biglakejake Report post Posted November 24, 2018 tenacity of life is little spoken of in north america outside of the great bears. only twice in 50+ years in the field have i occasioned to notice it-and not with bears. years past i would have just pm'd Bill Quimby with the tale but i won't git any reply now. this years 3B buck-just a 2 1/2yo 2x3 mulie-made me take some notice. i am not sure if you can say being observed by your quarry is actually a 'stalk' but after closing some distance i braced against a ponderosa to try a shot with the old CVA .50 smokepole. after a 2 or 3 minute staredown he stepped out quartering away like heaven in a blue dress. a 385gr hornady hollow point entered 4" behind his right shoulder and came out like a cannonball at the base of his left neck. 106-110 yards with 100 grns of pyro pellets and he went down, got up and over the next 30 seconds or so he ran hard and fell repeatedly-i was thinking i had just broke a knee-he was just going hard has heck. he went at least 400yds with no lungs-as good of shot as i have ever made. that was sometin'. fattest buck i have ever ever seen. 30+ pounds of cavity fat and a full inch on his back-he looked freakishy fat laying on the ground and was pushing 200lbs live weight-tastes great! the closest things i have ever seen to that tenacity was a boar javalina that i shot in the neck and he ran 100yds past the end of his blood trail down peppersauce canyon circa 1993. there was this scaled quail my son knocked down about 5:30pm, i twisted his neck and bagged him but he flew out of the bag about 6pm in the dark. weird. lee 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted November 24, 2018 The force was strong in that one! Seen elk act about that tough before, but even then it was mainly due to a slightly less than lethal shot. Glad you got him! Funny regarding the zombie quail! Was running n gunning Gambels one year, hopping from one covey to the next all day long up & down washes (back when the quail were thick every year..... 🙄). About mid-way through the day, I happen to glance into my rear view mirror and there is a quail perched on the backrest of the rear seat in my Blazer. He had apparently crawled out of the game vest and just hopped-up on the back of the seat and was enjoying the ride! S. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
knothead Report post Posted November 24, 2018 Like people, some animals just have a stronger will to live. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronk Report post Posted November 24, 2018 Or the squirrel you shot out of the top of the tree, he falls all the way to the ground, you put him in the bag stone dead only to have him jump out the next time you open it up to put another in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
