bowsniper

Ditto, what he said! Mark

My kid said that it was a worthog! Thanks for sharing Christian! Mark

Shotpants, All of the problems I have had ballisitc calculations have come from inaccurate BCs. I have never had a mfg. BC come close to being the actual BC. Also, the bullet BC varies with speed, so for the best accuracy, you have to use a different BC for different speed ranges. I have used a chronograph at 100 yard increments out to 5 or 600 yards to back calulate the BC over different speed ranges. Having said all this, your way of getting the data with a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood is much easier. It's just fun for analytic geeks like me to calculate this stuff out. Mark

An arrow does not kill with ""knockdown energy", it kills with cutting and bleeding. You cannot compare the kinetic energy of a bullet to an arrow, because a bullet kills with hydrostatic shock, and an arrow kills with cutting tissue and the resultant bleeding. A turrent is a calibrated knob on a scope that allows you to make a precise adjustment for windage and elevation. The goal is to calibrate the numbers on the elevation turrent to different ranges. Then for example, say you range an animal at 450 yards. You check your field card that you have made, (either by trial and error, a computer program, or both) and the chart indicates that you need to set your scope elevation to 7.75. Then you dial your elevation turrent to 7.75, make adjustments for wind, put the cross hairs on the vitals, and if you are a good shot, the bullet hits the vitals. You will need a good scope, probably 4x to 20x, with turrents. Expect to spend at least $400. Then you also need a good base and rings. I agree, but the thread out talking about shooting out to these ranges, so you will have to practice. Shortpants is right about the 4 by 8 piece of plywood, I have done this myself out to 800 yards. But I disagree with him about ballistic calculators. If you have good data for the speed and BC, the calculations will be very close. Mark

Ditto on what TAM and Scott said. A new barrel won't buy you much. .270 energy should be fine out to 500 or 600 yards for a coues. As Scott said, get yourself some turrents, and make your self a field card for ranges out to your max range. Basically, you laser range your target, check your field card, and dial in your elevation turrent. A bullet is amazingly consistent with drop, even with altitude and humidity ignored. To make a field card, you calculate your drop with any of the ballistic calculators around, and then use these calculations to get on paper for your field tests. You can use the mfg. specs for speed and ballistic coef., but if you have a chronograph to make your own measurements, you will be much closer. Then go out and tweek your field card by actually shooting the distances. Sometimes the ballistic calculations are off a little, but usually they are pretty close. Now you can just range, dial in your elevation turrent, and shoot with a very accurate drop. But there is one little problem called wind, and windage adjustment is a little tougher. The ballistic calculations for wind are pretty accurate, but the hard part is guessing the crosswind component at the target. Have fun, dropping an animal at over 500 yards is a real rush! Mark

I've been shopping for a new rifle for my son for a few months, and I have settled on a Savage Youth in .270. http://www.savagearms.com/111FYCAK.htm I've always had Remingtons but, I have seen their quality degrade in the last several years, and I have been reading good things about Savage. Most importantly, Savage makes the only youth model available in a .270. The rifle has a muzzle break that reduces recoil by 30%, and remington makes a reduced recoil load in .270 that reduces recoil by about 50%, and has good trajectory and bullet performance out to 200 yards. So you could start out a young hunter in this rifle, and as he gets a little older, get him into a more powerful hunting load (full .270 load) without having to shell out for a new rifle. Mark

dito to that, although they'll start moving out and around next November. Mark

I'm not sure what he official definition of "handgun" is, but that looks like a rifle without a stock to me. Mark

Big Pig!! Great job! I hope that dad is going to get him mounted for you! Mark

Congrats! When did your card get hit, today? Mark

I keep hearing rumors that G&F is planning to eliminate the over the counter archery deer tag. So I was wondering, if you like to hunt both archery and rifle for deer, and had to choose between them, what would your first two choices on the application be? Rifle or Achery? Mark

Well it's not looking too good for me, despite 7 bonus points for elk and 9 for antelope. I'm not too broke up, at least now I won't have those tags distracting me from my coues over the counter tag! Mark

Great thread guys, lots of useful info! Thanks, Mark

Dave, I may be a little slow tonight, but I'm missing your rationale. Why do you support a draw for archery deer? Do you think that archery really impacts the harvest numbers, or do just not like the rifle toating archers having a little more opportunity? Mark

I didn't mean to start or spread rumors. I was just wondering how you guys felt about it. Yeah, it would really bite if they took away the deer OTC hunt. They did it to javalina, so it would not be a surprize to me if it followed with deer. With such as low success rate, you would think that G&F must make a pile of money on the OTC tags. I think I remember that G&F gave a reason that the pigs were getting over hunted by archers in the units close to metro areas, so they took away the OTC tags for pigs. Maybe they are thinking that some units are getting too hammered by archery for deer? Or maybe it's just a control thing? Anyway, since I started with archery, I forgot the combination to my gun safe, so I guess that I would put in for all archery deer hunts if they do it to us. There is no hunt I like better than an archery coues hunt! Mark

Great! Now I'll be checking my online account every 10 minutes for a G&F charge! As if I weren't already too distracted at work by checking for new posts every five minutes! Mark

That's a good idea, but it won't let me edit the poll questions or responses. Sorry! Mark

I enjoyed meeting mulie hunter, coues and sheep, and younghunter, and its always fun to visit with Amanda. Thank you guys for stopping by the Desert Christian Archer's booth! I was happy to see that Randy Ulmer was wearing regular shoes again. Keven, I missed your rack, I hope that you post a picture! God Bless, Mark

I received a letter from Pope and Young. The letter said that my coues buck I killed two years ago was a “winner” for the biannual award for coues. To recieve the award, I have to build a wood create and ship my mount (my expense both ways) to Pennsylvania. The mount would be gone 10 weeks and would be displayed at Cabelas and at the Pope and Young awards banquette. When they are done with it, they would ship it back. Alternatively, I could take the create to Cabelas in Glendale, and they would truck it both ways for free, but there would be no tracking. There are 4 bucks up for the biannual coues awards, two 120’s, a 105, and mine 102 (108 gross). If all four were shipped in by the owners, mine would get the honorable mention award. If any other bigger ones were not shipped in, mine would then move up. The process is really a verification of the animal and the measurement, so if it's not sent in, it is not considered. Some recognition for my buck would be cool, but I’m a little concerned about the mount being lost, stolen, or messed up. It is not replaceable. My wife has already said that “it’s not going anywhere”, but I’m still on the fence. I’m not sure that the recognition is worth the possible risk. Then again, maybe I'm over paranoid. Building a create would consume time I'm already short on. I could really use some opinions. What do you guys think? Thanks, Mark

bowhunter4life (Mike) and I will be at the Desert Christian Archers booth on Saturday. Stop by and say hello! Mark

Here is a picture of Abbey (and my son) taken shortly before we put her down last year. She wasn't quite 10 years, but her body was filled with cancer. She was my first dog, and her loyalty and faithfulness to me and our family was unquestionable and incredible. She was a hiking fool, and she and I put on many miles scouting for coues. Mark

Happy Birthday you young fart! Mark

Amanda, I am so sorry for your loss. I share your pain, as my family went through this last year. If Maura wouldn't eat, it was time, and you did the right thing. Try to take some confort in knowing that your gave Maura the best long life possible, by making her part of your "pack", taking her on trips and hikes, letting her up on the couch, and countless other things. My family got a new puppy about 4 months after we had to put down Abby (named for Edward Abby). We still miss abby terribly, but the new puppy is a great distraction for our pain. Your friend, Mark

Mike, A day late, but I hope that you had a great day! Happy Birthday! Mark

I thought PSE was short for Parts Scattered Everywhere? No wait, I thought PSE was short for Pull, Shoot, Explode! BTW, I have and shoot 2 PSEs. Mark