Montana 2021

[hobbes]

Sunday evening:






One last parting shot of the tent in the rain:


I don't know if I'll have a chance to hunt from this camp again this season. They'll pack up after two weeks. I may make it in to hunt one day and pull camp. I'll try to get out with my boys over the next couple of weeks.

One thing that I forgot to mention was the wolf sign. We'd heard that the elk had made themselves scarce during archery and that wolves were present. I believe it. There was wolf scat all over this park.

 

[hobbes]

I've slipped something in my lower back this morning. I did it doing something simple. I had my 3 year old granddaughter in my arms and leaned out a little to set her in a chair at a local cafe. I felt it go and dang near collapsed into my chair.

I've already seen my chiropractor and I'm going back tomorrow. I was already considering a weekend at home catching up but not sure that I'll do much catching up on house chores if this doesn't improve. My right leg is tingling also.

 

[Shrek]

I've slipped something in my lower back this morning. I did it doing something simple. I had my 3 year old granddaughter in my arms and leaned out a little to set her in a chair at a local cafe. I felt it go and dang near collapsed into my chair.

I've already seen my chiropractor and I'm going back tomorrow. I was already considering a weekend at home catching up but not sure that I'll do much catching up on house chores if this doesn't improve. My right leg is tingling also.

I really hate to hear this ! I’ve had two back surgeries myself and a tingling leg isn’t a good sign. Take really good care of this ! You’re under a lot of stress which makes you get tight. You become vulnerable to back injury. Be safe !

 

[hobbes]

Still sore as heck this morning but maybe a touch better than yesterday afternoon. Stretches and ice seems to help. A hot shower helped too. Im still waddling around. I'm heading back to chiropractor in a few.

Sunrise this morning

 

[hobbes]

I think I felt worse when I left the chiropractor yesterday but improved through the day. I woke up sore this morning but it has loosened up some. I went into town with my wife for some groceries and looked like an old man leaning over a shopping cart using it for support.

I went into Sportsman's and finally picked up scope rings for the 308. I also found three boxes of pheasant loads that I couldn't pass up. I made the mistake of carrying them up front to stand in a longer line than I expected. My back was taking notice that I had the ammo in my arms standing in line.

Hopefully I finally get out after some roosters.

 

[hobbes]

Scope mounted to 308. It's nothing fancy, Vortex Diamondback 4-12 x 40. It serves mostly as a backup but it's so light compared to my 7 mag that I may be tempted to carry it more often. I may have a chance to dial it in tomorrow afternoon if my back continues to improve.

 

[Ross]

Good luck with the back and season……getting old is Not fun for guys who love the outdoors

 

[hobbes]

Good luck with the back and season……getting old is Not fun for guys who love the outdoors

That's no joke. I'm 51 now and it seems the decline got steeper from 40 to 50. I suppose it just requires more effort to condition myself.

 

[Ross]

Would like to say it gets better from 50 - 60 but noooo it does not… I told all my friends 50 is the slide point and man they wished I did not tell them that

 

[hobbes]

I'm still pretty sore but improving. I'm taking it easy to make sure my deer hunt, starting the 10th, doesn't fall through.

I worked on dialing in the 308 this evening after work. I had it dialed in last year but moved the scope and bought another and put in the new trigger.

I shoot plain old 180 grain Remington core lokts out of it and have found that it likes them better than the similar construction federals. I was able to pick up several boxes of the core lokts over the last few months but used the Federals to start the process. If powder and primers ever become readily available again, I'll go the hand load route.

I'm using a new shooting table that Dad had just bought. I probably should have shot laying prone because I need a better rest set up for shooting off the table, but I made it work.




I started really close to make sure that I was somewhere on the target. I was a touch right and low. I expected to be low since I was so close but moved it up and left anyway. It ended up moving up more than I planned but looked nice anyway.


I moved the target out to 100 yards and was a touch left and around 5" high. I moved it back a hair right and down what I thought should be 3". It was closer to 4" so I bumped it back up a little. I wanted it to land around 2 to 2.5" high at 100 yards. I changed to the Core Lokts after it looked like I was close to 2.5" high. I shot 5 rounds and had one flyer (my shooting) and one a touch high(still my shooting).


I'm probably set vertically but looks a touch right. I didn't have time to shoot more so will head back out in a few days to see if I need to do more. We won't shoot it more than 300ish, and more than likely the shot will be less than that.

The Timney trigger is fantastic compared to the factory trigger. I'll likely drop the weight a little lower than the factory setting at some point. I'm sure a Viper and any of the higher end scopes would be better, but the Diamondback scope is a good "budget" scope. The glass is nice and clear. The "clicks" appear to move point of impact more than 1/4" at 100 yards but that doesn't bother me. I would say 3 clicks equal an inch instead of 4 clicks.

 

[Cahunter805]

Looks like you’ve got it almost dialed in. You can use your bipod on the bench also although it might be a little high.

 

[hobbes]

Looks like you’ve got it almost dialed in. You can use your bipod on the bench also although it might be a little high.

Yeah my bipod is just a little tall, but will still work. It would probably be better if I sat on something that raises me up a couple inches.

 

[timbrhuntr]

Hey man I haven't been on here in a bit been having my own issues including the unexpected loss of a family member ! Sorry to here about your dad passing ! My sincere condolences on the loss.

 

[hobbes]

Hey man I haven't been on here in a bit been having my own issues including the unexpected loss of a family member ! Sorry to here about your dad passing ! My sincere condolences on the loss.

It's almost been a month now and doesn't even seem possible. Thanks for the condolences.
Sorry to hear about your loss of a family member. My sincere condolences as well.

 

[hobbes]

I should be elk hunting this weekend but I've got some things that I need to finish around the house before Thanksgiving and my deer hunt. I didn't get them done last weekend because of my back. I'm mostly over that but trying to take it easy so I don't ruin the deer hunt. I've got some hay to unload that my son is helping me with today that I've got to be careful with. I may make a drive through where my archery deer tag is for and see what the whitetails are doing.

I'll start my rifle deer hunt next week on the 11th and hunt through the 17th. Mule deer are the most likely target but I wouldn't pass a big whitetail if I ran across one. The extended forecast is showing the start of the hunt warmer than I'd like.

 

[hobbes]

Working on catching up around the house today instead of hunting. I set a new gun safe up, bought materials to build a dining room table and spent the entire afternoon cleaning my garage and tossing a bunch of accumulated junk. I'm planning to build the table tomorrow.

You couldn't fit 36 long guns in this unless they were Red Ryder's (without scopes). I knew that when I bought it, so it's good thing that I wasn't trying to put that many in it.


Bolting safe to the floor:







Before adding shelves on right side:

 

[hobbes]

I'll be piling all my gear in the dining room this afternoon (my wife loves it). My granddaughter's mother has Covid so the granddaughter has been staying with us. We don't have any symptoms. If you must know, I was vaccinated back in the summer. I still think it's a personal choice, but will say nothing else about it. I'm not worried about getting it beyond it screwing my mule deer hunt up.

The 10 day weather forecast shows the forecast for the full hunt now. I'd prefer colder weather, at least cold enough to keep the ground frozen, but the rut will go on regardless.

 

[hobbes]

My wife hasn't been feeling good today but appears to have improved. I think 5 nights of the granddaughter sleeping with us caught up to her today. Missing the hunt will be a tough pill to swallow but I won't be able to leave her if she's sick. It's looking okay for now, but I'll see how she's doing tomorrow.

I've got nearly everything ready to go and my oldest son has his stuff together at his place. I'll load my stuff into the truck mid day tomorrow and we'll head out when he gets off work provided that my wife is all good. We'll drive separately since he's coming back on Sunday.

Finn knows something is up so he's followed me everywhere today. He was really rocking his rockstar hair tonight.


I realized yesterday that I still had some mule deer steaks and a tenderloin packag left. I thought today would be a good day to dispose of it properly.

I don't recall why I had only one tenderloin in a package but I did. I also had a package listed as loin tips. It's just the ends of the loins where they get too small to butterfly well, so I just cut small steaks. I also found a package of loin steaks that I'll cook on the hunt one night.

 

[hobbes]

My wife is feeling good today after a full night of sleep. Unless there is a big change, the mule deer/pheasant trip is still on. My son won't be home before 6 PM so departure time is up in the air. We may leave early morning instead of late this evening, but I'm ready to get on the road.

I had all of this in the floor last night alongside the granddaughter's kitchen.

All of that and more is in the truck now.

 

[DCT1983]

My wife is feeling good today after a full night of sleep. Unless there is a big change, the mule deer/pheasant trip is still on. My son won't be home before 6 PM so departure time is up in the air. We may leave early morning instead of late this evening, but I'm ready to get on the road.

I had all of this in the floor last night alongside the granddaughter's kitchen.
View attachment 345213
All of that and more is in the truck now.

Always exciting packing up for a trip.