scoutm

Curious about how early most serious hunters leave for hunt camp. What do you do?

I'm in the final stage of having a .264 Win Mag built and I'm starting the process of choosing where to start with my load development. I'm limited in my choice of brass - only two manufactures that I can find that are making it so I went with the Nosler. The bullet I selected is the 130 grn Scirocco II for it's high BC and SD. Now to my gunpowder choice. All my reading leads me to the slower burning powders and I'm leaning toward trying H1000 and Retumbo. There's a but though, I see that Winchester Supreme 780 shows better velocities at lower presures than the two I'm leaning towards....How can that be? Faster powder, lower Max presures with higher velocities. Since the data is all coming from the same site I can only assume the test barrel is the same in terms of length and twist but can't be sure. Any thoughts and/or recommendations? 129 GR. HDY SP Retumbo .264" 63.5 3005 51,900 PSI 67.5 3171 61,500 PSI 129 GR. HDY SP H1000 .264" 60.2 2942 54,500 PSI 64.0 3064 60,700 PSI 129 GR. HDY SP WinSup780 .264" 63.0 3140 55,000 PSI 67.0 3269 59,500 PSI

I was back in Oregon for the long weekend and a family reunion of sorts and was able to talk my uncles out of some great old photos of some of my grand parent's trophies. This photo came with a fun story. My grand parents were pretty competitive with there outdoor activities and the photo shows a great day for both of them. My grandma kill the biggest mule deer either of them had kill early in the morning. Not to be out done, later that day my grandpa topped it iwth the really nice 4X4. No one could tell me who killed these two blacktails but the kid in the back ground is my uncle who is now 64 years old so the picture had to be taken over 55 years ago. The crazy thing is it looks like tags on their antlers but I have a hard time believing they issued tags that long ago. Can any one give me an idea of how old this one is? I'm guessing over 65 years ago. My grandpa is the one on the right. The body on this deer is huge!!

I guess a sign of the times..... https://www.anglingtrade.com/2015/08/25/denver-post-dumps-its-fishing-and-hunting-coverage/

Here's probably simpler design of the same idea - 1. fish tank or nebulizer pump - something like this... http://www.theoxygensuppliesshop.com/medneb-airial-nebulizer-compressor-system-mq5600.html?acc=cfcd208495d565ef66e7dff9f98764da&gclid=CLeX3KS_l8cCFcNhfgodMeUE1g http://www.123ponds.com/06404.html?utm_source=06404&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=googleproducts&gclid=CLmQg7DCl8cCFcOBfgodieYE-w 2. extra tubing maybe 10-15 feet - the longer the tube the cooler the air 3. cooler full of ice Connect tube to pump, coil majority of tubing in cooler full of ice - leave enough of tubing exposed so it can be placed in the muzzle and turn the pump on and blow nice cool are down the barrel.

I'm more than happy to share our experience with you. I will shoot you a PM with contact info.

Well done!! That's one tough young lady you have there - Well done on that account too.

Much easier to look up the mountain with an angled eye piece.

Here's one you may want to add to your list...First thread talks about the development of the new case and the second thread shows the field testing...it's and interesting read. http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/6-5-ss-final-design-109263/ http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/6-5-sherman-shortmag-field-test-116269/

I had a .264 WM built for me a little more than a year and a half ago. I'm very happy with it - I love the high BC bullets available in the .264/6.5 caliber. The things I wrestled with when making my choice were magnum(.264WM) vs. non-magnum (6.5x284 Norma) bolt face, Short vs. Long Action and barrel length. As stated, I am happy with mine but if I were to do it again knowing what I know now (you can learn a lot in a year and a half) I would have made a few different choices. There isn't one single factor that would drive the changes in the choices I made its more a function of how the choices interact with each other. I went with a 25" barrel to save a little weight while sacrificing negligible performance - should have gone with 26" as there's no benefit to the trade off. Given the powders available you can get almost as much performance out of a 6.5x284 and fit it in a short action with a standard bolt face hence some weight savings and arguably a stiffer ("more accurate") action. I didn't go this route as I was concerned about the short action not accommodating the longer bullets in the heavier weights but this could have been addressed through an extended Wyatt Magazine. Many will argue that you can get more performance (100-150 ft/sec) out of the .264WM than the 6.5x284 but then you can argue you can get even more out of the 26 Nosler but what's the cost of that added performance - more powder, shorter barrel life. Knowing what i know now the cost benefit just isn't there at least for me. So to do it again I would go with a 6.5x284 with a 26" barrel built on a short action with an extended Wyatt Mag. I would have a slightly lighter rifle with almost exactly the same ballistic performance. In the end you really can't go wrong with either.

October hunt is over....Congrats to all those who were successful and good luck to those yet to hunt!!

Incredible story. I've only had the opportunity to meet Roger on one occasion and thought he was a stand up guy then and your story confirms it!! If there was ever a case for a set of replicas to be made and shared I think this would qualify. Well done by all involved!!

Has anyone consolidated their 10x42s and 15x56s SLC for the 12x50ELs?? How did it work out? Any regrets?

Sound like I may have to look in to see how much my SLCs are worth. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for all the comments and pm's they are very helpful. Very hard decision to make. Hope to get more insight so keep them comments coming.

In case you didn't catch Part 1 here's the link to it. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/52302-shiras-moose-utah-part-1/?hl=moose Part 2, here are some of what I felt were some of the highlights of my hunt. There were too many to list all of them so I tried to pick the ones that stood out to me most. First, the colors were amazing, bold, bright and every changing. We spent a total of 10 day in the field. Seven days the first week of the season and I killed on the morning of the third day of my return trip. We saw moose almost every day in the field. Here a few of the moose we saw. Our first morning back in the field, after having been home to fulfill some family and business obligations, we were treated to an amazing lunar eclipse. It took us a while to figure out what we were seeing as we had not heard anything about it prior to seeing it. A quick search on the phone the Eclipse was confirmed. The next morning we were treated to what I can only describe as Mega-Moon. On the morning I killed, we returned to a canyon where we had seen a good bull the night before. I passed on him that evening but after looking at the pictures I had taken, I decided he was worth a run at. After Glassing for a short while I found a cow feeding. We could tell there was another moose with her but couldn’t tell what it was. After watching for ten minutes or so and having not seen any antlers we concluded it was either another cow or a calf. We proceeded to glass the surrounding cuts when the cow stepped out in the clear and pulled the bull I would eventually take with her. They were moving to our right towards some thick cover. I grabbed my rifle ran up the ridge to get above and in front of him. Once in a position I felt would give me the best chance, I started glassing through the trees when a heard a soft grunt to my left. I turn to look and not 35 yards from me was the bull - he was in some really thick cover so no shot was possible. The bull started to move away and to my left so I backed out slowly and again tried to get in front of him. Once in the clear and in front of him I see him step into the clearing and stop at about 45 yards. I drop to my knee, put my cross hair center mass and fired. So close to him I didn’t hear the WHOP! The bull just started to walk away from me. At first I questioned did I miss? But then he started to huff and I saw a red mist from his nose and he fell over dead. I would like to thank everyone for all the help I received it was all much appreciated. I was very fortunate to have the help of a great friend who lives in the unit and two great friends from Tucson who were able to make the trip and join me in the field. The vacation they used and the time away from their families was much appreciated. He taped out at 133 7/8th gross with a 44 6/8th spread. For what it's worth that equates to about a 105" Coues deer. Now the most amazing part...The clearing he was about to step into when I fired was one of many utility cuts on the mountain and as luck would having it there was work being done up the mountain from me and the workers allowed me to take my truck up the road to recover my moose. I was able to back my truck right up to the quartered out moose.

Thanks for the comments. The meat has been all cut up and is ready to be picked up. Moose steaks for dinner tomorrow.

Hope you are having a great one Phil!!

Hope you are having a great one Phil!!

Thanks guys, it was truly a great experience. I have a ton of video I need sort through once I've done that I will post us some of the better segments.

Great story and wonderful smiles!! Well done.

Thanks for all the comments and likes. It still hasn't completely sunk in how great the hunt was.

Great bull, great shot and great video. Well done by all.

This year we had the pleasure of having a few new hunters added to our traditional hunting camp which proved to be very educational. The new hunters in our camp introduced us to a few new things or ways of do things. Two of my favorites were: 1.) BlackDog came up with a really great solution for the keeping the eye piece lens covers securely attached to Swaro 15s. What he did was take small bungee cord about 8-10" long maybe 3/16 of an inch in diameter, cut it in half, pushed the cut end through the holes on the sides of the lens cap built up the cut end with super glue and fishing line so the bungees couldn't side back through and then crimped the small medal hocks at the finished ends of the bungees around the slots on the side of the binoculars. When you pull the bungees tight they provide enough tension to keep the caps securely on the eye peices. Pull the caps off and back down the bungees and they hang nicely out of the way but not so loose that the wind blows them around. I recently set mine up this way and it works great. The only change I made was to how I built up the ends of the bungees so they couldn't slide back though. I built them up with Plasti-Dip - its a liquid plastic you dip tool handles in give them a rubber coating. It worked great. 2.) The second was courtesy of Cramerhunts a quick and easy breakfast that got us out of our normal and more recently boring breakfast. It was really simple - toasted bagels using a skillet with cream cheese and jam. It was quick, easy and filling. There were more but these were my favorites. One for it's effectiveness and two for its ease. What tricks and solutions have you learned in hunting camp?

I was very fortunate to have whipped the odds and drew a Moose tag in Utah's East Canyon Unit. I first discoverd this when looking at my bank account online the balance didn't seem correct. Upon further inspection there was a large charge from Utah's DNR. Not ever believing I could have drawn a Moose tag I called my buddy Chris to see if, even though the amount was too high, this could have been the antelope tags we applied for. His response was in a part surprised and part you idiot tone "You drew a Moose tag". I just about fell over. After confirming I did infact draw a Moose tag the research began. I first started with my buddy, Stephen, who as luck would have it lives in the unit. He gave some places for me to look at on google earth. I also found a Utah wildlife forum and the guys on that site were fantasitic - the were all very excited for me and willing to share what they knew about Moose areas. I would share those areas with Stephen and he would scout them when time premitted. Knowing the mountains in Utah are huge and not wanting conditioning to be a factor I quickly upped my workout regiment and over 3 months I lost close to 15lbs, gained strength and made huge improvement in my cardio health. Happy to report that conditioning did not prove to be a factor. After a couple of days to acclimate to the high elevation I was good to go. I couldn't believe how fast the time passed. With opening day approaching I started to sort out all my gear and load up my truck. The plan was to leave midday on the Thursday before the hunt, drive half way and be in the unit by lunchtime on Friday. We pretty much accomplished that. We met at Shephen's house, unloaded and got settled into our rooms. Once settled we headed to where stephen had seem the largest bull. Just before dark Chris located a cow and a bull near a lake. Not the bull we were looking for but it was a welcomed site. At this point, I have to say how beautiful Utah is in the Fall. Here are a few pictures of the areas we eventually hunted. The mountains and the colors are amazing. Opening morning arrived and we decided to split up. Stephen went to an area where we had good information that a good bull had been showing on a regular basis. Since Stephen was the only one to have see the bull we were looking for the previous night we thought it best for him to look for the new bull as he could tell us which was the better of the two. We each arrived at our respective areas and not ten minutes up the trail Stephen calls to tell us he has a shooter and to get over to him. We race back to the truck, up the highway and up the hill Stephen is glassing from. Unfortunately, the bull had moved into some thick cover and we weren't able to see him. Confindent he had bedded we backed out, had lunch and a quick nap before returning to the hill side. Back up on the hill glassing and not seeing any activity we started to discuss sending Chris and Stephen back over to the lake to see if they could locate the big bull Stephen had located before the hunt. While discussing the move I never stopped glassing and out of nowhere I see what I think is a branch that just doesn't fit. I start to talk Stephen and Chris into the out of place "Stick" when another "Stick" appears. Without a doubt those aren't "Sticks" that's a big old bull. I setup the spotting scope dialed it in and started to film him. We put a quick plan together and I was off. Like most quick plans they don't workout too well. The area he was in was so thick there was no way I was going to get to him without busting him out and that's exactly what I did. I eventually got to probably 40 yards of him - not really sure as I couldn't see him but boy could I hear him munching and racking on the trees and when he busted me it sounded like a bulldozer blowing through trees. Here a picture of him. I'm in the process of uploading video I will attach later. Chris and Stephen saw the bull go through a saddle at the top of the mountain and into the next canyon but even with that they were confident we would see him again the next day as there was a cow he was checking in the canyon I busted him out of. I wasn't as confident but even so we went back up into the canyon the next morning. Back in the canyon and with the prime glassing time fading fast, I was getting a little concerned the bull had moved out for good when he came stomping back through the saddle. For such a huge animal it was amazing to me how agile he moved through the cover. I let Chris know he was back and with adrenaline pumping I got setup for the shot. Unfortunately, the cover was so thick that by the time he came into an opening I didn't have a clear shooting lane so I had to relocate. At my new location I knew I was going to have only two small opportunites for a shot. He quickly passed through the first, stopped at a tree and started to rack it. This was my last chance. Setup with a solid rest and the next opening at 400 yards, I dialed my scope and waited for him to step out. I tell Chris to cover his ear and at first movement I fired. It was one of those moments where you felt good about everything, the rifle, the ammo, the practice you put in, the range, the rest, just everything about the setup but something inside tells you that you just missed - I quickly put those doubting thoughts aside. The rest was too good, the target so huge the hours of shooting practice all of the conditioning work, there was just no way you could of missed.but......, I did. We looked for sign for hours walked what seemed like miles in circles with no evidence of the shot being made. Not 50 yards from where he was when I fired he started to work his rub line again. We found fresh urine and scrapes all along the trail he used as his scrape line with no evidence of a hit anywhere. Disappointed I called of the search. Back at the house for lunch I decided I wanted to recheck my rifle so we went out to Stephen's back pasture to fire the rifle. 2" right at 100 yards...WTF. I had checked the rifle the weekend before, I was hitting a 12" target at 550 without exception from hunting type rests without a miss so how/when did the zero change that much? With this new information and with the split second doubt of my shot I'm confident it was a clean miss. We went back up into the canyon everyday of the hunt to see if we could relocate him or birds feasting on him. Never saw any birds and he never showed back up. Aside from being near record tempatures the remainder of the hunt, I had a great time. We saw moose everyday. We saw some amazing country. And I get to go back and do it all again. Part 2 starts October 7th where I will have 9 more days to hunt. Hear are some other pictures I took. I hope you enjoy. Larry