Well I just spent the last week deer and goat hunting with the Striker and like the results so far. The grass made setting up for the shot very important. I had to use a rock or berm high enough to be able to use the short bipods as this animal does not freehand worth a hoot for me.
Opening morning of the WY deer season found me overlooking a small canyon about 600 yards across. When it got lite enough to se there was a father/son team across the canyon from me. It wasnt long before a few does showed up and a young buck with very little mass. I had resolved to let the young hunter have a crack @ him but he stepped behind a tree and disapeared not to be sean again??? Man its funny how they can just apear and disapear! I watched the dozen or so does for a couple of hours and was about to go walk-about when I glassed a couple of medium bucks sneeking down the canyon. The father/son team had already decided to pack it up and where back @ the truck and my partner was probably sleeping (he had put in a 10 hour shift before heading out that morning) 400 up the canyon from me. Being both bucks where about equal I waited till they both got out of he bottom, broadside and on top of a small plateou before sending a round 398 yards into the trailing buck. The distinked Wop of the 178 AMax hitting home was incoraging but the buck seamed no less for ware as it reversed dirrection only to flop stone cold dead in the bottom of the rivene with all 4s sticking straight up not kicking one bit. My partner Recoil woke up only to see six hunters running to the canyon rim. Nobody knows where the second buck went??
398 yards is a chip shot in my my book but this was the first kill for the Stiker and was very pleased that the shot went right where it was aimed! All I had along for a camera was my cell phone so picks are limited to just this one before the boneing and packing process started.
Antilope are plentifull and fun to hunt as you have so many choices as how to hunt them. Prefering to work a little harder than I have to I left partner Recoil by the Tahoe where he had a better chance of filling his deer tag and hiked 2 miles up the Powder river to a berm that overlooked a lot of prime goat ground. I got to the berm only to find 6 does with thier fawns being teased by a lone coyote. The coyote never got into my 600 yard range limit so he got a pass as I knew as soon as the shooting started the goats where gonna be heading for the valley around that berm. I didnt have to wait long before goats started filling the valley. One herd apeared to have a few average bucks in it with one that was noticably better than the others, to make it even better he prefered to stay away from the bunch just enough to make picking him out and getting a shot off only at him easier. They milled around @ 700+ yards for a while then got spooked by some shooting from the other side of the fenceline and moved closer. By the time they got inside of 600 yards and the buck was not only in the open and broadside he was 512 yards away?? The Wop from the 178 Amax hitting him told me I had connected but it looked a little high. Confused as to where the shot appeared to hit I took a 100 yard shot @ a prairie dog to confirm zero= The dog flew 10 feet in the air and landed back on the mound stone cold dead!
On my way out to get the buck it was clear I had spined him so I quickened my pace as taking an off-hand shot was not a good option. A finishing shot was nessisary as the first round had just taken out the spine and did very little other damage. I can not explain the shot going high as the shot broke clean and the range was confirmed back to my shooting position. I boned the buck and packed it back to the berm to shoot a few more prairie dogs to figure out what happened. It would appear that the scope is not holding zero as I would get about every other one and shoot high on the others....Gonna recheck the rings and bases too. A brake and rifle scope are definatly in order!! Recoil put a world of hurt on every prairie dog he aimed at with the 25-06 Savage rifle I put together for him. He also commented that a buck about the same size as I shot had walked within 50 yards from the Tahoe while he was waiting for a deer to show up
The phone picks of the buck are not retrievable from my phone,must have hit the wrong button and made them too big? Here is a pic from the garage though.
The Stiker is showing promise (the accuracy is great) as long as I can set up for it but for walk-a-bouts its hard for me to beat a lite fast handleing rifle and a pair of shooting sticks.
I see there are still whitetail tags left over, maybe the Striker will see more action before winter vacation?
Opening morning of the WY deer season found me overlooking a small canyon about 600 yards across. When it got lite enough to se there was a father/son team across the canyon from me. It wasnt long before a few does showed up and a young buck with very little mass. I had resolved to let the young hunter have a crack @ him but he stepped behind a tree and disapeared not to be sean again??? Man its funny how they can just apear and disapear! I watched the dozen or so does for a couple of hours and was about to go walk-about when I glassed a couple of medium bucks sneeking down the canyon. The father/son team had already decided to pack it up and where back @ the truck and my partner was probably sleeping (he had put in a 10 hour shift before heading out that morning) 400 up the canyon from me. Being both bucks where about equal I waited till they both got out of he bottom, broadside and on top of a small plateou before sending a round 398 yards into the trailing buck. The distinked Wop of the 178 AMax hitting home was incoraging but the buck seamed no less for ware as it reversed dirrection only to flop stone cold dead in the bottom of the rivene with all 4s sticking straight up not kicking one bit. My partner Recoil woke up only to see six hunters running to the canyon rim. Nobody knows where the second buck went??
398 yards is a chip shot in my my book but this was the first kill for the Stiker and was very pleased that the shot went right where it was aimed! All I had along for a camera was my cell phone so picks are limited to just this one before the boneing and packing process started.
Antilope are plentifull and fun to hunt as you have so many choices as how to hunt them. Prefering to work a little harder than I have to I left partner Recoil by the Tahoe where he had a better chance of filling his deer tag and hiked 2 miles up the Powder river to a berm that overlooked a lot of prime goat ground. I got to the berm only to find 6 does with thier fawns being teased by a lone coyote. The coyote never got into my 600 yard range limit so he got a pass as I knew as soon as the shooting started the goats where gonna be heading for the valley around that berm. I didnt have to wait long before goats started filling the valley. One herd apeared to have a few average bucks in it with one that was noticably better than the others, to make it even better he prefered to stay away from the bunch just enough to make picking him out and getting a shot off only at him easier. They milled around @ 700+ yards for a while then got spooked by some shooting from the other side of the fenceline and moved closer. By the time they got inside of 600 yards and the buck was not only in the open and broadside he was 512 yards away?? The Wop from the 178 Amax hitting him told me I had connected but it looked a little high. Confused as to where the shot appeared to hit I took a 100 yard shot @ a prairie dog to confirm zero= The dog flew 10 feet in the air and landed back on the mound stone cold dead!
On my way out to get the buck it was clear I had spined him so I quickened my pace as taking an off-hand shot was not a good option. A finishing shot was nessisary as the first round had just taken out the spine and did very little other damage. I can not explain the shot going high as the shot broke clean and the range was confirmed back to my shooting position. I boned the buck and packed it back to the berm to shoot a few more prairie dogs to figure out what happened. It would appear that the scope is not holding zero as I would get about every other one and shoot high on the others....Gonna recheck the rings and bases too. A brake and rifle scope are definatly in order!! Recoil put a world of hurt on every prairie dog he aimed at with the 25-06 Savage rifle I put together for him. He also commented that a buck about the same size as I shot had walked within 50 yards from the Tahoe while he was waiting for a deer to show up
The phone picks of the buck are not retrievable from my phone,must have hit the wrong button and made them too big? Here is a pic from the garage though.
The Stiker is showing promise (the accuracy is great) as long as I can set up for it but for walk-a-bouts its hard for me to beat a lite fast handleing rifle and a pair of shooting sticks.
I see there are still whitetail tags left over, maybe the Striker will see more action before winter vacation?
