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6.8 caribou

9K views 28 replies 25 participants last post by  davestarbuck 
#1 ·
Loaded up Tues, Jan 8, for a day trip bou hunting from Fairbanks. 60 mile drive with the truck and trailer. Unload snogos and about a 15 mile drive up a forested valley to get on to an open ridge. Caribou sign and successful hunter sign (gutpiles) most of the way up the valley. Here is me, and then the pard as we topped out on the ridge:



Once we got on top we could see bou, but not close. A short travel along the ridge and a small herd moved up out of the valley to the side and began feeding. Drove the snogos a little closer, then walked about 500 yds behind a hill to get in range.
The pard made a good shot with his 300 win mag and we had one down. Here he is:


The rest ran off, or so we thought. Got the snogos and sled and rade over to our bou. The rest of the herd had just ran a couple hundred yds down the side of the ridge and I got a shot with the AR. Here's me with my kill:


I hit her twice. Once in the front shoulder breaking her leg. 2nd shot she was facing away and had raised up on her rear legs. Hit her in the back and destroyed the heart as the bullet entered the chest. I was shooting SSA 6.8 140 VLD rounds. First kill for me with this round. When we pulled the guts out I was lucky enough to find this laying on the ground:


Odd performance I would say. Weighed the bullet when I got home and it is still exactly 140 grains. I suppose I could have destroyed the heart with the first shot, but not sure. We looked for bullets when we butchered and cut meat. Did find one piece of copper outer in another part of the animal.

Anyway, we loaded up after gutting and prepared to head back to the truck. Here is the sled with 2 bou inside and me gassing up the snogo:


On the ride back another small herd crossed the ridge right in front of us. Wasn't quick enough to get a pic. Here we are back down in the trees on the way back:


All in all a good day. The sled unhooked from the snogo once going downhill and made for some excitement. Otherwise we were back at the truck at dark and home for a late dinner. Can't complain about that. These were both female bou, which is what we wanted. They are better eating this time of year. Most males have dropped their antlers by now.
I'll post this on the SSA forum also.
 
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#5 ·
I'm not surprised that you found the bullet intact. I have found the .270 VLDs will not disintegrate, fragment, nor do they expand if they don't hit bone. The .277 VLDs I have shot yaw on impact, turn 180, and exit tail first. Their copper jacket is overly thick in the nose and maintain structural integrity even though they are a "hollow point".

I believe your 140gr bullet yawed, turned 180, and went out backwards. You probably had a small exit wound. I have repeatedly shot .277 150gr Berger VLDs with my .270 Win into a bullet trap to test for terminal performance and they do this every time. At the lower velocities of the 140gr VLDs in the six8, I expect they would be even more prone to do the same thing. Here is a picture of my last test and a cross-section to show how thick the jacket is. Note the hollow point is still intact (pointing left). The reason the back end of the bullet is deformed is it was caught in a backstop consisting of a phone book and magazines after passing through a gallon jug of water. Jacket thickness is the same for all .264, .277, and 7mm bullets.

 
#8 ·
forgot to say, congrats on a successful hunt. I love the pictures! Thanks for sharing.
 
#10 ·
Good read. Thanks for posting, though it does make the stand hunting we do here in the South seem super boring.
 
#11 ·
You used the 6.8 for hunting? and caribou at that? LOL great job there, did you ever have a doubt??
 
#24 ·
looks like an amazing trip, congratulations! makes me a little jealous... we use to get snow during hunting season in Wisconsin, but it's been a long time... and I sure miss it!
 
#25 ·
Good Deal Marten. Not too many caribou around this season up the end of the Taylor. They split north and south around where we call home. We had a few thousand come through In early August and some were around throughout the fall, but they didn't camp out here by no means as we usually expect. We got several , but had a moose so didn't keep at it. We can use our subsistence tags untill end of March. Other years, I have caught bunches of bou in the woods/flats 2 miles behind the house. Over xmas, boy was home from school, put a new stand back at base of mnt, trail from my place. Kinda on a lick and water hole, moose and caribou too when they are around, spend some time there. We got a couple bait barrels back in that area, and we can kill grizz when they come into blk bear bait, nx May. Too dang cold to do anything now, it was minus 54 sunday morn and I know it'll hit close to minus 60 tonight. Just got to make it to mid feb and everything will improve, ha ha. I got mostly accubonds and ttsx's loaded up for the 6.8; they work for me too.
 
#27 ·
Nicely done !! 'Bou hunting on machines... brings back some fond memories.
 
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