WABS

Re: Deer / Car Collisions I'm going to give you a specific example. There is an area where I grew up that has a heavily wooded State Park on one side of a major 2 lane road (NO Hunting), and farmland (almost always corn) on the other side of the road. From the period of August through March I'd estimate that there is better than one deer a day hit in that 2 mile stretch of road. The state has spent BIG dollars on various methods for keeping deer from being hit -- widening the ditches, keeping the grass short, they even put these anti deer reflectors every 20 feet or so. Nothing has seemed to work. The only real solution is to decrease the deer numbers in that area. Who's responsibility is that?

Re: Deer / Car Collisions But I say he does have a certain amount of control. If a property is deemed over populated and a hazard to the public why wouldn't we hold the property owner responsible for taking some kind of action. May be something as simple as to allow hunting instead of posting the land. Just be required to demonstrate a good faith effort to control the population. Maybe they allow a certain number of hunters to take does only...just as an example.

Re: Breech Plug Help What I do is put a dab - probably about the size of a T shot, and then I press it against the threads and rotate the plug. The plug on my Black Diamond doesn't have near the amount of threads a Traditions breach plug has, but with that amount of grease I'm able to get grease in the threads all the way around the plug. I'm careful not to get grease in the business end of the plug or in the end of the nipple. I also put grease - a VERY small amount - on the threads of my nipple. Again careful not to get it on the ends where it could foul the load and prevent ignition. Basically put everything together hand tight +. Never had to put the gun in the vice to get the plug out.

Re: best day ever!! sureshot - what a day!! What weapon do you use?

I've got another question for the forum. What can be done to cut down on the number of deer/car collisions? I'd say most of the collisions in MN where I grew up happened in areas where the highway cut between a primary bedding area and a primary feeding area. My thinking is that once there has been a certain number of collisions within a period of time (just to throw out a number say 6+ collisions / 3 month time). Then the DNR comes out evaluates the situation and determines whether or not there needs to be a deer management plan done by the holders of the land along that stretch of highway. Property owner (could be the government if land is a park or WMA). As a home owner I'm liable for any unsafe situation on my property. Why don't we hold these property/land owners likewise responsible? Just a thought...

Re: My Iowa morning Heading to SW MN in about a week and a 1/2 - hopefully they'll have some snow before I get there!! Nothing like hunting/tracking in the snow.

I used to contribute to PF every year. Growing up in MN and enjoying the sport of pheasant hunting, I felt this was a worthwhile contribution. My problem is that there is a landowner back home that is big into PF and utilizes money from PF to make improvements to his land on which he doesn't allow hunting except for those that pay him to do so. I don't have any problem with him utilizing his land however he wants to. But I do have a problem with him using money from PF (part my money) to profit from. I'm I out of bounds here, missing something? Someone help me out here.

Re: Breech Plug Help I've used a number of different brands of breach plug grease over the years including the Traditions brand. In my Black Diamond I've never had a problem removing it. One thing I always do is ensure that I don't over torque the plug or the nipple when I'm putting back together after cleaning.

Re: Received my MT Mount I appreciate the comments! I think it came out pretty good myself. Took 10 months to get it -- now I just have to find a place to hang it.

Re: Monopod/shooting stick question. Lining your feet up perpendicular to the sticks is how the Germans would shoot. Surprising how good that actually works.

Re: What did I do when... <pic> Man but you hit that tree dead center! I had a clean miss on a very nice buck a few years back. We were hunting in CRP (tall grass - about chest high). I was walking the fenceline in about 2 feet of snow. I saw my brother kick up the buck and he was headed right at me. I got all set to make the shot - the buck was on a line to come out less than 10 yards in front of me. So I got all set to make the shot - when the buck got to the edge of the CRP, instead of continuing on he made a 90 degree turn to his left, my right. With my feet firmly planted in the snow I wasn't able to make a very graceful turn against my body and somehow BLEW a 10 yard shot. Don't brag about this one much. Doesn't happen to me often, but it does happen. Better luck next time!!

Re: All Sighted In 110 grains pushing a 295 gr bullet. After 20 years of doing this I'm confident that I'll be fine at 100 if I'm 2 inches high at 50. What really surprised me is that I had the problem of being high at 50 with my pistol. I'm only shooting 50 grains of powder behind a round ball. It's my first year of owning this Buckhunter pistol.

Re: Guess the score I've got one that is very close to this and it scored 139...

Re: All Sighted In Antler-21, nice buck! I grew up (many year ago) in Pipestone County (SW corner of the state) and that's where my family gets together every year to hunt. It's kind of been a tradition ever since about 1981.

Re: All Sighted In Just for grins I shot a few Hornady SST 300 grain after I was sighted in with my Powerbelts. I'd just shot three Powerbelts that were basically touching...shot two SSTs and there was basically no difference. Only difference was how much elbow grease it took to get the bullet down the barrel while loading it.

Re: Sighting Method question I'm probably in the minority, but I have always sighted in with the front bead online with the two in the rear with the front bead covering the my intended point of impact. I too have to hunt open sights while I'm in MN. Sure does make it hard on us old guys with eyes that aren't as sharp as they used to be.

Went to the range yesterday for the final time before heading to MN for the first week of muzzle loader season. Rifle was hitting a little high and right, but by the time I'd left the range my final four shots were almost touching two inches high - dead center at 50 yards. I'm ready to go!! I also finished sighting in my Buckhunter pistol (.50 cal). It had been shooting high left and so I tinkered with the sights - dropped the rear sight and tapped the dovetail over a little. Took my first shot at 25 yards and hit the bull. Shot another 1/2 dozen times and hit the bull everytime. Then I put the target out at 50 yards and couldn't hit the paper. Didn't realize that even with this pistol (only shooting 50 grains in powder) that the bullet would be high at 50 yards, just like my rifle. Aimed a little low on the bull and bingo right on the bull again. I can't wait to get in the field (two weeks from today).

Re: shooting question????? I agree - I know I printed it out. Can never have enough good info! Thanks for the link!!

Re: Received my MT Mount

Re: MN Gun Season Opener? My Dad did shoot a small 8 point buck about 5 years ago during the early MN gun season (1st week in Nov) that was still all in velvet. Had all his equipment but made for an interesting mount.

Re: MN Gun Season Opener? Must of been one of them Urban bucks ;-)

Re: Mounted my first recoil pad One of the things that surprised me was how much bigger the recoil pad was, to start with, that the stock. Didn't realize that I'd have to grind that much off of the pad in order to make it fit. Came out looking pretty good though, at least to this gunsmithing novice.

Re: Received my MT Mount That's an idea. I've got a brother that does a lot of hunting in Iowa and I told him to keep an eye out for an old window door off a barn or shed. Though it may be nice to mount it onto something like that. The state is an interesting thought.

Re: Mounted my first recoil pad Sure no problem. I have a small belt sander, kind of looks like a band saw. I use it for working on golf clubs. I started by drawing a straight line on the stock in order to give me a reference point. Using the belt sander I got within an 1/8" of the line. Then using 100 sandpaper on a sanding block I started to take it closer to the line. I had difficulty keeping my cut level so I used a file (10 inch long) to run across the end of the stock. By keeping the file level you are able to level out the high spots. Using a small level I kept checking to see how close I was to level front to back and side to side. I then put on the spacer and recoil pad and using the sander and sanding block (after taping the stock) I was able to slowly but surely keep working to match the pad to the stock. I had to keep telling myself to be patient and take a little at a time. Don't rush it. If you want more info let me know and I will talk you through the details.

Re: MN Gun Season Opener? I saw that post Tom2008 - nice looking buck. We hunt way down in the SW corner of the state. During ML season it becomes mostly a meat hunt so hopefully they'll be some nice big does waiting for us.