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Ok I read gun thread and now I’m up to speed. [mention=1949]solamente73[/mention] you might consider a Tikka in 300 WM, but I’m afraid it might kick just as much as your Wby depending on the load. Per Chuck Hawks: 300 Win. Mag. (165 at 3110) 8.0 lb rifle 26.2 lbs recoil force 14.5 fps recoil velocity 300 Wby. Mag. (150 at 3400) 9.25lb rifle 24.6lbs recoil force 13.1 fps recoil velocity .300 Wby. Mag. (180 at 3240) 9.0lb rifle 31.6 lbs recoil force 15 lbs recoil force Dropping down to a 7 Rem mag helps, depending on the weight of the rifle. 7mm Rem. Mag. (160 at 2950) 9.0lb rifle 20.3 lbs recoil force 12.0 lbs recoil force https://chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm Or you could drop down to a non-magnum and keep the shots closer (less than ~400 yards and either broadside or quartering away) and be fine. Here’s an article from Chuck Hawks on the subject: https://www.chuckhawks.com/rifles_index_animals.htm A suppressor will help. I personally like the Tikka actions, but I don’t like their stocks. And most of their barrels aren’t threaded, and are short, and I don’t like the plastic parts, but Luckily now, there are lots of aftermarket quality stocks, barrels, bottom metal replacement, etc. for tikkas. Also they don’t make a short action, which is a bummer for deer / target calibers (you just have a bolt/magazine that’s ~5/8” longer than needed and filled with spacers.

Yeah, Wayne lost me about 10 years ago

Good to hear. 90 head on 600 ac is amazing

My cousin’s husband owns Paloma Pachanga if your familiar with that area.

@solamente73 where are you looking at going for Nilgai? I was looking at the King Ranch (surprisingly affordable), and I also got a good recommendation on https://lomaschicasoutfitters.com/

If you still have your 300 Wby from your elk hunt, that would be great on all African plains game. ELD-X, TTSX, Accubond, or partitions would be good. You need to take ammo to Africa - don’t plan on it being available there. I believe you can take up to 200 rounds, I took about 60 with me. riflepermits.com is a great resource and you should probably plan on using them to get your gun through JNB. talk to your outfitter. Africahunting.com is an awesome resource for info as well. NOTE: the vitals of most African game is further forward than American game. If you shoot behind the shoulder, you may have a long tracking job. Shoot through the shoulder. africahunting.com has great diagrams of the vitals of all that plains game showing you points of aim. Practice shooting off of shooting sticks as they do a lot of that there. If you’re flying into Johannesburg, I would recommend Delta 200 out of Atlanta. Flying in the day before to ATL is a good way to make sure your rifle and gear doesn’t get left stateside. Upgrading to Comfort Plus on the Delta 200 flight is totally worth it. What outfitter are you going with and what area of the country? Do you have a taxidermist that can receive African game (there is a dip and ship process and US receivers have to be registered with USDA I believe). The Dip and Ship people in RSA will want your taxidermist info so it’s good to have that setup before you go. I used Double Nickle in New Braunfels - the owner is a good guy. Here’s some of my stuff: I had a great time there and saw some beautiful country. The Professional Hunters are great people. The native trackers are amazing.

My job has been really stressful the last year, but I’m making a lot more money than I did a few years ago. I have worked really hard over my career, we don’t have any debt, and have saved/invested pretty well. Also, I turned 45 last year, and the mountains are getting steeper, packs are getting heavier, recoil is getting harder, and my eyes are getting worse. My left calf and Achilles tendon hasn’t been the same since we packed out my elk and my buddy’s mule deer buck in November. I’m at the “F it let’s do this” stage of my hunting career, before I can’t really do it anymore. Future years trips I want to make: -Alaska caribou -maybe Alaska moose -public land mule deer buck in high demand limited entry unit -public land bull elk in high demand limited entry unit -Shiraz moose in the lower 48 if I ever draw a tag -bighorn sheep if I ever draw a tag -New Zealand for Red Stag, etc. -back to Africa (RSA or Namibia probably) for Buffalo and maybe kudu and some minor plains game -Argentina for wing shooting and to hang out for awhile. -maybe Eastern Europe for boar, stag and to hang out for awhile -South Dakota area for pheasants I figure I better start working on that list or most of it won’t get done before I can’t do it.

I’m going next Saturday. I’m booking a private land elk hunt for 2025, and considering a nilgai hunt for this year or ‘25. I’m also considering a new rifle build, and am going to look at the new gear/rifle builders there. I’m really interested in this action: https://americanrifle.odoo.com/shop/coup-de-grace-bolt-action-1747?category=5#attr=492,494,499,519,512,522,514,516 Controlled Round Feed (which I like) with only 70 degree bolt lift (I like 60-70 degree lift; 90 is a no-go for me), really innovative extraction geometry, integrated rail and lug, looks very smooth as well. Masterpiece Arms uses them and I may use them for the build or maybe WTO or LRI or APR if they are interested. Thinking maybe 7PRC. I bought a new titanium suppressor thats only 8oz, wanting to run it on a new elk rifle setup. AB Raptor 8: https://www.absuppressor.com/raptor WTO has a quick change barrel swap lug (as others have made) I could use and maybe have an elk caliber barrel and a target/deer caliber barrel I can swap. Need to work through the fine points of caliber selection/bolt face diameters, may need to have a separate bolt head as well. Had a great dove hunt in Knippa last week, limited out in about 30 minutes and got to watch my elk hunting buddy’s labrador pup on some good long retrieves, and I have a dove hunt in Hondo next week. My buddy’s uncle is trying to put an Africa group trip together, but focused on plains game, and I really would like to target a Buffalo if I go back. I also got a line on an interesting helicopter hog hunt and am putting a group together for that and assembling a new 300BLK setup for the task. Lots going on.

@hornmpa96 those are some awesome deer man, y’all are doing a great job.

Seems like a straight shooter

I had a long day and could use a laugh - can somebody post the YouTube link of the edits of the one-toothed Spaniard cracking wise about aggy? It was posted a few days ago but with all the recent aggy misery, this thread and the aggy croot threads have been moving so fast I can’t find the posts. Thanks in advance.

Haha hell yeah. I was just thinking earlier today that I need some more bros out there. My dad and I are outnumbered 4-2 typically. My 11 y.o. daughter was complaining tonight that I “made” her drive the skid steer loader awhile back to help me with some stuff, and I couldn’t help think to myself, “if I had sons I wouldn’t be able to get them off of this equipment/to stop doing ranch work…” Hopefully they bring some decent boyfriends/sons in law around that are interested in what I do.

That blind is on a 12’ tower and is set on a limestone knob overlooking a hillside and a pond. The ranch is on a high spot in general - rain that falls on the east side of the ranch runs to the Brazos, and that which falls on the west runs to the Colorado. Things have really greened up, my food plots have sprouted and the deer would rather be in the fields than at the feeders.

Good stuff @HOOKEM4 I got the 13y.o. In the blind tonight and we saw some good eating pigs, but she got worked up and missed the shot on one of them

That’s awesome! Very cool

This is a fantastic buck man. I’m assuming high fence? If this is low fence, really need to get it officially scored. Did the taxi score it?

If the Big XII programs other than Texas and OU were rational actors regarding money as you suggest, we wouldn’t be in this situation, as the other members would have done whatever it took to keep TX and OU. The other members would have acknowledged the reality stated by the prior commissioner that “Texas and OU are over half the value of the media contract” (paraphrasing). Instead of acknowledging that reality and trying to cater to the primary breadwinners in some ways, the other schools completely took the two primary breadwinners for granted and actively made decisions detrimental to Texas and OU. Adding non-revenue generating, unattractive schools to the conference and losing Tx and OU will cost the remaining schools many millions over time, and they were clearly happy to do that. It is crazy that the remaining schools are actively voting themselves into a paycut by adding Houston, et.al.. I’d wager that’s because they’d rather operate with a significant amount lower revenue than cater to Texas and OU. That sentiment was basically voiced during the breakup. So, they’ve already made the decision to “cut off their nose to spite their face” financially. Why would they give a damn about another million now when they have the opportunity to do what they’d really like to do and keep both TX and OU out of the playoffs/title game so they can toast their own greatness and bask in their delusions of grandeur for the future?

I had seats at this game with a vantage point where I saw Nate closing on this guy a long way away. It has been the only time watching football that I wanted one of our guys to pull back a bit before the hit. I vividly remember thinking “OMG pull up a bit Nate this poor fool has no idea what’s coming and he may not survive…” then: CRACK!!! The crowd had taken such a collective gasp seeing that hit coming that it was totally silent in DKR when it happened and the collision sounded like it echoed in the stadium with no other noise to drown it out. I think we all just thought for a second: “oh shit. Nate actually killed someone.”

@deadshank that’s the best cull I’ve ever seen. Congrats to her.

Serious answer to a rhetorical question: My hunting partner hasn’t been able to find his wallet all day (Haha). He Doesn’t remember what happened to it after his second drink at the Mexican restaurant we stopped at last night on the way back through town after packing out his buck. A potentially related topic: He can’t sleep on the ground as well as I can. I’m no Mick Dundee, but I like to take naps during hunting days when we’re out in the wilderness. He can’t. After a pack lunch, I like to find a spot with the appropriate sun/shade blend for the air temp and get a good nap. Keeps me able to function on short sleep at night for several days in a row, and puts me in a focused place for the evening hunt. Ruark had a line in The Old Man and the Boy about “taking an afternoon nap in the shade when anything in it’s right mind would be laying low out of the heat” or something similar. There aren’t any fire ants, chiggers, ticks, etc. where we hunt in the mountains, so my favorite naps of all time look like this:

My partner tagged a good meat buck yesterday. This thing had an inch of fat on his lower back. Pack out was a little tough for us, 3.5 miles with 1000’ of elevation change. His pack was 65#, mine was 60#. Pretty country though and good weather. His first shot wasn’t great, hit in the spine, but that anchored him and then a good follow up ended things. It all happened quickly, we were slowly stalking into the spot where we wanted to be, and some hunters across the valley shot at something and three bucks came busting out of the brush in front of us. This is the first year we’ve been able to both tag animals, so that was great. Lots to be thankful for. Capped off the night with a big cigar and a little too much bourbon. Clean up/pack up today.

Out for mulies yesterday afternoon and again this AM in different spots. Didn’t see any last night, saw a little forky this morning that was at 320 yards that my partner decided to let walk, probably a good call.

God is good. Not a giant, but Very lucky this morning. My partner has the whole thing on video. Huge herd walked in on us. It was incredible.

Hiked ~5 miles today, but very little elk sign and some deer sign, but no animals to be seen. Several other hunters around, but no shots heard. We really need a cold front. Supposed to come Friday, wish it was sooner.

Heading up to a different spot today, higher elevation, about 8800’, where we both had this hoss within 30 yards last year. Neither of us had a mulie tag last year, but my partner has one this year. The neighbor at the cabin up here is a part time cowboy that rounds up cattle out of the national forest, he said he saw the buck up there in September, so hopefully he’s still hanging around now that we’ve got a tag.