Hi there!
So I was thinking it would be cool to see and read about what folks have been hunting this year with their M305/M1As?? This year I'm getting a serious thrill from using open sights on my M14s shorty setup...18.5 inch barrel, standard handguard, se dc vortex and se dovetail gas lock sight with NM 0.062 front post. Rear aperature opened up to 0.125 for better low light capability.
I've been having good success doing the big long & slow crawl across scrubby hillsides....scored twice this year so far and have yet to go out to fill my doe tags.
My muley this year was a 3 hour crawl...spotted him feeding with a bunch of other bucks in the middle of a massive oat field that had been knocked down & windrowed for winter feed. With no real good avenue of approach I backed around a big rise crosswind to them and started the crawl to intercept. About halfway through the crawl they finished up feeding and made their way to a barren windblown hillside adjacent to the oat field. Fortunately for me this was not too far from my crawling exercise and only a minor course correction was required for interception. They bedded down and from the strangest shooting position I shot this guy from about 75 yards with about 10 minutes of legal light left. I was super chuffed from the crawl but super pumped for what I felt like was an awesome hunt.
Regarding the shooting position; prone was not an option because of all the scrubby grass in the way however if I would have sat up he would have been looking directly at me and likely busted me. Solution? I rolled onto my side, pulled the bottom leg up under me bent, and then leaned upwards untill I cleared the grass and had a clean shot. Sortof an awkwards combination between prone and sitting. Good thing he was pretty close as I would not have been able to hold it steady for very long. I'll now be adding this to my practice repertoir...
Then I got out this morning an hour before legal light and set up on the edge of the same oatfield/scrub. Herd lots of antler action already coming from the oat field and that sure got the heart pumping! The sun came up and a tonne of deer went full speed hard run into the bush about 700 yards away....not sure what spooked them or why but there was a couple stragglers that slowed down and dissappeared into a draw going up a big hill inbetween the oatfield and the bush on the other side of the ridge. Time to crawl again! These deer settled down and I crawled for 2 hours until their danger detector tweeked and they came in on the big investigative circle to get downwind. I was only about 100 yards away but the terrain was masking everything except the head and horns so I pulled myself into a sitting position in the middle of a big grass/thistle patch and waited. Slowly the deer cleared the terrain (and fortunatly the wind was good!) and I had the textbook broadside shot. Breath in, breath out, check sight alignment, pick spot, drop hammer and BOOM! Flop goes the deer and what tasty tenderloin I just finished while my M14S heats up/dries out by the fireplace.
So who else has been hunting with their battlerifle??
Brobee
So I was thinking it would be cool to see and read about what folks have been hunting this year with their M305/M1As?? This year I'm getting a serious thrill from using open sights on my M14s shorty setup...18.5 inch barrel, standard handguard, se dc vortex and se dovetail gas lock sight with NM 0.062 front post. Rear aperature opened up to 0.125 for better low light capability.
I've been having good success doing the big long & slow crawl across scrubby hillsides....scored twice this year so far and have yet to go out to fill my doe tags.
My muley this year was a 3 hour crawl...spotted him feeding with a bunch of other bucks in the middle of a massive oat field that had been knocked down & windrowed for winter feed. With no real good avenue of approach I backed around a big rise crosswind to them and started the crawl to intercept. About halfway through the crawl they finished up feeding and made their way to a barren windblown hillside adjacent to the oat field. Fortunately for me this was not too far from my crawling exercise and only a minor course correction was required for interception. They bedded down and from the strangest shooting position I shot this guy from about 75 yards with about 10 minutes of legal light left. I was super chuffed from the crawl but super pumped for what I felt like was an awesome hunt.
Regarding the shooting position; prone was not an option because of all the scrubby grass in the way however if I would have sat up he would have been looking directly at me and likely busted me. Solution? I rolled onto my side, pulled the bottom leg up under me bent, and then leaned upwards untill I cleared the grass and had a clean shot. Sortof an awkwards combination between prone and sitting. Good thing he was pretty close as I would not have been able to hold it steady for very long. I'll now be adding this to my practice repertoir...
Then I got out this morning an hour before legal light and set up on the edge of the same oatfield/scrub. Herd lots of antler action already coming from the oat field and that sure got the heart pumping! The sun came up and a tonne of deer went full speed hard run into the bush about 700 yards away....not sure what spooked them or why but there was a couple stragglers that slowed down and dissappeared into a draw going up a big hill inbetween the oatfield and the bush on the other side of the ridge. Time to crawl again! These deer settled down and I crawled for 2 hours until their danger detector tweeked and they came in on the big investigative circle to get downwind. I was only about 100 yards away but the terrain was masking everything except the head and horns so I pulled myself into a sitting position in the middle of a big grass/thistle patch and waited. Slowly the deer cleared the terrain (and fortunatly the wind was good!) and I had the textbook broadside shot. Breath in, breath out, check sight alignment, pick spot, drop hammer and BOOM! Flop goes the deer and what tasty tenderloin I just finished while my M14S heats up/dries out by the fireplace.
So who else has been hunting with their battlerifle??
Brobee
