Off the bench I shoot great 98 % of the time, but put my 60 year old butt in the field infront of an animal and some times I feel like I'm in a hurricane trying to be steady. And I have used the sticks with some limited success and proned out over a back pack, done the sling elbow wrap. but for the most part never felt truly confident of my shot.
Well it was time to try some thing new so I found a product called a MaXBox and it is a piece of dense foam about 16 inches long with stock cutouts in the material, a low side and a slightly higher side. Item doesn't even weigh a pound. I have had this item for a few years actually and used it at the range or at home for rifle cleaning but never thought to try it in the field.
Well I'm out deer hunting in southern Alberta last saturday and going to walk in to a harvested canola field full of the big square bales and my 6' 5" frame can lean over one of these quite comfortably. I supposed to be there waiting for buddy to drive the deer in my direction, but hang on there are 2 deer already here in the field that we did not see from the road. So stealthy I'm not very, but do manage to get to a bale with a good shooting lane for the direction they are moving. So I put the Maxbox on top of the bale and slip my Steyr Pro hunter in 6.5x55 into the stock slot and I am behind the riffle. Looking through the fine piece of Leupold glass I find the deer, a mule buck and a doe, which I have a tag for and both are nicely broadside to me. And I notice that I am rock solid dead perfect on the doe. I cannot believe how my confidence level just improved. ranged at 175 and I'm zero'd at 200 I hold right behind the shoulder and confidently squeeze the trigger, boom 2 deer take off running and 10 seconds later only one deer is still standing.
The 140gr Hornady old style interlock has claimed its first harvested animal from my nice rifle and I'm a very happy fella.
fast forward to the late afternoon in another zone where I have a whitetail tag, walk in again with the MaXbox and sit down and wait to see if a whitey doe come up out of the coulee for an evening feed in the field. I'm laying facing east viewing the entrance to an alfalfa field when I happen to glance over my shoulder and a doe and fawn are in the field behind me slowly moving. Stealthy I roll into the ditch behind me and with rifle in the MaXBox i'm crawling down the ditch to get some what parallel to them. from my knees I push the maxbox up onto the old road allowance and try and find the animals, a little bit at a time. i get in perfect position and the same thing happens I am dead solid perfect with my rest, look through the scope place the crosshair on the target which is a closer shot than the morning mule doe and boom, 2 deer are off and running and 10 seconds later only one is in sight. walk over and there she is expired with another perfectly placed shot. Whoo hoo 2 deer in one day both taken with my new rest and both shots I was dead solid perfect and I new I wasn't going to miss. likely my greatest day ever in the field.
Old style bullets combined with a new style shooting rest made for an excellent saturday for me that I'll remember for many seasons to come.. FS
Well it was time to try some thing new so I found a product called a MaXBox and it is a piece of dense foam about 16 inches long with stock cutouts in the material, a low side and a slightly higher side. Item doesn't even weigh a pound. I have had this item for a few years actually and used it at the range or at home for rifle cleaning but never thought to try it in the field.
Well I'm out deer hunting in southern Alberta last saturday and going to walk in to a harvested canola field full of the big square bales and my 6' 5" frame can lean over one of these quite comfortably. I supposed to be there waiting for buddy to drive the deer in my direction, but hang on there are 2 deer already here in the field that we did not see from the road. So stealthy I'm not very, but do manage to get to a bale with a good shooting lane for the direction they are moving. So I put the Maxbox on top of the bale and slip my Steyr Pro hunter in 6.5x55 into the stock slot and I am behind the riffle. Looking through the fine piece of Leupold glass I find the deer, a mule buck and a doe, which I have a tag for and both are nicely broadside to me. And I notice that I am rock solid dead perfect on the doe. I cannot believe how my confidence level just improved. ranged at 175 and I'm zero'd at 200 I hold right behind the shoulder and confidently squeeze the trigger, boom 2 deer take off running and 10 seconds later only one deer is still standing.
The 140gr Hornady old style interlock has claimed its first harvested animal from my nice rifle and I'm a very happy fella.
fast forward to the late afternoon in another zone where I have a whitetail tag, walk in again with the MaXbox and sit down and wait to see if a whitey doe come up out of the coulee for an evening feed in the field. I'm laying facing east viewing the entrance to an alfalfa field when I happen to glance over my shoulder and a doe and fawn are in the field behind me slowly moving. Stealthy I roll into the ditch behind me and with rifle in the MaXBox i'm crawling down the ditch to get some what parallel to them. from my knees I push the maxbox up onto the old road allowance and try and find the animals, a little bit at a time. i get in perfect position and the same thing happens I am dead solid perfect with my rest, look through the scope place the crosshair on the target which is a closer shot than the morning mule doe and boom, 2 deer are off and running and 10 seconds later only one is in sight. walk over and there she is expired with another perfectly placed shot. Whoo hoo 2 deer in one day both taken with my new rest and both shots I was dead solid perfect and I new I wasn't going to miss. likely my greatest day ever in the field.
Old style bullets combined with a new style shooting rest made for an excellent saturday for me that I'll remember for many seasons to come.. FS
