Waidmannsheil, Klaus!!

Scratch one fawn killer!

Sorry for the "stuck". That's routine, here, I'm afraid though too often no help can be found...

Here in Idaho, all night sport hunting is illegal except for racoons, but a few years ago I was issued a special depredation permit for elk on my ranch {any hour, day or night}.

It was in January and full dark at 17:30. I could see them from my kitchen window, just barely, 1000 meters away standing in the snow, digging through it and eating the new field grass.

I put on my white snow camoflage smock and pants and grabbed my Ruger 7x57 and started walking, the snow sounding just a bit crunchy. At about 300 meters, I sat down, snuggled into my rifle and thought...too far.

I got up and walked about 100 closer as they were holding still, and repeated the process. Still too far for my comfort.

I got up and walked closer yet, holding the rifle behind my back. My experience with animals and white snow camo against snow is that they are absolutely baffled by it.

At what I figured was about 100 long paces I saw one perk up at the sound of some snow crunching under my boot. I sat down and in the crisp, cold air, under a crystal clear sky, pitch black except for the brilliant starlight common to our remote area and put the crosshairs on the shoulder of a big cow and broke the trigger.

It was one of my most memorable hunts. I can still "see" and "feel" the shot today.

Danke sehr, Klaus für Seine Post! Sie geben mich meine Erinnerungen wieder!