The afternoon's events could not have been better.
Around 5.30 Kavik reported further improvements in the weather. Pilot Bob decided to take off. We found Kavik Camp on our first try, landed safely, and then just stood around open-mouthed. I've never seen a stranger place in my life. The whole thing strongly reminds me of a fantasy moon-base. It was built as a base for oil exploration, and is still used by oil prospectors as today Deadhorse is not considered suitable. As our case shows, even though Deadhorse is only 53 miles away, reaching it, even in summer, is no simple matter. The prospectors needed a base close to Brooks Range, enabling them to safely get to the oil-fields beside the mountain, whenever they wished. It's good for us hunters, who are able to make use of all its amenities.
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It is not a simple little camp, but more of a small town. The oil people were not mean with their money when they built it. It does not seem to need huge supplies, being mainly self-sustaining, just using the raw materials brought in. It is a little oasis in the middle of the vast Alaskan tundra. It has two types of buildings, if I can use that word to describe these strange structures. One is for living in, and the other for services. The living units are containers standing on caterpillar tracks, and must have been towed here, over a vast distance, years ago. They still rest on the caterpillar tracks in case they have to be moved around the camp. A caterpillar tractor stands ready to move any container to a new site. Inside the living quarters there are either single, or bunk beds, and they offer a surprising degree of comfort to their users, considering the general cicumstances. Each has heating, electricity, a small desk, and a reading light above each bed.
The service and social units are huge military tents, which have been adapted for constant use. They have wooden floors and camping chairs, and, of course, they are heated. Large storage batteries, charged by generators, provide the electricity for the camp. Supplementary energy requirements are provided by miniature wind-turbines, and today they plan to install an advanced solar-cell unit. It really must be a modern piece of technology if it can make electricity in a place where there is no sunshine...
Kavik has its own laundrette, with tumble driers, and several types of washing powder. It also has showers, and if you have forgotten your towel, they will give you one. Work around the camp is carried out by two bobcat tractors; these maintain the runway lying next to the camp. Planes that have just landed immediately turn into the main square. Leaving the small airport, no-one needs to worry about having to carry their luggage over to their unit, which will not be more than 150 ft. away: passengers are collected by ATVs, waiting with engines running, and their trailers will do the job for them. The communal tent also serves as a dining room, with a kitchen opening off it. Here Susan, the camp commander, wields absolute power, and us men just get under her feet. It's best not to make any jokes, as her plastic Savage, extreme conditions "stainless steel" rifle, 03-06 caliber, is hanging right beside the entrance, waiting to be used. Its main purpose is to keep cheeky bears at bay. Susan, together with her sister, cooks everything on the spot, and the kitchen is fitted out with all the necessary equipment. When we arrive, we are welcomed by a large cauldron of hot food. One thing is for sure: we're not going to starve while we are here.
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In the dining room there are six tables, which can seat 24 people. We can see cupboards and shelves running along the sides of the tent, packed with snacks and nibbles. Fruit, chocolate, muesli and nuts present themselves to the residents. It is all self-service, and you can take whatever, as much, as you want. The fridge is loaded with different kinds of soft drinks (but ,unfortunately, there is no beer).
They keep in contact with satellite phones and radios, and, apart from these, in the communal -
wonder of wonders - we have WIFI connection! At no extra cost! (The signal must be quite strong, as I can even pick it up in my unit.) The router itself is connected to the internet via a satellite.
It is hard to imagine a greater luxury out here in the middle of the wilderness.
Entering my unit, I had a pleasant surprise: there was my khaki-colored 1750 Peli gun-case! The last time I saw it was at the entrance to the Anchorage Hilton, on the first day I arrived in Alaska, when I handed it over to Andy. From there it has finally arrived here, via mail and plane. This is what is important; everything else is secondary. Let me see what state it is in, as I hope to use it in the not too distant future!
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The basic gun is a Blaser .R93 - what else? - the Professional version. It has a plastic small of stock and the stock and grip have elastic and synthetic insets, for a better grasp. These insets actually stick to your hand when wet, and rain is not an unknown occurrence here. They have used as much plastic in the gun as modern technology will allow, and it is very much to my taste. For hunting in Alaska a synthetic stock, unaffected by all weathers, has to be the best choice; but, in fact, I don't have a single gun with a wooden stock at home either. A wooden stock just isn't my thing, I've always had an aversion to them. I'm not trying to convince anyone else about their practicalities, because I feel that, with a gun, the most important thing is for the owner to be happy with it. It would be pointless putting a gun with even the most technologically-advanced composite stock in front of a conservative-minded hunter, telling him of its many advantages compared to an elegant, walnut-root stock version, we would never be able to convince him to buy the former. He'd still come to Alaska with his old-school wooden stock, quite happy to spend extra time on its maintenance, and when he got home it would require an expert to remove the signs of damage that occured while out hunting. From his point of view, that's fine.
It's a personal decision.
When choosing a gun that is going to be used under unusual circumstances, and for unfamiliar animals, there is an almost limitless amount of literature available to help you make your choice. But, because of the sheer volume of all this advice, the important parts are often lost. We hunt because we love hunting. So whatever we decide to use, we should choose to please ourselves, and not our friends or companions. You shouldn't look down on others, or avoid them, just because their personal tastes and choices are different from your own. The hunting community - just like any other section of society - is getting more and more diverse. We must learn to be tolerant of, and patient with, each other. I firmly believe that everybody, without exception, will shoot better with a gun that makes them happy, rather than one that their peers have pushed them into buying. Whoever thinks that you can tell a good hunter from a bad one by his clothes or his gun-stock, is quite wrong.
Wood or plastic; a loden coat or digital camouflage; a rakish hat decorated with chamois hair, or a baseball cap with a skull-and-crossbones; they're all the same: whatever we choose, we can still be ethical, successful hunters.
Let me give an example of the open-mindedness of American hunters.
A general permit for hunting in Alaska can be bought over the internet from the Dept. of Fish and Game's site. In order to make the prospective hunter more identifiable they ask for details such as hair color. Apart from the usual colors, they also give the options of blue, purple, pink, gray, red or orange. All of this is taken quite seriously. I think the important thing is, not the number of people who put down "orange", or how many hunters actually arrive in the state with that color hair, but that, according to the government agencies, providing you stick to the Alaskan hunting rules, it doesn't
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matter if you stalk a bear with brown, or orange, hair. It is an attitude, and way of thinking, very close to my heart.
I, the Indian Hunter, have spoken!
When picking the right caliber gun, I naturally considered the good old .03-06, because, ever since Colonel Whelan, we have known that: "You can't go wrong with a .03-06".
This caliber has been used all over the world, and there is no species hunted, of which at least one example has not been shot with this veteran Springfield rifle. But, after much thought, consideration and calculation, I decided that the .03-06 would not be the best solution. During my trip I knew I would be hunting in the mountains, and would have to be prepared to shoot over distances greater than 1000 ft.; but, among my prospective targets is game weighing well over 1100lbs. So, if I had chosen the .03-06, I would have had to bring a minimum of two different types of bullet: one with a small
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bullet-mass, around .35oz, with a relatively high BC value, for the mountain hunts; and another weighing at least .4oz, or even heavier, for the really big boys. This is a possibility, but it makes the hunt, and the organization, unnecessarily complicated.
When out hunting, it is always the simple solutions that work best.
Each of these sorts of bullet would require a different type of riflescope setting, or even two different riflescopes. I wouldn't have been happy with that. And, on top of all that, according to local laws, you can only carry a maximum of 10lb. worth of ammunition on the plane, which in practice means only five boxes of bullets. That would have been two boxes of light bullets and three boxes of heavy ones.
According to Murphy's Hunting Laws, I would have been certain to run out of just the type of bullet I needed. I had to pick a different caliber.
The choice of caliber for a Blaser R93 is quite wide, so there was no lack of possibilities. I finally decided on a .300 caliber Winchester Magnum, which - as László Kovács has said - can do everything that the .03-06 is capable of, as well as giving an extended shooting range. I could have gone for a .300 Weatherby Magnum, but I don't see any point in firing a .30 diameter bullet at such a crazy speed. The impact energy of a Winchester bullet is great enough, even over a long distance, to knock down any creature on earth. Although the Weatherby has a flatter trajectory, when making a long-distance shot you have to re-set the sight, even with this type of bullet. And, if you have to compensate at all, the amount is immaterial. We shouldn't forget that, when firing, a shooter can confidently aim at a target 1500 ft. away with the much slower .308 Winchester bullet.
One of the less attractive characteristics of a .300 Winchester Magnum is that, with every shot, the recoil kicks the hunters shoulder. I have to bear this in mind as, if there's one thing I don't like about shooting, it's an excessive recoil. There are various ways to reduce the re-active power. Many feel that the most convenient solution is a muzzle brake. It works well, but it greatly increases the gun's report, another thing I don't care for. Without exception, I always wear some sort of ear protection, whether I'm at a shooting range, or out hunting. When hunting in Hungary I always wear ear-muffs.
You get used to them very quickly, and they substantially reduce your chances of hearing-loss, something that has already happened to several of my friends at an early age. I am using a make that has a clever electronic system built in. Depending on the setting, it amplifies the sound around you, so that you can hear even the softest whisper, but, in a split second, if the volume rises above 50
decibels, it kicks into action. I've brought some along, but I don't know how much I'll get to use them.
Electronics don't like water, and there's a lot of water in Alaska. I also have some ear-plugs, and I shall see which works better in practice.
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Another way to decrease a gun's recoil is to increase its mass. Many people don't like doing this, as the current fashion is to reduce a gun's weight to the bare minimum. A greater weight doesn't bother me, quite the opposite, in fact; I find I can shoot more accurately with a heavy gun, so I have ordered a thicker, so-called semi-weight barrel for my Blaser. Increasing the thickness of the barrel, apart from raising the gun's weight, also makes it more accurate. When using it with a plastic stock the gun can become a bit barrel-heavy, so I compensate by attaching a Kick-Stop system to the stock. This increases the mass by another 21oz. and improves the balance. What's more, as this is not a "dead mass" , but a mechanical tool by which the mass point is moved, the sensed recoil can be reduced by up to 20%. To further increase the gun's weight, I personally attach an ammunition case, holding nine bullets, to the stock. I think this is the best solution, and I always carry it with me, so that my spare ammunition is always close to hand, and also I don't need to open my jacket to get it off my belt. I haven't made any complex calculations, but the sensed recoil of a gun weighted in this way is almost smaller that that of a .30-06.
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After deciding on the caliber, and making some enquiries, I chose the top- of- the -range bullet of RWS, the famous Evolution. Previously, I've had very good experiences with the .30-06 caliber Evo bullet, which expands immediately on contact, even when hitting the entrails, but does not break up.
Its mushrooming shape on impact can almost be predicted with mathematical accuracy. After various hunting tests, it was found to work well, even when fired from a .300 Winchester Magnum. It still expands, and doesn't break up, even at close range. (Previously, there was supposed to have been a problem that certain bullets, developed for lower calibers, did not change their impact shape when fired from a medium-caliber Magnum; they either went straight through the animal, without mushrooming, or, because of the huge speed of impact, broke up, and caused only surface injuries.) My heart says that Evolution is the best bullet ever developed, and though my head tells me that it is just one of many excellent ones, I don't think I'm mistaken.
Luckily, choosing a riflescope was much simpler; I fitted my gun with a top of the range model by Zeiss, the second generation version of the famous Victory Diarange 3-12x56 T, so familiar from the covers of, and adverts in, hunting magazines. Everything that Zeiss has learnt over the last few decades has gone into the manufacture of these unique optics: they have an adjustable magnification value of 3 - 12x, and throughout it the reticle remains constant. It also has illuminated reticles, a smooth mechanism of adjustment, memory function, and external ballistic turrets for fast and accurate flight compensation. But the built-in laser rangefinder is what really makes it the king of all gun-sights.
To illustrate the accuracy of this device, I can tell you that, at a distance of up to 2000 ft. it is accurate to within,( + or -), 3 1/2 ft. , while at 3277 ft. (999 meters) it is within (+ or -) 5%. The designers at Zeiss have thought of everything; they have harmonised the light-intensity of the screen showing the distance with that of the reticle: if I increase the brightness of the cross-sights, the digits showing distance brighten accordingly. The complicated electronics are powered by a CR123 super-long-life battery, a spare of which, for safety's sake, I keep somewhere at the bottom of my rucksack. The riflescope adds just over 2lb. more to the gun's total weight.
This is my concept of a perfect combination of gun, ammunition, and sights. It sounds so rational and scientific, that I'm embarrassed to admit that it is not completely true.
I have tried to prepare myself thoroughly, from every aspect, for my Alaskan expedition, because only by doing this will I have a perfect experience. Among other things, this involved: learning the language, physical training, studying the history and geography of the places I will visit, and improving my shooting skills. I was exceptionally lucky to have my shooting training supervised by Ottó Simonyi, a police marksman. His training methods are universally admired, and are used either partially, or totally, in the many countries where he has taught. I was very fortunate, because being a world-class expert does not always mean that you are a good teacher. Our first training session took place on 7th June this year, at the Nagytétény Rifle Range. First Ottó checked out my gun-case, and was not very
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impressed by what he found. Nor were those precision shooters, who were there just having their normal preparatory training. All the hardware that I had assembled was severely criticized.
First of all, Ottó thought that the x12 magnification sight was not suitable for the extreme shooting range that might occur during mountain hunting. It doesn't mean that you can't shoot successfully over long distances with this sight, but there are much better ones, made specifically for this task. Ottó recomended a minimum x30 magnification. The Blaser saddle mount considered among hunters to be first-class, is not very popular with marksmen, nor is the R.93 gun itself. One professional said he would never use that gun.
With the R.93 the question of safety constantly arises. It's a fact, that in recent years several R.93s have exploded, but it is also a fact that these incidents were caused by owner misuse. Interestingly, the hunting press always gives huge publicity to R.93 accidents, with many articles being devoted to each case. Meanwhile, a similar number of accidents have also happened with other makes of guns, but the international press has ignored them. Those in the know say that this is not a coincidence. For the benefit of those dear readers who are not hunters, I must explain that it is much simpler and faster to use a R.93 with straight-pull bolt action than any gun with bolt action, which was previously the market favorite. So now, the R.93 has gained in popularity at the expense of traditionally operating guns. It's not impossible that other gun manufacturers, who provide a large part of the advertising revenue of hunting magazines, have orchestrated a campaign against Blaser guns. I myself work in the advertising industry, and I would not be surprised if these rumours about such a campaign were true; we have come across more shocking cases in the past. Even so, no Hungarian marksmen consider this type of gun to be safe. "The Wasps of War" are not impressed by the Weatherby and other magnum ammo, including my Winchester Magnum ammunition.
We don't all have to agree about this, but a good dicussion might help to sort it all out. However, whoever goes against the opinions of these experts, should remember that he is disagreeing with real professionals, just one of whom has more experience of guns, optics, ammunition and long-range shooting than the entire Hungarian hunting community.
But looked at from the other side, hunting is not sharp-shooting. I had to find a gun and sight that would be suitable for all aspects of my expedition. I only intend to hunt two types of game which will involve a range of 1200 ft, or more, whereas there are 15 other types of game where such a distance would be unimaginable, so I'm not sure it would have been worth bringing a precision gun with me.
What's sure is that if I was to do nothing but mountain hunting I wouldn't be taking this gun and riflescope, but for the whole expedition it is a good choice.
So, during my gun-practice, I have had to change my choice of ammunition. The merits of the Evo are not diminished by the fact that it is a basic hunting bullet, and as such it is suitable for a range of under 1000 ft . For distances over this, some uneveness might be experienced in the flight trajectory.
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A bigger problem is that the American lobby was so successful in blocking the import of German ammunition that it is virtually impossible to find any in the US. If, by any chance, I run out of bullets, I will have to continue my hunt with unknown ammunition that I buy on the spot. This does not fit in with my basic principle, which characterises my whole attitude to this expedition, which is to minimise all risks.
So, I have had to pick an American bullet.
Finally, I filled my now padlock-less Peli 1200 ammunition case with 180 grain (11.7gm) weight Hornady SST Interlock bullets. The sharp plastic point, combined with the boat-tail shape, makes the loss of speed as small as possible, which is an important advantage in an even flight and practical killing power. Though, unlike some other plastic-pointed bullets, it expands rapidly on contact, and still retains 90% of its mass, according to the manufacturers. Thus, even with larger game it will still have enough penetrating power.
The problem of reserve ammuntion is easily solved; Hornady is a national brand in the US, and the company ensures that its products can be found in every hunting and gun shop. Typically, I picked Hornady at the very last minute, which meant that I had to alter the ammunition import-permit that I had already received from the US authorities. Without the help of Rebecca Lloyd, the excellent assistant at Cabela's, I would have been in serious trouble.
I unpack my gun and we examine it; the sight still retains the figures I set at home. At the moment it's not certain if I'll be able to to do any test-shooting before I start hunting. If I can't, then I'll just have to compensate manually for an undershot of 1,9-2,3 ins per 850 ft. Back home I had calibrated the sight for that distance, but then it was over 86 F, and in the cooler air over here the bullets will travel more slowly. If I sight in 850 ft, then I won't have to alter my target-point up to 980 ft because the SST bullet will drop only 4,3 ins provided the temperature is at least 60 F. However, at 1150 ft the bullet will drop 10 ins; but if I aim for the backbone, then it shouldn't be a problem. But at 1310 ft I will have to do some "turreting"; that is, resetting the sight to compensate for the 18,5 ins the bullet will drop.
My friend Jay has brought Wildcat bullets. He narrowed down .30-06 bullets to 6.5mm, and feeds them into his gun.
In the evening Susan calls together everyone in the camp. There are two grizzlies wandering around the neighborhood, so we mustn't go too far from the camp alone. She emphatically asks the hunters not to kill the bears unless absolutely necessary, because the season has not yet started. Someone thinks they might have spotted a caribou, so everybody climbs up to the top of a container converted into a watchtower. They look intently through their binoculars but can't see anything.
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Hunting Base Camp
Kavik "Hilton"