My rancher friend was almost at the point of angry tears, stating he had tried everything even baited traps...but the particular pair of ‘yotes he was after were even too smart for that. I told him I would try...but I never guarantee success.

Day break a day later, found me on a water tower 10 feet above the ground and over a stock tank. I had a dead rabbit hanging in a bush about 20 feet away and four feet off the ground, and a string tied to the branch it was tied to...very thin and black and almost invisible running back up to me.

One of the things I have learned over the years varmint hunting is you never start with the loudest varmint whistle...or tape call. I have a tape of what sounds like an ‘in trouble’ and squalling lamb...I start it out on low volume. It was about half way thru it’s second continuous run when a very small fox jumped out of the brush and headed for the rabbit. The tape player was under the rabbit hidden in the bush. I stopped pulling the string and the rabbit stopped his dance. The fox was trying to jump up and grab lunch..I wanted to nail him but I had to stick to the rules, and didn’t want a gun shot rumbling thru the area...so I just threw a rock at him and whistled...he nearly had a heart attack when he realized I was there...and was gone in a flash. Back to the dancing rabbit and bleating lamb. Within minutes I saw the first one going from one bush to another, coming into the breeze side of the sound.

He was a big coyote....the normal coyote is about the size of a medium dog with longer legs. In this area their pelts are worthless..too warm except for very late cold winters which rarely happen around here anymore. Once you spot them you can easily lose sight of them if you don’t stay focused. And when jiggling a rabbit, trying not to move, and turning slowly to stay in sight of the ‘yote all at the same time, things can get interesting.

When he was about fifty yards out I smacked him with Winchester’s 300 grain JHP deer load from my Reeder/Marlin 45-70. He spun, fell, could only get his back legs up...and his tail was gyrating spasmodically indicating a very fatal hit. I would guess so, with the cannon I used on him. I also wanted to test this so called Winchester Deer Load.

The bullet caught him in the upper left shoulder joint, crossed long ways thru him and exited his lower intestines...exit wound was about three inches in diameter. He was covered with lice, needless to say I didn’t open him up. The bullet must have done extensive internal damage. But I would still have to try it on a big deer to really see it’s potential.

The upshot of this little vignette...I back tracked his prints to see if I could get a fix on his back trail. When I ran into a second set of prints. These were smaller and closer together from back to front. Most likely a female, most likely running with him. It indicated to me he was indeed the lead criminal of the two we were looking for. She had waited in the brush while he came forward...the sign showed she suddenly spun and took off. Yeah the sound of a 45-70 will do that.

The female was taken a few days later by a ranch hand with a mini Ruger .223. I guess without her mate to guide her she got dumb....folks in the outlying areas of Arizona would rather go without their pants than without a good gun.

That load from the 24 inch barreled Reeder/Marlin is running around 1850 fps...it penetrates about 15 inches in very wet newsprint and opens well...it shed about 30% of it’s weight in the paper. Come fall we will see how it does on a big muley.

I like triggers that break at 2 to 3 lbs. That’s too light for most folks, but I’m spoiled from my youth when I shot 4 position target with 22RF match rifles. In those young and strong years I was able most times to put ten shots into the size of a dime at fifty yards. Of course we had powerful scopes and were strapped into shooting jackets and slings tighter than a fighter piolet in a Tomcat. This 45-70 has a 2 and 3/4 lb pull...nice. The decelerator pad eats recoil, and the straight lines of the 336 Marlin also help, and when you are playing with 540 grain Garrett’s Hammerheads you need all the relief you can get.

The .458 Winchester registers around 2000 fps with a 500 grain WW load from a 22 inch barreled Ruger bolt action. Garrett’s Hammerhead 540 goes over the screens from my 24 inch barreled Marlin 45-70 at well over 1600 fps. That’s only 20% less than the mighty .458...and with the extra weight of the Hammerhead it gets even closer to the mighty magnum. But it recoils much more also...the Marlin is lighter...the 540 has a long bearing surface...

Someone once chided me in an e-mail for saying I would head shoot an elephant with a Garrett 540 HHD from a 45-70...even the short barreled versions of the 45-70s. Well let me make it even easier...I would head shot an elephant with a 454 handgun and the right load! The big bears of the north are, in my eyes at least, one of the two most dangerous animals on earth. A heavy loaded 45-70 would turn one inside out.

Why in the world do we need guns like the .500 G&A magnums with 10,000 lbs of muzzle energy? What are we hunting now a days Iraqi/Russian tanks? If you just want the most powerful rifle on the block and can afford it...fine, no argument there...but to then say a 45-70 is inadequate for thick skinned game because the monster magnums exist, is backwards logic.

If one wanted to, just for an exercise, one could hunt mice to monsters with a 45-70. ...taking a 460 ball squeezing it into the mouth of a slightly trimmed back 45-70 case over a small plug of Styrofoam holding a small amount of lube between the ball and the foam...over 3 or 4 grains of Bullseye or some other fast burning powder gives a short range vermin load that is accurate and deadly. You can even shoot them up into trees without worries that they will go a mile. A couple of hundred yards and they are earth bound. For deer sized game I like jacketed bullets that will expand.....

The 300 grain XTP is an excellent example of a bullet that has a long velocity range for expansion in deer sized game. From around 1100 fps to 2000 fps it is going to perform well. Obviously 2000 fps it is going to dump more energy into the animal and bring about a quicker kill. Black bear and big hogs are cross over animals...the XTP will do a good job on them...but I like a big blunt cast bullet doing 1800 plus fps better. I like the 350 grain LBT/WFN best...but those that prefer the 400 grainers are also in good power ranges...power with the ability of the bullet to transmit that energy into the animals vitals and then some.

Getting into elk sized critters and you need the penetrating power of a good cast bullet. A 400 grain LBT cast from my formula and lubed with ApacheBlu at 1800 to 2000 fps will go a long ways thru an elk. I shot an old feral Tex/Mex bull the first year Garrett sent me a box of his 400 grain cast loads to try. Hit on the point of the right shoulder, it crossed over thru his body and punched out far behind the rib cage...at least 40 inches of penetration on an extremely tough animal. These old boys carry yellow fat and bone and spread their unwanted genes among prize beef. It doesn’t make the ranchers happy. Most times today they are rounded up and sold to the dog food companies...but every once in a while I get a call to get rid of a particularly ornery one. I’m hoping to get the chance to do one with the 540 Hammerhead.

Though 400 grainers loaded to 1800 to 2000 fps would also take a bison...I would rather hit one with the 500 grain blunt weight class. Again I’d want penetration. Bison are not hard to kill, but then again they are large animals and deserve a clean quick harvest. I remember one year Finn Aagard shot a very large feral bull with a .458 Win Mag 510 grain commercial load...and then had to shoot him the second time at a few yards away. Some large animals take a lot of killing...I like to go prepared.

The 45-70 is very versatile as far as powders are concerned. From powders as fast as 2400 to A2015...accuracy is really the factor I look for most. As long as the bullet I want to use is in a velocity range I want...accuracy becomes the choice for powder. Different guns have different tastes...my 45-70 JD Jones T/C Contender 12 inch barrel loves 2400. With good velocities...350 grainers at 1650 fps and an inch groups off the bags, it’s hard to beat. I thought 250 to 275 grain cast bullets would be the combo for weight and velocity from this short barrel...but they didn’t work out well in accuracy. It likes the heavier slugs. So from small game like birds with cast balls...to ‘yotes....to deer...to elk...to moose and the big bears the old 127 year old 45-70 cartridge in strong modern guns can do it all....

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