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Post by Kt29 on Jan 25, 2008 19:55:32 GMT -5
Early morning temp. at 0 this morning. Still I was anxious to get out after a coyote. At 8:15 decided I'd go., temp. now all the way up to 2 degrees, not what I'd hoped for this morning. Weatherman had indicated it would be considerably warmer. He errored. Got out to Pat's about 8:30 and headed over to my first calling location. It didn't take long to figure out this was going to be tough. Even though it was cold it was a beautiful morning. Clear blue skies and winds out of west at about 10 MPH with about an inch of snow on the ground. First problem I encountered was keeping my glasses from fogging up. With my facemask on they would instantly fogg up and freeze. With the face mask off my cheeks instantly went numb. Problem two didn't take long to surface either. Found it very difficult to blow any of my calls when I couldn't feel my lips. Was not a good combination for calling and shooting a coyote this morning, at least not for me. Spent about an hour and a half trying to get things to work, but finally gave up and headed home. Even at that, it was still great to be out this morning. The rest of me stayed nice and warm. Pheasants were all over the creek this morning, and got up on a herd of 10 whitetails and put up one jackrabbit. My feather decoy did appear to work very well though. The one bright spot of the morning. This was the coldest day I've been out coyote hunting. Will have to wait on a warmer day, somewheres around 15 degrees seems to work OK.
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Post by Kt29 on Jan 27, 2008 18:24:29 GMT -5
Wow, 48 degrees out today with clear blue skies. Hard to believe its winter, will be reminded though the rest of the week. Predicted forcast is 20+ degrees below zero till the weekend. With that in mind decided to take both labs out today so that they could get in a good run before the dip in the temps. Neither have gotten out much lately. Headed up north aways. Took along the 6MM and calls, just in case we might stumble onto a coyote or something. Old Moose hasn't had much to do with Dakota since we got her, and usually will not walk with us at all. Today he seemed alittle more willing to walk along with us, though they still are not good Buds at all. Hopefully he is starting to loosen up alittle now that she is alittle more grown. Had a great walk/hunt. Dakota was pretty busy putting up pheasants and old Moose just mostly plodding along, but seems to really enjoy the outing. Stopped on a few ridges and did alittle calling, with really no hope of anything coming in, but was fun to try it anyways. Dogs get pretty excited when I blow on the call. Dakota did put up one nice jackrabbit. It ran out about 125 yards and stopped in a stubble field. I watched it and thought I wouldn't shoot at it. After watching it awhile decided I would. About that time it decided it had sat enough and took off running. I pulled down on it at about 200 yards, but missed by probably better than a foot. No matter, it was fun. Not lookin forward to the 20 below stuff. Hopefully by the weekend, it will be over. Just a super day to be out. Dogs all snoozing now. They had a great time, even if they had to go out together.
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Post by Kt29 on Jan 29, 2008 9:57:55 GMT -5
Early morning temp. was -23 degrees, -54 with the wind chill. Winds have subsided some, they really howled all night long. Didn't get much sleep. Thankful that the power stayed on and none of the pipes have froze yet. Maybe up to -5 today. Lookin like one more really cold day to deal with after today. Dogs gettin their business done pretty fast outside. Not planning on any outdoor activities the next day or so. It is clear blue skies and sunny though.
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Post by Kt29 on Feb 10, 2008 20:54:45 GMT -5
Today was another brutal day on the prairie. Ten below this morning. Got up to 2 below but added 30MPH winds plus snow. Was really hoping to get out and do alittle coyote hunting this winter, but not really getting any oppurtunites. Been way to cold. Been doing some research on loading the .223 using Blue Dot powder. Interesing looking load. Got the heat going in the Dog House today and spent the afternoon loading up some Blue Dot loads for the .223. Will hold any judgement on them till I have an oppurtunity to get out and shoot them. May have a small window of oppurtunity this Tuesday to get out. Hopefully the wind will have also settled down by then also. Prepped some .38 Special brass also this afternoon and loaded up 50 rounds. Sure has been a brutally cold winter so far, but I guess alot of folks are having a really bad winter also. Hoping Tuesday will give me half a chance to get out. Looks pretty grim after that for awhile again.
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Post by Kt29 on Feb 14, 2008 17:36:49 GMT -5
Valentines Day today and my baby girl Dakota is one today. What a sweatheart she is. Been down with the flu since yesterday morning. Haven't been sick in years and this is dreadful. Tuesday had a very short break in the weather and got out to the range to test out my Blue Dot loads for the .223. Had been doing some research on this load and really wanted to try it out. As Blue Dot is designed as a shotgun powder, pulling the trigger the first time is a little nerve wracking, even though by all accounts its fine. Left the house after lunch, winds already 20+MPH from NW, but at least temps. were over the freezing mark by a bit but changing rapidly. Got my 100 yard target set up, fired off a couple of fouler rounds at a rock, then set up on the target. Finally pulled the trigger and all was fine. But another round at the target, but couldn't see a hole, boy was that discouraging. Walked down to the target to inspect it. Found the second round was nearly in the first. Didn't expect that. Went back and shot my third round and it was touching the others. What a great first try. Since the weather was rapidly changing I walked out to the three hundred yard backstop and set up my target. I was hoping to compare the point of impact from this reduced Blue Dot load with a 50 Gr. Hornady SP, with my regular load of 55 GR. V-Max's. By now the wind had switched over to the west and picked up some velocity, was now a direct cross wind. Put three shots down range. Inspection showed I'd missed target all three rounds. To much wind drift. Moved the target back down to the two hundred yard backstop and set up. Put three rounds to it. Did hit the target at the edge. Had over 6" drift. Not much of a group, but at least got to try these out. This load is supposed to be about 3040 FPS with a 50 Gr. bullet out of a 26" barrel which is still pretty good. It is supposed to be pretty accurate, which it looks like it may be. Barrel heat pretty much goes away with this load, which could be a benefit if one shoots alot in one day. Though the .223 doesn't have much recoil, it is really minimal with this load, and I think the grandkids could easily shoot it. Noise level is also greatly reduced, which could be a benefit in shooting in more populated areas. Supposedly this powder burns in the first 12-14" of the barrel which would make it nice for a shorter barrel .223. If there is a downside to this load, it is that it won't cycle in an AR. Just not enough recoil. My initial observation with little testing is that this load would take my .223 from basically being a 350 yard PD rifle down to a 250 yard or so PD rifle, which, in alot of instances is still ok. Was really fun shooting this load and will be hoping for a nicer day to go out and try it again. Just for grins, I did a quickie cost of loading 50 of these rounds using bulk components. Cost as of today would be $6.75 per 50. A quick check in Cabela's showed that was about half the cost of say .17 HMR and about the same cost as the HM2. Sure won't miss this flu when its gone.
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Post by Kt29 on Feb 22, 2008 19:21:27 GMT -5
Old Mother Nature finally let loose of her below zero grip today. What a beautiful day on the Prairie. Blue skies,45 degrees, and very little wind, a real bonus. Was anxious to get back out to the range and try out a few more Blue Dot loads. Packed up the truck along with Dakota and headed out to the range. As usual we were the only ones out there. Had loaded up some more 50 gr. Hornaday's and some 55 gr. sierra's. Set some targets out and 100,200, and 300 yards. It sure was pleasant to be able to shoot without gale force winds for a change. Tried the 50 grs. out first at 100 yards. They shot terrible. Couldn't believe it. They shot so well last time. Tried them at 200, also terrible. Went to the 55 gr. sierra's. They shot alittle better, but still not all that well. They did alittle better at 200 yards. Now this is somewhat of a mystery as to why they shot so bad today, and great the first time I tried them. Looks like the challenge is on now to try to duplicate the results of the first outing. Looking forward to that. Also shot some of my regular loads of 55 Gr. v-max' at three hundred yards. With very little wind it was a good day to rezero at three hundred yards. Had to make alittle windage adjustment and that was it. They were dead on at 300 yards. What I sweet load these v-max's are. Set up the metal .22 targets and put about 40 rounds through the old H&R Sportsman. As usuall I don't shoot it very well, but it's alot of fun missing anyways. Dakota spend the whole afternoon looking for pheasants on the range, as she usually does. Wasn't any at the range today. Finally packed up and headed back home. What a super day to be out for a change. When I got back home, I removed the two pheasants from the smoker. They had been in all day. Took alittle sample. They were excellent. Think I'll do up a few more then freeze them. Hope this weather holds for awhile.
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Post by Kt29 on Feb 24, 2008 12:54:14 GMT -5
Went to town last night to the Ducks Unlimited wildgame feed. Met up with a couple of my buddies their. The food was outstanding. Was just to many different dishes to possibly sample them all. Had caribou for the first time and must say it was very good. Didn't eat any pheasant, but alot of the sausages and venison. The feed was well attended. Always enjoy anything put on by DU. Hopefully next year we will get some of the potholes filled back up so that I can get in alittle more duck hunting. But again not looking very well for moisture so far this year. Going into our 7th year of basic drought conditions and it shows bad. Chris sent me a picture of the moose that has been hanging out in his backyard in Idaho for awhile now. It's nice to see he says, but it drives the dogs nuts and no one wants to go out to the woodpile to get wood when it beds down their. So far the've had over 140" of snow, and its been a real battle to keep everything upright as well as very detrimental to all the wildlife. Pic wouldn't download.
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Post by Kt29 on Feb 28, 2008 11:26:58 GMT -5
Been a rollercoaster type winter so far. Lots of cold weather mixed in with really cold weather and some nice days. Lots of wind this winter also. Very little snow. Had alittle dusting the other day again, but basically very dry. No moisture at all last fall. Pretty nice day yesterday, temps. in 40's with light winds. Went out in the morning trying to locate a turkey or two, but not really expecting to find any. Haven't seen or heard a turkey around here since the early Oct. blizzard of 2005. Pheasants have started to recover and last season was at least decent for them but not so for the turkeys. Headed out in the afternoon to one of the small prairie dog towns out to the west. There were quite afew dogs out at this town. Enjoyed a great afternoon watching them flip. The Savage .223 was dead on. Had quite abit of shooting out to two hundred yards, and was able to make a few shots at over 350 yards. Not having all the wind to deal with makes long range shooting alot more manageable. Feds. poisoned about 28 dog fields around here, so folks coming out to shoot this summer may be in for a few surprises. Was great to get out and enjoy the sun and warm temps. for a day. Hopefully one of these years, we'll have a few turkeys again.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 1, 2008 11:11:44 GMT -5
Friday morning rolled in pretty nice. Took the dogs for a early morning walk. While on the walk heard a familiar honk, honk, of a canada goose. Sure enough here came one cruising low over the hill. Still 20+ inches of ice on any water around here, he'll have to look a long time to find any water to sit on. Was great to see it, as it gives hope that spring may come. He must have been really lost. After completing one of my work projects, decided I needed to get out and test a few more of my Blue Dot loads. Got to range by late afternoon and set up. First shots out of barrel grouped bad. After a few shots, the groups started coming it. Looks like this load needs the fouled barrel to be accurate. This round of testing went very well with the Blue Dot as compared to the last time. Groups after the barrel warmed up were all around 0.5 MOA wich is pretty good for a reduced load like this. I think the kids will love shooting it. Going to call this load a keeper. Picked up another 85 .223 brass at the range again today. Have picked up 225 brass total so far this winter. All pretty nice brass. Will be using it for the Blue Dot loads. Had a little light left so headed up the road to a small PD town. Temps were in low 40's, blue skies, and little wind. What a great late afternoon shoot. PD's were out in full force on this day. Most of shooting was from 200-300 yards. Just right for me. Hated to see the light leave. Today also a very warm day, but with high winds and rain. A good inside day. Made a bullet order to Mid South. Going to try out some of there Varmint Extreme 50 grainer bulk bullets. And I get a free hat for my order. Can always use another free hat. Going to spend most of the day in the Dog House prepping my pick up brass and loading up some v-max's for another PD shoot. Long range weather forcast looks grim. Lots of 20 degree days with the chances of snow each day. Makes my think that goose just made a quick loop thru here and was headed back south. He must have lost a bet or something.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 7, 2008 21:12:10 GMT -5
Another 7 below zero morning. Had to take Dakota to vet today. Vet said she had an inflamed lesion on the side of her paw. Probably got stuck with something while on a run. Treating it with steroids till it goes away. If it doesn't go away will have to surgically remove it. Picked up a Henry leveraction .22LR this week. Got it out this afternoon to test it out. It's really well balanced, very smooth, and has a very nice trigger pull. Planning on just using the open sites. Did't shoot it much, but what I did, sure amounted to a whole lot of fun. Hoping for a nice day to really give it a good test. Going to give my Remington 581 bolt .22 to my son for his college graduation in May. He grew up shooting it and I think it will make a nice gift for him.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 11, 2008 17:41:28 GMT -5
Had a little extra time early this morning, so decided to take the Henry out and see what it did on paper. Been a very long time since I've shot open sights on any kind of a rifle and I was pretty excited to see how it went. Put out a target with a 1 1/2" bull at 50 yards and started shooting. Walked up to the target to see how it looked. To my amazement, most of the shots were in the bull. What a good feeling that was. Tried shooting the 6" gong out at 100 yards and had no problem hitting it either. I'm starting to love this Henry, and what fun to go back to shooting open sights. Was also pretty surprised at how well the sights were adjusted right out of the factory. It doesn't look like I'll have to make any adjustments to them at all. My hats off to Henry Repeating Arms, what a great little .22 lever they make.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 15, 2008 12:21:06 GMT -5
Pretty cool, cold, and windy again today. Temps. about 20 and winds up to 30 MPH, with a chance of snow again. Keep getting teased with a couple of days of nice weather followed by cold and windy weather. Will be nice when it all settles down and stays nice for awhile. Made up a nice batch of venison country sausage this week. Finshed it off in the smoker yesterday. I must say this batch turned out very good, and ranks up there with some of my best. My stock showed up yesterday from Richard's Microfit Gunstocks. I've read where a lot of folks have been really dissatisfied with their service, but my stock showed up just about the time as promised. Was the only place that I could find that could build a stock to fit my old Eddystone action, other than having some very expensive custom place make one. Still, their is alot of work remaining before it is completed. Will start getting it fitted to the action and barrel. The barrel is from E.R. Shaw and a little heavier contoured than the original barrel. Still quite abit of handsanding to do to the stock also. Haven't decided yet on what I will use for a finish after it is all sanded. The Claro walnut looks pretty good, so may finish it in tung oil. Don't mind the work and am looking forward to this project. Been shooting this rifle with the old stock on it, and it does shoot pretty well. The old stock though, is held together with woodscrews. It was that way when I bought it years ago when I was in High School, pretty much got used to it and seems to shoot fine with it. Thought a new stock was in order though. Was a nice barrel swap from 30.06 to 6MM Remington. Did not have to do anything to the bolt or magazine, which was nice. Really like the 6MM's. Really miss my old one, which I gave away to my youngest son. He shot his first deer with it and many after it. Guess I'm just an old softy at times. Still have all the reloading dies for the 6MM and alot of brass. Feels good to have another one. It's a great caliber.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 21, 2008 17:43:26 GMT -5
45 degrees out today, partly cloudy and winds pretty much straight out of the west at 10 MPH. Russ and I decided today would be a great day to play hooky and hit the Badlands for a good day of shooting prairie dogs. Russ got here about 8:30 and we headed out for our 40 mile drive out to one of our favorite secret dog towns. After a 20 minute hike into the town, we were set up and ready to go. We each brought along 150 rounds of .223 which was all pretty much run through the Savages by the end of the hunt. Didn't appear as this town had been hit at all since some time last fall. The dogs were out in full force today. Most of our shooting was from 150 to 350 yards. Just an excellent range for the .223's. Was able to make 11 kills over 400 yards with the longest being 460 yards, according to the Bushnell rangefinder. Attempted a few shots at 500 yards. Appeared to be pretty close but no hits. With the .223, pretty much run out of elevation adjustment much past 500 yards. When ya get one at that range with the .223 and any kind of winds, ya feel pretty good. Just a super day out in the dog town today, and well worth playing hooky. Company coming tonight for Easter, so should be a great weekend, and it's already off to a great start.
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Jersey Devil23
Spike
Huntin Buddy
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Joined: May 19, 2024 8:31:36 GMT -5
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Post by Jersey Devil23 on Apr 6, 2008 23:54:17 GMT -5
that is a gorgeous dog
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Post by Kt29 on Apr 9, 2008 20:10:11 GMT -5
Still reovering from a severe back sprain, though it is getting much better. Decided to get out today. Temps. 48 degrees, partly cloudy and brisk S.E. 25 MPH breeze. Grabbed the Henry, Moose and Dakota and headed out towards Pat's ranch. Was good to get out and walk. My ace bird dog Dakota put up three nice jackrabbits, two of which I was able to get shots at. Very hard to hold steady offhand with the rifle into a 25 MPH wind, but let the lead fly anyways. Was fun to be shooting at something again even though all shots were misses. Dakota did put up two sharptails on the way back, so I guess she still is a bird dog. Both dogs and I had a great outing. Yesterday evening I finished cutting out the slot for the bolt handle on the stock for my 6MM build. Been a bit tedious to get the action fitted to the stock. Some inletting may be required, was at best an understatement from the supplier of the stock. The rear action screw did not have enough threads on it, do to the inletting of the stock, so had to go in search of a remedy. Called Dave, who has worked on my guns before. Reached him by cell, only to find he was out of town. He gave me a name of another guy to call. He did tell me though that his wife Cathy, was currently on a She Safari to Namibia. She had already killed several trophy animals and that the Safari was filmed and would be on the Outdoor channel sometime next fall. Can't wait for that. Got ahold of Joel about the action screw. He had several that were just the same length threads as mine. He said he would cut another quarter inch of thread onto one of them for me. Stopped to pick it up. Joel wouldn't take any money for the screw or the work. Hard to believe in this day and age. Was a great feeling to have both action screw holes actually line up and the screws fit. Went ahead and free floated the barrel while I was at it. The 6MM is now ready to shoot. Will be glass bedding it, but want to shoot it first to get some sort of a baseline as to how it shoots before and after bedding. What a great feeling to have it all together, and alot of work. Much more than I had anticipated. Will still have to sand and finish the stock also, but still haven't decided on a finish yet. Looks like the weather won't break now till next week sometime before I can get out to shoot.
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