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A Generational Shift - A Tale of the 300s
If you google ‘300 SAUM’ the following is one of the top results:
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So if I’m now in possession of that same 300 SAUM you’d be able to work out I’m a pretty lucky man and also very chuffed. As it was picked up and I drove away, I thought to myself if my dads giving me the SAUM the right thing to do is to give my son my 300 RUM, that way we keep both rifles in the family. When I told James I was giving him the RUM I could tell he was as excited as I was, when dad told me he was giving me the SAUM. I’d alway converted that rifle and had dropped enough hints lately it was probably handed over under duress, just to shut me up! :-). James had shot his first deer with the 300 RUM and a couple since and I knew he was looking for a long range cannon.
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I’ve been on call all week and planned a mission into the Aorangis on Friday, after work to hopefully christen the new rifle. Based on Sako A7 action with a fluted Trueflight barrel, a Stug stock, a Tract scope and the DPT mangnum suppressor off my .284, the little SAUM strapped to the side of my Cactus pack was a pleasure to carry as the barrel didn’t poke up past my head and the trip into our lookout spot was a nice warm up.
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After two hours of glassing, with out seeing a single deer we dropped down the ridge to open up some more faces. We saw a couple of hinds, miles to far away to shoot and recover. With just under an hours light left I popped back up the ridge a bit and spotted a stag grazing on another ridge around 350 yards away. I whistled out to my mate and he brought up the rifles, followed by my hypoactive vizsla. Due to her constant movement the deer became a bit uneasy and started to look our way, I had planned to dial but hurriedly bracketed the stag between the 300 and 400 yard hash marks. A slightly quarter on frontal shot was on offer and I squeezed the trigger. With a ‘whack’ the 168 Nosler BT knocked it clean off its feet and it rolled twenty yards down the face.
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Last time Ben and I had shot a deer off this ridge it was a mongrel of a recovery and we both rejoiced in the fact that this was going to be an easy recovery. We trekked back up the steep ridge, with empty packs this time and around and down to the stag. Pipi made short work or finding it and we dragged it into a flat spot for the obligatory social media photos and to bone it out.
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Once we got him into position it was apparent he was a pretty big boy, also evident by the fact that he had a chunky set of velvet antlers developing. Again it was at this stage that I was pleased to not be hunting solo!
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We boned it out and sat down for a feed of Real Meals bacon and cheese mash before starting the bash back up to the track in the dark. Once on the track it was a 15 minute struggle, for me anyway, up the the intersection before a 45 minute down hill cruise to the Ute. The carpark was half full when we arrived and there was some more cars there and two returning quads that had knocked over an eight point stag in the hard. We then drove off feeling pretty happy, having seen a few deer and christened the new (for me anyway) 300 SAUM.
That’s where the story ends… well you’d think so.
On Saturday morning James, my son and the new owner of the 300 RUM turned up to pick up the rifle and head into the same spot. He had his girl fiend with him and was planning on staying the night, if they didn’t get anything. About 5 o’clock I got an excited call from James to say that he shot a stag off the top lookout. So that was too deer off the same Ridge and less than 24 hours. I was able to to text him a good recovery track that lead him pretty much to the deer, how good is modern technology.
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How good! Years ago when a guy I worked with sold me the 300 RUM, he said it needed to go to a ‘real man’ who would use it. It definitely was time to hand it on. He’d brought the rifle for a trip to Canada that never ended up going ahead. Hopefully it makes to to Canada one day.
