Kingwoulbe, I just got in to Ottawwa where I will spend the night here on a bench in the airport and catch a 6a flight out to Detroit, then Dallas, then Lubbock arriving to see my wife and kids at 745p. Let me try and answere your questions and by the way, thank you for asking. Here goes;
1. How hard was it to shoot in that cold. I practiced with all my gear on, including the white cover ups which I never even got a chance to put on. I found however my bowstring catching the coat due to the bulk so I figured out if I put on a bungy cord around my chest girth, I got the compression I needed for the string to clear. I had it tucked neatly in my pocket that covered my L thigh for "quick access" , ha!ha!little did I know.....Now how I shot the bear was a different story, I didn't have time to put on my chest strap, plus I had my optics and movie camera around my neck adding bulk to the coat, and worst of all I was not able to use my natural shooting form. I got to my anchor, index finger to my corner of my mouth and cock feather to my nose tip, but i was stooping forward somewhat in an effort to hold my bow out and away from my chest. I was worried about no chest strap. Plus, I had more bend in my bow arm than normal because I also didn't have on my sleeve compression. I was disappointed in my shot placement, i certainly didn't plan on shooting the bear from the angles presented to me nor with the bow held unnaturally away from my obstacles. i know this, my Almighty Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gets all the credit for the shooting to result in this bear's demise. Short answere, If I use a bungy strap on my chest and have nothing hanging on my neck, the shooting is actually quite doable. For cold weather shooting, up there you have to keep your hands covered or in seconds they will freeze and you can't shoot. That happened to me on the musk ox during my time to prep and put on my chest strap, take off my coat and optics, and put on my glove liner, plus a Filson wool glove, then my leather shooting glove. i actually had to take a minute and tear open a chemical hand warmer and jam my hand back in my fur mittens to get my fingers warm enough again so I could put my R hand liner, wool and shooting glove. Keep in mind it was my first day of the M.O. hunt so I was not expecting 3 hours into it to be on a herd of M.O. Now for the bear, i already had all the gloves on and just was wearing them inside my double fur mittens. The kiner and one layer of wool however will only protect you for a few minutes and the cold begins to stiffen your hand, followed by the pain and then weakness.
2.Was you penetration what you expected. yes,i had confidence the 56lbs was good, and at my draw length it was actually 62lbs. Considering I never took a broadside shot, i can't say what the penetration would of been but for my 2nd arrow to go thru the right chest and and comeout the L ribs, that that was good. In the bear pic, you can see what the bear bit off laying on the gound - at least in one of my pics you can see it. It was short, maybe 8" or so.
3. What would you have done different. the plan was to have Caleb shoot a video of the live action but he was not there, if that cold be changed, obviously i would have wanted that. I would have put my chest strap on over my coat as soon as Sam saw the 2 bears just in case what happened, happened - meaning we would be off in a flash after them. there was a minute looking back I could of done it. I would have removed my camera and optics at that time also. I would have used that 6th arrow for a broad side shot when I had the opprotunity. This way we would of had 1 more assurance the bear was dead so we coul dof approached it sooner and positioned it for photos before it froze and i would have tried to put snow all over it to hide the blood. After the kill, i would have asked Sam if we could have a more time just to soak in the moments, and not be in such a rush to get started skinning and quartering. In his defense, he may of known up there the weather is too unpredictable to lolly gag around. you could die trying to find your way back to camp and he was quite concerned about Calebo. I would stuff my camera in my coat let it warm up and take more pics. My low battery light came on at the end of the pics I took so I thought I was about done being able to take pics but later after my camera warmed back up, it still had enough power to shoot more pics. I think that would be it.
4. Can you bring him back to the USA. No, i can't bring him back but he is on the way to yellowknife to Robertson's Taxidermy on Monday( go check out their website
www.ssimicro.com/~wildart) and he will be a full mount because i believe someday the US will allow the trophies to be brought in and if they never do, i will donate it to a place to display it. Or who knows, i may become a citizen/land owner in Canada with a cabin where I can hunt and have my traditional buddies like you guys come and spend some time.
5. What was your cost door to door? I don't have the exact total yet but roughly the outfitter fees were 5K for the M.O., 27K for the P.B. then you have airlines which ran about 5k and mine ended up more since I had to change my flights to come home early, then you have hotels at $200 a night - and it wasn't the ritz carlton, it was economy dirt cheapest you could get. meal swer $20-$25 each. The tags for M.O. and P.B. were $52.50 each and the export fee paid to Canada for the M.O. was $157.50 and they call it a harvest fee for the P.B. and it was $787.50. The pricing for the taxidermy will be roughly 5K for the M.O. and for the P.B. is roughly 8K. Then there was extra baggage weight costs of over $500, guide tipping fees that are unique to each hunter's own conviction. Now if you add cost to be away from work that could be another factor to consider.
I hope I didn't miss anything but fire away if you have more. i am here all night in the airport, online. moosehunter
Topic: Musk ox down (Read 8260 times)
