2012-02-04T19:10:34Z Michael Shimniok Copyright 2012, Michael Shimniok SPHPBLOG

This past weekend was Pronghorn antelope season here in Colorado. John, Toby and I headed out to a ranch we have permission to hunt.

Saturday morning started early with John taking a shot and Toby taking a doe.

After lunch and dropping off Toby's doe at the processor, we headed back out hiked and drove around for hours and hours not finding any does but seeing a few bucks. No mixed herds like the last couple years. We all had doe tags.

Day was almost over and John and I were feeling a bit low wondering where the animals were.

The last area left on the west side was where all the critters were hiding, maybe 20 animals over the next couple ridges.

The ranch is on the Eastern Slope, very flat ground with the smallest of hills and shallowest of ravines. There's hardly anywhere to hide. And since antelopes can see you just fine a mile away with their built in telescopic vision, sneaking up on them is really, really hard.

The strategy that works well out at the range is to slowly walk up hills or up the sides of ravines and glass just over the top of them for antelope heads. If you're careful, you'll see them before they see you, and if the sides of the shallow hill or ravine is a little steeper than most, you can work your way into a shooting position without being seen.

So Toby and I were able to work our way around a small rise putting it between us and them, and we came across a doe at about 200 yards in a shallow gully. I took a couple of shots but missed.

But earlier we'd passed by a couple of does bedded down on the other side of the hill we were walking around. They hadn't seen us and so I worked back up the hill and could just make them out over the top. They'd gotten up and started walking.

I set up with the shooting sticks, sitting position, took a deep breath this time, then let the rifle settle and line up and boom. I lost sight of the target for a second but when I reacquired the doe was down.

It's been a long several years but this newbie hunter finally succeeded! Did I mention it was a 275 yard shot?

Elk and deer season coming up in a few weeks...]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry111003-200354 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z
The first three shots at 50 yards looked close enough to move to the 100 yard target. The first four I threw downrange were... widely spread. It's been awhile since I've shot the rifle, what can I say.

Three shots went 2" high and 1" right, grouped in a 1.75" circle. One shot was at zero and left 1". Hmmm.

I concentrated really hard on my shooting technique before firing off the next string of three. They landed inside a 1.25" circle at zero elevation and about 1" right of the target. Ok, that's a lot better.


Best group: set of three, center right

I tried to adjust elevation and windage, goofed that up, and by now the barrel was too hot and time had slipped by so the last three were high, but at least close to center.

I"m really pleased with the new trigger. Nice crisp break with no creep or overtravel that I could discern, and the pull is just right. The scope is really nice, too. Bright, clear picture making it easy to see the holes in the target, for once.

Unfortunately I need to repair the front swivel stud. The heavy Versapod + heavy recoil yanked it loose.


Uh oh, the front swivel stud came loose!]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100930-143205 2010-09-30T00:00:00Z 2010-09-30T00:00:00Z I never did fess up about last year's pronghorn hunt.

We met up on private land quite a ways east of Colorado Springs. The land is expansive and is split up into four or so pieces and rented out. Each piece alone is miles across. Lots of gentle rolling hills, mostly wide open.

The antelope can easily see you coming. And so my first hunt was initially spent trying to identify tiny dots on the horizon through 10x binoculars while the pronghorn's telephoto eyes had no trouble seeing me right back. We'd walk up on them, slowly... get to a certain distance, like 1000 yards, and they'd take off.

Actually the first thing that happened on the hunt was I got lost. Accidentally took a wrong turn and was driving around on someone's property (see pic). Sorry whoever you are. It was really foggy and cool and wet that day (see pic) but it all burned off pretty fast and the rest of the hunting was clear sunny skies.

We scoped out the property pretty well. There's a dirt road going through the middle and we followed that and spotted plenty of pronghorns but we were unable to get close. We tried an ambush approach, waiting at the watering hole at the far end of our area. Not much luck.

Next day we got to watch a coyote chase a small group. We'd been walking after this group for a couple hours. The coyote tore off on the far side of them at full run, and cut across to intercept their path. What an amazing event to witness!

We followed this group awhile longer then reached a ravine area... we decided to try to go down into the ravine and we followed it to its end, came up the hill... and there they were, closer than they'd ever been. They hadn't seen us yet. Toby set up and took a shot but must have missed.

More surprising than that, the group ran but didn't go far, running to our right. Three were still within a few hundred yards and we worked our way towards them, staying below the grass, and we set up.

For whatever reason I didn't have confidence in taking the shot (maybe from missing the deer a year before). Toby took a shot on one... success! And the other two stayed within range for an eternity. But I didn't take the shot. I kept thinking they could come closer, but I didn't realize how close they were. So, they got away. Once again I felt like an idiot at the end of the hunt. A relaxed idiot that had a lot of fun, mind you, but an idiot nonetheless.

Starting hunting only a few years ago, I guess I just don't have the experience built up yet. On the upside, I was able to control my 'buck fever' better and I was able to hold aim a lot better than my first time out.

Things got pretty busy with baby girl later on in the year and so I opted to stay home and skip the deer and elk hunting.

Pronghorn season is starting soon... after a trip to the range with the new scope, rings, extended stock and trigger, hopefully my grouping, and confidence, will be better and I'll finally come home with some truly free-range meat for the freezer!]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100922-141020 2010-09-22T00:00:00Z 2010-09-22T00:00:00Z
The actual height is specified as the distance from the top of the base to the lowest point where the scope sits. (Dimension "B" in the picture to the right)

To choose rings of the right height, allowing the new scope to sit as low as possible, you'll need a caliper. I used a cheap digital caliper I got from Harbor Freight... on sale.

1. First, measure the diameter of the old scope's objective housing--not the lens itself. 1.912" in my case

2. Then, measure the diameter of the new scope objective housing. 2.475" for me.


Dimension A is the difference in objective housing diameters

3. Subtract the two numbers and divide by two (A / 2 in the picture above) 0.563" / 2 = 0.282"

4. Now measure the height of your current rings (Dimension B in first picture above; 0.080"

5. Add the results from #3 and #4. The result is the height you want. 0.362" was my result.

6. Now choose a few brands you can trust and...

7. Go searching on some website (I like Midway USA) for rings with the height you calculated

I found a set of steel Warne rings, 0.375", in matte finish, four screws per ring. My online research suggested that other hunters find they are of good quality and should hold up well to heavy recoil. (Picture from Midway USA).

When they arrived on Saturday (two days early!) they mounted fairly easily and the clearance is perfect. Now it's time to sight in the rifle at the range!]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100919-163834 2010-09-19T00:00:00Z 2010-09-19T00:00:00Z
Nikon ProStaff 3-9x50mm]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100913-093424 2010-09-13T00:00:00Z 2010-09-13T00:00:00Z http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100826-233811 2010-08-27T00:00:00Z 2010-08-27T00:00:00Z
The military trigger on there now is pretty heavy and seems to have a lot of gritty creep even after taking up the initial slack.

It was after shooting a really nice Savage tactical rifle with a truly brilliant trigger and putting a group inside an inch, especially two holes touching, that convinced me to upgrade my rifle.

The Savage had zero creep that I could feel, a light pull, and such a crisp, instantaneous break with zero overtravel, that it was just a matter of thinking about firing and it suddenly happened without even feeling like I'd moved a muscle. Very cool.

I'm hoping my sad 3-6" groups at 100 yards will tighten up considerably once I get the firearm back.

The biggest upgrade will be to my confidence if I can put a string of bullets in an inch circle on the bench. I've always worried that if I shoot minute of pie plate at the range, I'll be shooting minute of barn door when I'm vibrating from buck fever in the field.]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100814-014257 2010-08-14T00:00:00Z 2010-08-14T00:00:00Z this article on theft of catalytic converters from NPR.

"Thieves are attracted to the platinum, palladium and rhodium found in the converters, which reduce auto emissions."

"There are recent episodes in Baltimore, Maryland, in Texas, in Colorado, and some in Illinois. So thats all the confirmed recent reports. However it's sporadic, but they continue over the last several years, for sure."

"The easiest thing for them to do is to find one that doesn't require jacking the vehicle up at all. So we find most of our victims are owners of SUVs or pickup trucks, vehicles that tend to have more of a ground clearance. ..."

Sounds like it's a fairly uncommon crime, but with a 4" lift, TC is in the higher risk group for being targeted. Maybe I'm jumpy because someone stole my stereo not that long ago.]]> http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/index.php?entry=entry100809-071513 2010-08-09T00:00:00Z 2010-08-09T00:00:00Z