airedale

Yes the 250 gr weight 375 bullets are relatively new, Barnes has an almost identical twin to the Hornady. I almost always try to settle on a middle of the road bullet weight. They are usually a good compromise for balanced performance I think. Looks like that 235 gr really opened up and exploded on that Impala, I am mildly surprised, any time I use a big gun on Deer the bullets pass through without a whole lot of expansion due to their jacket heavy construction, at least that is what I think as I have never recovered any and the wound damage while effective is minimal. Al

I will take a mature Doe in a heartbeat, the second heaviest deer I ever took was a big old cow that laying beside two nice bucks made them look small. Al

I will have to give it a try. Al

I have done a lot of Varmint calling but have not tried grunts or rattling for Deer, I have had Deer come into Varmint calls out of curiosity more than anything else. One Christmas I received a set of those Primos "The Can" Deer calls you tip from side to side, they sound like a lamb or a baby goat to me, never tried them, one of these days I will put one in my pocket and give it a try. Al

I carry around as little as possible when hunting, what I do carry is all light compact stuff that fits in my pockets, compact binoculars, knife, lighter, small flashlight or cap light, compass, rope, a small canteen that rides on my belt and my hot seat that clips to my belt. That stuff will handle most situations I have run into while hunting. Al

Spent the evening at the loading bench putting up a batch of 25-06 ammo for a good friend of mine, I did my best to duplicate a Federal Premium load that used old the 100 gr coated Barnes XLC bullets substituting 100 gr Barnes TSX. Also did up a batch of 375 Holland and Holland mag, using Hornady's new 250 gr CX bullet and Varget powder, they look like guided missiles next to the 25-06 ammo. Will be breaking out the lead sled when I play with those. Al

The only reason I would use the detachable rings to take the scope off is a catastrophic scope failure, that is my reason for having them on the rifle and possibly save the day's hunt. Say if I fell carrying the rifle and it landed on the scope damaging it or where I thought with certainty that the rifle would not be shooting to the point of aim. I have no intentions of going back and forth between open sights and a scope sight, it is scope all the way. Al

There are several solutions to have the ability to use a rifle's iron sights if one has a scope problem. The see underneath-through scope rings are the easiest to install as they will fit picatinny and Weaver style bases. As Wolc said they will place the scope high and may not give the best scope-eye alignment with most of today's current rifle stocks which for the most part are made to have the shooter's eye 1 1/2" above the rifle's bore. Weaver made what they called pivot rings and mounts, the rings were attached to the base with a hinge type set up with a snap fit. Just grab the scope and flip it off to the side exposing the rifle's iron sights. These did not fit a wide variety of rifle makes and I believe are no longer being manufactured but are available on ebay many times, they worked half way decent. My favorite setup is the quick detachable rings that grab the scope base with a lever actuated grip. I have used and tested it on a couple of my rifles and they work as advertised. The scope removed and put back on will be right on target, at least on my rifles they are. All the above work so whatever suits the shooter that is the one to use. Al

You hit the nail on the head, the mid priced decent quality scopes have gone by the wayside replaced by "here today gone tomorrow" makes and models of hunting and target scopes made by Chinese companies. Al

Man, Eddie that just totally stinks! Having spent many a night in the woods following Coon dogs I know nothing looks the same after the sun sets. I totally relied on my compass to find my way around and once I became good in using it I never paid much attention to where I was until it was time to find my truck. I had my Dogs tree a Coon deep in a big swamp one night and found my way to them with my radio tracker receiver taking compass readings as I traveled. I reversed my directions to find my way out and when I got to my truck I realized I had lost my $700 tracking receiver. I was carrying it in my game bag and it must have fell out. Went back the next morning to exactly where I came out of the woods and remembering my compass readings reversed my track following my compass, about a mile back in that swamp I found the receiver laying on the ground, Whew!! $700 was a lot of money back in those days and nothing to sneer at today. Al

Can one even carry a pocket knife legally these days? When I was a kid almost every guy would have a pocket knife on them or a Buck in it's holster on their belt, they were and are a useful tool, but probably not so much for the kids the of today. Al

Got number 7 this afternoon and will shut down the Squirrel hunting for a bit. The population has bumped up over the last couple of years but I still only allow myself to take one per hunt to keep their number half way decent. My Squirrel hunting doubles for scouting Deer, have seen a few Does so far. I have been seeing Turkeys but the ones around here are retarded and I have no desire to kill one. Black powder up next, I will get out there but I really ain't in the mood for a Deer yet, that feeling can change in a heartbeat depending on the situation. Al

Way to go Greene man, Al

Been seeing hunters mounting scopes on their rifles that have the tactical type adjustments. I do not have any experience with those types of exposed turrets on any of my hunting guns but was watching one of those African safari hunts where a woman had such a type on her rifle. She had a couple of misplaced shots on game and when the rifle was checked on a bench it was found going through the brush apparently turned the dial settings changing the bullet impact point of aim. They look cool hi tech and fancy but for me I will stick with turrets that have caps that cover and protect the adjustments. Al

Congratulations, he is a beauty! Al

Watching the videos of those African Sun Safari hunts one of the things that stick out is that always without exception the use of some sort of shooting sticks to rest the firearm when taking the shot, there were a few shots taken using an attached bipod laying on the ground. I have a couple of trigger shooting sticks that I use on occasion, one is a mono pod that doubles as a walking stick, I use it mainly when hunting with a handgun, it helps a lot with my old geezer shakes LOL. The other is a tripod I use when calling varmints, it is a short model and I set it up when making a stand to call from, I like using them when I can. There is no doubt they work great and help a lot making a good steady accurate shot. The big difference between here and safari hunts is hunters in the US do not have a pro hunter to carry the sticks around and set up for the shot while hunting. To carry around both a long gun and shooting sticks for still hunting or spot and stalk would be a pain in the ass. For handgun hunting they are worth the trouble for me.

I agree with Charlie and Wolc when it comes to tough meat the pressure cookers will do wonders, I have a counter top electric one and cook tough game meat cuts in it all the time, the meat falls off the bone and the cook time is short. The good old slow cooking crockpot will work great too if not in a hurry. Al

Hang in there Antlers, Moose will travel long distances, while you may not have many in the vicinity on a particular day things can change fast. You have plenty of time, good luck. Al

Maybe it is just me but I found this cartridge belt to be a bit funny. The hunting and the bag limits must be good. Al

When I first started hunting I got Buck fever as bad as anyone could, my first Woodchuck I was shaking like a leaf. What cured my fever was small game hunting, Rabbits, Squirrels and Chucks, the more experience I got taking the shot and making the kill the less fever I got. When it came down to my first Buck I was using a Sako 222 with a 8X Leupold scope and a dot Reticle. I had probably killed over 50 Woodchucks with that rifle and I knew wherever that dot was when the shot was fired, that is where the bullet would strike. I put the dot at the base of that Buck's neck and touched her off and he went down like he was struck by lightning. Experience with the rifle, confidence in it's ability to put the bullet where I wanted made it easy. I still get excited, I was in the squirrel woods this morning and when I still hunted one for a shot I was excited but no shakes and the shot and kill was easy, if the excitement was not there I probably would quit hunting. I always say the best way to get young hunters started is on small game, experience builds confidence that you just can not get Deer hunting taking a shot once or twice a year. Al

The worst are those that vote Democrat and pretend they are your friend. Al

Looks like mange and it is horrible, I have had some first hand experience with mange after purchasing a silver Fox Kit years ago. The Fox had contracted mange before I got her, did not see anything suspicious when I picked her up but in a few days it reared it's ugly head. Mange is tiny mites that burrow into the skin and live off the host. It can also be contracted by Humans by close contact to an animal infected., ask me how I know. The itch these mites cause is fierce and never ending, you will scratch infected areas until you bleed. On Humans they will eventually die in a few days, on animals they will keep on spreading sometimes covering the whole body. There is a Human version called scabies, they used to treat with Kwell Lotion. I ended up buying a dipping solution you mix up in a tub, dipped the Fox and a couple of my Hounds and got rid of it. Today Ivermectin can be used and will knock it down but back when I had the problem there was no Ivermectin. It is an awful way to die. Al

When it comes to maintaining my firearms I do not mess around with fads, I use what is proven and known to be the best. Anyone that wants to use scent free cleaning solvents and maintenance oils can have at it, it is a free country last I knew. My wife washes my clothes with whatever and the wool gets dry cleaned and all are saturated in permethrin. I know for a fact that you can not defeat a Deer's sense of smell so I use the terrain and watch the wind, never have a problem finding and killing a Deer if I want one but I am just a meat hunter. Al

No matter how scent free my clothing can be my firearms scent would negate any effort, the chemicals used to maintain them like Hoppes, Ballistol, Frog Lube, etc. all stink to high Heaven. Al

I have a large metal double door of what one would call a wardrobe that I keep in my shop building, most of my hunting clothes are hung inside that wardrobe. I do not do anything special for odor as I firmly believe a deer's nose can not be defeated. I regularly spray down everything with permethrin, after contracting Lyme disease I am paranoid. I also favor wearing a lot of wool hunting clothes and the permethrin seems to keep away any moths just as good as mothballs and does not have the strong after odor. Al