Shot what turned out to be a WT fawn at first light on my 14th birthday using my new Browning BLR in 308. Saved up money to buy it. Dad split the cost. Later that afternoon, my uncle pushed out a big cow moose that was trotting out across the field. Dad and I were on a fence line waiting. He said to me, “Don’t shoot!” Too late, I pulled the trigger. Next words I heard were, “You hit it in the azz!” She slowed down and he put one in her neck. Told me to not say a word to my cantankerous uncle who was humping through bush pushing her out. He let me put another shot into her to finish her off. We gutted it and never said a word about her being hit in he azz. When we were skinning it out back at the farm with it on the front end loader, my uncle wanted to know who in hell shot it in the hind quarter. IIRC, my dad said something to the effect that must have been the natives, as she seemed to be limping when she came out of the bush, and that he missed his first shot. Uncle John grumbled like hell, and went back to skinning. We still have that old BLR. I used it for 15 years until someone told me I had to have a 7 Rem Mag. Sold it to my buddy who used it for years, and now it is our loaner / backup gun.
Footnote: I killed so many animals with that gun. Have mostly hunted with a 7 Rem since, but it doesn’t kill big game any more dramatically or more dead than the old 308. That’s the honest truth people.
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