VFX_man
10-22-2014, 01:06 PM
Hi all,
Not sure what we were thinking! My hunting buddy loaned me his scoped Mauser 98K to use while my gun is awaiting the permanent export/import process at the US/Canadian border.
He had sighted it in, but had a limited number of reloads available. So I didn't test fire it. Big mistake. :(
Picture perfect setup. Sunrise, excellent visibility, huge 4x4 Mulie, broadside at 100 yards and not moving. Needless to say . . . he's still moving today.
As we discussed what happened (post 2 hour search for any blood trail), it was determined that I was not centred on the scope. We took it to the rock quarry and I took a 70 yard test shot (standing) with the same slightly fuzzy on the left side sight window I remembered . . . Nothing! Did not hit the target. Re-aligned myself with the scope and the next two were 1.5 inches off bulls-eye. Problem solved.
Stupid!
A couple of days earlier I was in a ground stand hastily assembled (to shelter me from a sudden rain storm) on a knoll in a two year old cut and about 20 yards from a well used game trail.
At 6:20pm a parade of does proceed out of the timber line and made a B line right towards me (of course it's the one side of the stand I didn't build up).
I'm on my knees all camo'ed out , wind in my face and scoping them with my binoculars. At 50 yards, the lead Doe suddenly stops and locks eyes with me. She knew something was amiss - I was rock solid and not moving! Suddenly 165 yards back, I see a buck bolt off parallel to the timber and is gone.
The 5 Does continue to mill around and start to bed down 50 yards away from me as dusk settles. After dark, I slip out of the blind and call it a day.
Couldn't figure out how the lead Doe made me. Last night I was showing my wife how I was positioned when she spotted me (re-enactment with binoculars and all) she said, ahhhh you do know your binocular covers are moving/swinging even though you are not. Doh!!!
---------
General thoughts on the trip. Very few grouse seen - hunting partner was surprised, normally a lot more are there.
Totals on deer seen. 65 Does/yearlings, 2 fawns and 2 bucks. We think the wolves had taken a toll on the fawns based on the number and size of wolf prints we found. Saw a few moose prints, but no moose and saw lots of bear prints and scat.
The rut is getting near, the bucks appeared to be shadowing the does.
Found a super sweet honey hole as we headed towards home that I will need to check out next year [if not later this year]. Not going to say more than, I lost count of the number of deer beds in the isolated saddle I was able to find [waist high grass]. And there was a huge Buck bed nearby as well. Fresh piles of deer scat and tracks were all over the place, the Bucks "pile" was huge. Must be the big guy we heard about from a hunter who saw it a few days earlier in the area.
Came home and found a great used Springfield 840 .30-30 like I grew up shooting with a 1-4x20 scope that will still allow me to view and use the iron open sights. All sighted in and ready for this weekend up near Adams Lake. It's not nearly the same as my Weatherby Mark V Deluxe .30-06 that shoots sub-MOA at 100 yards, but it will work for now until the export/import comes through.
------
Were hunting in MU 3-29 and 3-30 over the Thanksgiving holiday, were is what we saw:
Day 1: Thursday pm
Herd of Thinhorn Ewes on the drive up [next to the road]
2 does
1 Bear
Day 2: Friday
2 Does
1 Bald eagle
1 Grouse - harvested
3 Does
1 Bear
1 Doe
35 Does - whole Alfalfa field full [private land] and more pouring out of the woods at sunset as we watched :/
Day 3: Saturday
3 Does
1 Grouse - 1 harvested
4 Grouse - 1 harvested
5 Doe & 50 yard bedded
1 Buck @ 165 yards running
3 Rabbit
1 Fawn
Day 4: Sunday
5 Rabbits
1 Buck@100yd 4x4 miss
2 Does
2 Does
3 Does
1 Rabbit
Day 5: Monday
3 Does
2 Does
4 Grouse - Flushed
1 Grouse - Harvested
1 Rabbit
Day 6: Tuesday
2 Doe
3 Grouse flushed
Cheers, M
Not sure what we were thinking! My hunting buddy loaned me his scoped Mauser 98K to use while my gun is awaiting the permanent export/import process at the US/Canadian border.
He had sighted it in, but had a limited number of reloads available. So I didn't test fire it. Big mistake. :(
Picture perfect setup. Sunrise, excellent visibility, huge 4x4 Mulie, broadside at 100 yards and not moving. Needless to say . . . he's still moving today.
As we discussed what happened (post 2 hour search for any blood trail), it was determined that I was not centred on the scope. We took it to the rock quarry and I took a 70 yard test shot (standing) with the same slightly fuzzy on the left side sight window I remembered . . . Nothing! Did not hit the target. Re-aligned myself with the scope and the next two were 1.5 inches off bulls-eye. Problem solved.
Stupid!
A couple of days earlier I was in a ground stand hastily assembled (to shelter me from a sudden rain storm) on a knoll in a two year old cut and about 20 yards from a well used game trail.
At 6:20pm a parade of does proceed out of the timber line and made a B line right towards me (of course it's the one side of the stand I didn't build up).
I'm on my knees all camo'ed out , wind in my face and scoping them with my binoculars. At 50 yards, the lead Doe suddenly stops and locks eyes with me. She knew something was amiss - I was rock solid and not moving! Suddenly 165 yards back, I see a buck bolt off parallel to the timber and is gone.
The 5 Does continue to mill around and start to bed down 50 yards away from me as dusk settles. After dark, I slip out of the blind and call it a day.
Couldn't figure out how the lead Doe made me. Last night I was showing my wife how I was positioned when she spotted me (re-enactment with binoculars and all) she said, ahhhh you do know your binocular covers are moving/swinging even though you are not. Doh!!!
---------
General thoughts on the trip. Very few grouse seen - hunting partner was surprised, normally a lot more are there.
Totals on deer seen. 65 Does/yearlings, 2 fawns and 2 bucks. We think the wolves had taken a toll on the fawns based on the number and size of wolf prints we found. Saw a few moose prints, but no moose and saw lots of bear prints and scat.
The rut is getting near, the bucks appeared to be shadowing the does.
Found a super sweet honey hole as we headed towards home that I will need to check out next year [if not later this year]. Not going to say more than, I lost count of the number of deer beds in the isolated saddle I was able to find [waist high grass]. And there was a huge Buck bed nearby as well. Fresh piles of deer scat and tracks were all over the place, the Bucks "pile" was huge. Must be the big guy we heard about from a hunter who saw it a few days earlier in the area.
Came home and found a great used Springfield 840 .30-30 like I grew up shooting with a 1-4x20 scope that will still allow me to view and use the iron open sights. All sighted in and ready for this weekend up near Adams Lake. It's not nearly the same as my Weatherby Mark V Deluxe .30-06 that shoots sub-MOA at 100 yards, but it will work for now until the export/import comes through.
------
Were hunting in MU 3-29 and 3-30 over the Thanksgiving holiday, were is what we saw:
Day 1: Thursday pm
Herd of Thinhorn Ewes on the drive up [next to the road]
2 does
1 Bear
Day 2: Friday
2 Does
1 Bald eagle
1 Grouse - harvested
3 Does
1 Bear
1 Doe
35 Does - whole Alfalfa field full [private land] and more pouring out of the woods at sunset as we watched :/
Day 3: Saturday
3 Does
1 Grouse - 1 harvested
4 Grouse - 1 harvested
5 Doe & 50 yard bedded
1 Buck @ 165 yards running
3 Rabbit
1 Fawn
Day 4: Sunday
5 Rabbits
1 Buck@100yd 4x4 miss
2 Does
2 Does
3 Does
1 Rabbit
Day 5: Monday
3 Does
2 Does
4 Grouse - Flushed
1 Grouse - Harvested
1 Rabbit
Day 6: Tuesday
2 Doe
3 Grouse flushed
Cheers, M