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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Jan 6, 2021 7:44:41 GMT -5
esshup How much does that whole set-up weigh?
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Post by esshup on Jan 6, 2021 12:37:08 GMT -5
With bipod and full magazine and one in the chamber (4 rounds), 12#. I carry it in an Eberlestock backpack when I have to walk a ways. Recoil is like my 6# .243 due to the very efficient muzzle brake. If it's not in the backpack and I'm walking a bit I will put it on my shoulder like they do in Africa or carry it wtih my hand under it in front of the magazine.
2 years ago in Colorado I sat on a rock outcropping watching the valley below. Public ground, very hard to get to if you didn't have permission from the private landowners. This is an area my cousin knew where every year there was a mule deer killed that was 190 or larger and usually 30" or wider. One of the areas that the guys from Muley Crazy Magaizine would hunt. It was 700 yds to the valley (straight down) and we could see for over 2,000 yds. No way for this fat flatlander to climb down and back up every day. I had the only Mule Deer tag, my other 3 cousins all had elk tags. It was a 50 minute drive to get there from camp on the ATV's, then we had to walk about 1/2-3/4 mile. 9,900' elevation. I had a chance at one that was 180" or so, and right at 28" wide but passed, it was 840 yds. I was still watching the deer through the spotting scope as another hunter shot it with his son's 28 Nosler, about a 700 yd shot for them. They were perched about 300 yds further down the rock outcropping that we were perched on and we didn't know they were there.
Turns out that this guy's son knew the guys from the magazine, (father and son were hunting together) and that they both had purchased landowner tags. I didn't know that purchasing landowner tags allowed you to hunt public land, but that is what the guys from the magazine do all the time we were told..... I burned 7 years of preference points to pull a tag for the area. How that is legal I don't know, but it is what it is.
The father stayed up top, the son went down, boned it out and came back up with it over the span of about 3 hours. Great deer and I was happy for the father, they were able to drive their SxS to within 100 yds of where they set up to look, the father had to get around with a cane, he said it was his last year hunting.
Unfortunately, we won't be going back there to hunt. The elk in the area have changed their route of travel due to a golf course and new housing in the area, people from the private ground are walking around with their dogs without hunter orange and the hunting there now is a one in a million chance of shooting one. My cousin has hunted that area for 20+ years and usually they could get at least 1 elk for the 3 of them, if not 2 or 3. We didn't see the amount of Mule Deer that he normally would see either.
Talked to a local that hunted there that worked construction in the summer, shot beaver during the Fall because trapping was outlawed. He walked up from the bottom, saw him coming and it took him about 7 hours to work his way up. We chatted for about an hour, gave him some water and snacks. He pointed out a bush next to a deer trail where he found a fresh lion killed deer, and he said that the bear tracks that we had up top where we were sitting were also the same tracks in the valley below. That's probably why the deer were scarce the first half of the season. We were there for 10 days. I took a 2 week vacation to get there, get the camp set up and get home. We never saw the Mt. Lion or the bear. We did see plenty of deer, just not one I wanted to shoot and the only elk we saw were well over 2,000 yds away on private ground. All 4 of us had tag soup that year.
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Post by jman46151 on Jan 6, 2021 15:41:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the reply esshup. That's more scope than I'm looking for. I bought a gun bearer from Kifaru before season this year and really liked it. Easy access and after a few minutes it doesn't feel like it's in the way at all.
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Post by esshup on Jan 6, 2021 17:34:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the reply esshup. That's more scope than I'm looking for. I bought a gun bearer from Kifaru before season this year and really liked it. Easy access and after a few minutes it doesn't feel like it's in the way at all. If I was shooting under 600 yds it would be more scope than I would need too. I think 98% of my scopes are no stronger than 10x, with only a few at 14x. That one at 22x, I have a vortex at 25x (that was slated for a build that I changed my mind on) and I have an Argos Athlon 6-30x50mm that will be going on rifles strictly for load development work, then pulled off and the scope that will live on that rifle installed.
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