Red Rabbit

The bedding has cured and low DD rings swapped in for the too-high mediums, so went out yesterday afternoon with 10 rounds to shoot and cure the Ultra Bore Coat. When letting the barrel cool between rounds, I figured that I may as well bore sight it. Removed the bolt and centered an object while looking down the bore, and adjusted the reticle. Good or go now as it was busting rocks at 100 yards offhand, sitting, and kneeling for the next 7 rounds. It should be pie plate accurate now and ready for the 1000 yard "if lead don't fly" club (reference to other thread in the long range forum) Looks like 20mph winds and rain for the next few days, so the official sighting-in and load testing will have to wait until next week.

That looks real nice!

Lefty looks pretty ambidextrous to me. Great pair of bucks for your work.

Nice trio of bucks; nice reward

I am thinking if it shoots acceptably, I will need to pull the action, pad and grip cap to seal the stock.

I cringe every elk season seeing elk with hide-on and 4 legs poking up heading down the Phurnix. Don't invite me to that elk steak dinner.

Thanks for the comments. Looks like the winds my lay lower on Wednesday to shoot some groups. An assortment of factory loads will be tried first. Allforelk- the 180 e-tips are loaded for the backup 300 WSM. It's an HS precision, but those that know me know that I prefer good-looking wood over alaskan walnut.

Why do you choose to hunt Coues over the other deer species? Is it their beauty? Terrain and country? Technique? Taste? Challenge?

Thanks. Rica takes me to all the pretty spots ;-)

nice price

Congrats to your son on a great buck.

nice early east side buck

I'd take the 26 Nosler for coues and the 34 Nosler for elk. Even with the same make of bullet, I feel the larger expanded frontal area of the larger diameter bullet is important for transmitting energy/shock. Put a can on each for recoil, blast and noise.

I'd be inclined to try some of the binos from Japan sold direct to eliminate the middleman markup. The Mavens look to be above your $500. The Tract Tekoa 10x42 is $80 off through today. https://www.tractoptics.com/ The Monarch 7 has good press. You might give Doug at CameraLand a call and see if he has any "as new" demos or special pricing. Not quite an apples to apples comparison price wise: http://wildindiana.com/a/ultimate-8x42-binocular-test-drive/ Conquest HD, Swaro HD, Tract Toric, Razor, Meopta comparison: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=329452

Thanks for the tip rossislider. They were just putting the GM215Ms out in Flagstaff so was able to pick up some this afternoon. :-) I had not seen any in a couple of years.

Congrats Keven! Tis nice to hunt long-time spots.

have a great day Phil!

This past weekend was spent visiting some traditional archery friends in NM. After photographing the morning light on the sandstone walls and cottonwoods, 2 mule deer bucks were spotted from their porch. I was only able to get about 150 yards before a clearing eliminated any cover. This may be a cactus buck in the making this year as they should be slickhorned by now.

Casey, good luck and have an enjoyable hunt.

You might consider removing the recoil pad on the stock and boring out the butt, and removing some wood from the inside the barrel channel. Flute the barrel.

Looks like you had a nice trip into beautiful country with good gear. Cool cap.

Cabelas has their Instinct 3-9x with EXT reticle on sale for $250 (half price from 500) http://www.cabelas.com/product/shooting/optics/riflescopes|/pc/104792580/c/104752080/sc/104535180/cabela-s-instinct-8482-euro-8482-riflescopes/1216808.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Friflescopes%2Fcabelas%2F_%2FN-1100246%2B1000002949%2FNe-1000002949%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU There is the Tract Turion for $394 https://www.tractoptics.com/products/riflescopes?category=8

With the Niners, the refs should start them on second down since the QB took a knee for first down.

While standing in this opening with one other photographer one evening last week in Colorado, we had two of this year's deer bound up to about 10 yards before realizing we were there. A while later, the doe (probably their mom) seen in this photo came through and fed for a while. Earlier, 3-point buck and doe crossed the road about 50 yards behind us.

Always too heavy when going uphill ;-) My 6.5 WSM Super Grade with 3-15x42 SS weighs 10 lb 5 oz without ammo or sling.