Deer Hunting - Frederick Watershed

Well, rifle season (deer) is now open in Maryland. I spent all day Monday, at the Frederick Watershed stalking the elusive whitetail deer. I got in to the woods around 7:00am and worked my way around the northwest corner of the park. I stalked very slowly down a well-worn trail. I was able to move very quietly; stopping often with my eyes and ears wide open, scanning my surroundings, hoping to see some deer. But, as fate would have it; it just didn’t work out that way. I did come across a neat old blind that someone had made out of deadfall. I’ve seen a few of these while hunting the Watershed in the past. This one had a bucket in it, so I sat down for a good hour here. On my way out of the woods, around 11:30am, I jumped one deer but he was buried in thick saplings and the only sight of him, I caught, was a white flag bounding down over a hill. I have no idea if it was a buck or a doe. Still I froze; hoping the deer had stopped to look back. After several minutes of scanning for the deer I determined he was long gone and finished my hike out to the truck. I was starving.

Lunch was a coke, a burger, and a slice of coconut cream pie at a great little diner in Frederick. Very tasty!

I was back in the woods by 1:00pm and chose to hunt the west-central area of the park. I stalked down the same trail where I had missed a deer last year. I didn't see any deer this time, but I did hear one moving around me; though I was stuck behind some thick mountain laurel and couldn’t see anything. I squatted down and waited, listening intently to the steps. I sat there for about ten minutes determining that the sounds I was hearing was, in fact, a deer and not a squirrel. I was sure it was a deer. Eventually I stood and moved out of my cover as quietly and slowly as possible, but must have been seen, for there was no sight of a deer anywhere. Before I knew it, it was 4:30pm, the sun was sinking fast and I had to high-tail it out of there. My flashlight, I remembered to grab before I left the house, sat quietly in the center console of my truck.

Although, I wasn’t able to put my crosshairs on a deer, I enjoyed the hunt. Carrying the Winchester Model 70, my father gave me was a real joy. I passed only two other hunters, and saw only one hunter sitting up on a hill. The woods were cold (40F) but the ground was moist and quiet. I also realized that I am getting better at looking deeper through the woods when I walk. I think that last year, I was looking a little too close, and not far enough out, away from me. Although you’re never going to be able to, completely, sneak up on a deer, per say. I think that if you move slowly and quietly enough, you can catch sight of them before they see you. Or at least; before they get too jumpy. When this happens, I hope to line up on a nice buck!

New Rifle: Winchester Model 70 Featherweight

I mentioned before that while I was home, visiting my folks, last weekend, my father gave me a brand new deer rifle and a few encouraging words: "You won't miss a buck with this one Michael". Well, his words absolutely ring true. I just got back from the rifle range. My shoulder is pretty sore, but I know it's nothing compared to whatever finds itself on the receiving end of this rifle this season. He gave me a really pretty Winchester Model 70 Featherweight. It's a bolt action rifle in .30-06. It's light and extremely accurate. I zeroed it for 100 yards, which is just about as far of a shot that I'd ever have, where I hunt at the Frederick Watershed. With it zeroed for 100 yards I had no problem switching between my targets at 50 & 100 yards. I was firing some milsurp ammo; M2 Ball (FMJ) and some hunting ammo; Winchester 180 grain hunting rounds. 

Winchester came out with the Model 70 in 1936. Though mine was made in the past couple of years. It's a 5 round, bolt action rifle. The action of which, is derived from that of a Mauser, in that it has a three position safety at the rear of the bolt. All the way aft is safe. All the way forward is fire. And the middle position blocks the sear, for extracting jammed rounds, which pretty much never happens because the Model 70 uses a "controlled round" action. This means that, rather than the bolt simply pushing the round into the chamber, it actually grabs the end of the round and controls it when feeding and extracting the round.  The trigger on this rifle is really great.  Winchester claims that there patented MOA trigger system has no take-up, no creep and almost no over-travel.  From my experience at the range today, I can definitely back these claims.  The trigger was really crisp.  The pull is adjustable, but I won't mess with mine; it felt just fine.

Aesthetically speaking, its a sharp looking rifle.  The checking in the wood is cut crisp at the pistol grip and on the schnable fore-end, and is not stamped in.  It feels great in the hands.  Also, sling swivel studs come standard. The barrel is free floating and just for kicks, I slipped a dollar bill between the barrel and the walnut stock (which has a satin finish) and slid it all the way back to the action with no resistance; nice.  To hold this gun in your hands, feels wonderful.  I'm in love with it.  It is a truly beautiful bolt gun in a caliber that can drop big game.  No wonder it's been called The rifleman's rifle for decades.  My father, a rifleman and seasoned hunter himself, has this very same gun albeit much older and with much more character.  Thanks for the great rifle dad; hope to bring some venison home this winter!

Zeroing for 100 yards:
It was awfully hot at the range today. By 10:30 this morning temperatures were already in the high 80's. Sweat dripped from my eyebrows and fogged my shooting glasses while I tried to focus through the scope. Because it was so hot, I wore a T-shirt to the range. I sent 60 rounds down range before my shoulder had had enough. Even with the soft rubber butt pad, my right arm was taking a wallop each time I pulled the trigger. So much so, that I found myself flinching just before completing my squeeze. I caught myself doing this a few times and made a conscious effort to let the gun go off on its own. Just line up, breathe, exhale and *CRACK!* (Ouch!).   Some of my results are below.  At left is a group I shot at 50 yards and at right; 100 yards. Good enough to bag a deer, but I attribute the larger group at 100 yards to my shaking right arm.  Even with my elbow on the table, my arm was shaking after shooting so many rounds.  I better eat my Wheaties.  Winchester claims that this rifle holds a 1" group at 100 yards.  I believe it.  But I think I'll need a bipod to accomplish that.

Update

Geez.  I am just barely blogging these days.  Blogging just isn’t at the top of my priority list these days.  It’s sad actually.  I can remember when I blogged almost daily and really enjoyed doing it.  Now, it seems that I do things and think to myself "I should blog this", but then I don't.  I don’t like the thought of retiring from the blogger community, so I’m just going to have to keep kicking myself in the ass.  Let’s bring this blog up to date:

Domestic front:

This summer’s been one of many home improvement projects.  Debbie and I did a lot of work on the house, to include replacing the entire carport wall and front facial board behind the gutters.  We also cleared out the huge debris pile in the back yard, adjacent to our neighbor’s fence, which took two full weekends of driving waste to the dump (The entire pile was covered in thick, pain-in-the-ass  vines from our neighbor’s yard, which hid an entire rotten log pile and worse; a brick pile).  We also hired contractors to replace our rotten and rickety old deck with a brand new and larger one.  It’s great to sit out on a nice 12’ X 15’ deck and watch the rabbits & squirrels do their thing in the yard.   Next on the list is having the carpet replaced on the upstairs floor.  That will do it for this year.  Next spring we’ll have the driveway re-paved and sealed.

Travel:

Last weekend we visited my folks in upstate NY.  It was great to see them and walk around my home town one more time.  We even got up in to the Adirondacks for some hiking and swimming which included being trapped in a dive bar during a torrential downpour.  (Good times; some guy was rolling dice at the bar and won $500 bucks; bought the whole house a round  - Thanks stranger!)  Also, my father surprised me with a birthday gift:  A new Winchester,Model 70 featherweight in 30-06.  It’s a fantastic rifle.  He even scoped it for me.  His words:  “You won’t miss a buck with this one.”  (You may recall my failure to nail a dear last season).  At any rate; it’s such a wonderful gun. I’ll be taking it to the range to zero it this weekend.  Yeeha! 

Riding:

Oh, this is terrible.  Sadly, I have almost no news to report on this front.  I have not ridden in ages.  And it shows.  Too many Twinkies.    Although Debbie did buy a really nice bike for herself!  A nice 29er with hydraulic disc brakes, rock shox any everything; it’s sweet!   She and I take tiny rides around the neighborhood in the evenings, but I don’t consider this riding.

Upcoming Events:

My good friend Dave is getting married in a couple of weeks, in NJ and I’ll be  a groomsman.   After that, my other friend Greg is tying the knot in Philly a few weeks later.  Weddings are a blast and I love attending.  We’re also going camping next weekend up in Elmira, NY.  Plans are to camp for the weekend and visit Debbie’s old stomping grounds as well as pay our respects at her father’s grave.

That’s about all she (he/me) wrote.