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@solamente73 are you getting the blesbok and impala shipped back / mounted?

I like Texas whitetail hunting and love deer lease culture/spirit as well, but getting on elk in the wilderness is just amazing to me.

I had a good weekend scouting trip to CO. Found a great looking spot 5 miles up into the wilderness, but it’s a tough hike; starts at 8600’, ends up at 10,800’ with lots of elevation up/down along the way, and 17 water crossings (some really minor and some you have to be really careful rock-to-rock or you’re going to go over your boots). I slipped once and did get water in my boot. Both boots got soaked through eventually and never could dry out between the water crossings and rain. Camped at 9000’ feet and had a massive un-forecasted thunderstorm roll in at 11pm and kept me up most of the night. Soaked a lot of my gear. Did 13 miles Saturday checking other spots and getting out, had to hike ~2 hrs in the rain. It was a little bit more of an ass whip than I wanted it to be, but I saw some pretty country. Saw a cinnamon colored black bear about a cute as Winnie the Pooh on the way in. Couldn’t get a pic before he saw me and scrammed. Lots of waterfalls along the way.

@solamente73 beautiful impala and great story, thanks! I’ve been refraining from nagging you for more details : ) Beautiful country you were hunting, and always special to hunt with the rancher’s family.

@Reagan1k a full mount porcupine is bad ass

Behind my company’s office on 360. Would be fun to sneak in on a weekend with my bow Heading to Colorado tomorrow to scout a new area for elk hunting this fall.

Yeah it took a 4’ cheater bar to crank down the vice and then on the action wrench as well. I was worried I was going to bend the vice handle. I used Wheeler tools and Wheeler lead shims on the barrel and action and got it done with no marring.

Used factory take off. If Tikka doesn’t chamber in 7PRC this year I may buy a used magnum action and put a preferred barrel prefit on it. That and a folding carbon stock would be a neat setup.

It took some work, but I got the 270 barrel off my tikka and swapped to a 6.5CM. Setting this gun up for my daughters: short threaded and fluted barrel, adjustable stock, smooth easy to manipulate action, Arca rail for tripod mounting.

Got the used tent I bought out today and did a trial assembly. May or may not use it this hunting season, but it’s good to have the option. Might try to do some family camping trips in it as well. Need to decide on a stove at some point.

@Handcruser Nice! have you been to their facility in Florence? I’m taking a tour next month, will be interested to see what it’s like.

Beautiful photos! Nice Blesbok and great Warthog!

@solamente73 is in Africa and will hopefully get us an update soon to buoy us through these doldrums. I am going to try and mount an Arca rail on my elk rifle and I may be changing a barrel on my Tikka; will post photos of how those projects go. I had the ivories from my last year’s bull made into earrings for wife/daughters to wear:

The Federal Terminal Ascent is the “old”Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, which is an awesome bullet of very intelligent design. (federal bought them out a few years ago) You get the strength/penetration of a monometal with some lead up front for better down range energy retention and big expansion/fragmentation in the vitals. I set my dad’s 7 Rem Mag up with them when we went to Africa in ‘18. That bullet was considered then to maybe be the best 7mm bullet for African game; an awesome 300win mag choice as well. What area are you going to and what species are you targeting? If broadside, shoot critters in the shoulder, right up the front leg, their vitals are further forward than our critters’ are. Take tons of photos!

Got my second cold bore shot in yesterday at my folk’s place, 529 yards. Just got the shot inside the 10” circle. I misjudged the wind a little and after some investigation, noted I was shooting a different lot of Hornady ammo that is giving me consistently higher impacts (more velocity) than what I originally sighted in with. Hornady has acknowledged they had to change powders due to an availability issue, and I should’ve checked a lot numbers before doing this challenge, but lesson learned. I like the 7PRC cartridge and I’ll be getting dies to do some hand loading and I may try the Federal factory ammo as well. I was expecting the Ruger Go Wild to be pretty “low end” feeling; but honestly I can’t complain about it. Especially at the price point. This will be my elk rig for this year. I may try to install an Acra rail in front of the magazine to direct mount to my tripod, but other than that, it pretty much is what I need, and I feel very confident long range with this setup. I took some shots at 630 yards after my cold bore shot, and was just outside the 10” circle. I think with some ammunition work I can get there.

Rokslide is a somewhat useful western hunting website. They do a cold bore challenge every year this time of year, you get one shot to hit a 10” target at your Max Effective Range (must be 400yards+), then you have to do it again a second day. The shots have to be on video as well. No practice shots on shooting days or between. I whiffed last year on my first shot. I did my first shot today for this years and did ok at 500yards. Ruger Go Wild 7PRC, Sig BDX optics system.

Took the 7prc out to the ranch today and went straight to 525 yards. I had calibrated my ballistic calculator at 300 a few weeks ago, so hoped I had a chance of being on. Cold bore shot was on the plate but a little high, next two were better. Then went to 630yards, and put an ok just sub-MOA 6” group on the steel. I actually shot the 630 yard group while talking on the phone to my elk hunting buddy on noise cancelling ear buds, not a problem with the suppressor on. Pretty happy with these results for first attempts at these distances and definitely gives me something to build on.

Yeah something like this or a Sara Jean Underwood photo shoot after a day of mountain hunting would pretty much be peak L I V I N for me.

Sleep quality is huge for me, so yeah; good tip and definitely will be doing what we can to make things more comfortable. We did a light weight overnight last year and it wasnt great. Sleeping on the ground in 12 degrees in a backpacking tent wasn’t very restful. We have to do what we can to be more comfortable.

Results came out today and I was able to draw a first rifle season bull tag this year in Colorado. My partner was successful as well. Hell yeah. We’re thinking about having a pack-in service take us up high and farther into the wilderness this year. Drop us there with our gear and then pack us out when we’re ready. We bought a lightly used wall tent so we have that; just need cots, a stove, and a few odds and ends and we could do a “diy” drop camp hunt. Another step for us up the ladder of hunting adventure.

It was Dury’s. I checked my texts and they bought it for 70% retail, so I was a little high on my first number . A few of the notes from my buddy:

Also, do you have an insurance policy in place on the guns and accessories? I use Collectables Insurance Services, $169 annually for $20k of coverage.

Keep a good inventory documented so they can take the list to dealers and get quotes for the lot. A guy I used to work with just went through this a year or two ago when his FIL passed leaving a garage full of guns, ammo, accessories. Had to have dealers come look and try to inventory/quote; but it was a PITA. Dealer bought all the firearms for I believe 75% of appraised retail.

My eyes aren’t great either, and I like to get up close and personal with targets. Sig BDX 5-30 x 56. I can see bullet holes in paper at 300 yards. A note on Sig Optics customer service - I had this model scope start to have some dark spots form in the glass a few years after purchase; I called customer support and they sent me a fedex slip to send it in. Two weeks later they sent me a new scope, no questions asked. Nice experience.

I am considering dropping down to a 7 PRC for my elk hunting medicine. Still has big elk energy out to 700 yards, which is about my max range on my best day. I was considering building a custom rifle for about $3000 to $4000; but before I did that I wanted to test the cartridge out some, so I picked up an inexpensive lightly used Ruger American Go Wild in 7PRC off GB and put my big glass and suppressor on it and hit the range today. It was really a pleasure to shoot. I had adjusted the trigger down to about 2lbs and hand lapped the action to smooth things out. It’s basically a Tikka clone, and I would have bought a tikka if they were chambering in 7prc; but this was a pleasant little surprise. Recoil and muzzle blast not a problem off the lead sled or off a tripod; I shot 30 rounds today and wasn’t fatigued; put 100 rounds through my pistols afterwards. Did some 300 yard work after getting dialed in at 100, was still holding MOA, but needed some velocity modification in my ballistic ap. Need to bring the chrono out next time. I bought the Weaver scope mounting and ring lapping kit and used that while mounting the scope and I really liked it. I have had mounts loosen up under this big scope so it’s nice to get things more perfectly aligned and put together. The white metal inside these rings is where the lapping removed the coating, the black is where the coating still remains. I’ll definitely be lapping rings on any serious business rifle/scope in the future.