Leo

Don't underestimate just how tough cold and dark those winters can be up there. A great opportunity yes. But I'm telling you the truth. I lived in Canada for 13 years, I've personally seen what a long dark winter does to folks that can't handle it. That winter drives some folks to insanity. I loved every minute my wife and I spent in Alaska. She did too. It really is a great state. But you do have to be tough to live there all year. The residency requirements in that state include at least one full winter up there. That is not by accident. Not trying to be a downer just trying to give you some realistic expectations. In your situation I personally would be very tempted.

I've cut out a lot of jawbones and never seen that! I wonder if it would actually have been visible above the gumline in the deers mouth before the skull was stripped? Looking closely at the picture it may have easily been below the gumline and hidden. I've only euro mounted one so I guess it's possible I killed one that had that and never knew it. Pretty neat. I'm gonna start looking for that from now on.

He needs to stop concentrating on lowering his score and worry about his wife evening it!

Congrats on two very nice Blacktail deer! Seriously well done guys. Real good!

Ken, Sometimes you just can't do it all yourself. That's ok. You don't have to!

Beaufort Performing Arts put on "Arsenic and Old Lace" Here is my wife Mary playing the part of Elaine Harper with a very experienced veteran actor Fred Wilson playing the part of her father as the Rev. Dr. Harper. Almost 700 people came to see this play in three performances. 700 people? Wow! The play grossed approximately $14,000! Not bad at all for her first play! After an eight year hiatus, this is the first production the Beaufort Performing Arts has put on. The tragic occurrences of the most infamous 9/11 attack in 2001, shut down the use of the Beaufort Naval Hospital auditorium to civilians. Before 9/11, the Naval Hospital Auditorium, was in fact, the Beaufort Performing Arts stage. The events of 9/11 destroyed that as effectively as the twin towers. I admit, this is just a minor footnote in that tragedy, but still, the reality is, this is yet another example of how deeply that horrible event has affected every single one of us in this country. Happily, a great development has occurred! USCB has just recently made their auditorium available for local theatric events. Beaufort Performing Arts is now back in business! With such a long lapse in performances, competition for roles in the production was extremely stiff with many experienced actors itching to show off their talents auditioning. Nevertheless, in spite of competition with seriously experienced talent, my wife Mary, landed a major role in a cast of very seasoned actors. Why is there is a huge pool of talent in Beaufort to choose from? Several movies have in fact been filmed here. The Prince of Tides, The Big Chill, The Jungle Book, G.I. Jane and Forrest Gump to name just a couple (trust me there are a whole lot more). Some of the other cast members had over 60 plays plus significant movie credits in their resumes. Just getting cast in this production was a huge honor! She was definitely working with some extremely experienced and talented folks! Three consecutive performances netted three consecutive standing ovations! I'm delighted to announce, The Beaufort Performing Arts presentation of Arsenic and Old Lace is a terrific hit! I'm so very proud of her! I know I'm a lucky man! That's my wife! She did great!

That's good news. Still praying.

Well I am sure he is looking forward to some real sleep! Doesn't seem like hospital sleep counts. I hope he gets some good rest and heals well.

Prayers sent!

Any break that requires surgery to set is very serious! Prayers sent.

So very sad Prayers sent.

Depends on the trigger. Some factory triggers are adjustable and some require stoning the sear faces and replacing springs. I would suggest you see how much adjustment the current trigger can take without modification first. Then if permanent sear work has to be done to get it where you want it, bite the bullet and buy the Timney. Stoning sears to improve a trigger is a permanent change and like Wyo says if you get that done and don't like it, you are in fact stuck with it!

Actually it wasn't quick. Inconvenient yes it was. And extremely annoying. The rings and mounts are almost twenty years old. This gun has been shot a lot! But the gun has never been an excellent shooter. This year I have made it a personal mission to change that. That being said, rings should never fail during shooting and these did. I will not trust dovetail/windage mounts again. I'm thankful my Leupold didn't go flying! I'm thinking the rings and mounts have been an issue since I got the gun. I learned the same lesson on my Tikka until I switched to Optilocks. Dual Dovetail is a much better option but I really think these Talley lightweights are even better than that.

Mark V Ultra-LEOweight I took a standard Mark V action out of a Mark V Synthetic I've had almost 20years and dropped it in a Bell and Carlson Medalist Stock. It's the number two contour versus the number one on the lightweights. Still... the B&C medalist stock with the aluminum bedding block and carbon fiber layup is a good bit lighter than the original synthetic stock. Go figure. It's a bonus for me, I just wanted a stock with a more solid bedding that wasn't as noodly at the forearm end. I saved some more weight (about 2 ounces) going with the Talley Lightweights but they are much stronger than the dovetail/windage rings I had on there. $41 from Midway they are darn reasonable too. No need to lap them they were perfect! I definitely recommend them! The total gun package scope and all weighs just a hair under nine pounds which is about perfect for a 300 Weatherby. It's fun to shoot but it gets hot quick! The B&C medalist stock is easier to shoot. It seems to soak up recoil better. I don't know if I have any accuracy improvement yet because when I was trying to figure that out, my rings took a dump on me.

My rear ring broke loose from the base at the range the other day. Finally got around to taking pictures of it. You can clearly see how it sheared out. I was lucky the scope didn't go flying! My new rings came in today. Talley Lightweights! They fit perfect! No lapping required. Probably the easiest scope mounting job I've ever done. I think they look good too! I really like these Talley Lightweights. I highly recommend them.

Really cool Mike!

I should get new rings tomorrow or Tuesday. Need to lap them in and boresight before the next range trip. The other rifle was shooting 4 inch and bigger groups. Yep bad rings can really mess things up!

When a dog in that condition stops eating and drinking they want it to be over. You did the right thing. We lost one last year to a brain tumor that was 11yrs old. He went into a seizure he never came out of. Still hurts.

Really nice mount of a very nice deer!

I put a new stock on one of my rifles. I expected to see an improvement. I didn't! The gun was slinging bullets everywhere! I didn't get it! So I figured I'd let it cool down some and shoot my 30 06 Tikka. I had some Fusion bullets I wanted to shoot up and it would help determine if it was me or the gun that had accuracy issues that day. At 100yds I did this. I strongly suspected at this point the problem was with the other gun. Everything felt tight on the newly stocked gun so I decided to try again. Maybe I just needed to calm down. One more shot was all it took for the back ring to jump out of the base and the scope to slide forward an inch! The windage screw on one side got sheared out and the opposite side the ring base is sheared off. Yikes! Had these pop out before when they weren't tight but never shear. The back ring and base are now junk. Well that was it for the day for that rifle. New rings are on order. I'm gonna go with Talley Lightweights this time. The Talley's have a serious reputation for being strong. They are also a very economical route to go when you have to replace both the base and rings. We'll see how that goes.

I agree with Ruttinbuc on the get higher up strategy. The higher up you get the less wind matters. Of course you need a good stand and safety system to do this. In situations like you're describing, in my experience there are two main things that help you beat the wind the most effectively. 1. Get higher. Between 20 and 25ft is plenty. 2. Hunt longer! The longer you are up high the more your scent on the ground you left coming in dissipates. In my experience this takes at least three hours (varies based on how used to people the deer are). Safest bet is to plan on being in the stand at least four hours! Make sure your stand is comfy so you can gut it out that long. Getting in the stand only an hour prior to when the deer are most active is a serious mistake in a fickle wind.

Prayers sent! The Shepard Center is one of the very best spinal centers in the U.S. He's definitely going to the right place for help.

You did good Rodney! That's a real nice one for sure. I am happy for you!

If it's legal to use decoys where you hunt I'd use one in this situation. Have the decoy in range looking away from you and away from the location the deer is likely to approach. The decoy makes the deer think you're not in the stand. He'll first try to see what she's looking at and then he'll try to get in her(the decoy's) line of sight to get her attention. Spray the deke down real good with a scent killer after you set it. Then pin a scent wick with estrous on it to the rear end of the deke as well. Not guaranteed to work but it has worked for me. In my experience, even if you've spooked him, if he likes the area enough he'll return if he's convinced you are not there. Especially if he sees other "deer" using the area.

Yep some shotguns just don't like certain shells. It's dramatically obvious if you have ever spent any time patterning a shotgun. Those same shells that don't pattern worth a darn out of your gun might be the best ever in your buddies gun. If the Blackclouds pattern well for you they'll work just dandy.