Hope this one gets 'legs'. I've been spending a few hours sitting in a tree stand the last couple of weeks and was wondering who else subjects themselves to tush numbing, toe freezing, leg shaking cold to enjoy the Great Outdoors? Walked up to within 30 yards of a large Doe laying down off the trail this morning but by the time I determined it Was a Doe ( I have a Buck only tag) she jumped up and departed the area. Also, anyone know where I can find ammo for a Savage 99 in Savage .303 caliber? They stopped producing the .303 rounds a few years back and it is harder than Hens-teeth to find. I do have a set of 'dies' so the 30 empty brass I have can be reloaded once I find someone nearby who has a press. I figure at 2 rounds per Deer, (if I'm lucky), that should last another 15 years by which time I'll be close to the retirement age of climbing 16 feet in the air to sit in the below freezing temps. Be interesting to read others accounts of their time communing with Nature.
Heading up to the cabin this weekend with some buddies. Looks like it might be a little chilly high of -9 C and low of -15 C. Have a couple of antlerless draws and 4 point bucks or better are open (American 8 point). Immature bulls (moose) also. We might get down to a zone where it is any bone on the deer. All the deer are Mulies. I'll let you know how we make out after the long weekend. KTK
Not a hunter myself (more for lack of opportunity than any certain moral convictions), but I've got an Enfield .303, and I've found ammo for it at Cabelas and Bass Pro. Its not too expensive, but the last time I bought a box, they only had two spots on the shelf for it (one softpoint, one jacketed), so you might have to ask.
Ken, you're 'killing me' here with all the Moose talk I haven't seen them but there are a few Moose nearby, they are seen very rarely, and Minnesota let out I think it was 87 Moose tags for the State. All in the Arrow Head area, North of Duluth towards Thunder Bay. Rabid, Sometimes I ask myself what I'm doing. I watched the Deer yesterday morning for nearly 2 minutes trying to decide; Shoot or Not To Shoot. Hard decision since it was within an easy bow shot and I had the rifle. If not for the "Buck Only" restriction (and my strict observation of all the rules ) I'd have Venison hanging by now. The Enfield .303 won't work. Due to the wisdom of manufacturing practices and the desire to make you buy specific, read "Their Stuff" the Savage .303 is just slightly different than the Enfield. Something like .020 thicker at the base of the cartridge. Putting a Lee Enfield .303 in a Savage would amount to a blown casing and a Not so good day. They say the 30-40 Krag can be cut and sized for use but my 99 is a 100 years old this year and although it is nearly 'Mint', well I'll use up what I have and hang it on the wall in a place of Honor I guess. I've always wanted a 30-30 and a good excuse to start looking at a Henry or Winchester in that caliber.
I'm not a hunter (never been interested in it), but I am a firearms collector. I really have to get some pictures posted here when I get a chance. The market herely different than in the US: Lee-Enfields are a dime a dozen, but american/german arms are much harder to come across for reasonable prices. There's a few "odd" trends as well. Over the past year Garand values have gone through the roof -- a year ago you could get a decent one for around 900. Now they're selling for nearly 1500. The same goes for USGI 1911s -- nowadays even one with mismatched parts will get over 1000 bucks. Checking out American sites such as gunbroker always makes me a little bit sad! However, we do have two advantages here: cheap soviet guns and cheap Lee-Enfields. Mosin-Nagants and SVT-40s go for less than half of their US prices, and ammo for them is dirt cheap. Likewise, its never hard to track down an Enfield or ammo for it. I think its still the most popular hunting calibre up here. I have seen 303 Savage in a couple of stores, but it wasn't cheap if I recall correctly.
Going off topic (sort of) but if you have never heard Ron White's bit on early morning hunting, you should see if you can find it on YouTube or something. The best part is when he talks about how to never fail in getting deer. His position is that bullet speed, camo, early morning deer stands are a waste of time and effort. If you are really serious about taking a deer one must figure out how to fit little tiny headlights on the bullet, slow it down to about 60 mph, and equip it with a tiny horn that blares constantly. When fired in the general direction of any deer, the deer will automatically jump in front of the thing just like it does when approached by Ron's vans in deer country.
Off topic big time on this post, but still "hunting". A guy here in Montana was arrested for shooting the Canada Goose decoys other hunters had put out as draws to them in their blinds. First in Montana it is illegal to "ground or water shoot" fowl, they must be airborne, and second the other hunters were afraid they themselves might be shot by this nut. It is a misdemeanor, but also loss of license privilege for at least five years in the Game and Fish system.
that's a shame as I would luv some Montana boyz to head to my part of Orygun and terminate some of the gooses which are predominating the area in no uncertain terms......Clint in reality it appears the same accounts for all of Oregon as well the fowl must be airborne and of course the time of the month and even week must be adhered to by law or you will get mor than fanny spanked if caught. due to health now all I do is "hunt" with a camera....
I have seen the Savage .303 ammo for sale but on further reading the ad it was only for empty brass & that was $32.00 for 20! Clint I may have an idea; I could give this a try - take the 4-wheeler out at night and run helter-skelter through the trails in the woods as fast as I can. Of course I'd wear a helmet. I was riding in a truck last month when my cousin hit a fawn. We were returning home from Ely right at dusk and having fun counting all the Deer we were seeing. All the way he was saying "Just stay the Hell off the road" to the well over a hundred we saw. Saw herds of the things. Anywhere from two & threes to 30 & 40's off in the fields bordering the highway. Naturally we were within 20 minutes of the house when the browsing youngster decided the far side of the road had greener grass. Luckily no damage to the truck, it went under the front left tire and exited by way of the back right tire. I'm not sure about the Minn. Reg's on shooting on the water, they can now do that in Illinois I guess. Call it "Arkansas'en". Something to do with how the Good Ol' Boys down South always abide by their own rules Erich, I've given it much thought about selling a couple guns and buying a good camera! Especially after yesterday when I stood within 20-25 yards of a Deer. She just laid there chewing her cud while I tried to figure if I wanted to shoot. Didn't and she jumped up and trotted off daintily as you please. Also had a Pileated Woodpecker land not 15 feet from me the same morning. Could have got some great pictures as it went up and down a dead Birch tree looking for bugs.
Just out of curiosity, have you ever looked into these guys? Goto: Cheaper Than Dirt - America's Ultimate Shooting Sports Discounter
Sure did Clint Please Note We're sorry, this product is currently not in stock and can not be backordered. Oh well.
Biak, I came across this today while looking for a M84 scope for my M1D Garand: 303 SAVAGE 180GR RN [610] - $49.95 : The Old Western Scrounger LLC. No idea about the age and its a little on the expensive side ($2+ a round), but its in stock.
Holy SMOKES ! That's a little steep. Thanks for finding it though. I talked to a guy this morning that might be able to get the brass I have reloaded. That may only cost me a mess of fish I've got to take a couple of pictures and post. One of the boxes of shells I have looks like this, albeit a little more ragged on the edges. And I bet it didn't cost $69.95 plus shipping ! Sorry for the image size, it wasn't that big when I copied it
As a hungry boy growing up in a big family....deer and rabbit hunting was a necessity....I am still a hunter at heart and eat a few rabbits to keep the garden area more safe ......live at 7000ft. and a small plot of garden must have seven feet of fence to keep most deer out....with drought they are so thirsty and hungry they eat the grasses on the rural leach field here and will drink all of the dog's water dish each night. This year all the apple tree leaves in the yard were trimmed at deer height by the deer, and our security lights come on and we peak through the blinds to find a hungry doe eating the buffalo grass and tree leaves. I have never seen them as hungry as they are in this area and have traveled up the mountain to the top and found their traditional water holes dried up completely so they are trying to survive around houses, dog dishes, food scraps people put out etc. I make it a point to take apple peelings, pineapple peelings, rejected grapes and other things that are not good and put them on a railroad tie to give them something and they are grateful as they consume just about anything I leave there. Everyone probably hears about our fires and drought but I doubt that anyone stops to realize how hard these conditions are for our wildlife populations as well. Perhaps I am growing soft, or just think about caring for this food supply as a farmer/rancher cares for his stock but I have compassion for them and probably will not hunt until I see their conditions improve in my area. In the meantime if you use the meat wisely and need it, I hope you enjoy your hunt but here for a while I am seeing things from a slightly different perspective until our drought which is years long comes to an end. The only good news is that the weeds have been very easy to abate as they have done little growing compared to normal years but I would trade that for moisture any time. A hundred miles away in Albuquerque, they are also short the moisture but not quite as bad as here in the Zuni mountains.
Not sure if you can see, but the price on the Remington box of 20 is $8.26. The Peter's box is too worn to see how much they cost way back when.
Somewhat off topic but I was a born hunter until my mid twenties when I gradually transitioned in to near Jainism !! LOL A few years back a hunter/collector friend ask me to design a walk in gun vault for his fine shotgun collection. He lives in a rural area, in nearby Georgia, and owns some Greener's, Purdey's. Bosses, Holland and Holland's , 31's, Ayas, etc. The vault ended up 16 ft by 16 ft X 10 ft poured reinforced concrete. The door is cast in place, floors are old heart pine on sleepers , cabinets are cypress. HVAC above the ceiling with good humidity control.. It was designed for 125 guns but now has a few more.. And yours truly !!!!
GT would give you triple likes if I could but honestly he doesn't have enough firepower, bring on the big autos..... ;-) the engraving work is rich - what an art, great pick-ups. beautiful cabinetry ....
