wildcat junkie

For those of on the fence about purchasing a Savage AXIS-II. There is a $50 rebate on purchases made by 12/31/14. You will then have until 1/31/15 to send in the coupons. http://www.savagearms.com/promotions/ In the bottom left corner there is an icon for Federal ammo rebates too.

Make sure to post some PIX.

Matrinate it to tenderize & use it for shish kabob. Spiedie Maranade woks well. My son & I cut some stew meat in larger chunks for just that purpose.

I grew up near Lansing IL. There wern't any deer within miles & miles of those forest preserves in the '60s. How things change. I do remember seeing a deer in that area when I visited Chicago on business in the mid '80s. This reminds me of the Noel Feather scandal years ago where state park areas were recognized in some of his videos.

1st of all mounting a mirror on the platform of a hang on stand or climber would be pretty lame. I want to tuck mirrors up under the roof corners out of the way where they would provide downward & to the rear monitoring.. 2nd, the clamp is flimsy & wouldn't hold well or last.. 3rd, the mirror is too large, A small round slightly convex mirror would work better. The 2 stands I want this for have roofs that prevent standing so being able to see behind would allow easier monitering all around. It would also allow investigating sounds with out commiting to movement & would also allow one to decide whether ot not movement to get into position would be detected by game.

I never followed the track, it would just appear in bare spots now & then, she was pretty recluisve. When I shot here she didn't have any fawns. I never saw the track in snow.

I think it's pretty damned close to the ideal medium game cartridge. An accomplised shot with good ranging ability should be able to take deer sized game out to 400yds or more with it. That chambering, in the now discontinued M700 Mtn Rfl DBM goes for around $800 used on Gun Broker W/O glass. I found that out after I sold mine for far less W/a Nikon Monarch 2-7X32 on top..

I once had a "buck" with a deformed hoof leaving large hoofprints on my place. I saw "his" tracks for 4 seasons. In 2003, 4 years after 1st seeing those large deformed buck tracks, I shot a doe that was 42" around her chest. She was an estimated 177# dressed weight. She had a deformed hoof.

That is the strategy I used for years in indiana. Also look for small "fingers" of state land that may provide access to larger parcels, these are often poorly marked & overlooked. One spot I used to use like that was a small ridgetop pull off with "posted" signs on the tree just to the immediate right. The pull off & land for about 150yds to the left was state forest & it was part of a large parcel that was several square miles. The nearest obvious public road access was about 3/4 of a mile away as the crow flies & over a mile by road in the valley below. I never encountered a hunter in that section.

I loaned my 7mm-08 M700 Mtn Rfl DBM to a young man for his 1st deer hunting season in 2010. He shot his 1st buck with it at about 90yds from my tri-pod. The deer left a blood trail that looked like it came from a garden hose & only went about 30 yds.

All I have seen the AXIS-II offered as is a "package".

7mm-08 will push 140gr bullet at 2850-2900fps from a 22' barrel. 270 will push a 130gr bullet at 3000-3050fps from a 24" barrel. Both chambeings will have 22" barrels in the AXIS-II. so take about 50fps from the 270. The 270 is "better" if ever last bit of range/trajectory is desired. The 7mm-08 is "better" if less recoil & muzzle blast is important. The 270 will be a little easier to find ammo for in the boonies but the growing popularity of the 7mm-08 will likely improve availability of ammo in out of the way places. A 7mm-08 @ 2900FPS with a 140gr polymer tipped bullet sighted in 2 1/2" high @ 100yds will be 3' high @ 150yds & 3" low @ 290yds. A 270 will extend that last range by about 20 yds. The local residents in Idaho swear by the 7mm-08 for Elk. No deer will be able to tell the difference between a 7mm-08 or a 270 when they are hit through the vitals. The Rugar American has a crappy trigger as does the standard AXIS. The AXIS-II has the Accu-Trigger which is a huge improvement over either. Street price for the AXIS-II is about $430, $40 less for the best internet pricing, but then you add shipping & FFL fees. Better to support your local gun shop IMO.

The trigger in the baseline AXIS is pretty dismal from what I could feel. The Accu-Trigger that comes W/the AXIS-II made me smile when I adjusted it.

I'm betting a lot of M10/110 stuff could be adapted. The AXIS SA would be a great candidate for an aftermarket 7X57, 6mm Rem or 257 Roberts barrel. Those are all 7X57 based cartridges & are a bit hampered in a M700 SA. Have the throat reamed a bit for a more appropriate COAL like 3.150", put a headspace gage in the chamber, screw the barrel down against it, secure the lock ring & go to the range.

I would be willing to send you some segmented cooling hose & a mirror to make a prototype "Ladder Stand Rear View Mirror". Less than $15 in outsourced material for 2 units. If the segmented hose could be bought by the foot W/O the end fittings, it would be less. The stuff is real handy, it pops together/apart like "pop beads" & is pretty stiff as far as holding shape & supporting the weight of a mirror. Too bad I didn't grab some when I was working. They used a lot of it in machining cabinets. Should be pretty straight forward. I could probably fabricate something myself, but it always seems to get put off & once deer season arrives I'm too busy.

My son's buddy bought himself a Savage AXIS-II. He opted for 7mm-08 (7 milimeter-oh-eight, not ought-eight ) on my recommendation. He's a 1st time hunter & is going to join my son & I deer hunting next year. His Dad gave him $500 to purchase a deer rifle. He got the rifle/scope combo & a box of Federal Fusion cartridges all in $500 tax included. 1st off, the "Chinese Weaver" 3-9X40 scope is $hit. I would much rather see the gun sold for $100 less W/O scope & mounts or even $50 less with just the rings/mounts which seem decent. I have a Leupold VX-II of a similar flavor that I am going to try to talk him into borrowing for the sake of the deer. That piece of crap will most likely let him down at the worst possible moment. The optics are horrid & the reticle is a BDC (TBS would be a better moniker) reticle that is hard to see in brush & confusing. Anyway. Let's get back to the rifle. Short action magazine length: One of the 1st promising signs was the magazine box length. While Remington M700s have a SA magazine box that restricts cartridge OAL to SAMMI spec of 2.80", the Axis magazine box was a generous 3.20". That's almost exactly the same length as an intermediate length LR M98 or SR M93/96 Mauser action! Lot's of leeway for loading the ogive just off the lands" for maximum accuracy. Chamber dimensions: Aside from being quite possibly the ideal deer cartrifge, one of the reasons that I encouraged the 7m-08 was the fact that I have over 200 cases, dies & some bullets left over from when I had a 7mm-08. I never full length resized the cases for my M700 to reduce excessive working of the brass. I found that the die setting I used for th M700 chamber left the resized cases way too big for the Savage chamber. I had to screw the die almost all the way down to the shell holder to get a good easy bolt close W/the Savage. Savage seems to have cut the chamber right on the spec & case life should be very good. The fact that the Savage barrel lock-ring set-up allows precise headspace setting also contributed to this I'm sure. Barrel throat: I use a stiff spring in a fired case with the bullet to be utilized to gage the throat. I 1st place the ramrod with a flat end screwed into it against the bolt face W/the strker in the cocked position. I then slide 2 collars against the muzzle & tighten the set screw of the collar farthest from the muzzle. The case/spring/bullet is then chambered & the ramrod is gently pushed against the point of the bullet. The collar closest to the muzzle is then slid against the muzzle & the set screw tightened. A measurement between the collars then reveals the COAL that will have the ogive in contact W/the rifling. One then subtracts .010" to .015" from that to get the ideal COAL for maximum accuracy. This measurement reveals that a COAL of 2.850" for Hornady 139gr SST or Interbonds will be ideal. No wonder these rifles have a reputation for shooting well right out of the box! Love the acu-trigger: It was a bit heavy (4#) as it came from the box. A quick YouTube search found a video that showed me the proceedure & 5 minutes W/a jewelers screwdriver had a nice crisp trigger breaking cleanly at just under 3#. The only things I didn't like: The "tupperware" plastic stock is pretty flexible. The trigger gaurd arangement is tacky. To be fair though, word has it that most "factory synthetic" stocks full under the tupperware catagory. The young man has seen my stock handiwork & wants a laminated wood stock. For a little over $100 we can get a Boyds laminated classic stock with a triggergaurd which should further improve accuracy potential. Over all impression: Aside from the crappy glass, a great value for someone that wants an inexpensive tool that is very capable. For a few $$ more it can be transformed into a great rifle W/some decent optics for little more than the price of a bare bones plastic stocked Remington M700 or Winchester M70 alone. It will more than likely outshoot either. We're taking it to the range on Saturday. I need to get busy prepping case, working up some loads & loading up some cartridges

Yeah, he would definately be the poster child for anti-AR. One of his offspring was taken a few weeks later from the same stand. An almost exact smaller replica. 1 1/2 years old 142# dressed fairly large 4-point rack.. I think he was definately screwing up the local gene pool. I haven't seen any simialar smallish rack/big body traits since.

His rack was just big enough to hook up & I doubt there were many bucks in the area that could win a wraslin' match with him. I think my cut over area was his core area.There was still a $hit load of does hanging around my hayfields in those days & there were lots of scapes in the woods adjacent to them. Not a lot of rubs though. The thickest area was about 50 yds in from the corner of one of the hay fields. That's exactly were I caught him. He was trying to slip across the horse trail from one thicket to another. I had caught a glimpse of him through the small 2nd growth pine trees & got a good look at his left main beam. I had the drop on him & hammered him with the 280 at 75yds as soon as he tried to slip across the 12' wide opening. He was doing a quick sneak walk. After the shot I recoverd in time to see him digging franticly for traction with his belly almost touching the ground. He went about 12 yds, not a drop of blood. Blew his heart wide open. You can see the spot the bullet exited were the hair was clipped just in front of the right shoulder.

That was live weight. He dressed 219#. He had scars all over his cape & 1 scar from an encounter with me from 3 years earlier. I had a shoulder mount done since we had so much history. I saw him 3 times in 2001, shot at him once, fumbled once with a gun that I was unloading when I looked up & saw him 150yds across the field. He avoided me for 3 years after all that but slipped up on election day 2004 when I stayed out longer than usual on a rainy morning. I was trying to wait out the rain while sitting nice & dry in my tri-pod that has a tin roof. I am 5'10" & weighed about 285 myself in this picture. In 2001 I took a shot at him at about 230yds quartering to me to his left. He had his head down feeding. I held just to the left of what I thought was the pocket shadow behind the shoulder. At the shot he turned & ran off with his tail flagging. All I found was a piece of fat about the size of a match head & some short hair. As it turned out that "shadow" I was holding to the left of (his right) was the dark streak down the center of the back of his neck. I was going to sell the cape since it was so large, but when I saw the scar on the hide I decided to have him mounted. The finished mount has a dark streak in the fur where the bullet creased him. You can see one of his many battle scars just below the throat patch.

Bucks don't always drag their feet, but they often do during the rut. I've heard them coming in hardwoods for a 1/4 mile in the leaves. I've seem the drag marks in the snow sometimes from 1 print to the next, but more often about 1/2 the stride. If you find deer tracks dragging through the snow, odds are it's a buck & he's on a mission.

I've seen lots of people that could't shoot offhand that consistantly with a CF rifle.

20" barrel might be better suited to a .358 Win or other large bore/moderate case capicity cartridge. Seems like a waste on a .270.

I didn't mean to imply that I would have much intentional impact on genetics. I'm not worried about it. I'm just making observations. I observed the that when the big 285# (live weight) 4-point was around, he seemed to run off all the rack bucks. Over a 3 year period I never saw anything bigger than a 2 1/2 year old 6-point until he was eliminated. Like a switch, in the following seasons 8 points became fairly common. I have also observed there seems to be an uncanny genetic similarity to to some of those racks. In addition, there seems to be better antler traits & increased body weight since the late '90s when the population was way too high. 100# yearling bucks & 2 1/2 year old bucks with odd, uneven & scrawny antlers were the norm for the 1st 5 years or so. All of that, other than the dominance of the 4-point keeping other bucks off his turf & low body weight due to over browsing, seems to point to genetic traits. I have some racks & a shed that I'll post PIX of.

A few times I have successfully played the opposite of the "get in deeper than the rest" of the hunters. Seems nobody bothers to hunt near the entry points. My wife once took a huge doe when I posted her just a few yards in from a parking area where the steep terrain funneled deer through.

Rear view mirrors that clamp onto square tubing. Total flex in the arm utilizing segmented coolant hose used for machining coolant spray. Segments can be added subtracted for length. http://www.travers.com/99-003-801?Category=UserSearch=99-003-801&gclid=CMOliv3U3cICFaHm7AodZmkA_A Adaptors need to integrate the mounting clamp to the tubing & the tubing to an inexpensive, readily available bicycle mirror. Mirrors need to be large enough to afford a good view yet small enought to be unobtrusive. They will be mounted high tucked under the roof eaves. This relacement lens is about 3-4" in diameter, it has a polycarbonate back with a tab for #10 screw mount. It is slightly concave for a wide angle view. They are less than $4. http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/mirrycle-mountain-mirror-replacement-lens?gclid=CPKit9jV3cICFfPm7AoduloAjQ I need to fabricate 1 for my tri-pod & 2 for my penthouse ladder stand 3 total. I'm sure at least 1 buck has given me the slip behind. I found his tracks when I got down & headed in.