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Post by Kt29 on May 8, 2008 11:59:15 GMT -5
Friday April 25th, Jan and I and the dogs left bright and early for North Idaho to visit Chris. Got there Friday night. Drove in snow and sleet for about 400 miles. Where was this stuff when I had my snow tires on. Saturday the 26th we all loaded up and headed to Post Falls to visit the new Cabela's store their. My first visit to Cabela's. What a nice facility as I imagine they all are. Found their prices are pretty comparable to most other outdoor stores, but the selection of items is outstanding. Had a great time shopping and loaded up on quite a few reloading and fishing items. The restaurant was a nice feature there, and the selection of food was very good. I think we all at a good time there, and I'm sure this will not be my last trip there. When we got back to Chris's house to started up the 4-wheelers and went trail riding. Snow is still on most of the trails, so busted alot of snow banks. We managed not to get stuck. Was nice just to ride from the house. Ended the day by grillin some of Chris's elk steaks from last fall. Was a great feed. Nothing better than elk meat other than shooting the elk. Sunday April 27th, Chris and I packed up the 20's and headed over to the Hauser Lake gun club. Their we met up with my old friend Bob from Spokane, Wa. and his son Len. Chris's friend Pete and his young son Chris also showed up along with Pete's father-in-law Chris. We had lots of Chris's. We shot two rounds of trap. My shooting was very bad. Thank God pheasants are alot larger. After we got done shooting, we surprised Pete's young 10 year old son Chris by inviting him to shoot some clay pigeons. He had never shot a shotgun before. The Hauser Lake gun club really caters to youngsters. They keep on hand 10 youth model Remington 870 20 Ga. that kids can use. That young boy had the time of his life. It was great to see the look in his eyes after he was done shooting. His dad signed him up for the youth league their. What a great thing. We did quite abit of visiting after the shoot. Was great to see Bob again. He went through alot of effort to check out Dakota for me before I picked her up as a pup last spring. What a great guy. Chris and Pete were planning a southern Idaho antelope hunt this coming fall. If they didn't draw tags they plan on going to Wyoming for antelope. I was invited along for that trip if it comes off. I would really look forward to that. All to soon we had to break up and leave. What a great time at the Hauser Lake gun club. We meet there at least once a year and look forward to the next time. Pete was the picture taker of this photo. When we got back home Chris spent the rest of the day taking his mom 4-wheelin. She had a geat time. Pic of Chris's pheasant pen. This was Dakota's favorite place to hang out, especially when the rooster crows. The hens are now starting to lay and the eggs will be going into the incubator. Chris raises them for a guy that he knows that was paralyzed in a logging accident. He loves to see them running around on his property. For his part, Chris gets to hunt deer and elk on the property. Photo of Chris's Gambel's quail pens. They are also starting to lay, but are very fidgity. He raises them to release them on his property, but also to sell the eggs. In the early part of the week I was hammerred with a cold, had no energy and lost my voice. That was disappointing. Saturday May 3rd, drummed up enough energy to get back on the 4-wheeler and head out to do alittle shooting with Chris's new Buckmark .22. What a great little semi-auto. I could actually shoot it very well. Was the first time I looked through a red dot pistol scope. Must say that if you want a scope on a pistol, this is the way to go. I soon ran out of energy and we headed back home. All to soon the visit was over. Didn't get to do alot of things that were planned, but thankful to be able to get to do what we were able to do. That cold was a real bummer. Early Monday morning, May 4th, we loaded back up, cold and all, and headed back home. Not the best of trips, but still I woulded off missed it for anything.
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Post by 4Pointer on May 9, 2008 7:17:31 GMT -5
HOPE YA DIDN'T MIND ME JUMPING IN ,, GREAT PIC'S,,, THATS SOME PURTY COUNTRY OUT THERE,,, GOTTA LOVE THEM DOG'S...THANKS FOR SHARIN..,,
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Post by Kt29 on Jun 5, 2008 13:25:19 GMT -5
Yesterday morning was the first nice morning since sometime last March. What a miserable spring so far. Had the urge to head out to the rifle range and do alittle shooting. Headed out about 7:00 in the morning. Temps. 52 with light winds out of the NW. Took along the .257 Roberts, .223 and the Henry .22. Wanted to try out some of the 117 gr. Sierra Gamekings in the .257. I wanted to see how they shot compared to the 117 gr. Sierra Pro-hunters. So I loaded them with the same powder weight and distance off the lands as the Pro-Hunters. The Pro-hunters in my Ruger will shoot under half inch groups at 100 yards. The best group I was able to get out of the Gamekings was 1 1/2 inch at 100 yards. Now that was interesting. I thought that they would shoot alittle better than that. The Gamekings are a boatail bullet and the Pro-hunter is a flat base bullet. Will go through my load development routine to see if I can get the Gamekings to shoot at least as good as the Pro-hunters. Love the challenge of that. Tried out some more of my Bluedot loads for the .223. They shot excellent, so I will go ahead and load up a couple of hundred rounds of them. They are about the least expensive of all centerfire rounds to shoot, if you load them yourself. To bad they won't work in an AR. Put a 150 rounds thru the Henry. The Henry is just plain fun to shoot. What a great morning at the range. Dakota came along and had a great morning trying to dig up gophers. By noon the weather was back to windy and rainy.
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Post by Kt29 on Jun 18, 2008 14:17:46 GMT -5
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Post by 4Pointer on Jun 18, 2008 16:45:20 GMT -5
GREAT TO SEE YA MADE IT TO THE LAKE EVEN CAUGHT A FEW.. GREAT PIC'S,,, THANKS FOR SHARNIN..I HAVE ONE QUESTION ?? DOSE DAKOTA HAVE A STICK FISHING LIC .
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Post by Kt29 on Jun 18, 2008 18:08:07 GMT -5
Well Larry, those stick licences are still free here.
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Post by Kt29 on Jul 16, 2008 17:37:56 GMT -5
Had plans today to head over to Lake Tschida and do some fishing, since we had a little break in the hot weather. The forcast this morning changed our plans. Nothing but t-storms for most of the day over the lake. Not something I wantd to deal with. So, since we had plans to get out today, we decided to just pack up the dogs and head over to the rifle range and do a little shooting for a couple of hours and let the dogs run for a while. No one at the range today, so the dogs were able to run all they wanted. They have made quite afew nice improvementsto the range so far this summer. Concrete pads have been poured for the benches and the outhouse has been completed. This was the first time in years that Jan actually wanted to shoot any of the rifles. So first I took out the .223. She had never shot it. She was a little leary of shooting it, but I assured her that the Blue Dot loads I had for it would not show hardly any recoil. After the first shot, she was into shooting it pretty good and really enjoyed it. What she really wanted to shoot though, was the Henry. After some coaching on using the open sights, she was consistantly hitting the metal targets at 25 yards. I think the Henry is her favorite now. I put 30 rounds of the Blue Dot loads down the .223 at 100 and 200 yards. It is a superb reduced recoil load and extremely accurate and half the cost of most of the .17 manufactured loads. No point in having a .17 when you can load up this load. I also shot up quite a few rounds with the Henry. I had never shot it on paper at a 100 yards, so wanted to see what it would do. Didn't shoot any tiny groups with it, but can keep it within a six inch bull with no problem at that range. What a neat little rifle. I think we all at a nice time at the range today, though I'd really had rather been fishing.
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Post by Kt29 on Jul 29, 2008 17:36:22 GMT -5
Decided to make a trip to the range this morninng before going to work. Got to the range at sunup. Temp. was 50's, skies blue with a 5 MPH wind from the NW. Took the labs along so that they could get a good run. Primarily today, I wanted to shoot the 6MM at 300 yards to check its grouping. Did a hundred yard shoot first using the H4831 and the H4350 load with the 75 gr. V-Max's. Both these loads shoot pretty good at 100 yards, though the H4831 load is quite abit slower but groups about 1/10" better. After the 100 yard shoot, moved the target out to 300 yards. Shot two three shot groups with each load. Both loads shot as expected based on their 100 yard groupings. The H4831 groups averaged 1.65" and the H4350 1.8". Both were decent groupings with this 6MM that I built. The 300 yard groupings basically told me that both these loads are accurate beyond 100 yards and hold there point of aim well at 300 yards. For now anyways, I will be going with the H4350 load. This load was dead on at 300 yards. My preferred zero for long range shooting. The H4831 load was a full 3" lower at 300 hards. As this will be used primarily for coyote hunting, the flatter the better. There are some powders that will give a little more velocity yet, but this suits me fine. Just for curiosity, I backed the 100 yard and 300 yard point of impacts into a Ballistic Calculator to get an idea of the approximate muzzle velocity of the H4350 load. A more precise measurement could be made with a Chrony, but I don't have one. With these numbers, I determined that the muzzle velocity was approximately 3325 FPS. With this info, the Ballistic Calculator computed info for a drop chart. I tape this info to the stock for holdover info past 300 yards. Though this is primarily a coyote rifle, I still have the itch to shoot a deer with it, as it is a great deer caliber also. Have some 100 gr. Rem. Cor-lokts that I will be developing a load for sometime this summer or early fall. I am pretty pleased how well this 6 MM project turned out. Having never done a rifle build before, this certainly could have gone either way as far as being an accurate rifle. Some expensive rifles have a MOA guarantee. When you do it yourself, there are no guarantees. Now if fall would just hurry up and get here.
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Post by Kt29 on Aug 15, 2008 13:50:26 GMT -5
Just an absolutely beautiful morning, probably the nicest of the whole summer so far. This was a morning one just had to go out in. With that in mind I loaded up the truck for a trip to the range and on down to a prairiedog town afterwards. Left the house at 6:00. Weather clear and calm, temp. 50 degrees out. Got set up and was shooting by 6:30. Today's mission was to test out some 100 gr. Rem. Core-lokts I loaded up for the 6MM. Was thinking about using the 6MM for deer hunting this year. After shooting the 100 grainers, I found that they did not group all that well. Will load up a couple of different recipes and see If I can find one that shoots pretty good. Pretty rare to find a load that shoots very good on the first try, but I am ever hopefull that it will happen. I did discover something very interesting though. The 75 gr. V-maxs for the 6MM are sighted in to be 2.8" high at 100 yards. These 100 gr. Core-lokts shot 2" to the left of dead center at 100 yards. What a difference between the two different bullets. If this holds true with further testing, I will have to completely readjust the scope to shoot them if I want to use them for deer hunting. There is always some difference between bullets, but this was more than I expected. Goes to show that there can be a great difference in the point of aim between bullets, and one should always check his zero when changing bullet weights or loads. After I was done at the range, headed over to a nearby prairie dog town. By now the temp. was about 65 degrees and the winds still calm. Dogs were out everywheres. It was just perfect to be out in the field. It didn't take long and I was out in the field and set up with the .223. Wilth the calm winds, hitting prairie dogs was pretty easy today for a change. I shot pretty steady for about and hour and a half, till the dogs finally gave up coming out of their digs. Longest shot made today was 385 yards. A rare and very beautiful day on the prairie. It doesn't get any better than this. When I got home, I did find that I recieved my second deer tag for the season, the down side being both are doe tags. Not lucky enough to draw a buck tag this year. The hunt will still be on though and am very much looking forward to it.
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Post by Kt29 on Sept 13, 2008 12:51:00 GMT -5
Today was the opening day of sharptail and hun season. The weather was rapidly changing this morning with a strong front moving in very quickly. Loaded up Dakota into the truck at 7:30 and headed out west a few miles to my first spot. Temps. were at 48 degrees, partly cloudy and winds were light. Within a half an hour, skies were cloudy and winds were out of the NW at least 30 MPH. It was getting ugly fast. Once it rains out here, you need to get out fast or you may have to walk out. Roads turn into gumbo and you don't go anywheres. Been waiting for this opening day since bird season closed last January. Feels like an eternity. Dakota was more than excited to get out and go. Once that hunting vest came out with all those smells on it, she was new that this was going to be more than just a walk. She will be 19 months old tomorrow, and this will be her second full year of bird hunting. She is a treasure to have and so much fun to hunt with. We no more than started our hunt when she got birdy and put up a big old rooster. It was great to see, but that season not open yet. Of all things, the rooster flew by spooking 3 sharptails which took of across the field spooking 3 more on there way. Now, I thought, this is a crazy start to the season. After that flurry, we got more into our hunt. After a short ways, she got birdy again, and put up a single sharptail which I managed to hit and she retrieved. This season and this year is now a success. Five minutes later she was birdy again, and put up another single which I also managed to hit again and she retrieved. Decided since I had two birds out of this field I would pull out and go check out another field. It was still early and not raining yet. We loaded up and moved three miles straight west to another of my favorite fields. While I was getting my vest on, Dakota was out putting up a few pheasants. Called her back and we headed out. Within ten minutes she was onto birds. She put up three birds and I dropped one, which now gave me my limit. I can't remember the last time that I went three for three on birds. Guess there is always a first, but it was sweet carrying that 20 ga. again and watching your hunting buddy having a great time. Life is good again, at least for a short 4 months. Was back home by 9:30, just beating the rain.
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Post by Huntinbuddy on Sept 13, 2008 13:16:22 GMT -5
Awesome story and great pic.
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Post by Kt29 on Sept 15, 2008 14:44:53 GMT -5
Spent most of Sunday Sept. 14 at the tractor fest. When we got home and towads late afternoon, Jan decided we should go for a walk since it was so nice out yet. So we loaded up the dogs and the shotgun. Our walk was going to happen at least in a bird field. We left house at 5:30 or so and the temp. was 62 degrees. Went west and south of the house about 5 miles. Parked the truck and when I got out, a large flock of huns immediately flushed. I had parked in front of a nice big flock of 20 or so birds. Watched them fly over the hill to the south about 150 yards. I knew once they cleared the hill, they most likely would not fly very far before they landed again. Not this was great, the hunt was on even before we started. Finally got everything ready and we headed up the hill to look for the huns. Dakota was in a frenzy after smelling where the birds had been sitting. Took a little bit to calm her down. She wanted to go and she wanted to go bad. We slowly made our way up the hill. Jan was pretty excited also. She had never experienced this before. On the way up the hill, Dakota got really birdy several times. I let her go and she put up a hen pheasant each time. When we got to the top of the hill, we were in a big flat. Dakota was in a frenzy again. I new the birds were close. This was a good training session for obiedence to keep her close when I needed her close. Finally I let her go find the birds. They were right there about 20 yards in front of us. She found them and put them up. Man birds were going everywheres. Pulled on a group that was going to my right. Folded the bird up. The rest of the group for some reason turned and came right over my head about 20 ft. high. They had me so knotted and twisted up that I couldn't get another shot. Out of all those birds, only got one shot, but that was fine. It was a very exciting stalk and something to remember for me as well as Jan. Didn't see anymore birds on our walk, but what a pretty late afternoon. So good to be out.
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Post by Huntinbuddy on Sept 20, 2008 10:30:49 GMT -5
Great story, and even greater pic. Fried hungy's sounds good to me!!
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Post by 4Pointer on Sept 20, 2008 21:38:34 GMT -5
GREAT STORY AND PIC,,NOW JAN HAS TO GET HER LIC. AND BACK YA UP..MAN THATS JUST GREAT..NOTHING BEATS TO SEE A DOG WORKIN.
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Post by Kt29 on Sept 24, 2008 16:59:55 GMT -5
Been having alot of wet weather lately, but the last day or so the rains have quit. Decided this afternoon that with all the wind we have been having that the roads may have dried up enough to get back into some of my sharptail hunting areas. Loaded up Dakota and we headed out about 12:30 this afternoon. Skies were partly cloudy, temp. around 60 degrees with the wind out of west about 25 MPH. Headed SW to the first field. This was a fairly small field. We covered it pretty good, but Dakota only could find one hen pheasant. Moved a couple of miles to the west. Roads were pretty decent and had no problem getting in. During the first half hour of hunt in this field, Dakota put up one hen pheasant. Made several rest stops for water, as the temps. felt like they were starting rise pretty good. Didn't want to push Dakota very hard so we took it pretty easy. At the far end of the half section field, Dakota finally got very birdy. She started putting up birds and I started shooting. First bunch of birds got up and I dropped one and missed one. I reloaded the 20 ga. just in time for another bird that she put up. I dropped it also. Reloaded again and was ready just as she put up three more birds. I hit the first one, but not very hard. I let Dakota stay on the bird as it flew off as I thought it might come down. At about 150 yards the sharptail did one of those go sky high scenarios, where it flew straight up then dropped out of the sky. Dakota was there waiting for it. She earned her nuggets on that one. Turned out to be a very nice hunt. First time in a long time I was able to stand in one spot and shoot my limit. We loaded up the three birds, are limit, and headed back to the truck. Dakota put up one more bird on the way out. Another great day in the field with my huntin buddy.
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