Ah dang, where to start?
Shot a bull moose standing in the river one year maybe 1999. A mile or two before we floated up to him i noticed weird tracks on the shoreline. I commented we were tracking a pirate moose because you'd see a hoof print followed by a small divot like a walking stick makes. Reminded me of a peg-legged pirate. We floated around a bend and the bull was standing in water near shore. Once down we found that he had snapped his leg bone between the knee and hoof and was dragging it behind every step hoof and leg bone dangling like toilet paper stuck a boot. Fresh break maybe days old. That meat tasted like chewy leather likely due to its stress levels.
Another year 2004 I shot a 8' interior griz at close range. It had popped out onto a large tree that washed ashore at high stage. My pioneer was below that tree at the waterline. I had just shot a small bull moose minutes before and was retrieving my kill kit. Out pops this large bear above me and my dog maybe 30 feet away. It turned toward me as if to come eat my arse, so I emptied my .30-06 in that boar as fast as I could jack shells. That poor bastard had one eye gored out and was likely not a threat at all just trying to get a sure look at me with his good eye. Dang. That bear was aged at 16-17 years old.
Two seasons ago a friend shot a bull, nothing remarkable about this 58incher. Double lung one shot at close range. Noticed a small bruise on one hind qtr and figured a browtine likely poked him in a fight. Got the meat back from the processor and he asked me what caliber killed that bull. Perplexed I told him it was a .300. Surprisingly that bull had been shot in the hind quarter by a .223 likely by a native from a rural village roughly 30 air miles away sometime earlier that month.
Shot a 56" bull in 2012 that had a unicorn horn tine growing from its forehead about 4" long and sharp. After the euro boil revealed a hole in its skull likely from a browtine of another bull, and that unicorn horn regrowth grew out of that skull puncture. Cool lookin antlers
Shot a 60" bull a couple years ago with one antler. His missing antler was ripped off along with 2" of skull plate a month or so prior. The wound was stanky but healing slowly. Meat was tough and not enjoyable, likely stress related.
Last one. 2001 I believe. Shot a ram at less than 20 yards. So close I opted for a head shot as not to ruin the meat I'd have to pack 15 miles back to the strip. Pulled the trigger, ram folded in a backflip and crumbled into a ball below the buttress. I dropped my pack near him and got out my camera for an old school selfie on a 10-sec timer balanced on my pack with a rock and twig to level and stabilize...all set. Click the shutter and run into place behind and underneath this dead ram. Blood and brain matter at the base of horn so I covered the mess with my hand and tried to position for a selfie within 10 sec...that poor ram wasn't dead, just unconscious from a near miss .30-06 to the base of one horn. Holy shit did that thing wake up rapidly confused by a human gripping its horns. Meanwhile, the ******* camera slipped and took a pic of the sky so no evidence of this crazy saga.
I'll just keep it brief to say that instead of letting go of the frantic ram as it tried to regain its stance and retreat, I physically wrestled that guy as it kicked and grinded me into the shale. I managed to get one forearm through its horn and lock my giant fist closed over its mouth and nose. The other hand locked the horn and tilted its head backward as it gasped in vein for air. My legs scissor-locked around its belly to keep its hooves from shredding my shins. I was belly to back of this wild panicked ram for just under 6 minutes until I successfully suffocated it to death. Unfortunately I was eye to eye during this whole time, my watch hand exposed by accident so i could watch the seconds to turn to minutes in numerous and slow cycles...and time has NEVER ticked so slowly and exhaustively. I had to watch this animal expire by my own hands and it was some of the most raw and primal emotions I have ever felt. When it was over I sat, back bleeding and shirt shredded, shins bleeding and whelped, physically and emotionally spent. I wept in awe of the whole ordeal. I have an abrasion scar on the back of one shoulder 20 years later and still think of that animal every time i see it in the mirror.
