Beav, got hosed on hunts in 2020. I’m particularly bummed with all the builds I had finished during last winter with hopes and expectations to put several into service for 2020.

COVID blew up all of my varmint - ground squirrel hunts, locally.

Pard, I was gonna go smack a few prairie dogs with in Wyoming buys himself a new house, which put him into moving mode, rather than hunting mode. Good on him. He’s a brother and definitely needed a new domicile.

Anybody else have new builds finished but found nothing to use them on in 2020.

Misery wants company.....Grins

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Mark,
None finished but one in the works. Which will be even more painful in that i think I'll have it all finished before hunting season starts - only problem is lack of any decent tags to carry said rifle Oh well there is always next year I suppose.

Good luck to you this season - expect you will run into something good to shoot!! Looking forward to the pics.

I got a new rifle earlier this year, and wanted to toy with some loads for other rifles, but cant fool with any of it due to the ranges i go to being closed down for covid..

Working on my wife’s 6.5x55 build but she didn’t draw a damn thing this year. Even worse between my wife, her dad, and myself, we only drew one Wyoming antelope tag, one muzzleloader elk tag and one 3rd season buck tag. Kind of weird, so I guess we will be scanning the leftovers, reissues or going for an OTC out of state. Had really been hoping for Wyoming antelope to provide about 6 tags. With just one doe tag, it might not be worth going. Of course I drew it, and I don’t need another, would have rather they drew while I help.

Go to idaho. Thats what a buddy and i are going to do. This state sucks. They make far too much money off of us, for what pizz poor hunting opportunities we get. If we are even lucky enough to draw a tag here.

I had a very underwhelming Western draw as well. One tag. Was expecting 4 based on last year draw odds. Very, very unstoked.....

I didn't build a rifle though as I'm down to the two I need for anything my friend Beav.....grin...

I had no idea Oregon sucked so bad. We get deer, bear and turkey tags every year guaranteed.

If you can’t even hunt in Oregon, why live there? Must be because Double wides and modulars are cheap?

The rigs beaver shoots aren’t the provenance of the dw crowd; that I can assure you.

Could be worse Beaver, all my good spots were burned last year, it has really messed things up

Too bad the things a Beav has to go through to hunt. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

Well I had big plans coming into this year but with all the COVID mania I didn't apply for much. Figured it was a good year to sit out and hunt around home.

No new builds but want to do some load development. Local range is only letting us shoot steel and the desert's afire.

Wow, sorry Mark !!

Haven't applied for anything yet.

Will get whitetail buck each (3) & 1 fall bear.

Thinking about moose calf, as our new property contains amazing moose habitat, but have an aversion to shooting the youngsters !

What a dumb fuggin thing to say. My neighbor lives in a double wide. He also has a three bay garage full of toys including a brand new Harley, several ATV's, snowmobiles a boat and a truck to pull it. He could afford any damn rifle he wants. Come to think of it so could I and I live in a single wide. It's paid for and so are my vehicles, my ATV and my boat. I have enough in my checking account that I could buy several custom rifles. A home is just a place to keep you and your shyt out of the weather to some of us.

BrownEyeBob, I always have Oregon/Wash big fur hunts to do. But when you own builds worth more than your home. A guy needs a few travel hunts.
You know what I mean? Of course you don’t. 😎

Yes Sir, be weary of the hunter who owns one rifle.

I do shoot them, just not at fur this season...”kicking the ground”..grins

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What's a "big fur hunt" ?

Thanks Frank, you too, on your hunts.

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PS,

I figure with all this stuff going off right now...If there’s ever a season to suck in draws, 2020 is it.

Bigfoot

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Sorry CR, really bummed when I hear that. Had a fire take me out of a unit for 5 years. The animals came back eventually of course, but it wrecked that area for me for several years.

Upside, we had to scout into new areas that provided a much larger footprint that we still use today.
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Settle down Blacky!

You’re gonna take AK to task for putting his boot on a trolls neck?

There’s way better fights to pick than trying one with a good guy.

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Oregon suck for hunting? Only if you suck as a hunter.

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Too bad you took me off ignore.

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Yeah, I still hate your guts for having your life.

GFY 😂😎

PS

Deb will kill the moose...You just take pictures and cook it. Grins!

Do you have to draw for all tags out there or are there over the counter tags ?

Well,I have a build that will be ready in November,just in time for what it's intended for... coyotes.

Sometime between now and then I will get a scope for it,a Leupold 3.5x10 with a duplex reticle.

How's that for rubbing salt into the wound,Beaver10?

I get sick of the "trailer trash" attitude on here.

There’s both here Blacky...West side of the State is typically OTC with a few select areas where drawing is required.

Much of the East side is draw units only.

PS,
know you get tired and inspired by the selective posts that take aim at how someone was raised, or what they have, money, toys or house.

If you’re good with what you made of your life, then don’t give in to the to the bait...Just make fun of the stupid in people in your replies...It’s sooo much more fun!

This coming from a guy who grew up very lower, middle, poor.

Fûck um! You’re better than that dude!

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Ken,
I have your scope! I will PM you tonight with pictures and the sweetheart deal cuz we’re pards!

GFY 😬😎

Ok.
You are correct.
I apologize.

You know it Man.

& I'd be completely happy with that too !!

300 prc Snout lands tomorrow. Might take it to coues country, several other hunts, probably just run ol faithful, 6 ai with varmint bullets and 2.5-8 leupold. Elk will be the ol smokepole again

Paul, what's the reasoning behind the killing of moose calfs ?

No draws here. With bow/crossbow and rifle/ML available, I can hunt deer or bear every day from the end of September until after the New Year. One or two bears is the limit, and three antlered bucks, but I can't even tell you how many total deer are allowed with various licenses. Jump over into VA, and add five or six deer to that for another $250 or so for non-res. No elk or moose, but I can live with that. Just being able to get out whenever I want is a big deal.

What I miss is good bird hunting. That died regionally in the 70s.

Got my 22-250 from Mr Beanland back in January. Have smoked a few critters with it and its serving its purpose well as a ride along rifle

Believe my extended wait for a Manners Ultra Classic (will be over 9 months) is coming to a close as they’ve asked for money and claim the stock is ready to ship...that will be going off to Mr. Beanland with a 6.5mm 8 twist barrel for a short, light build in either 6.5 creed or 6,5 saum. Not sure what his backlog is like at the moment but i guess I will be finding out.

I will be using the new Tikka/McMillan/NF 7 rem mag for a number of hunts and my 12 year old son probably as well.

I have Genreal Deer and Elk rifle tags in here in Idaho.

My son has a Wyoming Cow tag, Idaho General Deer tag, Extra youth doe tag, and a Trophy Late Season Idaho Bull Tag.

My wife will have Deer and Elk tags as well. She more than likely will be shooting a new 243 tikka that I am actually setting up for my daughter who will turn 10 and be able to hunt next spring.

Seems like a waste that your tikka 6.5 cm will just sit in the safe and not hunt. Id have that one out getting blood on it as well.

Interested in what you think of the 300 PRC once it’s bolted into a McM Hunter handle.

McSwirl Color scheme on the new stock is gonna be?

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You sure you’re wife’s not in charge of draws at F&G?

You seem to always come up with solid tags. Grins

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Went gamehunter, fde transition paint. Thinking I'll like the higher comb on the gamehunter, weatherby esqe, always liked to fit\feel of weatherby. Should be fairly light and manageable, went 8" to run 230's.

Yeah I can get 7 deer tags, a bear tag and 3 turkey tags a year here. Can hunt deer from Oct. 1 to the middle of Dec. and have more acreage to hunt than could get to in a lifetime. There are also targeted management areas where you can get a doe tag a day throughout the season and some where you can hunt them on through the month of January if you're so inclined. In addition there's small game, upland birds, waterfowl, varmints, predators and fish to catch. Pretty much something that needs killing or catching all year long.

You consider going 6.5 PRC?

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The Elk Tag my son drew here in Idaho was less than 4% draw odds - lots of big bulls to choose from....

BH, how do you score 7 deer tags a year in NY? I have only been able to get 1 archery, 1 rifle and a doe tag every other year.

No new rifles, only new ammo. Have been testing the 155g Federal Terminal Ascent in my .280 Rem and 7mm RM..Not 100% sold on them. Although li love the design concept, accuracy isn't quite what I prefer. (Have not been able to get better than MOA in rifles that do much better other loads.)

Drew to WY doe/fawn tags but busted on the Colorado RFW elk hunt. Will be putting in for cow tags in the 2nd Draw and wil get a OTC bull tag as well. Expect to end up with both, as usual.

I have a lot of new rifles. Need to pick up my new tikka t3x stainless lite 7mm08 in a few days. Got 2 of the 3 tags i put in for. My problem is deciding which rifle to use and finding an animal. Ammo and taking the shot is the easy part.

Jimy, just a personal thing !

The meat is amazing, but with moose numbers (& therefore tag quotas) dwindling, personally, I'd rather not shoot anyone's future !

In Ontario, the ministry sells approximately 110,000 calf tags. You have to purchase one of these, to be eligible to enter the draw for an adult tag. Either bull, or cow, for a specific WMU.

Our property sits in WMU #8, which now only offers 4-6 adult tags total, make up of cow/bulls differs season to season.

Odds of drawing in #8 are stupidly remote, due to the low tags available. 5 years ago, WMU #8 issued upwards of 500 adult tags.

Simple. Archery tag, muzzleloader tag, rifle tag. My two doe tags and two from my wife or dad. You apply for doe tags in the right DMU's and two per person are pretty much a guarantee for a resident. The DMU's with a high probability for getting a second tag are always listed on the DMU map. Since it's legal to transfer doe tags I always have my wife and dad apply in those areas too. Dad doesn't hunt anymore so he always gives me his tags and the wife doesn't care to shoot a doe so she'll give me hers. Then of course there is usually a second draw for left over tags in areas that were under applied in the first draw. The wife and I each got two more tags in the second draw last year.

Ah, I got you! I forgot about the ML tag and being able to transfer doe tags. I didn't think you all got as many doe tags in the Adirondacks.

You can't get that many tags in the Adirondacks but I hunt all over the place.

Interested in hearing what you see on the range from the t3x in 7/08.

I’ve got a 7/08 from Accurate Ordnance that I picked up from Lone Wolf here, last year. It’s really enjoyable and accurate rifle which caused me to trip a basically new 270 WSM Nosler build.

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I’d bet a dollar it shoots! I’ve got a compact I got for my daughter and man, what a slick little rifle. Shoots 120’s and 140’s excellent so far.

Sorry to hear that Beav but if it’s any consolation I’m in the same boat.

Driving 4K mi round trip to Idaho is a tough sell for my friends but thinking traditional camp here in Mi (which IS a hoot) and maybe a long weekend in Pa after Thanksgiving?

I’ve just finished a .257 Rob I’d been working on for 12 years, got a Swede that I’d been working on for 5 years or so at the smith now, and picked up a M70 FW Classic in 7-08 as a trade here at least one of which I’d hoped to bloody on an exotic hunt.

Misery loves company!

Beav - haven't you figured out yet that the 7MM-08 is the best there is for just killing stuff My new build will be maybe my best 7MM-08 yet. Defiance Rebel action with sheep cut, ultra deep bolt flutes, Bartlein carbon fiber wrapped barrel, TriggerTech, Proof Research stock, Hawkins bm. Shaen will put it all together - he is intrigued with the Proof stock so will see how it all turns out. The stock shows up tomorrow so may post some pics - should be a nice new option for ultra light-weight stocks since its supposed to weigh 20 ozs or less.

Will be the go to rifle next year when I draw all my awesome tags

Congrats!....Sounds like a super lite-weight badass rifle, just a wee wimpy on the caliber...Laffin, Snarc, Kidding

You got me Google Fu’n your parts.


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Not a build, but I did buy an RAR-P in 6CM primarily to shoot pdogs on The Rosebud this year, but nobody in the group wants to go and shooting pdogs by myself isn't very interesting.

Say whaaat? Nobody wants to shoot Pdogs?

I assume your group has had a lifetime of seeing and shooting prairie dogs, so, it’s not something they consider special.

Several builds I did were for ground squirrels and pdogs.
I would be hammering these little creatures into pieces, if I had easy access to them.

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Well Bear, I k ow how you feel. I started a new job 7 weeks ago and during my initial feedback, was told, no vacation time the month of September. My boss knows I hunt, so good thing I have a late season archery tag. Starting 1 Oct. I can take all the vacation time I want/have until Feb. Looks like the new Tikka T3X I was going to buy this coming weekend, is just going to wait a little while longer.

Well, Hudge, I guess, congrats on getting a new job is in order first.

I wouldn’t wait on the T3x though. Give you something to play with on your days off in September.

Putting off buying a new firearm isn’t the same as putting off mowing the lawn. One can wait, the other can’t. Grins.

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I gave up on Oregon when they wouldn't give me a tag and they had 250 tags leftover because of the 5% non-resident cap! I did enjoy floating the Deschutes and fishing it.

We cant let pharmseller have all the fun. I kept telling myself if i find a good one for the right price, id buy it. $600.00 and i'd bet it hasnt even had a box of ammo through it. Im like Scotty, i bet its going to be a shooter. The first thing ill do to it is glass bed it. Keeping that damn recoil lug to action fit is important with the Tikka's. I had 200pcs of brass a die set and a chidt load of 150gr nosler partitions and ELDX bullets sitting around collecting dust.

120 Ballistic Tips, nothing shoots flatter or kills faster in the 708
Tikka Superlight

Ah, yeah, that's a great group !

Nice shootin.

Indeed...Impressive.

Is the Tikka Superlight typically known for this type of accuracy?

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Not sure if they all do but one shoots about like that with the 120 grain BT's

Beaver, I've shot it a few times the last couple days. I picked it up yesterday. I had a little ammo already loaded up, that I was going to test in my Model 70 featherweight, but ended up selling that rifle. Yesterday I took the rifle home from Cabela's and put a cheap Nikon pre monarch 3-9x40 on it, just to try it out and see how she does. Not totally impressed with the groups it shot, but it wasn't too bad:

First 10 shot group from the rifle:

Not really impressive. Now, after I glassed the recoil lug and freefloated the barrel:




Now I'll have to work up a good load for it... Looks pretty promising, considering I've only had it for 2 days now...
How does your Accurate Ordnance rifle shoot?

Very nice shooting. Have you tried any other bullets?

I drew a chitty ass kodiak brn bear tag Wo is me.. going to drag a chitty old stainless classic in a 375 H&H, with a 2-7 leupold,going to use crappy old 300gr tsx using wonky ass RL15.. I also drew a caribou permit might have to use a chitty ol stainless classic in a the gayest of gay chamberings 270 Winchester. My wife drew a moose tag being the turd I am she’s going to slum it with a classic model 70 featherweight in a 280 probably use junk ass 150gr ballistic tips. My daughter drew a moose permit ass well, she might slum it with a push feed model 70 featherweight in a 270.. Anyhow I feel your pain

What bullet/powder combo on that BSA? Looks real good to me. Stupid Tikka's anyhow!

It’s not your rifles that’s the problem.

You just aren’t coordinated enough to shoot good.

Let the wimmim fill all the tags.

Hint

😂😎

Nice! The vote goes to bedding the lug apparently for accuracy.

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Scotty, the load is a pharmy load, i believe. Funny thing is from my notes, i loaded them on 6-1-19 for my classic fwt that was a beautiful rifle, but it only shot moa for 3 shots, so i sold it.

Load data:

45 gr. Big game
150 ELDX
CCI 200 (was going to try magnum primers next time)

Some guys are in denial about the recoil lug needing glassed in, but ive seen it on all of my Tikkas, where the recoil lug will drop into the stock another. 050"+. This causes the action to start wearing into the lug. After approximately 300 rounds through the rifle, accuracy will degrade and you will get weird fliers widening out your group size. Guys that dont shoot much, or who arent that great of shots will likely never see that change. Thus, they will leave their rifles bone stock. Im also using a 6.5 creedmoor mag, so i can load closer to the lands. I wrote the difference between the 2 mags on one of the pics. With the cm mag, i can load .135" longer, which is more than enough to get me to the lands.

Solid copy, I have begun epoxy'ing the lugs in myself, even in the McMillan stocks. Makes me feel better but they all shoot well as is too.

I need to try some BG powder soon. I have been meaning to do it for awhile. Might be slick with the 150 Accubond.

You are living dangerously!!! A leupold on a brown bear hunt??? 😂😂

While you are watching steel magnolias with your ol
Lady I will send you a picture from kodiak..

I know lol

Another jewel.........

This one is bedded and max floated
Tried the 150 ELDM, it shot like [bleep] with the first and only load I tried, I don’t like Hornady bullets so didn’t persevere


You may notice that the barrel sits higher in the stock at the front, I intentionally bedded it this way

Nothing in a few months. But, I'd be interested in the new Weatherby RPM.

Proper glass bedding is never a bad thing. I also thought about showing a pic of this new rifle after bedding, as i did less to it because it already fit in the stock nice and tight. All i did this time was glue the lug in, so it wont sink into the recess of the stock another. 050". Also nicely freefloating it with a dremel. Work took all of 45 minutes or less, but helped with accuracy. Guys like formid will attest to the benefits of properly glassbedding and freefloating.





A dremel, some fast set epoxy and 45 minutes is all it takes and you are ready to go and shoot the thing...If you do it right, it will shoot better. Speaking of "new rifles", heres one of them and how it shoots after new SS recoil lug and bedding:


Then the old CTR... Should be shooting this one in a long range comp this month, if I can get it scheduled: