Deer Down

 Grandson Brett tagged his first deer today on the family lease, a middling doe, taken with a Ruger American in 7mm-08,

His dad claims that Brett did it right.  Took his time, squeezed the shot, and  dropped the deer in her tracks.  Very good job,

It's a Two-Fer

 Shortly after Squirrel knocked down her little buck this morning, son Matt got a nice doe on the same lease.

That's son-in-law Greg in the background.  Can't tell what he is doing.  But, Matt got a nice doe and Squirrel got a nice little buck.  Matt shoots a Ruger 77 in .25-06 using the family handload recipe. (WLR primer, 50 grains RL 22, and a 117 grain bullet, either Hornady or Sierra.)

Brother and sister both got deer this morning.  Plenty of venison in the freezer.

Squirrel Gets Her Buck

My father nicknamed my daughter Squirrel when she was a toddler.   She has carried that nickname since.

She got her buck this morning.  While her husband is looking for trophies, she is looking for meat.  Trying to feed a family.

It's a nice little yearling buck,  She took it at about a hundred yards early this morning. She shoots a Ruger American in .308 Win with a Leupold 3X9 scope.

What Is A Stalking RIfle?

 Dave asks in comments:

Does a stalking rifle have to have open sights? Or are peep sights allowed?

We can agree that the "stalking rifle" probably came about during the heyday of the African safari.  A rifle of serious caliber that could be carried a lot and shot very little.  Most of those rifles had express sights, but I've seen a few with peep sights.  Back in those days, rifle optics were worse than not having sights at all.  Iron sights ruled, simply because they were durable,  quick, and reasonably accurate for the task at hand.

The staking rifle, as I appreciate it, is light, quick, and of sufficient caliber to do the job.  In this modern era, Jeff Cooper's Scout rifle could be considered a stalking rifle.  Light, quick, easy to use.  I have an old Remington 700 in ,308 Win that might fit the bill as a stalking rifle.  It has an 18 inch tube, a low power variable, and is very fast to get on target.  

For that matter, my Winchester 94 might be considered a stalking rifle.  It's light, at about 6 lbs, has a good peep sight, and if very fast in the woods.

To my mind, a stalking rifle is defined more by what it is not.  It is not a precision rifle.  It is no a bench rifle, it is not known for one-shot groups, although many stalking rifles are capable of good accuracy.  It's a rifle that you an carry all day, and take one good shot in the field.

If you're interested in good, classic British stalking rifles, here is a good place to start your education, but beware; this is a rabbit hole that you might not find your way out of.

The Mauser 98

I'm much too old for a stalking rifle these days, but I've long considered the Mauser 98, in 7X57 to be perhaps the quintessential stalking rifle for North American game.  If you want ammo availability, go with the .20-06, bu the Mauser is one of the classic rifles in game fields all over the world.

Deer Blind

I spent the day with my brother in law, assembling a Terrain Edge, a deer blind that we're going to use on the lease near Jena, LA.  It's a little 4X4, but it seems to be water tight, and will probably serve a single hunter well.

It's made of four plastic panels with a plastic roof, and we;ll make some adjustments to it before we take it to the woods.  We spent the morning on the lease, then assembled this little blind in about four hours.  We'll leave the protective sheeting on the windows until we get it to the woods.

Next week, we'll build a base for it, and prepare to haul it out to the lease.  Deer season is only 90 days away.

Choices, Choices

Its's mid-May and deer season starts in late October, a scant five months away, so it's time to start making some decisions about the upcoming season.  After a hiatus of several years, I bought into a deer lease and I'll be back in the deer woods this season.

The area is north-central Louisiana piney woods.  It's basically a ridge line overlooking a creek.  I'll be hunting from a deer blind, looking down a shooting lane, maximum range will be about 150 yards.  I'll have a corn-feeder set up about 100 yards from the blind.

I've winnowed down the rifles, but I still have a choice to make.  Caliber is .308 Winchester.

It'll be one of these two.  The rifle on top is a Savage 10 FCM Scout.  The optic is a Burris Scout scope.  This particular rifle is the 3rd iteration of Savage Scout rifles.  I picked it up in January 2015, just before Savage announced the 4th generation.  This rifle has the Accustock, with the aluminum bedding block.    I haven't made meat with it yet, but it's been a solid performer on family range outings.  I feel really confident with this rifle.

The lower rifle is a Remington 700 ADL that I picked up in a pawn sop in 2011.  It is mounted with a Leupold VX-1 in 3X9.  It shoots very well, and I'm also confident of my ability to hit with this rifle.

My son and son-in-law both looked at them during our Sunday lunch.  They coon-fingered them completely, but didn't give me much guidance on the decision.

So, I have to choose between two perfectly suitable choices.  Black Scout rifle or old-school walnut and blued steel.  What to do, what to do?

Deer Down

My daughter knocked down her first deer this morning, hunting at a camp that her husband's family has hunted for years.  The deer was taken early this morning from a box stand. at approximately 200 yards.  A nice little meat doe weighing 115 lbs.  That's a pretty standard doe for this area.

The rifle is a Ruger American in .308 Winchester, with a Leupold scope.  The ammo is unknown, but I gave her a bunch of handlooads last year.

Squirrel Day

Tomorrow is the opening day of squirrel season.  Traditionally in Louisiana it marks the beginning of the upland game season in Louisiana.  Many times, the weather has moderated (but not this year) and the hunters are ready to get out in the woods.  School administrators know about this tradition and work with it, often with good humor. 

My grandson, Zach, goes to Buckeye High School, and they had their traditional Friday night football game The Squirrel Bowl, last night.  Yeah, on Thursday.  This morning, I find that the student council put up a video explaining Squirrel Day in a humorous way.



Happy Squirrel Day, everyone.

.350 Legend?

I got my American Rifleman today and saw a picture of a new cartridge from Winchester, the .350 Legend.  I'm a big fan of .35 caliber cartridges, ad I must say that my curiosity is piqued.  Evidently, it's based on the .223 Remington cartridge, blown out to .35 caliber, and is a straight-walled case.

It was designed, evidently, as a niche cartridge for those folks who cannot use bottleneck cases for deer hunting, but it throws a 300 grain, .35 cal bullet at 1800 fps.  My first thought was ' "Big Deal!  I have a 45-70 load that throws a 405 grain bullet at 1800."

But then I started thinking; This is based o the .223 case.  It might fit through an AR.  Or, a really small bolt gun.  Either way, it would make a dandy cast-bullet rifle.  If Junior were still alive, he'd be on this thing like a duck on a june bug.

Right now, it's a new, niche cartridge, but I can see the potential.

My Old Savage

Regular readers know my fondness and preference for Savage rifles, especially my old Model 110 in .30-06.  There is nothing whiz-bang about it.  It's as plain as they come.  It started life as a synthetic stock, but the Savage stocks in those days were terrible, and I broke it when I dropped it from a tree stand, so I ordered a 90% stock from somewhere and finished this one the way I like it. 

Oh, I own other rifles, but this is the one I grab when something needs to be whacked with a medium caliber.  It puts a 168 grain bullet where I want ti to go, and I've only had to shoot one deer twice.  She was an old barren doe, and I hit her hard at 125 yards and anchored her.  When I got to her about ten minutes later, she was still breathing, so I put one in her neck to end the suffering.

I shot the rifle last autumn, but haven't shot it since.  I picked it up yesterday and noticed that the scope was loose.  Horror!  A closer look showed the problem.

The rear scope ring had turned loose from the base.   Probably under recoil.  Here's a closer look.

It was an easy fix, and gave me an excuse to spend an hour with the rile, making sure everything was tight and right.  I put Redfield bases and rings on this rifle, back in 2006, and they've always done me right.  This gives me an excuse to head to the range ext week, to verify the zero.  I don't expect tack-driving accuracy from this rifle, but I do expect it to shoot where it looks, and so far it's always done that.

Today is May 1st, and deer season is only six months away.  It might be time to put a screwdriver on everything and make sure your rifle is tight and right.

Half-Pint Sharps

Readers who have been with me a while know that I'm a big fan of falling block rifles.  At the current time, I own only one, a Pedretti copy of an 1874 Sharps business rifle.  Mine is in .45-70, weighs about 11 pounds, and I currently have it set up as a target rifle, with a tang sight and a Lyman 17 globe sight.  The weight of the rifle is just right for target work, but it's a little heavy for tramping over the hills and woodlands.  An 11 pound rifle gets heavier as the day goes on.

I am reminded, though, that Taylor's and Company imports several varieties of Sharps clones, including a  "Half-pint" Sharps in smaller calibers, including .44-40 and .30-30 Win.

Oleg Volk led me to a photo of a comely lass with one of these smaller Sharps.

The American Hunter did a review of it here.

A rifle that size might be just the bees knees for tramping around the woods with.   (That little gal might be too, but Belle would object.)

Before you turn your nose up at the old black-powder cartridges, remember that before the 1900s, they took all the game on this continent and every other.  The .30-30 especially was touted as a high-velocity, smokeless powder wonder cartridge when it was introduced.  It's still a fine cartridge for most game in the 150 pound class at 125 yards.   I bet that little Sharps in .30-30 or 44-40 would be a fun little rifle.  I'm just sayin'.

The Best Caliber for Grizzly

I've seen this story pop up from time to time, and Wirecutter is talking about it today.

For years, the world's record grizzly bear was one taken in Alberta, Canada by a native woman, Bella Twin.  She was  small game hunting with her partner and the bear got too close, so she shot it.  In the head, several times.  The bear became defunct and Bella joined the ranks of legendary hunters.

What caliber did she use?  .22 Long.  Not even .22 Long Rifle.

Seriously, the whole story is here, with pictures.

Back in the day, on the old usenet forums, someone would ask the question; "What caliber is the best for grizzly?"  I'd always say .22 Long and link to the story.  I thought I had talked about it on PawPaw's House, but I couldn't find it, so I linked it again.

Do I recommend going after grizzly with a .22?  No, not at all, but I've seen enough people shot with a .22 to know that it is one over-penetrating sonofabitch.  A .22 in the right hands will do things that you would think it could not do.  It's accurate, penetrates well, and easy to shoot. 

Reflections on Powder

Flugelman says in comments: 

I had some good results with IMR3031 and Sierra Matchking 168 grain

You're not the first person to report that, but I've always considered 3031 to be a bit fast for the .308.  I've always considered 3031 to be perfect for the .30-30 WIn, and for years, the chant-mantra for reloading was "30 grains of 3031 in the .30-30."  But, even this load will get you in trouble nowadays because about the turn of the century, 3031 changed.  It got a little aster.   We learned that we had to back down to 29 grains for a standard .30-30 load (here, I'm talking about the lever gun load with the 170 grain RN jacketed bullet.)  Of course, the .30-30 shines as a cast bullet cartridge, but we're opening a whole 'nuter wroms when we talk about cast bullets.

I cam to the .308 Win late in my career, simply because I shot so much o it when I worked for Uncle Sam.  It was a commodity, not worth study or reloading.  I simply shot what my Uncle gave me.  But, about 2004 and after finding my pet load, never looked back.  It simply works.  Every rifle I've tried it in gives MOA accuracy as long as the shooter does their part.  Everyone loves those little bug-hole groups, and the .308 will deliver them, time after time.

But, as my interests change over time, I've come to realize that bug-hole groups, while interesting are not the end-all.  Many of the shooters that I know are perfectly capable of shooting tiny groups on the bench, but when you take them away from the bench, simply can't shoot the rifle.  Groups on the nature of 4"-6" are more common.  There is a difference between bench accuracy and field accuracy, and most shooters don't spend enough time away from the bench.  But I digress.  Where was I?

Powder.  We were talking about powder.  3031 is a great, old-time powder, but we have to be careful when we're exploring the limits.  When we're working with a powder as fast as 3031, one grain might get us in trouble.  I like to stay on really conservative ground.

My go-to hunting rifle is an old Savage 110 in .30-06 and when I began reloading for it, I used IMR 4895 exclusively.  4895 is a fine old powder, and very versatile.  I could dig out my old loads, and my readers probably can too.  But, several years go, I decided to simplify and stumbled upon a load for the .30-06 using Reloader 22.  Many hand loaders consider 22 to be too slow for the .30-06, but I've found that if I load it to the base of the neck , then seat a good 168 grain bullet,   I've found that 60.0 grains o RL22 will fill any .30-06 case to the neck, and gives about 2700 fps when it pushes a 165/168 bullet with very good accuracy, better than most of us can use in the field. 

My Savage 110 in .30-06

Roloder 22 is very versatile in a rifle cartridge.  It gives great results in the .243 Win, and is my got-to powder for that cartridge. (100 grain Hornady, 45.5 gr RL22 and WLR primer for over 3100 fps) It's also good in the .25-06, pushing a 115 grain bullet over the 3000 fps mark.  My son uses it in the 7mm Rem Mag, and my brother-in-law uses it in the 270 Winchester.  It's a little slow for the .30-06, but still gives great results with low pressure and great accuracy. 

Which is all to say, I'm done experimenting.  I have my loads, and while other folks may want to push the limits, and make ground-breaking discoveries, I'm past all that.  I have my loads.

My pet loads are here.  They reflect a decade or more of experimenting, and I'm satisfied with the results.  This is not to take anything away from anyone else's favorite loads, and I know that there are a lot of good powders that I don't talk about. 

Back to Basics

I started reloading back in 1976, and quickly became hooked.  With three boys and one daughter that likes to shoot, we lived in the country, and my ammo bill was .. interesting.  So, I started reloading for shotgun, then pistol, and finally for rifle.  For a time, back at the turn of the century, I was the managing editor of a webzine called The Frugal Outdoorsman.  In 2003, I penned an article about reloading on the kitchen table.

Today, I recalled a conversation with my daughter.  It seems that the hunting season is approaching and she was inquiring if I happened to have any spare .308 Win cartridges laying around.  the kids have been scamming ammo from me for years, and I make batter ammo than most of what is on the shelves at the stores, for a whole lot less money.

So, I was digging through my scrounging stocks, and found a bag of once-fired brass, .308 Federal Gold Medal Match, that I found at the local Sheriff's office range.  So, I found my hand press, brought tem inside and decapped them.  Then took them out to the tumbler and gave it a two-hour spin in walnut media.  Shook it all out, inspected it, then dug out the priming tool and went back in the house.

The  garage is currently 96F with 80% humidity.  The house is 70F.  It's much more pleasant inside than it is in the garage.  The priming tool doesn't know the difference, but I do.  It's a lo cooler indoors.

Tomorrow morning, I'll get the scales, powder, funnel, trickler, etc and set up on the kitchen tale.  I'll charge the cases then set up the hand press to set bullets.

For the record, our preferred hunting load for the .308 Win is good brass, seated with WLR primers.  43.0 grains o Alliant Reloder 15 and a decent 168 grain bullet.  Tomorrow, it will be Sierra's good Game King bullets, some I bought several years ago and still have in stock.  But, it could just have easily been Hornady or Nosler.  I've used all three at varying times, and the smallish whitetail deer we have in these parts can't really tell the difference.

I haven't really reloaded any ammo in the past three years.  I've been playing the CFDA game and that reloading is very easy.  It elt good to use my tools on the bench again. 

Truer Words

Truer Words Were Never Spoken

That's been my experience.  When Belle says, "Oh, Hell No", I've already gone too far.

I try to avoid that.

Classic Cold Front

The weather map shows a classic cold front coming in on Tuesday here.  From south Texas to the Great Lakes, this thing is just what duck hunters dream about.

This is the kind of front that my  Dad used to look for in the paper.  Lots of ducks and geese moving along the front of the storm, riding the air that's pushing south. 

Weather

Several teams locally are moving their football games from Friday night to Thursday night, ostensibly for the weather.  The only thing that can stop a football game around here is lighting.

Here's what Wunderground's chart looks like for the next several days.

Decidedly, there is rain the forecast.  And, I'm sure that there will be some lightning.  But the cynic in me wonders... Saturday should be beautiful, and the main gun season for deer opens hereabouts at daylight Saturday morning.  We'll have to keep a "weather eye" on this.

Like A Hero

Someone at Wal-Mart put a back-to-school display on the gun rack.

Twitter is , predictably, freaking out.

Hunting season opens next month, and for many of the schools around here, the beginning of squirrel season is an out-of-school holiday.

Wood Ducks

Sitting at the house yesterday in the twilight enjoying a bourbon I was considerably surprised to see a wood duck whistle past and pitch into the little lake that we live on.

"Wood duck" I said to Belle.
"How do you know?" she asked.
"I just know."

The sight took me back thirty years.  I was sitting on the swing at my house on Bayou Derbonne, early on a Sunday afternoon in January.  My wife had just asked what I thought we should cook for supper, and while I pondered the answer, a pair of wood ducks whistled over the house and went down in the bayou across the road.

That bayou was about a hundred yards from the house, across a small asphalt road, across a muddy bean field, lined with mixed hardwood and bald cypress lining the banks.

I stood from the swing and went inside, retrieving my upland shotgun.  It was a Stevens 311, an inexpensive double-barrel.  I plunked two shells into the barrels and went outside.  "I'll be right back."

Crossed the road, jumped the ditch and slogged across the muddy bean field.  I stopped in the edge of the trees and watched the surface of the bayou, looking for ripples in the still water.  I took two steps, and heard wings.  The two ducks jumped from the water and I swung on them.  Pop!  Pop!, a left and a right, and I had two ducks down in the bayou.  There I stood in muddy sneakers, jeans, and a flannel shirt.

There was nothing to do but go in after them, so I put the shotgun down and waded in after them into chest-deep water.  Then I headed for the house, cold, wet, muddy, with supper in my hand.

Dinner that night was roasted wood duck, with rice, gravy, steamed broccoli and cat-head biscuits. Not a bad supper for an afternoon's work, even if I did have to wade for it.

I wonder if someone hung a wood-duck box on the lake.  They are in no danger from my shotgun, but it is nice to see them late in an evening.  The sight takes me back to good times.