Ohio Gun Season Prep

Just back from New Mexico (last post) and now have to think about Ohio gun season coming up after Thanksgiving.  Eric gave me his 44mag rifle to finish sighting in.

He put a new scope on it and we got it on paper in NM.  I made a few adjustments and got it grouping a bit high from 100 yards.  Good enough.

I also got a "spare" scope for the 375H&H.  I had the original 1x6 Trijicon in detachable rings.  So I decided to have a back up scope - a Leupold VX3 3.5x10 in the same Talley rings.  My theory is it can be a back up for scope issues with the primary and it could also be swapped out to use for sable or eland that might be at greater distance.  

I also wanted to tweak my 45-70.  Check out the cartridge differences between 45-70 and 44 mag.

Anyway, 45-70 grouped great from 100 yards but I never got it precisely zeroed.  Close enough.

I also shot from 30 yards with 375H&H (off sticks with 270 grain loads) to see where it was before removing the scope (upper center 2 shots).  Then I swapped scopes, and worked on zeroing the 250 grain CX loads (right center).  Kinda proud to have it on paper from the start.  Then I put the original scope back on and fired a couple to see if it came back to the same place (upper right).  It did.

Van made some progress on the target stand.  We're still fussing over how to secure paper targets.  Having some steel to ring will be nice.

Meanwhile, my favorite butcher is working on my mule deer in Chicago.

Violet came with me to the farm.  Joan and Daisy stayed home.

We checked all the cameras and had a good walk.

She really enjoyed herself.

We busted a doe off a bed at one point and Violet took off after her.  Surprisingly, she came when called.

That might have been when she got into the hitchhikers.  We had our work cut out when we got home.

Poop of the week - almost all fur.

Brassica at the driveway still holding up.

Upper pond brassica peeking thru the weeds.

Main field brassica has a few sprouts thru the weeds.

Clover in barn field, orchard, main and lower pond all pretty decent.

A couple of bobcats this week.

And a fox.

The deer were active.

It was the peak of the rut.

Several one-sided bucks.

If tired, just bed down.

A ton of coyotes.

This photo was last visit. I spent some time in stand this week and everything seemed perfect.  Cool, calm, etc.  But, not one deer moved.  The only deer I saw was an 8 point buck from the kitchen window while doing dishes.