Pygmy

I shot a few more groups with 59.0 RL-19 and they range from 1-2".. I'd like to reduce that to 1-1.5". I'm not looking for sub MOA, because I know from experience my .280 is not a sub MOA rifle. I've changed the seating depth to .050" off the lands, which Barnes suggests as a starting point. I'll report on the results. Another factor that might be involved is the fact that I have not done a lot of shooting lately and I feel somewhat rusty...I think I'm beginng to settle in, and hopefully that will take some of the human error factor out of my load development.

180 grain is fine for deer in the 30-06, as long as it shoots well in your gun. it's also a good choice if you ever decide hunt to elk or moose. I don't consider 180 grain overkill for deer. It doesn't shoot quite as flat as the 150 or 165, but at practical hunting ranges the difference is neglible. The difference in trajectory is not enough to make you miss within 300 yards or so, and actually a good argument in favor of the 180 grain bullet is that it tends to be less explosive than the lighter bullets. It still kills well but ruins less meat than say, a 150 grain ballistic tip.

OOPS...!.... Don't you just HATE when you step on your d***.?....

I have eaten a number of them. Actually, the young of the year ( the half grown ones born this spring) are quite good. I would compare them to squirrel or rabbit. However as they age they get tougher, more gristly and stronger in flavor. I tried an adult once and decided that I would stick to eating the young'uns. Coon are the same way. Young ones are good, old ones less so. However, I NEVER ate a beaver I didn't enjoy... ...

Hehehehe...Truth be known, there are probably a couple dozen ( or more) cartridges that unless you do some FINE hair splitting, are equally effective on deer. BUT if we didn't split some hairs now and then we would not have fun discussions like this to participate in.. .. Many hunters aren't interested in ballistics or other details, the gun is just a tool to them. For us gun nuts and rifle loonies, details make the subject much more interesting.

Nice pictures, Cynthiafu, looks like you had a great trip. Those are some fat 'ol channel cats you got there.

You'll get no argument from me that as an ALL AROUND medium and big game load, the old warhorse is tough to beat. It has manageable recoil, a great selection of both factory loads and components, and will efficiently kill anything on this continent ( plus most of the other continents). However, just for the sake of discussion, I wouldn't consider it the perfect WHITETAIL cartridge, for one reason. It requires a long action, and if you shorten the barrel to 20 inches or less, recoil and muzzle blast become an issue. Short action cartridges such as the .308 or 7MM08 perform just as well on deer at equal yardages as the '06 and they are available in shorter, lighter rifles with less recoil and muzzle blast. If factory ammo availability is an issue, there is a wide selection of factory loads for the .308. My personal favorite whitetail rifle is a 7mm08 , but ammo availability is not a problem with me, since I shoot only my own handloads. With 120 grain handloads, my rifle is deadly at any practical range and recoil is much lighter than any 30-06 I have shot, except my M1 garand, which is gas operated and weighs 10 pounds.. .. The 30-06 is NEVER a bad choice for any North American big game, and if a man told me wanted one rifle to hunt everything with, I'd tell him in a heartbeat to get a 30-06. But I consider it a jack-of all trades. It does everything very well, but for SPECIFIC jobs, like whitetail hunting, I think that there are some cartridges that have an advantage over it.

I think some of those fellers with the diapers on thier heads are more accostomed to shooting AK-47s.

What are they trying to kill with that cannon.? ANYTHING THEY WANT...Up to and including light armored vehicles.. ..

No thank you.. Shooting is supposed to be FUN... ??? .... That rifle must have taken a beating from all of those dudes dropping it on the floor..

I had a real cool experience this morning while I was fishing on The Canisteo. I surprised a doe with two fawns on the opposite side of the river. They were right at the water's edge, and there was a sheer bank behind them. The doe saw me and bolted up a trail over the top of the bank. The fawns ran DOWN the riverside, rather than following thier momma up the trail. They ran about 50 yards and stopped. The bank was sheer and they could not get up over, so they just stood there, wondering what the heck happened to MA. I was heading downriver to one of my favorite walleye holes, so I walked down the river bank opposite the fawns. They spotted me and must have thought that I was thier Momma. Both fawns came GALLOPING across the river and ran right up to me. I could have easily touched either one with my spinning rod. They stood there and stared at me wide eyed, bleating softly. I suspect that they had never seen a humanoid before. They milled around for a couple of minutes.I wanted to get out of there so they could get back with the doe, so I crossed the river to head for my fishing hole. Both fawns came splashing across the river right behind me . The litle buggers were FOLLOWING me. Now , at least they were back on the same side of the river as thier mother, so I shooed them off in her direction. Cool experience, and of course, I didn't have my camera with me.

Yeah Noodle, though rainbows are special...Fighting SOBs...!!.. The only fish I have caught in freshwater that comes close are landlocked atlantic salmon. You have a unique fishery on the Delaware, since the reservoirs keep the river cold and the fishing good all year long. On the streams that I fish, trout fishing is pretty slow in the summer, due to high water temps aand low water. Fortunately , I have some excellent warm water fisheries available for walleye,bass and panfish, or lake fishing for lakers and landlocks, if I want to do the dep water thing.

Karp..Hope your little girl is OK. Be sure to keep us updated. having a child sick or seriuously injured is every parent's worst nightmare.. ..

Dave.... Yes, first you need a PA NR hunting license, $101.70. Included in that is your big game license, small game license, buck deer tag and spring and fall turkey tags. When you get your license you will recieve an antlerless permit application. It costs $26.70 to apply for it. Here's the rub. PA starts accepting resident ant.permits two weeks before they accept NR. In some units, all the antlerless permits are issued before NR are even able to apply. In other units, a nonresident has a good chance to get an antlerless permit, but still you should not waste time applying or they might be sold out. IF after a week of accepting NR applications there are any permits left, they are sold, first come first serve to residents and nonresidents alike. In the unit where I hunt they issue enough permits so that even as a NR I have a good chance of being issued 2 antlerless permits. Bonus tags, as the 2nd permits are called, also cost $26.70 each. However, if you apply and are not drawn your application fee is refunded, unlike some states that keep your money if you apply whether you draw or not. Pa game commission has a website where you can check availability of antlerless permits on a daily basis. I don't have the website addy right here at hand, but if you search PA Antlerless permit Status, you'll have no problem finding it. Hope this helps.

Sweet Old Bill.. Yeah, I hear ya, Bill. All I gotta do is THINK of water and I have to pee. Beer is even worse..You don't buy beer , you just BORROW it. Drink one, pee three.. : ..

Hot, low water conditions have a negative effect on some types of fishing ( like stream trout) but for fishing for walleyes and smallmouths on our local small rivers midsummer is one of the best times. I think it is because the lower water concentrates the fish into deeper pockets. it also increases thier metabolism and makes them very aggressive when they are in a mood to feed. I have been doing well the last week fishing mornings from dawn until about 9:00 Am. Since last Friday I have caught 4 nice keeper walleyes ( 18.5'- 21") and a number of smallmouths in the 14 -15 inch range. My hot lure has been a # 11 floating Rapala in gold and black. The smallies have struck savagely and fought like demons..Lots of jumps and hard runs.. If you are a bait guy you can really put a hurtin' on them this time of the year with dobson ( hellgramites) or stone catfish (tonies). However, I seldom have to resort to bait anymore on the river. Between the Rapala, my homemade hair jigs and small plastics such as pumpkinsed twister grubs, I generally manage to catch enough fish to make me happy.

It has been too hot to shoot the last few days... I'm looking forward to fine tuning the 140 TTSX load, but I'm waiting until it cools down a tad.

I agree that trying to shoot a bow out of a canoe or kayak would be difficult and also dangerous. However, you could use the canoe to get to backwaters, eddies, etc. where you could get out of the boat and wade or stalk the banks and get some shooting. I do a lot of river fishing, either wet wading or using hip boots, and I see carp all the time that i could shoot with a bow.

I spend as much time as possible in my local air conditioned American Legion post hydrating myself, but my significant other flushes me out of there now and then.. ..

I try to make sure every" T" is crossed and every "I" is dotted, because if it is NOT, they send it right back..I've had it happen several times..A couple of times, before I could reapply, the tags were all gone. Mine's away in the mail..Hope I didn't screw up something THIS time.. ...

Don't forget to drop your applications in the mail tomorrow.. Did you get your license, Lawdwaz ?

Let us know when you install the spa. We'll all be over for a HOT TUB party... ;D ...

Well, the fact remains that since most of the southern zone has been opened to rifle hunting, hunting accidents have not increased. I'm sure all of the naysayers are disappointed, because all of thier wailing, knashing of teeth and rending of hair has been in vain... I'll just save my breath... Ain't no skin off my snout... I'm just happy that I can go hunt with my rifle rather than endure the abuse of some punkin slinger that crosses my little beady eyes every time I squeeze the trigger. I'm done now...Fret away, y'all... ;D ...

Good luck, Eagle. They might not group quite as tight the ballistic tips (that sounds like a tough act to follow) but if they give good hunting accuracy in your rifle, I think you'll be pleased at thier performance on game. As a general rule, Barnes bullets should not be seated quite as close to the rifling as some other bullets. Barnes recommends seating them from .050" to .070" off the lands. They generally perform best with a little "jump" before contacting the rifling, unlike some other bullets that shoot best when nearly kissing the lands. Good luck and keep us posted on your results.

Doc, I understand your points... I wholeheartedly agree that an unsafe hunter is an unsafe hunter, whether he is using a single shot muzzleloader or a semi auto centerfire rifle. My position that hunting in an area where rifles are legal may be safer than shotgun only areas is based on my personal experience in the deer woods over the last 50 years. I have done a lot of hunting in shotgun only areas and quite a bit of hunting in rifle areas. In my experience, there tends to be a lot more lead flying around in the shotgun areas. Certainly a person can use a semi auto rifle ( as long as the mag holds no more than 5 rounds) and be just as much a menace as someone with a semi auto or pump shotgun. However, I see MANY more hunters with bolt action rifles than I do with pumps or autos, which are the norm with shotgun hunters. There just seems to be a LOT less bangin' going on when hunters are using rifles rather than shotguns. To me than equates to a safer environment. Less shots fired more than offsets the longer effective range of a rifle, ESPECIALLY since so few hunting accidents occur BEYOND the effective range of a shotgun slug.