Leo

The Tikkas only have one action length. The bolt length and actions are exactly the same for every caliber. They change this by moving stops in the action and swapping clips. The Magnum ones have a larger bolt face but thats pretty much it. The Sako actions come in several different lengths and are three lug bolts vs the Tikka's two lug bolt. Three lugs actions cost 50% more to machine than two lug actions. The Sakos have three position safeties and the Tikkas have only two. Add to that the Sakos have a different action to stock interface, heavier duty clip and higher line stocks and the differences start to add up.

Could have just been the shell. Don't take a file to your gun based on a one time occurrence. The chamber could be a little rough (NEFs are known for this) but please leave that to a gunsmith to address or send the rifle in to NEF. Some guns choke on Nickel Plated brass. Bottomline, it won't do you any good to try and get it fixed unless it's a problem you're certain whoever is working on the gun can duplicate the problem.

Concrete proof the man does more than bust lifesavers with his bow I love it when someone who can really shoot actually hunts too. I heartfelt congratulations to your success!

The design looks like it's radically reflexed but it's not. Since the main fixture point the bows limbs are loaded on are actually a little behind the grip instead of in front of it you end up with a very forgiving riser. Plus the limbs on this bow are stressed significantly less than traditional compounds. Traditional compounds your limb bolts have to squeeze a short section of limb to get the pre-load you want. On the Guardian the pre-load is achieved at the halfway point of the limb versus an inch or two from limb bolt to pocket. These bows have several times less stress at their pivots then what we are used to. It's a great design and I'd get one if I needed another bow. But currently I do not.

If the brass on the cartridge gets that dark oxidized look it will effect the consistency of the load. But not enough under 150yds at game animals to make a significant difference. Usually guys who have old shells that "shoot funny" haven't sighted in with those particular shells or checked their zero lately. Scopes zeros do get knocked off. And folks get out of practice. That's a more likely cause than old ammo. Go to the range and determine if it was equipment related or pilot error. I'll be real surprised if you still conclude it was due to old shells.

All right OTPGr's start drooling on the keyboard http://www.gokart.net/shop-utopia/mccann/rifles/458garand/458garand.html

Do we have a lot of rut activity? If you mean more breeding the answer is yes. If you mean more scrapes and rubs and more chasing activity than no. We probably have a lot less of the classic rut behavior seen elsewhere in the country. I've hunted other areas of the country and the rut here is more accurately described as a trickle of activity by comparison. The doe to buck ratios here are very high, over 10:1 is common and some areas have over 20:1. The does that get bred in the first estrous cycle here are bred primarily the more mature bucks. There is very little scraping activity since scrapes are primarily made to help bucks find receptive does. They have no trouble finding receptive does at this time so as a result very few (if any) scrapes get made. You don't witness "the chase" this time of year here because the bucks find the does that are ready right then easily. They simply don't chase them until they are ready in the September estrous because they don't have to. The bucks that are 1 1/2yrs old that are ready to breed don't compete much with the more mature deer in the first estrous cycle. This is their first breeding season and it doesn't seem to kick in for them what they need to do until October. If you've ever seen a young male dog with a female in heat for the first time, you'll appreciate the cluelessness I'm referring to. Or if you prefer think back to when you were a young man and you knew then what you know now. Enough said I think. The only solid evidence that really exists here that some breeding here occurs in September is the April Fawns. And they have literally been born in my backyard. Second estrous cycle rolls around and some chasing occurs plus the first earnest scrapes (they show repeated activity) start showing up. Competition is still pretty low because the ratio is so heavily weighted in the does favor. But the 1 1/2 year old bucks finally do start to seriously participate. Most guys here consider this time the peak of the rut. I agree that it is. The third and for here the final estrous cycle because these bucks start to loose their horns shortly thereafter. Can have the most intense activity and competition. Multiple bucks absolutely will chase a single doe. If you see a doe here by itself this time of year, wait, then you'll see the buck, wait some more and you very probably will see another and then another. There are less scrapes in November because when a buck gets on a doe and starts chasing, it literally starts a parade. Here we can legally shoot a buck and a doe the same day. The smartest thing you can do this time of year, here, when you see a single doe in November is to shoot her and drop her right there. And then wait to see if any bucks come in. The biggest deer will invariably be the last one to show up. I've seen this more than once. All I can figure is he's conserving his energy so he can whip the young punks when she finally stops that are trying to compete with him. The sound of a rifle shot does not seem to deter them, nor does the fact that she is now dead, hold your ground and stay put in the stand. Stay till the end of legal shooting light and only then go get your doe. If she truly was in esterous you have an extremely good chance of dragging out two deer. And one of them might very well be a whopper

I really enjoyed that article thank you.

Thanks, maybe it's not just where I hunt.

I need to make something clear. The September breeding that happens here is absolutely NOT statewide. Nor is it common in quite a few other southern states. I live on the South Eastern Coast of South Carolina we have several different island subspecies of deer packed in the lower coastal part of this state. These deer are taxonomical different. Parts of Alabama I've hunted the rut activity is definitely peaking in Dec and they often breed in January as well. Those deer don't loose their horns until the middle of February. The deer here absolutely are starting to shed by the end of December. December here is a post rut month. You're absolutely right that shooting mature does is the best way to reduce the population. I was trying to emphasize that harvesting these young deer has very little effect on the population size. My point in the earlier post is you really do want to limit the amount of fawns that come from mothers under one year old. Maybe that's not such a big deal in other parts of the country. Seems like many of you believe it is not. Here however, these deer are so small at that age it's a real killer. A Wildlife Biologist will look at the carrying capacity of your land and take a population census (among other things). He'll base his suggestions on what you should harvest, to achieve your goals based on that data. The root of any solid management decision is based on hard earned raw data. Show me a manager that has data to support his decisions and I'll show you a guy that gets results and knows what he's doing. The better the data and his ability to interpret it the better the results.

Here in the part of South Carolina I live in, the deer are definitely on a little different cycle. The does here actually start getting bred in September. The majority of them get bred in October and a few finally in November. Around the end of December our deer start loosing their horns. This is one of the big reasons our season here starts in August. By the last week of August nothing is in velvet anymore. As a result of the early breeding we have the first fawn drop here in April. It's the bucks that are born then that sometimes develop some manner of sheddable button or spur horn. I am sure this does not happen everywhere but it does here. The late drops here occur in June and they lag behind the early ones substantially in size. They've got eight weeks of growing to catch up on. The late drop bucks are tiny 35 to 40 pound things. The doe fawns are about the same. The earliest born bucks weigh more than 60 pounds by the time the season kicks in. Still a tiny deer but they dwarf the late drops. Most 1 1/2 old bucks here weigh between 95 and 105lbs. The majority of them are indeed spikes. And I agree a spikes potential is wide open at that stage in the game. It is however practically impossible to tell the difference between a late drop spike that is almost 1yr older then a 1 1/2 old spike unless you pull the jawbone and look at the tooth eruption. If you're not doing that you really are just making your best guess on the deers age. Say you succeed in killing every fawn, both bucks and does on your property in one season (which honestly is a highly unlikely possibility). Your population level simply doesn't grow and it will be back at the same level the following season. You do however get the benefit of your mature deer having more to eat and all of them advancing 1 year in age. The reality of Fawn harvest is you can't effect the population level even if you kill them all. You can however dramatically effect the percentage of older deer that are in your population. Is a major Fawn harvest something you should strive for every year? No! But it is a management tool that as ugly as unsavory as it obviously is, sometimes needs to be considered. You should have a Wildlife Biologist come out, survey your property, collect data and jawbones. If you are really interested in QDM, I highly recommend this. But be prepared he might make some suggestions that truly won't sit well with everyone. Fawn harvest might be one of those suggestions, it may not. It depends on a lot of factors a good Wildlife Biologist will weigh to formulate his recommendations.

That's big buck blasting 101! You are right on target with that tip. Here's mine. Deer move every five hours. Sometimes they move very little from where they bed (maybe only 20yds) but they will get up and move around a little bit every five hours.

You're definitely thinking and should think about it some more. Yearling does and button bucks are your future in managing a piece of property. Everyone agrees with that because it is absolutely true. It's easily a no-brainer. But just what kind of future they hold for your property is where the arguments start. This is not just my opinion, on one lease I was part of we actually hired a real wildlife management specialist. He surveyed the property, took a census and laid out a management plan. We got an earful and learned a lot. Letting fawns and buttons walk when you are trying to manage a property is a guaranteed path to mediocrity. The undersize deer are late drops (ie. born very late in the year) they are also primarily the offspring of does that come into their first estrous late in the season. Undersized momma = undersized fawn. These are not the deer you want breeding. These deer start life at a disadvantage and pass it on. The cycle degrades and gets worse and worse every year. Bucks that miss growing antlers their first fall never catch up. That's where two year old spikes come from and three year old four and six pointers. If you are seeing that on a property you are managing, it's not bad genetics. You need to change your management practices and declare war on the little deer. Ugly, unpopular and unpalatable I know but in many cases it is absolutely the right thing to do.

Hope you get a chance to find out where they hit before you try and take a deer with them. Different brands of slugs shoot very differently out of different guns. Slugs should be sighted in at no further than 50yds. Even the ones that are supposed to work further than that. That doesn't mean you can't shoot stuff further away, you can. It's just a whole lot easier to do sight in work with slugs at 50yds and after you got that dialed in see where it hits a 100.

If the camera will take pictures of you messing around it then it's probably an aiming issue. Use the laser to aim it and make sure you aren't over shooting the deer. It's real easy to aim the camera too high. If the laser hit's you just below the knee where you think the deer will be that's about right.

If you can't draw your bow slowly and keep it on target throughout the entire draw cycle then you are above what poundage you should be shooting. You should also be able to let down with the same control. This exercise identifies a poundage thats too high and if the draw length is too long. Besides the stretching suggestion which is a very good one. If you can't pass the controlled draw and let off test, I guarantee you will have problems.

That's an excellent question. Because if it doesn't have screw in chokes you'll have to special order a left handed barrel fitted for them, if you want to use chokes. See if you can actually find such a barrel before you believe anyone that tells you they are no problem to get.

With that whitetail in one of the photos it really puts in perspective how much of a brute that deer was bodysize wise as well. There is a lot of fabulous eating there on that dude. That's a really good axis, very very nice.

The Fusions shot great for me as well (very very nice grouping actually better than the Hornady's). Unfortunately, I am not impressed with their performance on game. Maybe the 7mm versions do better, it's possible. I used the 180gr 30-06 loads and my impression is that these bullets are quite fragile. No way, no how would I recommend the 30cal size ones for elk sized game. The exit holes are small (if you get one) and the blood trail as a result is sparse. If you're hunting deer size stuff in open country, they are probably a good choice. In the thick stuff however IMHO you're better off with good old green box core-lokts. Caribou aren't notoriously tough and the country they roam is about as open as it gets. So the fusions may work just fine for you. Plus 7mm might be just a small enough diameter to give these bullets a little extra penetration edge they need. I honestly don't know. I do know that I won't be using them for deer around here anymore no matter how good they kill paper.

I've seen people curse rifles, loads and scopes when in the final analysis of things the rings and bases were the culprit. Cheap rings and bases shoot loose or work loose very easily. These things are cheap because they are made with the cheapest metal and lowest strength screws available. Making sure the cheap ones stay tight is a loosing battle. The metal to metal contact stretches and you have to keep snugging things up. Inevitably, something goes POP! Loctiting the cheap stuff doesn't work either, it just prevents the screws from turning but they still stretch and that causes problems. The other bad thing is on cheap screws the removable type loctite provides enough hold to strip out the screw heads when you try and remove them. On good high grade screws this is not an issue. Even the good stuff (Leupold, Sako, Burris and Talley) will work loose if not installed correctly. The Blue Removable type thread locker Loctite makes works just fine with high grade screws. You can still remove everything without stripping out the heads. And Loctite really does cut down on those loose screw surprises.

All I'm aware of is you get a little more eye relief (about 1/2") and the zoom ratio is higher 2.5-10x vs 3-9x There might be some warranty differences as well, but I'm not sure.

You should seriously consider a Browning BPS. It's a true ambidextrous pump, shells load and eject from the bottom. You can sell it to a right-handed person later, if you want(but you won't) and not pay a premium for it being a lefty gun. My brother is left handed and sometimes you can find deals on lefty guns like you did. But parts and accessories are usually long lead items, if in fact they even exist (sometimes they don't). Another good either hand choice is a Stoeger over and under. Good luck.

If you try to load shells with a powder charge below the printed minimum in your reloading manual, you risk a secondary detonation occurring in the shell. Check your reloading manuals the warning will be in there. This is especially true with slow burning smokeless powders. It's an extremely dangerous thing to try, especially if you really don't know what you are doing. That guy and everyone around him was very lucky. He needs to count his blessings the only casualty was his rifle.

Bibs and a jacket are absolutely the way to go. You'll stay warmer and they'll actually fit instead of giving you fits.

You read right. I agree on Copper plated stuff as well. The expensive non-tox stuff won't kill those yotes any deader. I am well aware of the lead ban. When I'm hunting something with the lead ban on it , I can't use lead. Simple as that. Hevi-Shot and Federal high density are Tungsten-iron alloys and are absolutely legal for waterfowl. I bring that up because some folks think that because the stuff is heavier than lead it must have lead in it. It doesn't.