Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Allen Day on hunting and rifles.

This statement by the late Allen Day just appeared on another topic.

"I found that the best plan is to invest in one or two good and reliable rifles, stick with them, and spend the rest of your spare time planning hunts, and hunting....the rifle preoccupation is an inane, resource-draining dead-end.

Allen Day"

While Mr. Day was an accomplished hunter and was very strong in his pronouncements I want to say that his way is not the only way.

I enjoy shooting guns and working on them myself. I can take a factory made rifle and make it perform to my satisfaction.

I go hunting about once a week and to the range about the same.

Today I loaded up some ammo for an old Brno 21H. Yesterday I went to a gun show.

To each his own.

To every season...

Right now I don't have the time to go on an extended hunting trip due to work and family. I live in a state that doesn't allow big game hunting with a rifle for the most part. But I love rifles. I buy rifles and guns in general as an investment for a time when I will go on a hunt. I will sell a dozen or two go hunting and never look back. At that time I will probably make a statement like Mr. Day made.


ddj

Pot to kettle. You'd do well to heed your own advice.

I miss A D. He was good guy to have round.

I miss talking with AD as well. Hey got to it, which a lot of people don't.

He also got it to have a couple good rifles, make a life with them, have them perfection and hunt the living dog crapola out of them.

Dober

Mark,

Well said. You never know when you're number is going to be called. Surely seems Mr. Day fit an awful lot of hunting into his abbreviated time on earth.

It was very obvious that Allen Day enjoyed hunting . I think in his busy lifestyle he didn't have time to Dick around with this and that rifle combo. He wanted to make it simple and he could afford to make it simple. A Rifle even an Echols was nothing more then a tool to him.

I had some good conversations with Allen on another forum back in the late 90's. I wasn't aware that he had passed. Can someone tell me what he died of and when ?

Judging from phone conversations I had with Allen he learned the lessons he set forth in that quote the same way most of us do......by owning a lot of rifles!

i didn't know Allen as well as many but that seemed to be pretty clear to me when we talked. It seemed he had gone through a lot of rifles,but adopted that philosophy when he started having Darcy Echols build rifles for him....I could be mistaken but that's the way it seemed (?)

Unfortunately allen left out the trust fund part that allowed him to pay for all the hunting.And the two 82 trick move M70's priced at 6x what they're worth.

I've reached much the same conclusions myself. But not just with one or two.
Usually on my long distance hunts I take at least two rifles. One is a primary and the other is a spare. That's because I've seen alot of rifles break in the field. While I've had a few problems with zero shifts, so far, I haven't had one put out of commisson. But that can happen. I've seen it happend to others.
The main thing I've decided is (a) I need plenty of practice with the primary and it's load and (b) it needs to be regularly tested. If it isn't quite what I like or want, I'd much rather tweak or modify it than buy something else. Above all, it must show me that it is reliable. You'll never see me buy a rifle, develop a load for it and go hunting in the space of a few weeks. I prefer to test, and casually hunt mine for a year or so before they go on a serious hunt.
I do have other rifles for other types of hunting, of course. And I have a couple of big game rifles that are just there because I like them. But all of them are very similar. Almost all of my big game rifles are bolt actions. Most have M70 style safeties. They all are on the light side. Almost all of them have simple 4X or 6X scopes.
Seems to work pretty well. I haven't had to rezero a rifle in over 15 yrs. unless I changed the load I use. E

100% agree!

i believe mr. day died from cancer, perhaps 2 years ago. i think he was from the northwest, washington or oregon. i'm sure someone can provide more accurate information.

Oregon, around John Day or Sisters area (I could be thinking of Sheister there), brain tumor, he was about 52, self made fortune.

All "as I recall" - if someone knows more accurately I will be happy to stand corrected.

Allen E. Day, 52, of Dundee, OR passed away May 25, 2010, at home. Allen was born July 30, 1957, in Oregon City to Edward and Julia Day. It was here in Oregon City that Allen worked as a fourth generation farmer on his family's berry farm for years before founding his own real estate investment company. Although Allen moved away from the farm, he took his love of the outdoors with him, becoming a skilled marksman and avid hunter. While he loved the outdoors, Allen's greatest love was for people. He enjoyed spending most of his time surrounded by family and friends. Allen is survived by his mother Julia, his wife Beth and his two daughters, Kim and Kristen.

When your rifles are $35,000.00 each, two's aplenty.

RIP Allen Day.

Wow, thats a shame. He seemed like a good man. Thank's for the info guys.

I am of the understanding that Allen was a self made man.

I wonder where Savage 99 found that quote of Allen's?

I abbreviated it in my signature line to fit within the allowable limits. It makes more sense in it's entirety:



It really just depends on whether you are primarily a hunter or a rifle Looney. If you are primarily a rifle Looney that does not do that much serious hunting, then buying, tinkering with and shooting dozens or hundreds of rifles it fine. If you are a serious hunter, you can get distracted by the rifle obsession and wind up spending funds on unneccesary rifles at the expense of actually going hunting.

I have a friend that constantly whines about me going on several out of state hunts per year. All I hear are statements along the line of, "Geeze money bags, sure would be great to be able to blow money on tags like you" etc. The problem is, the guy has about 150 rifles in his built-in gun safe and he buys about a half dozen more each year. I have six rifles total and almost never buy a new one without selling another one. Unless you are wealthy enough to do both without one compromising the other, you have to pick your priority.

When I think of all the cash I have wasted screwing around with redundant rifles over the years it makes my head spin. I am sure I could have bought a couple of Stone's sheep hunts by now.

Chet

Bauer,

Hey guy, where have you been? It's been about a year since you busted out the clever "82 trick move" line. D'Arcy told me to say hello. The last time you went on an Echols bashing rampage he got multiple rifle orders out of it. He said he will send you a free hat if you PM your address.....seriously.

Chet