My firearms season ended yesterday evening. I sat 23 stands with the Hawken seeing from 3 to 9 deer on 22 of 23 sittings. I realized early on I was seeing the same 9 deer; 4 mature does and 5 fawns, over and over. I saw just one broken antlered buck while on stand. None of the 8 bucks seen during early November resurfaced. That's a first in 6 years hunting here. Fortunately, the waterfowling has been outstanding with more geese than ever before...
" />
I headed to the range today. Started out throwing half a dozen Nosler 250's at the 100 with crushed rib sabots in front of 90 Pyrodex RS. The sub 5" group was not worth bringing home. I switched to 10mm/200 XTP's and 100 RS and moved to the 12" target I had placed at the 200. With open sights, I put 6 of 10 on the target and was ok with that. A break in the action allowed me to retrieve the target, and when I did, I put a 5.5" dot on an unused paper target "out thar".
Using the same load, I managed to drop 3 of 4 on that dot with the 4 shot "group" measuring 4 7/8". I probably would have shot another and screwed it up, but a break in the action saved me. I doubt I'll ever accomplish this again.
Cabela Hawken
GM barrel 1:28
10mm/200 XTP
100 RS
Open sights - fiber optic
200 yds.
" />
Range report ... personal best
