Outdoor Writer

And...some more........

A few more:

Super buck! Congrats. -TONY

With no comment. -TONY

If those photos are the ones I think they are, it's probably the bull that was eventually traced to a game farm in Alberta. -TONY

Just guessing here, but common sense seems to indicate that these hunts would be put in place in the southern half of the state where elk are somewhat rare and Coues deer are somewhat common. -TONY

Very fine work, Jason. And kudos to you for your generosity. -TONY

That was the Foremost brand. I sold thousands of them in the early 1970s when I managed the sporting good department of the J.C Penny's at Tower Plaza on E. Thomas Rd. in Phx. -TONY

I bought a beagle pup some time in the 1960s. Months later, I headed to the N. Kaibab to hunt deer with my grandfather and a friend. At the time, the Big Saddle Camp was still in place that had been built sometime in the 1920s, if I recall. There were several wooded cabins and the main stone building complete with stone fireplace, tables and an ol' wood cooking stove. The cabins had real beds with springs but no mattresses. There was even a screened-in little structure for hanging deer and an old gas pump with one of those glass things atop alongside the road. So we often used it as a base camp if we could get there first. This wonderful link to the past was later razed when Lady Bird Johnson went on her Beautify America kick. As we pulled up to the front of one of the cabins, I spied a bobcat sitting on top of a 55-gal. drum and foraging thru the garbage. I reached under my seat and pulled out my .22 mag Ruger Single-Six, opened the door of the truck and rested on the lower window sill. When the little bullet hit the cat, he jumped about 4' high and hit the ground DOA. I skinned it and salted it. Once I got home, I salted it some more, then draped it over our clothesline in the backyard. Big mistake. The next day it was all but gone. The beagle had literally devoured most of it. I found only a few odd clumps of hair and one ear. -TONY

Amanda, Also, if one READS the opening recap, one of the suspects will stand trial for SIX felony counts in the killing of the horses. -TONY

Thought you guys might enjoy seeing this. Open a cold one, sit back and watch the Life Of A Sandhill Crane. -TONY

Bingo! Although I couldn't see the sill while looking through my peep sight providing a much higher and clear view above the sill, my arrow was pretty much pointed straight at it. It didn't go through the sill, but one razor cut a very nice 1/4" deep gash in the wood. Maybe I should have removed the sill and had it mounted, huh? I used several different broadheads over the years, but I think I was shooting 100-gr. Thunderheads on that trip. -TONY

Here ya go. Get them deer trained right with the Feeder Repeater. -TONY

Doug, Are you saying I should have mentioned removing the collimator before actually shooting the rifle??? Doesn't that take all of the fun out of it? -TONY

I can assure you that deer readily become trained to the sound of a mechanical feeder. Once in the late 1980s, unbeknown to me, I was literally forced to hunt over a feeder -- something I despise with a passion. Heck, I don't even care to hunt from a blind or a treestand, much less over a feeder where all I'm doing is shooting trained game. Anyway, it happened in Michigan on an archery hunt near Roger's City. An outdoors product manufacturer had set it all up and invited several writers along. When we arrived at the place we were supposed to hunt, we found out the property was quite small, with several ground and elevated blinds spread around, all within a 100 yards of each other. They all overlooked either a pile of sugar beets or an elevated, solar-powered corn feeder. I was assigned one of the latter. First problem: It was actually a gun blind about 15' up that was like a little cabin with a roof and two shooting windows facing the open areas. Each window was about 1.5' high and 2' long. The actual multi-pane window folded in and up to get it out of the way, and there was a sill about 6" wide. The distance from blind to the feeder was 20 yards. So now picture me standing with my PSE compound with the ceiling about 6 inches higher than I'm tall, standing back far enough so my top limb doesn't make contact with the edge of the hung-up window frame or the ceiling and trying to shoot downward over the protruding sill through the narrow opening. Needless to say, I had to be somewhat of a contortionist. If I bent my knees too far, I couldn't even see the area closer to the feeder. If I stood too straight up, I worried about what would happen when I released an arrow. Needless to say, all I could do was make the best of the situation. Now back to the subject of trained deer. The feeder was automatic and set to go off just after sunrise and about an hour before sunset. It did so like clockwork, and each time the little motor "whirrrred" and the disk spun to spew out the corn in a about a 15' diameter circle, the woods came alive with critters within a minute. There were deer, turkey, coons, porcupines and all-black squirrels just waiting in the wings for their free meal. I even have photos of several of each all eating at the same time. It was somewhat amusing to watch the smaller critters scampering around and under the deer to get at the tasty morsels before it disappeared until the next scheduled meal. On the first day, I decided to test my shooting location by taking out one of the porkies. There was an old wooden arrow with a two-bladed fixed broadhead sitting in the corner of the blind. Although it was about 6" longer than my normal arrows, I figured "what the heck." I got into my contorted position and held the bow canted a bit just in case. My shot drilled the porkie and literally skewered him to the ground. The next day at breakfast time, two does, each with twin fawns, and a small buck emerged from the brush. I nocked an arrow and waited until they came into range. This time, though, the shot angle was a bit steeper because they were closer to my blind than the porkie had been the day before. When the buck stood alone and broadside, I shot and watched the arrow merrily go over its back by at least six feet and careen into the woods never to be seen again. I had heard a bit of a noise when I had shot, but thought it was the bow's upper limb hitting the edge of the hanging window. NOT! Can anyone guess what happened? -TONY

Does your monitor need cleaning??? If so, go here. -TONY

I haven't heard one myself, but my cousin's aunt knows a guy who told her his brother knows someone who heard one once. Doug, The rains are great, and we likely already have enough moisture for a good hatch this year. The weeds in my front yard are already 6" tall. This moisture will also go a long way to help the deer population as long as we also get some good monsoon rains this summer. You can mail the check to me at my regular street address. -TONY

When you receive emails such as these, you should avoid clicking any of the links in them! That is one way viruses and worms invade your computer because the links often have script written in them to run when you use the link. If you're that curious to see where they go, cut and paste the link into a separate browser address bar and use it. That way no script within the email can run. -TONY

We had a similar message thread on this a while back. Here's the link. -TONY The Good 'Ol Days .

Very nice buck. Good job. -TONY

Man, Doug, you gave away all my top secret spots. I didn't think anyone else even knew about these honey-holes. -TONY

Well...somewhat coincidentally, I wrote an article on this very topic about 25 years ago for Aqua Field Pubs. -- the company that does many of the 'niche' magazines for outdoor equipment makers. Here it is. -TONY SIGHTING A RIFLE THE EASY WAY A well-known shooting editor for one of the top outdoor publications in the country once outlined how it's possible to accurately sight a scoped rifle by taking only one shot. In theory, if the shooter makes a perfect shot --- no shaking, trigger jerking or anything else that affects bullet placement --- the technique works. In reality, though, the capabilities of the average hunter who normally fires just a few rounds per year precludes using this method. In contrast, others sometimes go through an entire box of ammo before the bullet holes touch the black. When a person shoots a big-bore magnum, the shoulder-busting recoil nearly always produces physical, and sometimes even mental anguish. Fortunately, a compromise exists. With a little preparation and care most folks can learn to zero a scoped rifle with less than a half-dozen rounds by utilizing the simple three-shot, 25-yard method. GETTING READY The key is making sure your first shot will hit the target at 25 yards by aligning the barrel and scope reticle at the same point of aim for that distance. The procedure is called bore-sighting. For brand new rifle and scope combos, it is almost mandatory, and any rifle that has been taken apart or has had mechanical problems such as loose mounts definitely deserves checking. Conversely, most previously sighted guns usually retain their zero quite close from year to year, at least to the point where they will pattern somewhere on the paper. Still, a quick confirmation before firing that first shot is a good idea. One way to bore-sight a bolt action rifle is by placing it perfectly vertical on a firm rest. Remove the bolt, look through the bore and center the hole in the barrel with the bullseye or other mark that is as close as possible to 25 yards away. Then, without moving the gun, adjust the scope's reticle to the identical spot. To be accurate this requires holding the rifle completely motionless. Sand bags work fairly well, or a large cardboard box with square notches cut in the top of the ends on the long axis serves as a good alternative. Once the rifle goes into the cut-outs, tape will hold it completely rigid. To align the bore, just move the box. For those who hunt with semi-auto, lever and pump actions, peering down the bore from the receiver end presents a problem. The only quick and easy solution involves a collimator or bore-sighter --- a funnel-shaped, tubular gadget set on an arbor that fits into the muzzle end of the barrel. Most gun shops or other firearm outlets have one, and they usually will adjust your rifle for a minimal charge, or maybe even free. If you wish, you can buy one for your very own. A collimator with arbors for all calibers costs about $80. Naturally, the bore-sighter works effectively with bolt actions, too. Collimator use is a snap. Insert the proper rod in the holder, place the other end in the bore and rotate the tool until the horizontal crosshair is as level as possible. Turning the scope's elevation and windage adjustment knobs will bring the scope's reticle into perfect alignment with the collimator's back-lighted crosshairs. Since the rifle and bore-sighter become virtually one unit, moving the rifle never alters the result. Therefore, you can even use the device while holding the gun off-hand. Carefully done, bore-sighting often puts the first shot in the black, and at the very least the bullet nearly always strikes the target. THE THREE-SHOT GROUP Pinpoint zeroing requires shooting from a solid rest. Make-shift set-ups like rolled sleeping bags, a pad on a truck hood or shooting from a fairly steady prone position suffice in an emergency situation, but nothing compares to a sturdy benchrest and a handful of sandbags for top accuracy. Another thing to consider is ear protection. Many bad shooting habits come about from the anticipation of the muzzle blast, so a good pair of muffs or plugs might eliminate the problem. If nothing else, they surely will prevent unnecessary eardrum damage. After placing your target 25 yards away in front of a proper backstop, you're now ready to actually pull the trigger with a live round in the chamber, specifically the same cartridge you plan to hunt with. Load, lock and fire one shot with the crosshairs set on the center of the bullseye. Then put the rifle down for a few minutes to allow the barrel to cool. This does two things: it prevents a shift in impact that occasionally takes place with a hot barrel and also duplicates a typical hunting situation where the first shot always comes from a cold barrel. Repeat the identical procedure twice more, then walk downrange and examine the target. Although it really doesn't matter where, the three holes ideally should form a fairly tight group somewhere on the paper. If two bullets hit close together but the third went awry, it's a good indication you probably flinched, jerked the trigger or just plain wiggled. In this case, either fire another round or merely ignore the errant shot. Next, determine the center of the three-shot group as closely as possible. Where only two holes are close, and you elected to forgo a third shot, guess at a likely center. From here on, you can zero the rifle in either of two ways. With the minute of angle method (MOA), you must determine how far the center of the group came from the actual aiming point. If your target has 1-inch squares marked off, you easily can figure the horizontal and verticle deviation from the bullseye. Otherwise, you will have to measure or guess. A MOA consists of one inch at 100 yards. Thus, you must know the distance that one "click" of your scope's elevation or windage knob will alter the bullet impact at that distance. Unfortunately, MOA graduations differ from one scope maker to the next at times. Some use a 1/4 MOA or four clicks for a 1-inch change at 100 yards, while others prefer a 1/2 MOA, which translates into two clicks for 1-inch of change at the same yardage. At 25 yards the number of clicks necessary to move the impact point the same amount as at a 100 yards will quadruple. In other words, 8 clicks on a 1/4 MOA scope would move the impact point 2 inches at 100 yards, but at 25 yards it would take 32. If all of these numbers sound too involved, find solace in the fact that a much faster and uncomplicated way exists. Instead of calculating the distances from the bulleye to the group's center, just mark the impact point with a heavy felt-tipped pen or a stick-on dot and go back to the firing line. In fact, leaving the bench is really unnecessary; simply adjust the scope to a reference point that you think is the center of the group. Here's how. Remove the caps from the scope's adjustment turrets, take a solid rest --- preferably on sandbags --- and aim at the exact spot you used for the initial three-shot group. Without moving the rifle, turn the scope's windage and elevation controls until the crosshairs center over the mark or black dot or on the spot you estimate while remaining at the bench. That's all there is to it. The whole process takes just a minute or two, and if you fire another round to check that the bullets are going where they should, you will have used only four or five shells. Furthermore, a degree in mathematics is unnecessary. Now, here's the really neat aspect; the 25-yard sight-in distance takes full advantage of the ballistic capabilities of most rifle cartridges. Somewhere downrange another exact zero comes into play. For example, a factory-loaded .243, 100-grain bullet in the black at 25 yards will hit 2 inches high at 100, 1 ¾ inches high at 200 and be at zero again at 240 yards. A 175-grain, 7 mm. magnum bullet will be 1 ¼ inches high at 100 yards and be on again at 200 yards. After the second zero all bullets will strike progressively lower. What does this all mean? Well, if you use a flat-shooting caliber such as .270 and push a 130 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 3100 feet per second, you can hold dead on from zero to 300 yards and realistically hit a 6-inch circle with the point of aim as its center. While other calibers vary somewhat, the end result comes out nearly the same. Shooting your own rifle and loads at 100, 200 and 300 yards will provide the basic trajectory information needed to show how far you actually can shoot without making corrective adjustments in your sight picture. Without question, a properly sighted rifle instills a certain degree of confidence. It also can mean the difference between an unsuccessful or a fruitful hunting trip. Hopefully, sighting your rifle the easy way will lead to the latter.

Doug, -TONY

I rotated the images so folks can read them without lying down. Click the image to read them fullsize. -TONY

I've had the list of subspecies for a while now. I think I originally found it somewhere on the web, so it wasn't a lot of work for me to cut & paste it. That said, many biologists would probably say it's a bit too broad and separates a few isolated populations that do not deserve their own subspecies classification. In reality, the number of actual subsepcies is probably more like 25 or so. -TONY