Benbrown

I haven't been on much lately, due to spending more time than I want on the computer for other reasons. However, the approach of hunting seasons has moved CWT time up on my list of priorities. That said, I have been wondering what the cinder block building pictured on the home page is, and why it is displayed there. Thanks in advance...

Yep, I would bet that it was coatis picking up acorns as they were uncovered by the animals in front of them.

I have taken a lot of deer (hundreds) with high neck shots--mostly while engaged in scientific collecting. It makes the necropsy less messy and facilitates the collection of clean blood and tissue samples. If the carcasses are to be donated, they are cleaner and neater when dressed out, as well. As mentioned above, head shots have a much higher risk of seriously wounding an animal without putting it down immediately. High neck shots will almost always put an animal down, even if the spine is not hit. The shock to the central nervous system is sufficient to stun an animal and put it on the ground, and a coup de gras can be administered, if need be. When I am hunting for meat, I still take high neck shots if they are offered--but only at distances where I know that I can accurately place the shot where it needs to go. YMMV.

It's a hoax: TUCSON, Ariz. — A lawsuit filed in the name of the man who shot former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is bogus, an official said Thursday. The case was filed last week in federal court in Phoenix under Jared Lee Loughner’s name. It was similar to a recent bogus lawsuit claiming to be from an Uber driver accused in a string of Kalamazoo, Michigan, killings. The latest lawsuit claims Loughner was framed and seeks $25 million in damages from Giffords. But the convicted killer’s attorneys notified the court that he didn’t file or authorize the case, said Cosme Lopez, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona. The lawsuit was mailed from Philadelphia, though it wasn’t immediately clear by whom. Loughner is imprisoned in Minnesota at the Rochester Federal Medical Center. Someone in Philadelphia also filed the case that falsely claimed to be from Jason Dalton, who is charged in the Feb. 20 killing of six people and wounding of two others in Kalamazoo, Michigan. That lawsuit sought $10 million from the ride-hailing service. Officials became suspicious after seeing a Philadelphia postmark on the envelope it was mailed in. The U.S. District Court-District of Arizona hasn’t ruled yet on whether the latest lawsuit can go forward, court clerk Brian Karth said. Federal lawsuits can be filed in person or by mail. Staff attorneys sort through new filings and send them to a judge, who either dismisses them or assigns them to another judge. Karth said it’s common for inmates to file lawsuits and that the process to file a suit is relatively easy. “Obviously this was something we received through the mail, so there’s no way to validate who filed it,” Karth said. Loughner, 27, is serving life in prison after pleading guilty to killing six people and injuring 13 during a January 2011 mass shooting in Tucson that targeted Giffords, who was shot in the head and severely injured. Loughner is schizophrenic and was medicated under a court order during his trial. None of the attorneys listed for Loughner returned calls or emails from The Associated Press on Thursday. A Giffords spokesman said the former congresswoman was not commenting on the matter. In the Michigan case, authorities say that between picking up Uber fares, Dalton opened fire on people at three locations, and that he didn’t know any of the victims. According to police, Dalton told investigators that “a devil figure” on Uber’s app was controlling him.

Out here, there is really no reason to lube a rifle with oil. I have been using One-Shot Gun Cleaner and Dry Lube, now marketed by Hornady, for quite a few years. After cleaning the rifle, I douse the bolt and trigger assembly and let them drain and dry. It keeps the "innards" from getting gummed up by old oil residue and it does not collect dust and debris like oil does. It coats the metal with a dry lubricant that will not gum up or collect dust. I do leave a light coating of Rem-Oil in the bore if I intend to store a rifle for a while, but I keep gun oils out of the actions these days. I would clean the action and bolt with white gas or Coleman fuel, blow it dry and then spray the bolt and trigger with One-Shot before I tried replacing the spring...

200 grain Nosler AccuBond--shot one lengthwise through the largest-bodied elk I have ever taken, using a .300 WSM. The bullet exited after traversing about 6 ft of elk. Easy to work with, too. I am now shooting them in a .300 Win mag. I load them as long as they will reliably feed from the magazine and don't worry about trying to kiss the lands.

What is the barrel length? Thanks!

My daughter has been shooting a 7mm-08 for almost 20 years. With 120-grain Nosler Ballistic Tips, she has taken Coues whitetails, Texas whitetails, desert mule deer and pronghorns. All were one-shot kills. She used her rifle to take one of the largest-bodied desert mule deer I have weighed: 265 lbs dressed. She shot it at a few steps under 400 yards (laser-ranged after the shot). When I was still down on the ranch, I kept a couple of youth model Remington 700s chambered for the 7mm-08 for guests to use. Many of them tried to buy the rifles from me after they had used one to take their first deer.

This. The 7mm-08 has been chambered in a large variety of factory rifles with varying throat and magazine lengths, so factory ammo has to be useable in the shortest dimensions to be found in a wide array of factory rifles.

I have a Sinclair kit that I will let you have for the price of shipping. If you are interested, let me know.

Many of those bullets will not stabilize in standard factory barrels with their slow twists, but the guys with fast-twist custom barrels who shoot at long range should love them.

Below the oak zone. They tend to stay lower than the whitetails.

My dedicated Coues rifle: Mexican Mauser action, Krieger barrel, Rimrock stock, chambered in .257 AI.

I have two boxes of Winchester Super-X 200-grain Protected Points, if you are interested.

How much does the tripod weigh and what is the fully extended height? Thanks!

Sell it and buy a Bad Boy Buggy.

PM sent.

Haven't played pasture pool in a l-o-o-o-ong time. I would be embarrassed to start again, and recording my swing would be just adding insult to injury.

Want to sell 2005 Toyota Tacoma SR5 Access Cab, 4WD. 4.0 V-6, six-speed manual transmission, A/C, AM/FM/CD, Leer camper shell, Toyota bed mat, 10-ply rated Capitol H/T rubber with about 10K miles on them. 258,300+ mostly highway miles, religiously serviced according to owner's manual. Never garaged and it shows the effects of weather and age, but no major problems. Can email more pictures. $8,000 firm. http://

Sold about 7:00 this AM. Thanks for the good words.

BTTT

I use a Nikon Monarch 800 that I bought a few years ago. It has bold black numbers in the display and it will range to 800 yds on hard targets. As I recall, I paid somewhere between $300 and $350 for it. I would suggest that you drop by a Sportsman's Warehouse, Cabelas or Bass Pro and try several different ones--I'm sure that you'll find one that displays in black, ranges to 800 and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

The good news is that the volume of illegal traffic drops off as the nights get colder. The bad news is that the narco mules don't slow down. If you camp, camp low because the drug mules will be using trails up high along the crests at night to get away from the Border Patrol, especially now that they have really upped the number of horse patrols. I have been providing a little information for CW folks who draw here in the Boot Heel for several years. Most have reported seeing signs of illegal activities, but none have had serious encounters nor have I heard of any camps being bothered. If you can draw a tag in a border unit, go for it.

When I was younger, four of us used to do the early season hunt above timberline in late August about every other year. We hunted in what is now the Weminuche Wilderness along the east side of the divide. The trailhead was at the Rio Grande Reservoir, and the guy who maintained it had mules that he rented. We would rent a mule to carry our tents and camp gear and carry our meat and antlers back down. We packed our rifles and our personal stuff on our backs. Deer were still in velvet and hanging out in all-male groups, for the most part, and these were widely scattered. We averaged about two deer each year among the four of us. It was always a great time! Unfortunately, I don't have any current information to offer. I would just urge you to get busy and plan a hunt!

Was in SW in Albuquerque yesterday, and they seemed to have plenty of just about everything, too.