Benbrown

Basically, he's right. The extra "junk" is an optical prism which must be precisely ground from high quality optical glass...

The SAAMI maximum for the .300 WSM is 65,000 CUP. The maximum for the venerable .300 Winchester Magnum is 64,000 CUP. Your load is well within the acceptable limits of maximum average pressure for either case. Ben

For cup and core bullets, I start at .010" off the lands and tinker with increasing or decreasing once that distance once I reach the velocity I want with a reasonably accurate load. Seating your bullet to engage the lands will increase pressure. For instance, Barnes recommends starting .050 off the lands because their bullets do not compress like those with a lead core and seating them closer to the lands with maximum loads will produce chamber pressures that will exceed the SAAMI maximum. Weatherby rifles are made with what is called "free-bore", i.e., the bullets have to move a good bit (over 0.2" in some chamberings) before they reach the lands. This permits the factory loads to use more powder without a concommitant increase in pressure. In my .300 WSM CZ Model 3, I can seat the bullets .010" off the lands and they will still feed from the magazine. In true short action rifles such as the Model 70 Winchester, that is usually not possible. According to my "Load From a Disk" program, your load is probably generating around 60,000 CUP; warm, but well within the limits of the .300 WSM. This is probably why you are not seeing any signs of high pressure. As your powder charges approach the maximums in your reloading manuals, I would be very careful about seating the nose of the bullet in the lands.

Awesome! Some of the most fun that I have had lately is building rifles for three of my grandsons who have been content to shoot the rifles that I gave them when they turned twelve. The oldest is a freshman in college and the youngest will be a sophomore in high school this year. Lots more gratifying than cooking up another custom rifle for grandpa!

Before I went to Namibia in 2006, I bought a Stoney Point Polecat. I had tried home-made shooting sticks, but they didn't work very well in practice. I practiced with the Polecat and became comfortable with it. In Namibia, my PH had a similar setup, but he had stretched a piece of inner tube across the tips to rest the forearm on(secured at the ends with wire wraps). I shot all my game with that setup, all but one from a standing position. When I came home, I experimented with several variations of the inner tube on my Polecat and finally settled on a one-inch thick piece of dense, closed cell foam taped to the "V" where the rifle's forearm rests. Since then, I have taken two elk and one whitetail with my Polecat--all from a sitting position. I set the legs about the length of a hiking staff and use it to aid in walking and climbing (with the legs collapsed adjacent to one another, and held with a clip). If I were you, I would look into it--it's a lot lighter than a bipod and gives you a lot more options in terms of sitting, kneeling and standing shots, especially if you have to shoot at an angle from a steep hillside. But, you have to practice with it prior to hunting to be able to quickly get set up in the field...

I looked in the hard copy regs and saw nothing that would prevent you from using a ten-round magazine in a semi-automatic rifle. You might want to e-mail using the web site, just to be sure...

Like Timothy Treadwell, they think that because their hearts are pure and their motives are beyond reproach, that no harm will befall them.

Years ago, I bought a Reticle Leveler from Cabela's for about $12 or $13. It is a simple device made of two plastic tabs and a steel rod that clamps to the flat underside of your scope turrets with a rubber band. When you position it, you can look through the scope and line up the horizontal crosshairs with the lines on the Reticle Leveler. I just looked on the Cabela's web site, and they are now $19.99, but if you mount a lot of scopes they are worth the time saved. Cabela's also sells their own Cabela's Scope Reticle Leveler for $9.99, but I have never tried one.

Early Weaver scopes made in El Paso are quite collectable. I would start with a post at www.24hourcampfire.com in the Optics section--describe the scope in as much detail as you can and request estimates of its value. Good luck!

Yep, land snails. In the southwest, the rare ones mostly live in talus slopes in the upper regions of the Sky Island mountain ranges. They have been isolated in these ranges since the end of the Pleistocene (approximately 10,000 years ago) and many species are now found only in a single mountain range (or sometimes even only in one part of a mountain range). During the dry seasons, they retreat several feet below the surface of the talus where it remains cool and damp. During the monsoons, they move to the surface and feed on lichens and detritus--as good a reason as any to poke around in the higher elevations when no hunting season is open!

Kevin: Nope, I was assisting the Natural Heritage Program with surveys of invertebrates (primarily land snails), botanical surveys and plant community surveys. I used to supervise several of the programs in western states and took advantage of my status to participate in field work in unique areas from time to time... Ben

I participated in some biological surveys in the Organ Mountains 13 or 14 years ago. We covered pretty much the entire range and I never saw any signs of whitetails. Saw mule deer in the foothills, but no deer up in the higher elevations. That unit is now a CWD unit and a primitive weapons unit. I believe that a fair proportion of the animals that were checked from that unit last year tested positive for CWD. It certainly would not be my first choice for a NM Coues hunt...

A trick tank is a drinking trough (usually for wildlife) that is fed by a collector that collects rainfall and funnels it into a storage tank. They can be constructed in remote areas where there is no well or power to provide permanent water for wildlife (assuming sufficient rainfall).

This thing has been making the rounds for a couple of years now. In he first one I saw, the fence is clearly visible in the background--it's a canned hunt. The only remarkable thing about it is that none of the participants were hurt or killed by friendly fire...

I have read the press release several times and I don't understand what it contains that alarms you or makes you believe that she might be a "tree hugger". The IAFWA is composed of game and fish departments from throughout the US and abroad. The North American Wildlife conference is the oldest national technical meeting of wildlife biologists and wildlife scientists who are either academics or employees of natural resources management agencies (or branches of their agencies that are concerned with natural resources management). I have attended many of these meetings and the programs are heavily weighted toward exactly the kinds of subjects and concerns that are often debated on this site. I don't know in what capacity she worked for Arizona G&F, but I would much rather see someone with professional training and experience in natural resources management on the commission than someone who simply contributed a sufficient number of dollars to the governor's campaign so that he or she can attempt to see their crackpot ideas become agency policy. Give the lady a chance!

Stock design has a lot to do with felt recoil, and most of the cheaper rifles don't have well-designed stocks. If light weight is important, I would suggest that he consider spending a little more and buyi a Kimber Montana in either .260 Remington or 7mm-08. The stock design mitigates a lot of the perceived recoil, and both callibers should reliably take Coues deer out to 400 yards with proper bullet placement. Another option would be a Weatherby Lightweight in .240 Weatherby. This is a 6mm cartridge that has the same case capacity as a 6mm-06 (.30-06 case necked down to 6mm). With a good premium bullet, it will take Coues deer reliably out to 400 yards with proper bullet placement. You can often find them from one of the internet suppliers at prices that are competitive with Winchester 70s and Remington 700s. However, store-bought ammo would be more expensive than .260s or 7mm-08s, and that might be a detriment to lots of practice shooting.

I believe that Cemex is reintroducing Coues whitetails (formerly called del Carmen whitetails) in their properties that they own and manage in the Sierra el Carmen south of Big Bend National Park. In conversations with their biologists, Coues are supposed to occur in several of the mountain ranges in NW Coahuila. If you look at the maps in Hall's "Mammals of North America", they delineate the supposed distribution of O.v.couesi and O.v. carminis. If you then accept the conclusion that couesi and carminis are the same subspecies, the range would indeed extend into northwestern Coahuila. Hall's maps also show couesi extending clear down to the central highlands plateau of Mexico and lists at least one specimen from Zacatecas. For Boone and Crockett's purposes, you have to draw the line somwhere and where the lines are indistinct, you have to err on the side of caution so that trophies are truly representative of the primary gene pool.

If you have a .22 centerfire that is not too big (dimension-wise) for him to shoot, spend a lot of time letting him get used to the muzzle blast and feel of a center-fire rifle. I started both of my daughters on .243s when they were a little larger than your son. Both became pretty good at hitting what they were aiming at. We took a couple of western Nebraska mule deer, a few desert mule deer here in New Mexico and one Coues deer. As they got more "choosey" about the kinds of bucks that they would take, both decided on their own that they needed to step up to something a little bigger. We went to 7mm-08s loaded with mild charges behind 120 grain Nosler solid base bullets (since replaced by the Ballistic Tips), and eventually to flat-shooting, full house loads. When I started their kids, we shot a lot with .22 rimfires and a .223 light rifle to get them used to hitting what they were aiming at. For deer hunting, we used the 7mm-08, with mild 120 grain loads (about like a mid-range 7x57). For Coues whitetails, the .243 is deadly with correct shot placement. I would try your son on both, if you can borrow rifles that will fit him, and let him make the decision as to which one he is most comfortable with. I started a friend's son last year, letting him shoot both the .243 (a Ruger International with a Mannlicher stock and 18 1/2 inch barrel) and a 7mm-08 in a Remington Model 7 Youth Model. He opted for the .243 and did very well with it because he was confident in his ability to use it. I think that this is the most important factor in getting a young person started right--confidence in his ability to hit what he is aiming at. Starting you kids right is a kick--this is about the most fun you can have hunting!

Let me know when you need it. Ben

The Model 7 comes in a Youth Model with a shorter stock to fit young folks. If you can't find one, buy a regular one and I will give you a wood stock from a Youth Model 7mm-08 that he can use until he outgrows it. When he outgrows it, put the factory stock back on. Then you can pitch the Youth Model stock or pass it along to another young person.

In factory rifles with factory ammo, there is not much difference between the two. The range of bullet weights for the 7mm-08 is somewhat more diverse, but both are inherently accurate rounds and both will kill deer (and elk) with proper bullets and proper shot placement. If you handload, there are quite a few more bullet options with the 7mm-08. I have owned and passed on five 7mm-08s to my daughter, step-son and grandsons. I started my daughters out deer hunting with .243s over twenty-five years ago, but we quickly moved up to the 7mm-08 when it became readily available in light factory rifles. I have started all of my grandsons on the 7mm-08, which I loaded down for them when they were still pre-teens. We used a 120 grain Nosler solid base with the lowest charge of 4064 in the Nosler manual, and killed a truck load of mule deer and whitetails with this round--all but one were one-shot kills. I still have two rifles in this caliber--both are lightweight rifles with synthetic stocks and they are my favorite "knocking around" rifles. I know folks who have been shooting .260s since it was the wildcat 6.5-08 and they can relate similar stories to the ones that I can tell about the 7mm-08. IMHO either is a good choice for a first big game rifle.

The deadline for applications is usually during the first week in April. As far as the best areas, Unit 26 is probably the best, but a lot of it is private and a lot of the public lands are land-locked due to ownwership patterns. Unit 27 to the west is more accessible, but is hunted pretty hard. Nonetheless, my experience is that if you are willing to get a couple of miles off the roads, you will find some whitetails. I have not hunted Unit 23, but it is a big unit with a lot of public land. However, much of it is lower elevations where whitetails are few and far between. Don't know much about the other units... If you get drawn, my advice is to use a scouting service. If you are coming in from out of state, they can save you a lot of time that can be spent hunting good habitat.

Can't lay my hands on my proclamation, but that's what I remember. I dropped a bunch of proclamations and applications over in Rodeo. NM. yesterday so the boys could get their applications in on time...

Most of my stuff (except dies) is RCBS, the exception being a Forster straight-line press that you will want to buy eventually. I have dies from RCBS, Forster and Lee, but for the last several years I have bought nothing but Redding dies. They are the best, short of the specialized bench-rest dies. Redding's pistol powder measure is the best of the non-electronics, you simply buy a larger powder reservoir to add to it for reloading rifle cartridges (or you can just refill it every 30 rounds or so). The Redding kits are the best way to get started, as you will have everything that you need to produce quality ammo. You will want at least one good reloading manual, not only for suggested loads, but also for the information and tips on producing safe, accurate handloads. I like Nosler's the best, but Hornady and Barnes are good ones, too, and probably Sierra. Good shooting!

I will also endorse Amanda's explanations. Years of radio-tracking white-tailed deer have shown that they treat darkness like cover. They will move farther and feed and bed farther from cover in the dark of the moon. Thus, it takes them longer to move back to daytime bedding areas during their early morning activity periods. This gives rise to the assumption that they are more active in the dark of the moon. Conversely, when the moon is full, deer remain closer to cover during their night-time feeding and bedding periods, and it takes them significantly less time to return to daytime bedding areas. Our research showed that deer are strongly "crepuscular"--that is, peak activity tends to be in the evening a few hours on either side of sunset, and in the morning a few hours on either side of sunrise. In terms of active fixes vs. inactive, there were no significant differences between full moons and dark moons. The data also confirmed that deer are less active on windy days. As Amanda noted, they can't hear as well, and their scenting abilities are thrown off by windy conditions, so they tend to hold tightly to cover. Most of our radio-collared deer did get up in the middle of the day, usually to go to water and find an afternoon bedding site where they remained inactive until evening, if they weren't disturbed.