Pygmy

I plan to use my new/old Springfield 03A3 in 30-06. It was manufactured by Remington in the early days of WWII. It wears an old Weaver V7 scope and groups around 1.5 inches at 100 yards with the same load that I use for my M1 Garand, a 150 grain spritzer at around 2700 FPS muzzle velocity. Sighted dead on at 100, it's about 3 inches low at 200.

You shot a pup...I would be surprised if it weighed over 20 pounds. Even an adult female might be twice that size, and adult males can go 50 pounds plus.

I have shot Remingtons all my life...I've had several 1100s, two 11-48s, an 11-87, an 870, a 722 and a 700, not to mention my recently acquired 03A3 Springfield, which was made by Remington in the early days of WWII. Mine have all been fine , accurate, well made, reliable firearms, but I have not bought a new one since 1993, so I can't comment on their current products, other than to say that I have heard from many knowledgeable people, like Buckmaster7600, that the quality has gone down the tubes in recent years. Too bad..

What predate said...

Without a doubt, my Leica 8x42 binoculars.... They were invaluable when I was doing a lot of out of state big game hunting.. Now I use them deer hunting, turkey hunting, small game hunting, bird watching , sunbather watching, etc. etc. There is no substitute for quality optics..

We just had about an hour of fairly hard, steady rain here this morning.. The weather fits in nicely with my afternoon plans..I'm going to spend the afternoon indoors at the Addison American Legion gun raffle and pig roast....<<grin>>....The back door is only about 100 yards from my house.

I forgot that, too, Larry..I once finished off a buck with my S&W .357, but I used a .38 semi wadcutter.

Wile- E-Coyote .....Bobcats cover their shit just like any other cat.....

I gave my last bow to a young hunter ( son of a friend) about 10 years ago.. Never was very good with the damn thing anyway, even though I managed to kill half a dozen deer and an elk with it. I finally decided that my skill level was not up to par. Besides that, I'd much rather hunt ducks than deer...

It was opening day of rifle season in PA many years ago. I had previously set up a hang on stand and since an all day rain was predicted, I even had an umbrella mounted over it. My buddy dropped me off in his truck and drove down the road about half a mile to go to his spot. I walked to my stand and prepared to climb the tree. I then discovered that my fanny pack was missing... My AMMO was in my fanny pack and I assumed I had dropped it on the walk in to my stand...Using my flashlight, I backtracked, hoping to find the fanny pack. I met some other hunters coming into the woods..If I were using a 30-06 or a .270, I could have asked to buy a couple of shells, but my rifle was a 7 x 57, and I knew chances were slim that anybody had a rifle in that chambering. I walked back and forth TWICE to the road...No pack....It was daylight now, and rifle shots were going off... Finally I decided that I must have left the pack in my buddy's truck, which was parked about a half mile away. Down through the woods I went like a crazy man with my empty rifle, sure that any minute a big buck would jump out in front of me.. I reached the truck...BONANZA ! My fanny pack and my ammo were lying in the back, just ahead of the tailgate..I loaded my rifle and headed back up through the woods toward my spot, hoping somebody else was not standing there, listening to the rifle fire around me...I must have heard 20 shots by that time. I had to cross a hayfield to get to my stand. I started across the field and a deer limped out about 150 yards from me..It was a buck. He had a broken foreleg....I dropped down to a sitting position, and shot his OTHER foreleg out from under him. Then I walked up to him and finished him off.. He had already had a tough morning. Not only was his foreleg broken by a bullet, but another bullet had broken his lower jaw and another had left a deep crease along his back. I did a favor when I shot him. It was a short drag down to the road. After I got him in the truck, I still had a long walk to go back and get my stand, umbrella, etc. which I had never used. It rained steady all the rest of the day. I was the only one in my party who killed a buck that day.

Hunt in the nude....It's quiet and you don't have to worry about getting your clothes wet.. Besides, it will give you another place to hang your grunt tube.

I think I only ever limited out one time other than that aforementioned opening day. I had springers ( 3 different ones) from the mid 70s up unto the 1990s. We had good bird numbers through the 80s, and then the numbers started dwindling in the early 90s. Much of the cover that I used to hunt has become too mature for good grouse habitat. It also seems that the more scarce the birds become, the more wary they become. Most of the birds I flush nowadays are HEARD but seldom SEEN. I still get an occasional shot at grouse while rabbit hunting, but as for doing a lot of walking bird hunting, I just don't have the legs for it anymore.

I just re-did my math....It was 51 years ago, rather than the 41 I first posted.. DANG !! I AM getting old !...<<grin>>...

I know most of you are pumped for the opener of bow season, but October 1st just got me reminiscing about the grouse opener 51 years ago when I shot my first limit of grouse. The season opened on a Monday, and my buddy and I both skipped school ( with the permission of our parents) to hunt. We had no dogs, but the grouse population was high here in southern Steuben County back then..We simply lined up side by side and walked through cover, taking the shots as they came. We walked nearly all day..We were young and tough then... My gun was a Rem 11-48 16 gauge choked modified, and my buddy had a Rem M31 16 gauge pump choked modified... I killed a limit of 4 grouse that day with 8 shots...My buddy killed 3..I don't remember how many times he shot, but it wasn't many. I also killed the only woodcock we flushed that day.. he took me 4 shots...Missed him twice on the first flush and then re-flushed him and killed him on the second shot. I only recall one time since then that I have killed 4 grouse in one day..

Constanzas ?? The pudgy guy from Sienfeld does meat processing ?

I spent lots of days in the rain.... In 1989, on a 2 week float trip in Alaska, I got wet several times a day for 2 weeks.... I spent quite a few days here in NY and PA in the rain hunting deer over the last 45 years or so.. Now, when it rains, I go over to the local Legion Post, sip a beer or two and talk to some of the other old farts about how miserable those poor guys must be out there hunting in the rain... I DID spend opening morning of gobbler season this year in the rain, but I was inside a popup blind....

hehehehehe.. Well, TF, my Old Fat Father once told me that there are three stages in a man's life... STUD........DUD.......and THUD...... I figure I'M somewhere between DUD and THUD.......

WAAAAY cool, Matt.....Glad you reconnected... I somehow managed to keep possession of mine, also...I wish I had your photo skills.. Mine is a black onyx marked 1968, and it is hanging on my memory shelf right next to the tassel from my graduation mortarboard... Little things like that mean a lot.

" Hello.....My name is Chris....And I am a Growoholic ..."......<<grin>>...

The blood trail means SOOOOOO much when you are bowhunting......

Helluva buck....Defintely 140 gross.......A fine trophy in any case...

My acreage is relatively small ( 107 acres). I also avoid shooting the old mama does whom, I believe are the very core of the deer herd. I don't like shooting fawns simply because there is less meat on them, so I try to pick a medium sized subordinate doe for my DMP. Bucks ?? I could care less about antlers...I usually shoot a 1.5 year old, and let my antler coveting buddy who shares in food plot expenses, hold out for one of his "shooters".

Ain't as big as a 12 gauge slug, TF .....

One of my best hunting/fishing buddies in high school had one of the Remington bottom eject pump guns, but I can't remember if it was a Model 10 or a Model 29. It was a 12 gauge full choke. He was killed by small arms fire in an ambush in Vietnam in March of 1971. I don't know what ever happened to his shotgun.

She's a shooter for sure, Eagle ! Sweet group......