put her head around 10 feet from me. It was at that moment she froze, breathing hard.....I guess it was at that point she smelled me! She wheeled and ran for the dense timber. Though, not in a terrified sprint.....more of a lope! I stood there, in utter disbelief, that I had a bear that close and failed to get off a shot!

After a few moments to compose myself, I thought, "What the hell, I'll go into the timber and try to find her" When I first got into the timber, it was thick and dark, and it took a little while for my eyes to adjust. Imagine walking into a dimly lit barroom from bright sunshine! While my eyes were adjusting, I could hear a noise not far in front of me! When I could see clearly, there was my bear about 35 yards away, back to me....tearing into a rotted log. I brought back the hammer on my 629 S&W, took aim....waiting for her to turn. She stopped her work on the log, and turned to her left. In just a moment, she was broadside. That's when 265 grains of cast bullet hit her! She immediately went down, but, started to gather her hind legs beneath her as though preparing to run.....it was at that instant, another bullet hit her right behind the shoulder. She was down!

When, I approached her, it was at that time I realized that .....I had shot and killed a "naked" blonde! o_OPreviously, when she was so close, I was focused on her head.....not noticing that she was pretty badly rubbed! Even with that, she still made a pretty, two tone, brown and blonde rug! memtb
 
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