A Smith& Wesson 645, .45 ACP and extra magazines, because that is beside my bed. I think that an M-60 in a good defensive position would be comforting also. There are better choices, but these I have spent the most time with. When you say "assailants" I take it to mean they are coming to me. Bad idea if I know they are coming. I would just prefer to just "Slink out the back Jack"....

Call the game warden again. He is paid to take your calls. Poachers and tresspassers need to be delt with.

That was a great scene when he pulls out that big old Walker Colt and breaks the shot glass tossed into the air after "educating" the barkeep. Now I want to drag out the tapes and watch it again. The book was also a great read. It was a shame they did not go into the "Texas Bull" in the movie. PETA would have probably got on them.

I know this is a silly question but, will the rifle group with other powders and loads? How did he "break in" the new bore? And are we sure the bedding is correct? I would follow Mr Cooper's suggestion and try the winchester 760. It gets the best results in my .243.

I like a tang safety. The one on the mosberg is like the ones on my doubles and overunders. Never have gotten used to the ones down in the trigger guard.

I seem to have the best luck with about 35 lbs of wad pressure. With some loads I have to add a thin felt wad to the bottom of the shot cup to get the crimp tight enough. Generally though if the components are matched correctly the crimp is correct and dosen't need any "fussing". If you follow the directions in the Lyman Shotshell reloading manual using the wad, hull, charge combination there it will work perfectly.

One of my coworkers was once a maintenance man at the Mustang Ranch in Nevada. He saw some unusual work related injuries, but nothing like that. And no it was not an "entry level position".

Be as warm as you can before you go in the water and do not drink any alcohol before you go in or after you come out. Alcohol dilates blood vessels and you will lose heat quicker and if you drink when you are cold the dilated blood vessels will return cold blood to your core quicker and drop the temperature. This can be very dangerous. When you hit the water watch out for an involuntary gulp of air. I put my chin against my chest and cover my nose, this seems to help. Do not stay in the water any longer than you have to and when you get out dry off and get into dry clothes. Wrap up in a sleeping bag or blankets with another person (no funny business!) and drink warm liquids. There is a temptation to get into a hot shower or bath but you have to be careful. If you are very hypothermic and your core temp has already dropped the blood in your limbs will be even colder. When you get into a hot shower or tub the cold blood will move into your core and make the situation worse. I like to think of it as “you loose heat quickly from your limbs but slowly from your core and you re-warm you core quickly but your limbs slowly”. Try to be one of the first ones out of the water so you watch the others. Sometimes it is the 250 lb “he men’’ that squeal like little girls when they hit the water. Have fun, be careful and post pictures.

Grandfather, 1917 to 1920 Army, France and Belgium. He never talked about it. Father, 1941 to 1949 Army, Mostly at Edgewood Arsenal. He had a chemical engineering background and was asked not to talk about it. Myself 1971 to 1974 Army, 11B & 11C. Mostly in Alaska with the 172nd. I spent most of my time running around in the bushes and I love talking about it.

Two of my favorite rifles have peep sights. One is a model 64 Winchester with a Williams receiver (peep) sight. The other is a 1903 Springfield sporter with an old Lyman receiver sight. The stocks are the right height to get a solid cheek weld with the sights being in line. The Winchester is my favorite rifle for still hunting rain forest blacktails. The conditions are so wet that any scope that is not covered will have water, leaves and all kinds of junk on the ocular lens and there is seldom time to remove the covers as sometimes the shots are measured in feet and not yards.

http://www.bunnyboots.com/bunnyboot/oinf.html

If the 94 was made in the last 50 years or so the receiver is already drilled on the left side for a receiver sight. I think it is the Williams #52 that fits. If you lived around close I have one that is a spare in the tool box you could have. I put one on model 64 forty years ago and liked it so much I bought a spare but the one on the rifle will last me as long as I expect to need it.

Often people forget about the fourth element of a fire which is the requirement for the presence of the chemical reaction which is the process of fire. For example, the suppression effect of Halon is due to its interference in the fire chemical inhibition. Halon was a great fire fighting tool but is no longer used it was an "ozone depleter". We still have it on ships but if ever discharged it can’t be refilled. Some schools teach “the fire tetrahedron” in stead of the fire triangle. Did any of you guys go to the Navy fire fighting school at Treasure Island?

I watched my last football game in 1967, the same year I took my first big game animal. I feel no loss.

Maybe Hopkins & Allen? Most of theirs were under hammer but the rest of the arrangement is similar.

The longest one that I thought I deserved was on a Dall ram at a lazered 391 yards prone and wrapped up in my sling. I had my hunting partner watching through his spotting scope and I had just fired that same load at 400 yards four days before. They had caught our scent and were hiding in a ravine about 100 yards away and one of the satellite rams had us unable to move without spooking him where he was bedded. When the other six rams that were in the ravine started to move into view they were all clustered together and I could not shoot him out of the bunch of smaller rams. They kept moving in a bunch slowly uphill and to the right and finally at 391 yards they separated, stopped and there was a chance to shoot. I held 3 minutes of elevation and squeezed the shot on the half and hold. There was no reaction from the ram and I asked my hunting partner if he marked the shot. Just then the ram went down. He never moved and the other rams just stood staring at him. Just for curiosity I set up a target at the same distance the next day and fired a round. It struck the target 2" high. I have made others at the mid 400's but I considered them luck. This one was repeatable.

We used to take gunny sacks and stitch them together with twine to make like a big "spagetti western" poncho. Then paint them with barge cement then sprinkle on straw and corns stalks. Then we would just flop down in the corn fields. The big trick was getting it out of the way to shoot.

On my lever guns I use an Otis flexible cable that is coated with plastic; these are great for use in the field. We have taken an empty case and drilled out the primer to 5/16" in the lathe with a taper so the cable doesn’t drag on the side the chamber. These plastic covered cables and rods must be kept clean or they can get abrasives imbedded in them and do damage to the bore. We have also made cleaning rods out of 1/4" brass rod for 7mm and up, 3/16 for the rest, with a swiveling handle that uses the stainless ball bearings that I get free from a guy that rebuilds deep sea reels. We turn HDPE to fit over the muzzle to act as a guide so the rod doesn't rub the rifling at the crown. With the lever guns we also put a piece of cloth down in the action laying on the follower/elevator to catch solvent and gunk. Remove it carefully and most of it will still be in the cloth. If the bolt can be removed then always clean from the breach and don’t drag the dirty patch back through the bore. Put a tray under the muzzle to catch the drips and swab away!

I think of handloading as a craft where you can enjoy the results of your careful work. Also if you have rifles of unusual caliber you may not always be able to come up with the ammo that you want. Sometimes you don't find a factory load that gives you the performance that you want and by careful experimentation and mixing of components you can come up with something that more suits your needs and the peculiarities of your rifle. And if nothing else you shoot more and that is always a good thing. Follow the manuals, work carefully and keep detailed records. You will find a different kind of satisfaction when you take an animal cleanly with a load that you have tailored to your rifle.

Where we moose and caribou hunt there isn't a truck or a horse within 100 miles. It has to be carried on your back to the airplane or the boat. It is cut up and put in game bags. I take hanging twine to do all kinds of small tasks. We used to use 1/2 of a hockey skate lace run through a hole in the bottom of a coffee can to make a call. Wet the lace and pinch it between your thumb and forefinger up close to the can. If you pull down with the right tension and let it slide between your fingers it will make a passable cow call. I sometimes tie off the esophagus and trachea with a line to make it easier to pull on while someone else cuts loose things as you work towards the diaphragm. (Don’t toss the diaphragm, it is actually quite good) Generally you try to have the head slightly up hill but that isn’t always possible. Usually you can drain the bladder by pressing on it and letting it take its usual route after cutting loose the skin and ligaments that support the penis. Let the urine drain on the ground behind the animal. Generally I don’t tie off the gut above the anus unless the gut is full and the contents are soft. The usual “moose nuggets” are not going to be a problem, but if they were feeding on grass then it isn’t a bad idea. Generally we bone off the pelvis and it gets left behind in the field after all of the edible meat is removed. In the bull only areas we leave a testicle naturally attached to a hind quarter. 6 months and 4 days until the start of the local moose season! Hump day is almost here.

I read Moby Dick to my kids when they were just little guys. This was my Children’s favorite passage:(This is right after Ahab had stabbed himself in the groin with his broken peg leg) Nor, at the time, had it failed to enter his monomaniac mind, that all the anguish of that then present suffering was but the direct issue of former woe; and he too plainly seemed to see, that as the most poisonous reptile of the marsh perpetuates his kind as inevitably as the sweetest songster of the grove; so, equally with every felicity, all miserable events do naturally beget their like. Yea, more than equally, thought Ahab; since both tie ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the ancestry and posterity of Joy. For, not to hint of this: that it is an inference from certain canonic teachings, that while some natural enjoyments here shall have no children born to them for the other world, but, on the contrary, shall be followed by the joy-childlessness of all hell’s despair; whereas, some guilty mortal miseries shall still fertilely beget to themselves an eternally progressive progeny of griefs beyond the grave; not at all to hint of this, there still seems an inequality in the deeper analysis of the thing. For, thought Ahab, while even the highest earthly felicities ever have a certain unsignifying pettiness lurking in them, but, at bottom, all heartwoes, a mystic significance, and, in some men, an archangelic grandeur; so do their diligent tracings-out not belie the obvious deduction. To trail the genealogies of these high mortal miseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the gods; so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and softcymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: that the gods themselves are not for ever glad. The ineffaceable, sad birth-mark in the brow of man, is but the stamp of sorrow in the signers. They remind me when we are out fishing or hunting and I continue on even though there is little likelihood of success. They start with the “Nor, at the time, had it failed to enter his monomaniac mind,” You got to love them!

One thing I have noticed with mine is if you let the powder container get low the charge weight goes down slightly and if you have the container full it is slightly heavier. The charge is compressed slightly in the charge bushing. I try to stay in the middle 1/3 of the container. I also weigh the charges occasionally as I go along. Follow your reloading manual exactly! A change in wad, hull or any other component will change pressure. Also wear your safety glasses. You can get a piece of shot down in the primer seater and there is potential to set off a primer. And don't stick your finger down through the wad fingers in your wad guide. It will get stuck there and then you have to get a thin strip of plastic and run it in around your finger to release it.

Poachers used them to hide from the "Ghillies" or game keepers. The game keepers turned the trick back on the poachers and the game of "hide and seek" went to a whole new level. In WWI the "Ghillies" were recruited as snipers and their burlap suits came with them.

Long range for you, long range for me and long range for the average hunter will vary widely. The sad fact is that for many people 100 yards may be too far. In the days before range finders a two minute rifle in a medium caliber like a 30-06 at 265 yards I would call the start of "long range" from a prone position. With a flatter shooting round in a sub-MOA rifle with a range finder and a solid rest that would open up to 400 yards over flat ground. Start throwing in wind uphill/downhill angles, high altitude, high or low temperatures and things get away from me pretty quick. For the most part it would land at 300 yards where I am confident that I can hit a gallon milk jug every time. 400 yards is usually where I quit for most big game.

With big game hunting it is important to have the correct mindset. When I gave up the idea that I "must get something" and focused on a Zen kind of philosophy, a "serene marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless" and “that not taking the shot was as easy and conversely as hard as taking it” it becomes easier. The decision is made, the firearm mounted, sights are already aligned and the shot is made in your mind before you feel the recoil. I dry fire my hunting rifles a lot. I check to see that they are clear and pick various spots around the shop or the woods behind the house and practice mounting the rifle and squeezing the trigger, working the action and feeling the way that the rifle rests in my hands. Often I will visualize a spot on the wall an close my eyes then shoulder the rifle and when I open my eyes I expect to see the sights aligned on the target. Stock fit is all important for this kind of instinctive shooting. It is kind of like driving a nail with a hammer that you have used for years; there is no doubt that you will hit the nail on the head because your arm, eye and hand have done it so many times before. I shoot a lot offhand at ranges that are estimated not lazered and that seems to build muscle memory that make field shooting much easier. These techniques also work for target shooting. When you think you are in the correct position aim and close your eyes and count to ten in your head. When you open your eyes are you still on the target? If not you are forcing the position and you will not do as well as you would if it was not forced. Once I was firing small bore junior match at 50 ft offhand and my first shot was a 7 at eleven o’clock. After looking through the spotting scope and verifying what I already knew I fired the next 4 shots without worrying where they went so much as “sights, breathe, squeeze” and didn’t even check the spotting scope. I cranked back the target at the end of the round and was surprised to find that the last four shots all cut the X’s. I was trying too hard. I love still hunting for deer in thick cover, trying to move in a way that does not spook the deer and allows you to see them before they see you. Learning to recognize when you were actually busted and when they were just suspicious. Early on I would throw up my rifle and have them spook leaving me without a shot. Now I freeze and sometimes even almost close my eyes for a few seconds to give them time to relax. Often they don’t really see you and there is time to slowly raise your rifle and take the shot. I guess it all comes down to experience and practice. The best game shot I ever saw was a South African PH that shot 5000 springbok in one year.

The UN has outlived its usefulness and needs to go to its European headquarters and stay out of the United States' business. We can handle things on our own quite well thank you.

French word capturés, as in captor, to take, capture or to seize. Mispronounced as copper by the English. Shortened to cop.

Do they hunt sea ducks there? Some of the locals here hunt scoters and old squaws from rocky points. They sometimes go through a lot of ammo.

La guarnicion del presidio para securidad de nuestra sancta fee catolica, Santa Fe (in what would later be New Mexico) in 1610

The Wife is Sicilian and the dog is hers, I might as well just bandage the dog bites and write the suicide note, as the end result would be the same!

Makes you kind of wonder if they are just a bunch of blah blah blah!

One of the best things you can do is set up a reloading area and use it for only that. Being meticulous and organized will produce the best results. Keep good records to refer back to, always wear your eye protection and have fun!

Cottontails like an area that has cover, is dry and has food close by. One of the best places I ever hunted them was around an old abandoned wrecking yard. The old car bodies gave them great, dry cover and the surrounding alfalfa fields provided food.

The wife got fed up with the mess and so I decided that I needed an area for my projects. We built a 960 sq ft shop aka “Man land" and all of the camping gear, hunting clothes, fishing gear, extra freezers, outboards, ATV, reloading and gun cleaning all goes on here. I modified a black Decker workmate portable workbench to clamp the rifles when I work on them or clean them. I also cleaned out an old mechanic's tool chest to put all of the gun related tools and cleaning supplies in. I put a plastic tray under the workmate and this catches the drips and dropped patches. I am generally standing when I am cleaning the long guns. If I am cleaning handguns then I spread out a doubled old linen tablecloth on the bench and pull up a stool to work. There is a washer and dryer in which to toss anything that needs washing without taking it into the house and “besmirching” the house washer. We also have a mechanics style parts washer full of Stoddard solvent to clean up the Cosmoline covered curio and relic stuff that my friends always seem to be bringing over. One of my favorite ways to waste a day is disassembling and carefully cleaning every firearm I own. Most don’t really need it but it gives me a chance to really inspect each one and make sure they are up to snuff.

I was fourteen and used an un-altered .303 S.M.L.E. No.4 MKI* Long Branch to take a spike mule deer. I had missed a big four point (western count) the day before. I had "buck fever" so bad I almost puked and missed 3 times from only 30 yards!

There is an old saying "buy quality and you only cry once”.

Had a model 12 winchester that would only cycle winchester ammo. Found out that the headspace was too wide and bulged the case just ahead of the rim on the other brands that had weaker case heads and base wads. This might be the case with your 870.

At 56 I am not an old timer but I can see it from here. So first off I forgot that the elevator was ever invented. Where I work there are five flights of stairs between my office and where my crew works. I run down and run back up as needed. There is a 57 foot elevation change and on the busy days you may make that trip 50 or 60 times in 12 hours. I work a 4 week rotation so when I am home for 4 weeks I work on building my 5th (and probably last) house. We burn wood and don't own a splitter. We try to never buy meat and only eat the fish and game that we have caught or killed. We scout locally with mountain bikes to cover ground more quickly. They are so much quieter than an ATV and you will see a lot more game. We also cross country ski casually around the neighborhood which is the best outdoor exercise that I can think of. A good multi-vitamin and 3000mg of glucosamine HCL and 2400mg of chondroitin sulfate help with the stiffness in my joints. I try to spend at least one month every year out in hunting camps; some years more some less. I always feel the best when I have just returned from one of those expeditions. I am planning on retiring this year to devote more time to what I enjoy.

Seventh issue, Chief Engineer of motor vessels of any horsepower. After crossing the Gulf of Alaska in a 27' sloop with an open cockpit in a storm all you have to do is look in the mirror. The sea water will have evaporated from your body heat and your skin is covered in salt. The old time sailors would not waste fresh water on bathing and so were constantly covered in salt. They were also called "Tars" for the pine tar that covered their working clothes. They used the tar to preserve the standing rigging. Also, Del have you ever been around the Navy Seals? I spent six weeks in 1973 doing winter mountaineering training with them and the might take offense to the idea of them being REMF's. I was Army at the NWTC but we did the same cold weather training with them. They are not to be taken lightly!

A good guess would be the 7.65x53mm, or 7.65mm Argentine model 1909 that was converted to 30-06 by running a 30-06 chambering reamer into it. Please have someone competent check the headspace and cast the chamber, throat and bore. A friend used one of these so converted rifles with iron sights to take several moose.

Please post a picture if you can. I am curious as to the track you take to be badger. If it was here I would think wolverine.

I want a 18' G3 to put my 40 horse Yamaha jet engine on for moose hunting next fall. I borrowed a 16 ft Smokercraft Jon boat this year but would like more carrying capacity. If I can't find one used I will have to bite the bullet and get a new one.

Marty Robins "El Paso", and "Big Iron" taken from his album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs". I first heard that album in 1962 and I still like it.

When I was eight my folks got me a Daisy air rifle for Christmas. It was the "Boy scouts" model with the target style peep sights and the inserts you could change in the front globe. It had a longer wood stock and a sling. My father wanted me to work on marksmanship and felt that learning with a peep sight would help when I transitioned into a .22. It came with a cardboard and canvas BB trap so I could recycle the BBs. Soon I was shooting sparrows in the granaries and starlings in the feedlot. Who I would be nearly 50 years later was built on this foundation. I still thank my father for his good sense and this gift even though he has been gone for forty years. I hope that he is pleased with how I turned out.

A .375 H&H, but I don't own one. Pachyderms to pronghorns can be handled with a .375 but I would rather have a choice. Why compromise? A .223 and a .500 N.E.? a dozen stops in between. Traditional lever action carbines, tack driving bean field rifles, English double rifles, 1903 Springfield sporters, black rifles, vanilla bolt action workhorses, air weight mountain rifles, engraved Teutonic single shots. Too many choices! Enough of this sillyness, just grab the 30/06 and head out back to look for a black bear. Shoot the .458 some more before you go back to Africa.

Jason Berger Worldwide Hunting and Fishing Senior Consultant Cabela's Outdoor Adventures 1-800-346-8747 Direct: 308-255-2452 www.cabelasoutdooradventures.com "Smurf" Sweetnam was the PH sweetnamsafaris@gmail.com

Your name should be Troglodyte, Ignorance is what is ruining America.

The 28th was the end of my four week work rotation. I got most of the wife's projects done and now I am back at my job where I have time to relax!

Has anyone tried eating them? When I was in Guatemala they would sell them and iguana alive in the market as food. I could not get the wife to cook one for me.

Tracks across Africa, The best and worst of Tred Barta (he is so irritating that he grows on you),Jim Shockey, The Huntley Way and last but not least The Crush...

A tribe of canabals ambushes a circus troop. The tribe is sitting around their campfire later and one guy passes a piece of roasted clown to his buddy and says, "Try this. Does it taste funny to you?"

Please don't skimp on the stack. If you ever get a stack fire in a substandard stack it could easily burn you cabin down. I have a Dutchwest Cast Iron Catalytic 2460 and it is a great small small wood stove but it was about $1000. Northren Hydraulics had some good deals on boxwood stoves that would maybe fit you situation better. Try them.

If legal in your area try snares. They are usually cheap and the can be wicked for fox and coons. I got most of my traps when I was a kid from farm auctions for pennies on the dollor. Have fun and post pictures.

Don't waste the time. They are not going to change their minds. Work on the ones in the middle that can be brought into the fold, and young ones that have not been brainwashed yet by Disney logic and Hollywood’s animal anthropomorphisms.

Many years ago as a youth I regularly hunted a high valley that only had super cub access. It was like an Eden of game. We trapped and actively hunted the wolves and wolverine that lived in the area. The local pack stayed at around 5 to 6 animals. Every moose hunt we would see 3 or 4 legal bull moose in the valley. One of my friends that was most active in the area was killed in a plane wreck and the rest of us got old, married, or just too busy to spend much time there. I returned 15 years later and was shocked by what had happened. In a weeks time we saw no moose while on foot and only could find 1 cow from the air. I wanted to know what happened so I returned to the valley and started to check tracks, scat and other signs. What I found was that the number of wolves had grown to become a "super pack" of 16 adults and 6 pups. The area had useable moose trails 15 years before but now had dense brush that was almost impassable. After looking at the wolf scats I found that it contained parts of beaver, porcupine, grouse, rabbits, ptarmigan, black bear and sheep but almost no moose hair or bones. The valley had become what is known as a "predator pit" where big game numbers will stay low for years. During one hard winter in this period the wolves left the valley and came into the outskirts of town and started killing dogs. About that time the state of Alaska started intensely managing the wolf population. In a week I am going back to the valley with my son and one of my old pals. After another 15 years of predator control the survey numbers look good. I will give you a follow up report. The bottom line is that wolves are predators that have to be managed. Done properly you can have game and predators but let the predator numbers get too high and the damage to game numbers will be drastic and take a long time to bring back. Also, even though your dog and these wolves had a common ancestor thousands of years ago they now have as much in common as an Angus bull and a Cape buffalo.

Take a plate number and a picture of the vehicle if you can without too much exposure and call the law. I had some bone heads like these come back and kill my dog in my own driveway after confronting them over vandalism.

For practice I take 1 gallon plastic milk jugs and fill them with water and set them down at various points on a hillside. I walk out from them and stop when the furthest is at what I would guess is my maximum range. Set up a field realistic rest over a daypack and range the jugs. If I can't bust every jug, every time I am trying to shoot too far. I have great luck with 150 grain Nosler Ballistic tips at long range out of my .270. Out to 300 or 350 yards this is not hard but as you pass 400 it becomes a whole new game. Listen to what dakotaman has to say, he is right on the mark.

I started out hunting with an A.H.Fox gun that my father bought during the depression for $25 and a model 1900 Remington that my uncle would let me use after I showed him why it had discharged accidentally on him. The pin that blocked the triggers had slid to the right and allowed the left barrel to fire. You won’t find one of those old guns for that price now! Try Huglu, Zabala Y Hemanos, Ugartechea. There are some reasonable guns out there yet.

Try walking up to a ticket counter in an airport that doesn't see many firearms and call your firearms "weapons" and watch the reaction. I agree with keen one, use terminology that promotes a good public appearance.

I am never disappointed with the information that I can glean from these posts. Elmer, if you were a little more successful with your rabbit hunting and actually "killed duh wabbit" you wouldn't have to eat the Vienna sausages. You could get a beagle and feed them to him.

If the rifle shoots well I would not go through the expense. For the cost of rebarreling it you would be two thirds the way to buying a Weatherby Vanguard or Savage bolt gun. Why bother? Also how is the trigger on your 88? The ones I have handled had terrible triggers and were probably the downfall of that model.

We have had good luck with a .243; it seems to drift less in the wind than the fast .22s. I started out with a 25-06 but my buddy who had a .243 convinced me that it was a slightly better round for the job. A .223 Bushmaster Varminter works great when you are using the wife's pet Border collie for bait, just don't miss or there'll be some "splainin" to do.

A friend of mine pays for most of his reloading components with coyote hides from Eastern Washington. He takes 30 or 40 every winter. I have never thought to ask him how he deals with the fleas. He case skins them then turns them after they are dry and hangs them until they are sold. He was getting around $25 or $30 each a few years ago, this year I have heard that they were only about $10.

I enjoy telling hunting stories. I think they were an important part of early culture. A good story can calm people that are having a bad day. I used to use it on my bosses and now the people that work for me use story telling on me. It starts something like this.... While sitting around "BS"ing one day the idea of building a traditional muzzleloader from scratch came up. If young Remington could do this from raw metal and wood, we should be able to also. After several months of filing, boring, scraping, forging, drilling, tapping, tempering and cursing a .53 caliber rifle was made. I had drawn a 2008 musk ox tag on Nunivak Island and it would be a great place to try to take a big game animal with it. I hunted the first week of March and the weather was still very raw. We had not been able to get out for several days because the wind reduced the visibility to near zero and frostbite was a real concern. Finally there was a little window in the weather and we were able to head south across the island. We thought that the musk ox would be at Mt Roberts. As we arrived the weather started to deteriorate again and we turned back to the village of Merkoyuk. We took a different route back that took us around the southwest flank of the mountain. The ridge we climbed with the snow machines was just at their limit. Near the top I dismounted and peeked over. Tucked in behind the ridge were ten musk ox and they bolted. Five ran north, higher up the mountain. Four turned and ran down to the south, but the largest bull hesitated for a moment and turned to follow the group to the south. As he started to run he was broadside to me for an instant and I fired a quick shot. He rocked at the impact but didn't go down. I hurried to charge the rifle again but as soon as I opened the pre-measured charge to put it down the muzzle the wind carried most of it away. The second one got most of the powder down the barrel and a patched ball followed. Trying to cap the rifle and move off the ridge to get another shot at him before he got completely out of range. While reloading he had stopped from the first hit and with the next one I was able to finish him. I will never forget how I felt as I walked over to him, his dark fur against an endless white background. Abe David, my Yupik companion and outfitter started off with his machine to plot a GPS track off the mountain so we would be able to find our way while I skinned and loaded the animal onto the sled. By the time he returned the weather had closed in again and it was getting dark. If he had not plotted a route we would have had a hard time finding our way. All I could do was follow as close to him as possible. If we would have become separated I wouldn’t have been able to find my way back to the village. Before you know it coffee break is over and everyone is more relaxed. To answer the question, yes I think about it all the time. I wished I had spent more time listening to what the teacher had to say and less thinking about duck hunting and Maria Vida's shapely... See I still can't concentrate!

Deer have much better sense of smell than we do but I have smelled them in the woods before seeing them. Bucks when they are in rut are fairly strong smelling. I have also seen deer that have seen or heard me and they will move down wind. When they hit my scent they snort-wheezed and hit the afterburners. I think that all big game can smell you if you get up wind of them and you are not practicing scent control. Always keep this in mind when you are entering or leaving an area you are hunting. A friend was using doe in estrus scent in pads on his boots and a young buck actually walked up to his ground blind and stuck his head in the window.

Have you thought about building one? If you have basic tools you can come up with a workable stock. Is it cost effective? No, but it can be a lot of fun. You never know, you might have a real talent for it!

Try wrapping a piece of thin cardboard into a tube 3" long and tape it on as a sun shade for the objective lens. If this works see if Nikon has a thread on one for that model.

Maybe you could put some cottonwood bark on the gas tank, cover the seat with an old hide then you could claim you bought it from Fred Flintstone! It probably works just fine though. Red Green would be proud. Remember, "form follows function"

We usually shoot at 27 yards after we bore sight all of our center fires and the move out to 100 and adjust them to 2.5" high, plus or minus an inch and then that puts us on or nearly so out at 200. A few years ago I purchased a CZ 30-06/12 Ga. combination gun. We mounted the scope and bore sighted it and when we fired it for the first time at 27 yards the round was about 2.5 inches low. We adjusted it up and got it on at 27 then moved it out to 100 and fired a three shot group which measured about 1.5 inches but was almost 6 inches high! What gives? Then I slapped my forehead in one of those "shouda had a V-8" moments. Because the lower barrel was the 30-06 and the centerline axis of the bore was almost 3 inches below the line of sight the correct point had to be at 50 yards to have it 2.5 inches high at 100 and so on. This only for initial sighting in and to truly know you should shoot your rifle at 25 yard increments out to the maximum range that you will shoot. Have I confused you yet?

We built a 30-30 on a Remington roling block action a few years ago and was loading spire point bullets and found that at the veloceties that I was driving them they realy did not expand as they should. I ended up shooting 150 grain Speers as the flat point was the smallest of the 30-30 bullets that I could find. I made the mistake of taking the rifle to a gun show to show someone and a guy walked up and said he couldn't live without it and the rest is history. What do you not like about the LeverEvolution rounds? I love them out of my model 64 Winchester.

We just had 68" of snow in a 3 day period here where I work and that still isn't a record. The plows come out and life is soon back to normal. It is all in what you are prepared for. They did close Thompson Pass for a while though. The only big game that live around close are bears as they hibernate through the winter. For just about everything else it's either dig in, get on top or fly away. Without skis or snowshoes you can't go anywhere on foot. How is your local wildlife handling it?

A couple of years ago I wanted to make the opening day of waterfowl season but all the pump shotguns were at my summer house and all that I had were my side by side upland guns at my winter home. There were some Mossberg 930 12 ga.shotguns on sale for $299(I think the MSRP is $429) so I bought one with a walnut stock and matte blue finish and ported barrel. I did not even get a chance to fire it before opening day. The wind was strong and I got a late start. I was trudging across the swamp toward the pond I normally hunt with my decoy bag on my back and a single canada goose flew by bucking the strong wind. First shot ever out of the gun and down came the goose. It now is the gun I shoot the most for waterfowl, for the money you can't go wrong. It seems to cycle all loads from 2&3/4 trap loads to 3" high velocity steel without any problems.Their pump guns would also be a good choice.

As an English professor he would be shaking his head at some of the things that are written these days. LOL? I don't think so. I think that you would see him scowl, shake his head and then slowly break out in a grin. Any discussion of hunting and firearms would probably please him. He also liked the 7x57, a very under rated caliber. In 1964 he wrote a series of five monthly articles in Outdoor life on the “Big Five”. I would collect soda bottles, one case plus one was enough deposit money to buy the next month’s magazine. He shot more than just a .270!

When I was a growing up on our farm we had a prairie dog town in one of the back pastures. I would take a 100' tape measure out and stake off distances across the prairie dog town starting at 30 yards and every 10 yards thereafter out to 250. I would lean a 1/2 sheet of plywood with newsprint on it and a 2" black square 4" down from the top. We would sight dead on at 30 yards and then shoot at the same aiming point at every one of the stakes. When I would move the plywood I would note the distance next to the bullet hole. We would then take news print back to the house and graph off the information on a 3x5 card and clean it up with a French curve and then I had a range card. We would then pile up burlap bags in the spot where the stakes were measured from and leave the prairie dog town alone for a few days. Then before dawn I would return and slide under the burlap with The Anschutz rifle and Colt Woodsman .22s and a brick of ammo and stay until the ammo was gone or chores called. As soon as the sun came up and there was a good number of them out of their holes I would start with the Colt as quick as I could for the ones less than 20 yards. Then unlimber the rifle. Try the same idea with your rifle. I think you will be amazed with what you can do when used in conjunction with a rangefinder.

Why do so many people get tied up in discussions like this? The real difference between the two is not worth worrying about. More emphasis should be placed on the operator and qualities of the rifle than the caliber when the two are so similar. If you are new to big game hunting and shooting in general then I think you made a better choice with the .270. If you think you are going to hunt things that are bigger than deer the .30-06 might have been a better choice. I have an old M77 Ruger that I have carried for many years in .270. Parts of its stock have literally been worn away from carrying it on a backpack frame. All I have to do is take it out of the gun safe and all of the many happy memories of using it come back to me. Start building your own cache of memories with it and as a caliber it won't let you down. Shoot often, shoot safe and shoot well.

You wouldn't ask him to start eating meat to preserve your friendship! His view is selfish and one sided. Has he ever been on a hunting trip with you? Ask him to see your side of it and suggest that he come along on a casual hunting outing and if he refuses then he is totaly unwilling to see your side of it and it would be time to respectfully sever your ties. Sadly it is his loss, time to say adios.

You made the right decision. With an injured leg he needed to be taken. The fact that you thought to ask this question is a sign that you are on the right path. Keep hunting them, they are worthy adversaries and will make you a better hunter.

I was in Namibia a year ago and took Kudu, Gemsbuk, and Zebra all with one shot each from a .270 Winchester. The Gemsbuk was the toughest. It ran over 100 yards with a solid hit through both lungs. The others dropped almost in their tracks. The 30/06 will do the job as long as you shoot it well and you place your bullets correctly. Use a premium bullet and remeber that you should place your shot a little lower and more forward than you would for deer here. Have fun and post pictures.

Cabela's was running a sale on them last year and they were $150 or so. Check them for sales again this year. I got one for my son and it is a great starter rifle.

I have always used either a .270, 7mm/08 or 30/06. Try to keep all your shots inside the ribcage. If you hit the shoulder even a .270 tears up some meat. I helped a pal that shot one badly with a .300 Win mag and it was quite a mess to clean up. They aren't hard to kill and often are in open country and fairly easy to stalk if they aren't moving fast. We often take them while also hunting sheep so any good shooting medium caliber would be fine.

Remember, Chance favors the prepared mind. Scout as often as you can and learn the habits of the deer in your area. Watch the wind and be careful with scent control. Practice with you bow or firearm as often as you can and make your practice as close to field conditions as you safely can. When an opportunity comes be calm and remember you training. Also remember the lost opportunities and learn from them. Stay focused and alert, a deer will appear.