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Author
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Topic: Quality hunting products
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earthwalker
Cultural Editor & middleweight arm wrestling champion/Intermountain Region
Member # 4177
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posted September 18, 2021 04:10 AM
Having been a fire lookout for 40 years you get to know and understand binoculars.
For years we used WWII binoculars. They were good glass but heavy. I usually had to lean back brace my left arm on the body look through the glass and talk on the radio to guide a helicopter into a smoke.
Finally all those glasses started dying big time. We got up graded. I bought 3 pairs of Swaro glasses for 3 of the 4 lookouts at the time. The other lookout bought Leica's. Almost the same power. But not as good of light gathering as is needed at times in low light looking for smoke.
We have older scopes and binoculars that pretty much still work.
But for some reason some of the scopes aren't getting it done in elk hunting with elk hanging out 500 - 700 yards. Upgraded to new Vortex razor HD scopes.
I have found that the older I get the more my eyes have changed and what was clear and strong is no longer working for me.
We've gotten in KUIU hunting clothes. Try to buy items that are on sale. I can honestly say I'm twice as warm and comfortable with some of the lightest cloths I've ever wore. It also save a lot of weight off my bad shoulder but keeps it warm.
Do you need all this stuff NO. But it sure is nice. For years we trapped in Carthart type cloths. Heavy duct product that took the beating and dust. The cloths worked for us at that time in our life. But up here it really isn't warm enough and way too heavy to wear all day long now.
Big arguments on this stuff now a days. We use to say it wasn't needed like most do. Now we're hooked and enjoy hunting more and more.
Yes have new rifles in the 6.5 CM with muzzle breaks and new scopes on them. Again my shoulder couldn't handle my .308 Pre64 or my Weatherby .270 the weight or the recoil. Had been shooting a Tika .243 but it doesn't have the range or knock down power out very far.
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another long hot smoky summer coming
Posts: 1105 | From: Intermountain region | Registered: Jul 2012
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 18, 2021 07:59 AM
People always dream up wondrous capability and magic in words and numbers. An example comes to mind: 220Swift. Yes, been around a long time but the mystic never wears off, at least for me. 264Winchester Magnum is another. It just seems a lot more awesome than 7mmRemington Magnum and I always wanted one. What I got and have been grateful of, ever since is 300Win.Mag. There it is, can do it all. My buddy had something wrong with his shoulder. He got a ridiculous deal on a 300 Weatherby and used it extensively. For hunting big game. But when in came to sighting the damned thing in, he always asked me to do it for him and I did. Always noticed the difference between that damned Weatherby and my 300, but there is no doubt that one of them has more mystic than the other.
Lately, we hear a lot about "Creedmore" and it seems like the gun makers only need to chamber maybe three cartridges, including the boring 308 and the equally boring 7mm-08. When serious riflemen get together, the respect goes to the 280Ackley Improved. Now, there's a cartridge that really can do it all, and I've never owned one because my 40 year old 300WM, restocked by McMillan is so dependable, bought used, and intended to rebarrel it but that cartridge sure made a believer out of me! In a big game rifle, it's all I ever hope to need, but I also know the 280AI is a beast, and if I ever needed a do it all big game rifle, I'd get me a 280AI and know that other riflemen would respect my choice. Ain't no flies on that dude.
For years I have used Ackley's on predators. I've had 3, 25'06AI and 3, 22-250AI. The 22-250AI doesn't have a "magic" name like does 220Swift, but it is far superior in performance. This 22-243Middlested is my main daylight coyote rifle, but that name conveys absolutely zero "magic". I don't care. It's an honorary Ackley, as far as I'm concerned, even though it happens to be a slow Shilen barrel.
Rifles have a charm. I hate 30-30 Winchester for some reason. I've never owned a 375H&H Magnum, but that bitch has magic! There are many "African" calibers more powerful but the 375H&H is special. If you have ever held a 378Weatherby Magnum cartridge in your hand, as I have, there is no denying it's awesomness! It's easily overlooked, on paper maybe, but pick one up and you immediately, "get it".
Hell, I could talk rifle cartridges all day. There are many losers and a few stand outs. I do not own one now, but a 270Winchester was my first big game rifle and I will always be respectful of that chambering. It's got MOJO and a respected history even if they never made a gilt edge accurate bullet for that cartridge, I have to take a 130 grain over the 140's available. It's BIG GAME accurate and I tried to make a few circus shots on coyotes, but it's not in the cards. Then I had a 25'06Ackley built. That one is serious coyote medicine, at night, especially. Same thing though, nobody developed a seriously accurate bullet so I wound up using a custom built 100 grain Starke and that's the answer.
Okay, okay, end of rambling. Shut me up! And, I haven't even scratched the surface.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Jay Nistetter
Legalize Weed, Free the Dixie Chicks
Member # 140
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posted September 18, 2021 11:02 AM
Seems my go to guns as of late are a 25caliber Benjamin and 22LR suppressed. Makes me smile every time I shoot them. Quiet and extremely accurate.
Did shoot a couple pigs earlier this year with a 300BO suppressed shorty. Nothing good to say about it except that I put it together and it worked. Sure got a lot of hype from hog hunters few years back. What a bunch of clueless knuckleheads. 450 Bushmaster is a hog gettin' piece of equipment.
Big game for me was always elk. 30-06 worked nicely on 5 of my 6. The 6th run off with an arrow stuck in its shoulder.
Anymore I just shoot hogs and an occasional gator which is a real hoot. They are a lot like hunting coyotes. Took one 9' with a 480 Ruger. Spot, stalk and call. Funny thing about gators is that a 10-11 foot gator make a 9' look like a juvenile. A 12' makes an 11' look small.
[ September 18, 2021, 11:04 AM: Message edited by: Jay Nistetter ]
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Understanding the coyote is not as important as knowing where they are.
I usually let the fur prime up before I leave 'em lay.
Posts: 1006 | From: Arizona | Registered: Feb 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 18, 2021 11:24 AM
Yeah on that.
A few years back, I visited Scott Huber up in South Dakota. One thing we did, besides Crazy Horse and the four presidents was we went to a big reptile farm. Interesting that the alligators and crocodiles
are very clannish, when they swim out of the enclosed building, and get up on the bank and face back towards to water, they keep their distance and do not mix, at all. I really don't know how they are so damned observant, but they know.
Another indoor part of the facility there is a room that contains what I "think" was a 23 foot salt water crock. Of course, it just laid there like a bump on a log but, in terms of 11 footers dwarfing a 9 footer, you have no concept of the rest of those 10-12 foot crocks and gators compared to a 23 footer. Kinda like a battleship and a 14 ft. aluminum fishing boat.
I think we topped off the visit watching the rattlesnake wrangler annoy a prairie rattler.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
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posted September 20, 2021 05:32 AM
In bionics I like Nikon reasonable price good quality !
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Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted September 20, 2021 06:17 AM
I've noticed a trend in binoculars. Where 7x35 used to be the standard, now we're offered 10, 12 or even 15 power in compacts because bigger is always better when it comes to power.
Except if you can't hold them steady, you can't see very well thru them no matter whos name is on them.
I'm now using Viper 6.5 x 32 and for the terrain that I hunt, they're great. Easy to hold steady and most importantly to me, I can use them with my glasses on without losing most of the field of view. For what I use 'em for they're perfect. Sheep or goat hunting, probably not so much
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7580 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 20, 2021 10:06 AM
I've been using military issue binocs lately. Got them fro Aaron, my grandson. Somehow, I lost my Leupoldsm?
ko ko, are you sure you don't mean 7X50's as being very standard popular size for many years and for a lot of applications, like marine, they are quite adequate.
I've never been able to justify high end binoculars. Rifle scopes, yes, but I just can't lay out three grand for something that gathers dust for 51 weeks a year.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted September 20, 2021 10:24 AM
Nope .......... 7x35 was the standard that I was always aware of.
Something about the right mix of enough power / light gathering ability and some voodoo math involving lens size, light thru the exit lens and eye pupil diameter.
All I know for sure is that I carried 10 power Bushnels but rarely used them. My 6.5s see a lot more face time.
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7580 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 20, 2021 01:37 PM
Yeah, well, ok but in my recollection, the usual and most common binocular powers are 9X35, and 7X50mm.
I know things can be different out yonder in eastern AZ.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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