Monday, November 13, 2006

Keepin It Real

Most hunters take great pride in their equipment, most especially their firearm. So much so, that rarely is a photo taken of hunter and harvested that does not include prominent display of the weapon used.I confess: I am as guilty of this as the next guy.

Some hunters will plow any where from several hundred, to thousands of dollars, into their tackle, from just the right overpriced sexiest rifle to impress their buddies, all fitted-up with the equally priced optics. Its just crazy, sometimes.

When I first started this game, oh, so long ago now, the budget was not what it could have been, and, basically, I'm a cheap-skate to start with, so I pulled an old military surplus Mauser out of the closet and made a go of it.
It worked well, mostly, until my second season, when I found myself facing a difficult shot that I really wished I had a scope for, and took a pass on that animal.

Preparing for my third season, and convinced that I was going to stick with this activity, I went absolutely not-all-out, and spent a whopping $199 for a slightly used Interarms 30-06, and fitted it with a very low-end Weaver scope(retail,a laughingly cheap $40, but I got it from a friend for $10).

This has served me quite well, with few limitations,for over ten seasons, and killed a couple dozen deer, and a variety of nuisance critters, along the way. And even at some really cool distances.

Basically, what I'm saying, is that a really nice, expensive,sexy, bragging rig is just that.

Rifles, by design, shoot straight and true. In terms of performance, they are all equal for hunting purposes when the goal is to place a bullet into a kill zone the size of a paper plate.

Get real... we're not splitting hairs, or dimes, at 100 yrds.

1 comment:

Mercy Now said...

Yeah, whenever I go to the gun shows, they have all sorts of fancy ridiculous expensive rifles. I thought why would a hunter spend a grand or more on a rifle when he goes to hunt, I mean he's gonna get down and dirty and all that. I guess the only legit reason for an expensive rifle & scope is for sharp shooting.

Dang, a couple dozen deer? Wow, so all you need is a vegetable garden and you'll be all self sufficient.