Norway Pass Muzzy Permit

[X-Force]

An idea of what opening day was like

[jackelope]

Holy crap, that's cool looking country.

[X-Force]

When the cloud finally broke enough to glass a bright spot below me yielded a brown sided critter milling around. It was obviously a bull and was probably 1/2 mile away and 700' below me. The visual only lasted 10 or so minutes, I could tell he was big enough for me look at more closely and that to do that i would have to backtrack around the mountain a mile or so to get onto a ridge that wasn't cliffed out. With it being this late in the evening and knowing roughly where the bull was I didnt wait for the clouds to lift again, I dove down the next ridge line and got to within 200 yards of where i thought the bull would be.

Where I thought the last finger had to many cliffs to access the bull, the new ridge didnt have to many clifts just one large one that towered 200-300 feet above the canyon. I worked my way down to the edge. There was an outcropping with a couple dead trees, blue berry bushes and a fallen jog the jetted out from the cliff some 4-5 feet. Dropped my pack on an open spot and crawled over to the lip with a couple quick loads, binos, rangefinder and muzzle-loader. Within a minute or 2 the bull showed himself. He walked out of some jack firs, lit up by the sun piercing the clouds. It was a beautiful site.

The mountains are solid granite carved out by prehistoric glaciers. The water the flows through them have done little to change the the topography. Instead, its the glacier carved valleys with a carpet of thick, colorful vegetation that dominate the landscape. This bull lived in heaven.

[X-Force]

This is where the experience went south, I admit I let my ego get the best of me. He was 174 yards out and a very steep angle down... I dont know percent but enough...

I go through 2 dry runs to make sure everything was comfortable. I end up having to move my footing, take off my bino harness. and situate everything so that I'm comfortable.

Open peep sight, 209 primer, 100g of pellets, 240 gr bullet...
My anchor it solid and I miss. I pull up my binos and the bull is just standing there, looking around. So, i load again, get a solid rest, the bull takes a couple steps closer, I miss again. In my mind I'm asking myself a million questions. I keep watching the bull and he looks around for 30-40 seconds and goes back to eating. What the Heck!

I brush my barrel and load the gun again. The bull is feeding to the right, is behind some dead standing timber and I wait for a couple minutes for him to offer a clear shot. I range again... 165 yards. Solid anchor and....

MISS!

Man I wish I was making this stuff up, ill probably get flamed for it but its true. I missed 3 straight times, ran out of quick loads, and had a decision to make.

I go back to my pack and reload the quick loads. When i get back to my shooting platform I think to myself, it has to be the angle. How do i compensate? Do i just give up, he is clearly unwound-ed and unfazed by this exchange. My ego gets the best of me. I tell myself ill hold low and everything will be fine.

I reload my gun for the 4th shot. By this time I'm just furious with myself. I range the bull 170 yards. He is literally milling around in a semi circle just eating. As I comp for the angle (in my mind), and anchor, I hear the sound of metal sliding down something. I look up and had left my ramrod in the barrel and it nearly fell out and down a giant cliff.
I flip the barrel up and snag the rod. Putting the rod back inline with my barrel put everything into prospective. How the angle was too great, my misses should have told me that... but i still didnt listen.

I anchored, breathed, squeeze and !! MISS AGAIN. unbelievable!

Why am I even shooting at this point?

I do have another quick load so I load again... this time I cant miss. The bull at this point knows somethings up. He doesn't know from where or what is happening but he still hasn't moved. I tell myself that this is my last shot. I breath, by this time there is no adrenaline, I hold solid, the smoke clears and i clearly missed a 5th time. Rehashing this I am getting angry with myself. Dumb! straight up stupid.

[X-Force]

The bull started moving to the west. Not like he was in a hurry just in the mood for some new country.

Loading up my gear, needing to brush my barrel, I look at maps and figure out where he is going and what i can do to close the distance. It takes a couple minutes to clean, reload and to verify i have all of my gear.

Working my way back up the ridge and around to another finger I am blind to any of the bulls movements. It is getting closer to dark, 6 pm and the question comes to mind is it worth it being this far back? Im probably 2 miles from camp walking and a mile as the crow flies. The bull is 300-500' lower in elevation than camp and there is a big ridge line in between he and camp.

As I drop further in the valley down the ridge I catch movement just across the way. The bull is almost parallel with me at 144 yards but i want to get closer. I keep working my way down the face to a couple of dead standing trees as the bull crosses a small stream and is quartered away from me. He stand there for a couple seconds giving me the opportunity to brace against a tree.

As the smoke clears I look... He is looking around again, I almost start to panic with the thought of another miss, but then he stumbles and folds. He rolls down the hill and gets pinned against a large cedar dead-fall. Bull down!

This is when the magnitude of the job ahead hits me. 2 miles from camp, 1000' to get him out of the canyon we are in, just after 6 at night and solo.

[JakeLand]

Woohoo !!! That’s a adventure!! Memories for a lifetime big congrats

[3nails]

 Gotta say, you had me worried for a bit!    Congrats.

[furbearer365]

You are one of few guys that braved that area and were successful at doing so!!! Well done, and I'm sure you are, but you should be proud of yourself. Awesome job

[Ridge Hunter]

Great story, congratulations!

[jackelope]

Congrats man!! That’s a great looking bull. Keep the pics coming!!

[dewandgin]

Awesome story and nice bull

[grundy53]

Congratulations! Great write up.  Looks like a lot of work.

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[Timberstalker]

Awesome write up and spectacular bull. Thanks for sharing.

[nitroelk]

Great story, way to seal the deal.

[dominknows]

Congrats on the bull, awesome country and experience        I'd recommend a range finder that has yardage calculated with the angle, instead of LOS