wildcat junkie

I missed it the 1st time around. A bit hokey, but it does a good job af showing the differece in visability under hunting conditions.

Seems that plenty of "right end folks" want laws that infringe on other's rights. But, oh, that's different. Ducks & turkeys see color, deer do not. Bow hunters must get very close to game & even after raising the bow, make a lot more movement drawing a bow compared to aiming a rifle & squeezing a trigger. Non of these examples are likely to result in a fatality under all but the most extraordinary circumstances. Safe hunters (not wearing BO) are shot by idiots all the time. Those wearing BO are seldom shot by the same idiots. Check the stats. The argument that mandatory BO would cause even more wreckless behavior is so ludacrous, it reflects on anyone making such a statement as grasping at straws to support their view. I guess that mandatory seat belt use & motorcycle helmet laws cause people to drive/ride more wrecklessly too right? The point of this thread was a question of whether the majority of us would be open to accepting mandatory BO in exchange for extending the shooting hours to allow hunting during the best time to shoot a mature buck. As usual, knee jerk "right end people" jump to conclusions.

I put more emphasis on supporting American workers than "American companies". "American companies can claim that status W/O emplying anyone here in manufacturing. then, to rub salt into the wounds, they dodge taxes 7 stash $$$ in offshore havens. Somewhere this snowball has to be slowwed down then stopped or there are only going to be a few fortunate sons that can live a comfortable lifestyle. We'll all be poaching the Walton's & Koch brother's deer to survive. Germany has the highest labor costs in the world, yet they have a trade surplus & make more automobiles, within Germany itself, than the U S of A. Why is that?

I could reload real black powder with a patched RB & prime a flintlock in about 20 seconds. I could get off 2 aimed shots at a 50yd pie plate sized target in a minute with some time to spare & hit it every time. They "made something better" as far as getting reloaded quickly over 100 years ago. I used a 120gr charge thrower on a flask, the patched/greased RBs in a wood loading block tied to my short starter & my priming horn around my neck. It takes a few seconds longer to use a round leather/brass capper to load a cap gun. I used to shoot 100rds at skeet including the doubles every Sunday with a percussion dbl bbl 12 ga ML. I would get filthy & in the Southern Indiana August heat & humidity, the sweat would mix with the sulfer & salt peter residue on my forehead & sting my eyes. The fulminate particles from the cap exploding on the left nipple would embed into my left forarm until I learned to wear a sock on that arm. It was heavenly. I enjoyed the hell out of it & had to take a shower when i got home..

I wasn't aware that "black powder" came in pellets. All I am aware of is Fg, FFg, FFFg & FFFFg.

I have had to shoot at a deer more than once on exactly 3 occassions in 31 years of serious deer hunting & harvesting aound 50 deer.. The 1st one was a small doe I had shot at across a valley. I hit her & thought I had missed. I shot at another deer in thengroup after theb 1st one walked away slowly as i was relaoding. The small heard ran away after the 2nd shot & when I went over to investgate, I saw a ltge vine bouncing & as i got closer I saw the 1st deer trying to lift her head. A .535 through the head finishe that. Another was a button buck I knocked down at a full run from about 20 yds with my flintlock. My lead was perfect, but he ,535 RB hit a little high separating both shoulder blades taking out the front legs. Again, I had to reload to finish it with a shot to the back of the head. The only time I've had to shoot more than once with a suppository gun was wnen I shot at a huge doe running across a weed field. the shot was wide open but she was really carrying the mail. I missed the shot (I was able to investigate in 3-4" of fresh snow) just as she was about to enter the brush. At the carack of the 280, she whirled & reversed direction running right across the wide open field in front of me. I connected with both shots that followed she piled up in a fence row just out of my sight. I have only taken 3 running shot attempt at deer that were unwounded before the shot. In every instance I was on the ground & the shots were wide open at deer running perpendicular to me. To me, the modern technology has only extended the gun season. When a scope sighted muzzleloader is theoretically capable of taking a deer at 200+ yards in the hands of a capable hunter, what's the difference? I seldom chamber a round in my breechloader until I come down out of my stand to go check the deer I just shot. My primary endeavor immediately after the shot is to get back on the target to see what it doing & where it is headed after the shot if it isn't DRT. Seldom would I have had a chance for another shot.

You should have hung onto it. Even a repro is worth a couple K if it is well executed. An original would be worth even more. I saw a couple in 'The Ramrod Gun Shop" in New Castle, Indiana back arond '79/'80. I think they were both flintlocks. Each barrel had a frizzen & pan with a common cock & lock work. Beautiful rifles. the nice thing about swivel breeches is that each barrel has its own set of sights so each can be zeroed for the same POI. I gotmto fondle them both & they were surpisingly well balanced. That place was awesome. The only "supository guns" in the house were in a collection of Lugers displayed in a showcase with out any pricing. This was before the pyrodex era that brought about all of the "improved" ignition systems to get at least close to the reliability of actual black powder with the various substitutes. Modern technology was in its infancy in the ML world since the systems that had worked just fine for over 200 years were still doing just that with the mixture of charcoal sulfer & salt peter. As you walked through the door, there was a full mount male African lion leaping right at you over a deadfall log with its paws spread out & claws extended. That sucker was HUGE. You had to look up slightly to make eye contact which of course you did the instant you came through the door. The 1st time was a bit of a shock. I think the place was owned by some well heeled individual that turned his hobby into a "business".

If you have any talent for writing, this story would certainly get published. Awesome story from what you shared here. Great buck, even better story.

Why wouldn't it be legal?

The Gander Mountain in Watertown used to have a moose shoulder mount above the South entrance. The mount obviously had removable antlers, most likely for transport, as for over a year, it was up there with the antlers upside down, on the wrong sides & none of the experts in the store seemed to notice. Don't forget Home Depot & Lowes for having employees that are clueless about what they are selling.

Yep, forgot about that. Indiana allows double barrels in ML season. For a moment I was not in NY any more. The trouble with double barrel ML rifles is, to get both barrels to hit the same POA in a double barrel rifle would require lots of trial & error when the barrels were joined. That's why H&H double rifles cost 10s of thousnads of $$. Might as well sight in the left barel for slugs & use the right for shot. A 20ga with the left barrel rifled & the right smooth bore could fire .600 RBs with accuracy & still be available for small game. Problem there is, even in Indiana, I think having the right barrel loaded with shot might also be a violation. In Europe thay have many such breech loading combos & some "drillings" have double shotgun barrels with a rifle barrel, often 8X57R (rimmed) centered underneath.

Well, to be fair, the Plex automatic calculator yada, yada reticle isn't much more complicated than a simple duplex. It ain't as bad as some of the stuff I see these days. A 3-9 Leupy std duplex substends about 5" at 100yds at 9X, 10" at 200yds, 15" at 300yds, 20" at 400yds etc, etc. If i can just fit a mature buck's chest between the duplex he is pretty damned close to 300yds. My 8X57 would be 6 1/2"" below POA & the top of the bottom duplex would be 7 1/2 below POA. I would need to hold the top of the bottom duplex 1/3 up from the brisket to hit just below vertical center in the chest. Pretty simple.

According to the guy I talked to, all of the made in USA scopes have rediculous magnification & HUGE objective lenses. The only 40mm objective or smaller scopes were made in Phillipenes. He cited the Viper 3-9X40 as such. Another thing I don't like about the Vortex is the sooper dooper fancy reticles. I use a chronograph & computer progran to sight my rifles in for maximum + or - 3" point blank range. I can use the duplex reticle to estimate range if needed but unless I shoot over 270yds with my 8X57 or about 310yds with something like a 270, I just hold center of the lungs & they die. It leaves all the calculations out of it. I like to keep it simple when the chips are down & I have to take a shot. That's just me

I just called Vortex. all of their hunting sized scopes are made in the Phillipines or China so I'm not interested in cutting the throats of American workers to save few $$$.

I just checked out their site, interesting. Where are they made? I prefer made in the USA but will buy Japanese or European as they support higher wages than USA. I don't buy Chinese if I can help it. Scopes/optics are one of the few things that still gives one a choice. I just bought my son some Red Wing Irish Setter boots for Christmas & was disappointed to find "made in China" on the tongue.

I'm partial to Leupouds because the have a "forever" gaurantee. They are not even interested In where the scope came from, it's gauranteed no mater how old or where you bought it.. Ever try to find a deal on a used Leupold on e-bay? They are just about as much as a new one. I did damage a 1Vari X I, 1-4X20 Shotgun scope once when I shot several foster slugs through a .620" extended turkey choke. The recoil was horrendous & it knocked the reticle loose. At least that was my take. the scope did end up with a loose reticle somehow. I sent it & had it back in about 7 days, good as new. I have several Scopes that have resided on more than one firearm, many of the firearms I no longer own. It's foolish to leave good glass on a used firearm when you sell/trade unless the new owner is willing to pay what the glass is worth. Many would rather pay $100 for cheap (new) Tasco than $175 for a used Leupy that is already on the gun. Good optics last a long, long time if you take care of them. The same can seldom be said for $80-$100 Wally World specials. The European stuff has awesome optics. (Leupold is from German heritage, that's why it's correctly pronounced Lew-pold, not Le-a-pold. With new VX-1 3-9X40s going for just under $200 shipped, they are quite a bargan IMO.

A 2-7 variable isn't much larger than a 4X fixed. On a small rifle they look good. I had a 2-7 Nikon Monarch on my 7mm-08 M700 Mountain Rifle DM. It looked proportinal to the the 22" barrel on the short action. I would like to have a 3-9X33 Leupld compact on my 8X57, but they are never on sale & cost considerably more than a 3-9. Even a 2-7 costs more than a 3-9X40 as the 3-9X40s are a big volume item & are often on sale. Cabela's has 3-9 VX-1s on sale for $199.99 shipped & they are every bit as good as the VX-IIs were & they used to cost $299.99.

I once went out on a summer evening with several different brands of scopes. All were in what I would call the moderate price range of between $300 & $500. I had a piece of (dull) orange surveyers tape tied to a tree trunk at about 245yds. The area was in deep shadow as the sun went down. I viewed the tree from my tri-pod stand looking West. The best performing scope was the 3-9X42 Kahles, which was the most expensive of the bunch. Next best was the older VX-II 3-9X40 Leupold which has similar performance to the new VX-1 3-9X40. At that time they were selling at Cabela's for $299. The Kahles would brighten up ever so slightly when I cranked the magnification back to about 8X from 9X. It was barely noticable.

An objective lens that is more than 5X (in mm) larger than the highest magnification of the scope is not any more effective than a 35mm objective lens on 7X or a 45mm objective lens on 9X under any condition where there would be enough light to identify a target with the naked eye in the 1st place. In a situation where there is any extranious light, the human eye can only admit light through about a 5mm "exit pupil" which is determined by the 5:1 ratio. In total darkness the pupil will dialte to about 7mm, but the it is way beyond anything even approaching leagat shooting hours. Why do you think most old school, high quality 2-7s have 33mm objective lenses & 3-9s have 42mm objective lenses? Big objective lenses on moderate magnification scopes are a marketing ploy. Far more inportant is the light transmittace value. The new Leupols VX-1 has 92% light transmittance, the VX-2 has a little better, 96% I think. Google "exit pupil" & "twilight factor" for more on low light optical effectiveness.

Sounds like a good time to have ML dbl barrel shot gun. load # 7 1/2s in the right barrel, a .710 patched RB in the left. Should be good for about 40 yds & it would knock a deer flat.

Even up here on the tundra the deer know where they are safe. They are living right in the village of Potsdam. When my son had to walk to his job he used to cut through behind the elementary school. He had mature buck posturing at him as he went through the field after dark. He wisely changed his route to avoid the area. At 6' tall & 200# he isn't a small guy but he said the deer was bigger than him.

Actually, I believe the minimum speeding citation is 3-6 MPH over the limit. The fines go up in increments of speed but I don't remember the other increments. I was in court for a rather large 22 MPH over the limit speeding ticket once & the JP was reading the increments off. So, by that, I wouldn't think a 2 MPH over the limit ticket would not have any legal basis in court.

Not saying it is ethical or legal, but how would it be "identity theft" if you had permission from that person? If the person didn't know someone had purchased a tag in their name then yes. It would be no different than my wife using my credit card with my permission as far as identity theft. But, it would still be illegal non the less. As far as a-holes go, shooting towards someone or shooting out someone's tires seems a bit a$$holish to me too & if you were caught doing either, it would be one helluva lot more serious than tagging a buck with someone else's tag.

In Wisconsin I think they have a system like that. It's called "earn a buck".

Fake boobs don't feel the same as the real thing and most of them look like they are over-inflated by 50psi. Pamela Anderson looked a helluva lot better when she had natural C" cups. Pitty the man that has never had natural Cs or Ds hanging in his face.