Recent content by eclarsen

Ruger Hawkeye, 338 rcm. Also bought 250 pieces of brass, 120 rnds of Hornady ammo -- will keep me busy until the price of primers comes back to Earth. Fun, buying a rifle/cartridge that is no longer being made!

Sorry to hear of your loss. I can relate. I lost my Golden Retriever over 15 yrs ago. He was a great buddy and fun to hunt with. He never brought back more than I shot though. Some of you guys had very special dogs!

.22-250 Killed many a jackrabbit in Curlew Valley, UT in the 70's. Made great stew meat.

I'd keep the first big game rifle I bought in grad school in 1976 or 77. Ruger M77, 270 Win. I listened to the 30-06 guys and the 270 guys. The Rem 700 guys and the Ruger M77 guys. The Ruger was on sale for a few bucks cheaper and it was a .270. Sorta embarrassing that a few bucks was the...

archerytalk.com has a 98 page thread w/ 1) pics of trespassers caught on trail cams and 2) posts about not being able to post pics of trespassers because their trail cam was stolen, 3) posts w/ pics of trespassers stealing bogus trail cams while hidden trail cam is catching the action, 4) advice...

Ditto on the Leight electronic ear muffs. I wear them deer hunting--lots of sitting time in the woods and only one shot, but I wear them anyway. I turn the sound up til I'm hearing too much wind and leaves blowing, then back it down. The report of the 12ga slug gun is a muffled whump...

I have a smooth bore Remington Model 58. It likes Winchester foster-type slugs. Waaay cheaper than the saboted kind designed to be shot from rifled barrels. I've tried a bunch of foster slugs from Federal, Winchester, and Remington. The 1600 fps shells from Winchester shoot tighter groups in...

I'll be hunting in Jackson Co. You are not out of luck yet. I checked the deer tags remaining after the lotteries and as of 11/9 there are 29 anterless only tags in Fulton Co. Warren Co was not on the list. http://dnr.state.il.us/admin/

It's funny. Illegal to bait deer in IL--food, mineral licks, etc., but walk into sporting goods stores and you'll find all sorts of illegal stuff to lure deer in.

I understand the interest in a road trip from "northern IL", but you shouldn't worry over much about flying with guns and ammo. I've flown out of "northern IL" with guns and ammo and it was no great hassle...not even in the "big city where it is illegal to own a handgun". Just follow the regs...

Good luck. I'll be in the woods next weekend as well, ... downstate away from the "hunting" I hear often in Hyde Park. I know they must be hunting, using rifles and shotguns, as it is illegal to own a handgun in Chicago.

I got my 58 from my uncle. He got it from a friend that tossed it in a trash can. My uncle asked him if he minded if my uncle rescued it. He said no, so my uncle took it home with him. The reason my uncle's friend threw it away was that he googed while reloading shotgun shells and he goofed...

Fill the freezer. IL will let me take a few does and I hope to help out with that. Can take two bucks, but I haven't seen any to make my heart stop, so I'm certainly not counting/expecting a big one.

People advice against HP from 357mags on whitetails, so I imagine HP on the bigger species from a 44mag would also be advised against as well. HP's slow penetration and hitting bone would slow it even more. Heavy SP's or Keith-style cast bullets sound good.

In IL the STATE law requires that you ship from out of state FFL holder to FFL holder in state...not all states are the same, so good thing to check.