I must have missed some sort of mud-flinging on another thread but I found shamans post funny. And true. I grew up hunting in Pa in the 1970s. The Amish Machine Gun reigned supreme (Remmie 760). I'd swag about 50% had see through mounts and some kind of high end Bushnell affixed to the receiver. There was still a bunch of mil surplus 7by57 running around in various stages of 'sporterization'. Even a fair share of 30-30/32 win levers. Somehow those guys killed a [bleep] of deer.
I was spoiled. My first deer rifle was a Rem 600 Mohawk in 243. It had a top end Tasco on top but no see through sights. We cut the stock down and the rifle fit me pretty well. Well enough to kill a deer my first several years. It was 'stupid accurate' at a solid 1.25 inch gun with my hand loads. Yep, we hand loaded to save money but did learn how to tune loads to the rifle.
The distances shaman mention are spot on. My first deer was 75 paces across a little opening. One 100 gr Hornady high shoulder shot was all it took. I've shot alot of deer that filled a 4x scope with brown fur. Shooting one almost straight down is a bit harder than it would seem.
I still have that old Mohawk. It's been the family kid-gun since about 1982 or so. It has killed several truckloads of deer. It needs a new barrel but I cant bring myself to do it. Same with my next rifle Ruger tanger 77 in 280. Still have that one too. It struggles to hold a 2" group but has killed more than few critters. I cant bring myself to re-barrel that one either. Both rifles are semi-retired. I pick them up often and think about the memories that come with them.
