Still enjoying thrill of the hunt
As I stated many times, I am no longer a deer hunter because of age and other conditions. Instead, I turned into a sniper.
Years ago, we pre-scouted deer by spending time afield watching and absorbing what transpired. We now depend on trail cameras to tell us of resident bucks. It’s called modern technology, but there are times I can’t help but question if it is better.
Just a couple of days ago, I was with Mike Weber of Scenery Hill and while he is a lot younger than me, his thoughts on modern gadgets and hunting are similar to mine. Perhaps technology is moving into a field where it doesn’t belong. We might gain in terms of success rates but fail in the joy of the hunt itself.
Oh well, like I’ve said before, I am a dinosaur and fast becoming extinct.
What I was doing that evening at Mike’s house was shooting with a long-distance deer rifle. It was one of my sniper guns used in the hills of Greene County, and while deer season was a bit far away, weather conditions can change, making outdoor shooting tough.
I learned long ago “do it early.” Later on, the ranges get crowded, fall rains occur or you could have a health issue just before the season. So here we were, playing a bit with our rifles.
Mike, like me, shoots a variety of calibers. But on this day he was shooting his .25-06, while I was shooting a .264 magnum. Both of these cartridges are fast, flat-shooting and good choices when ranges get long.
Like all things dealing with shooting, they can be hard on the barrel but still last longer than the shooter.
The .264, which utilizes a lot of powder in relation to its bore size, will wear a barrel out more quickly, but the secret of the longer barrel life is in keeping the barrel from overheating.
In other words, take your time and let the barrel cool between shots.
The .264 shoots flat and reaches out. This cartridge was designed to do just that and that alone. A woods gun it is not, but when the buck is standing at more thanSti 400 yards away, it is one of the rounds you want in your deer rifle.
Note I said one of the rounds, not the only one. There are others and I call them specialty cartridges.
I reload and have only shot one deer with a factory round. That was my first buck and was downed with a Winchester Model 94 in .32 Special.
We both were shooting reloads. My load for the .264 – I won’t quote it for liability reasons – pushes a 120-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip at over 3,400-feet per second. The rifle is a Model 70 with a 26-inch barrel and the rifle is topped with a 6×18 Leopold scope.
Sighted in at 2 ½ inches high at 100 yards it is dead on at 300 yards and only nine inches low at 400 yards. This means a dead on hold out to about 325 yards and a hold on the top of the target at 400 yards. Not many cartridges shoot flatter.
With a bit of weight and the long barrel, the rifle is a bit uncomfortable when walking through cover, so I usually carry another gun along just in case I have to walk.
Mike, like me, is an avid re-loader and deer hunter, but I don’t believe he ever shot a .264 before, so I insisted he shoot mine off of his backyard bench. I like to think he was a bit impressed with the old Model 70 as he punched out a one hole grouping at 100 yards. I do believe he is hard to impress for he has shot a lot of rifles.
As I said earlier, there are other cartridges that will perform the same function. The .25-06 is good as is the .270 Weatherby.
The short mags would serve well and the .257 Weatherby is one flat-shooting cartridge. The ultra mags are fast but tend to kick a bit. But if you can shoot them, God bless.
I know there are many others but whatever you choose, if the shots are long don’t skimp on the scope. You need both power and clarity in a scope to hit an animal at 400-plus yards.
• Don’t forget the gun show next weekend at Washington County Fairgrounds. I’ll probably see you there. And there is a meeting coming up Sept. 22 at West Greene High School on what to do about rehabbing Ryerson State Park. If you have a good idea, come and present it. Times are 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.