Sorry I missed this port--it somtimes happens when the column thread gets pinned!
Yeah, while traveling around the country (and the rest of the world) for hunting I've noticed definite regional trends. One is the same you noted: Not many post reticles, which were THE reticle advised for woods hunters back when I started hunting, and also not as many lower-power fixed scopes. Even in the 1960's, before variables became really popular, most hunters used at least 4x, and some even used 6x back then, just about always with pretty fine crosshairs, because a lot of Montana hunting (though by no means all) was in pretty open country.
Have also of course noticed regional preferences in rifles and cartridges, but one of the most striking examples was pointed out to me by Charlie Sisk, the custom rifle maker. When he was a young gunsmith in Texas, he noticed that Ruger No. 1's were really popular at one end of the state (if I recall correctly East Texas, but could be wrong), and not very popular at the other end. He'd visit gunshops in the part of the state where No. 1's weren't very popular, so the prices were low. He'd buy 'em and sell 'em in other end of the state for a good profit!
