I thought Grizzly's were supposed to be tough?OK,OK.Yesterday was supposed to be an antelope hunt.The antelope decided not to participate so it morphed into an almost whitetail hunt till the wind intervened.Then it turned into a bear scouting trip.Heading to check the status of a service berry patch,I jumped an antelope buck with 4 does.
Now I'm antelope hunting again.That didn't go so well and they got under a fence and headed for the open prairie.I went up to find where their escape hatch was and that is when I jumped the rabbit.Now I'm rabbit hunting.Our cottontails are very small compared to Easterns,and are very spooky.There are a lot of predators here and they are on everybody's menu.They are great eating though.People here don't know that so please keep this to yourself.I have sole rabbit hunting rights on this ranch.
I had one Judo tipped arrow in the quiver so the cat and mouse game began.He slipped from one huge cedar bush to another several times till finally he stepped in the open and stopped.My Judo hit a rock just to the right of him,went airborne,down ,over the hill.This ground is basically a rock pile,about 50% covered with a layer of top soil,moss and pine needles.I was pretty sure that arrow was trashed.
I moved forward and he was sitting in the open again.I'm sure he knew I only had one Judo and all that remained were my expensive hunting arrows.I looked down at the 4 finely tuned,700 gr,Grizzly tipped arrows and the quick,mental conversation went like:"You're either hunting or you're not".The arrow went on the string and I tried to make the shot count.
At the shot,the arrow flipped to the right and the rabbit flipped in the air to the left,behind a bush.I eased up and he was still.I guess I had enough arrow!The broadhead opened the right side of his chest,full length and severed the shoulder and front leg.There was a rock under the dirt he was sitting on and you can see what that did to the Grizzly.The arrow,miraculously,was unbroken.
I wouldn't have been happier if it had been an antelope and my back didn't hurt after packing it to the truck.
I did a little search and found the Judo tipped arrow.The Judo was bent and the nock was gone but this arrow also was not broken.I'm 100 % sure that the aluminum footings saved both these arrows.Those were some hard hits.A smarter person would have had cheaper arrows in the quiver just for this purpose.Note to self...
Oh,and the rabbit dinner was great.