I'm ready for rifle....so now I'll likely arrow one!!!

[davet]

I've decided to take out the very first rifle I purchased with my own earned $$$$. I bought this rifle when I was (I think) about 15 years old. It's a Winchester Model 88 in .308. I purchased it brand new, and there were several "discussions" about what model to buy and what caliber with the rifle expert at the time....my Uncle. (My Mom's brother). Of course, it was the exact same rifle he purchased a year or two before and he had high praises about it. Well, the rifle is what it is and frankly, it's not one of Winchester's best, but it's mine and it has many memories in it. So, I had hand loaded a few rounds for it about ten years ago....but then put it in the back of the safe.....just because. So, I was considering re-barrling a Savage action as I have a very nice Shilen hunting contour barrel in 6.5 Swede just sitting in my man cave. However, the more I though of it, the more I realized that I actually hunted with a high powered rifle (not including my 45-70 or my Smith's 44-Magunms) only about 3 or 4 days our of the year. So....do I really need "another" rifle? Well...not so much. So, I pulled out the Winchester, actually pulled the action off the stock and realized the barrel touched the stock in more than one place. So, a quick find of a fat piece of brass and to the bench grinder, and now the barrel is floating very well. 44.0-gr. of Varget under the Hornady 150gr. SST, and I went to the range to dial in the 4-12X Leopold scope. I had 3 shots that you don't see on this pic (the taped up shots were someone else's that I ask to leave the target and I would take it down) and I put the final two in the "well made" (my favorite kind actually) bullseye.

[Deleted]

The deer doesn't know how it dies. I am sure some guys don't realize this when they buy their $1000 bows and such.

[Dutch]

Very nice Dave. Seems to shoot very well. Hope it brings you luck this year!

[Deleted]

Be neat Dave to take one with your ole 88!! I married a 6.5 Swede several years ago which for some reason made me forget all prior relationships!!

[davet]

Yes. It would be both great and nostalgic to take a nice buck with the 88. And that may or may not happen. We shall see. I was out this am, arrived at the place about 5:30 and got the cart unloaded and got to my "scrape" blind about 5:45. Well.....absolutely nothing happen!! I'm sure Stroupy was right. It appears the buck visited the scrape during the night as it was very fresh, leaves were heavy all around it, there were only a few fallen leaves in it from the early morning, and again.....very fresh track.

About 7:30 or so I went to another place and got off the cart. Went only about 50 yards and sat on a slight ledge overlooking a mild downslope. I hit the grunt tube about every 15 minutes or so. Well, I guess it was 45 minutes that went by when I heard what I first thought was a squirrel behind me. I slowly turned and thru the multitude of thin saplings I could see one "deer" which I thought to be a nice doe. But the deer was just about between me and my cart and looked towards me as it obviously heard my grunt tube. Then it looked back towards my cart. Well, I could see it was, so I though nice "freezer meat" and being that I have a 2C tag this would be a keeper. But....you know you need to be careful when there is only "one" deer in a "heard". But the deer took a few steps and I could see something in between the ears. Yup....it was a "Y" fork buck. The rack did not extend beyond the ears. So, I put the X-bow down and watched. He began to come right at me on the path and I figured at some point he was going to get a nose full of me. At about ten feet his nose crinkled up and his ears laid back like he just took a snoot full of skunk!!! He back-peddled in one big hurry and was gone in a flash. He should be a goodie for next year!!!

I can't complain about this morning. I just love it when a bow hunting day goes like that!!