69beers

Yeah, it likes a tight choke. My best pattern was out of a Rhino .673, but it shot about 1 1/2' to the right. I sent it back for a .660 since it was for turkey in the first place. The difference between the two is barely noticeable with DC, however, both shot far better patterns than the factory full.

Jr, You'll see a much better pattern using a turkey choke (.660-.680) with Dead Coyote. I use it for predators and am very pleased. Also, as mentioned previously, be careful with that stuff in a hunting situation when everyone is camouflaged. It is very lethal at a much farther distance compared to turkey loads. I was on the receiving end of a load of 10 gauge #5s at 63 yards, luckily about 6 feet to my right. I didn't get hit, and if I did it probably wouldn't have killed me, but DC would have been a different story. It happens....

It's been a tough season so far with little or no gobbling. Everything changed this morning. I dropped a shell into the barrel of my SBE and let the bolt slam shut via the release button. I was the first one in on the public land I hunt and setup about 70 yards from the usual roost. Sure enough, double gobbles as scheduled. A few tree calls from the mouth diaphragm and ten minutes later they flew down. The first one walked in, 9"+ beard and low-to-mid 20's for weight. He stopped 30 yards directly in front of my barrel and posed for the "smile -- wait for flash." I never even had to move my bead it was so perfect. Took a breath, squeezed the trigger.....and, well.....the subject title explains the rest! He ran down the ridge as a tear ran down my face. I don't remember bumping my gun on the way in, but it must have happened. I'm stripping the action down and giving it a good oiling for a go again tomorrow. This turkey hunting is becoming such an emotional roller coaster. Does the NWTF have a support group for these things or a list of endorsed therapists?

I have a Steady Grip for my SBE1 and love it for turkey. I've also used it for predators and with my slug barrel for deer. It rocks The only negative I see with mine is changing back and forth with the field stock. One of the screw holes in my field stock holding my recoil pad (not an issue on SBE2) stripped. Now I put it on when I'm done bird hunting in the winter and only use it for predators and spring turkey. I would love to use it for fall turkey and deer, but I hunt too many things to be changing stocks. My only solution is to buy a SBE2 for birds and keep my SBE1 with the Steady Grip.

I have a Kicks .655 that patterns Win HV 3 1/2' #5s very well. I use a Rhino .660 for the Win XR 3 1/2" #5&6s. Since the Jellyhead is a .655 I'm assuming you're shooting a SBE1. I did not have much luck with the XRs & Kicks .655, but every choke is different.

Game Dog is for upland retrievers, which means a flushing/retrieving dog. It does not cover pointing. He bases everything on puppy obedience without using any force methods (e-collars or force fetching) since the e-collars at that time were pretty crude. What he doesn't cover is what to do if his methods don't work, whereas more modern systems do. You may also want to consider The Pointing Labrador by Knutson to help you with developing his pointing skills. You may not have a purebred pointing lab on paper, but functionally it might be close. Something to note is that Wolters was not a professional trainer, but he was a professional author. Many have had spectacular results using his books, but many haven't. I had good results with his method at first, but that seems to plateaued. If this keeps up I'll be going with the Smartwork system and en e-collar, which was not my original plan.

I got my Land Between The Lakes early quota tag in the mail today. It's on!

It's about that time again. So who is planning what? I'm looking at an early Land Between The Lakes hunt (pending drawing results), regular KY season, maybe Fort Knox if I tag out early, southeast OH, and maybe central PA. Also, what's your setup? I'm rolling the SBE, Rhino .660, Win XR 3 1/2" #6.

Has anyone been able to secure some ballistics data for these? The company website has minimal information. Word is they have replaced the Partition Gold, so I'm guessing its a 2000fps slug.

I do about a total of 15-30 minutes of training a day broken into 2-3 sessions. I've been using Game Dog with a somewhat high degree of success. However, it is for upland retrievers and not pointers. Wolter wrote a book called Gun Dog that is for training pointers, but I've never read it so I can't comment. I was looking at GSPs before I got my lab and a DVD set called Perfect Start / Perfect Finish was recommended to me by a few breeders. I think Water Dog, 10-minute Retriever, or Smartwork would be good water training books/DVDs. Check with your breeder or surf some pointing dog forums to see if you should start the water work before the pointing work if you're still getting the PP so you don't screw the dog up. If you end up getting a lab then I highly recommend Game Dog book/DVD set. Which ever you get I would get into the books before the pup comes home.

What is the velocity of the 2007 Hevi-13? I posted back in Oct asking about the Indian Creek chokes and nobody responded. How do the Federal #7s compare to the XR #6s? At what point is Benelli USA going to acknowledge you as their R&D consultant and start paying for your chokes and shells?

I've been patiently awaiting the Hevi-13 patterning results. Inquiring minds want to know which shell/choke combo it will be this year, Mudhen.

My female black lab just turned 10 weeks yesterday. I chose the Richard Wolters Game Dog book and video for training. So far it's been pretty easy and she's really catching on. I also have George Hickox's The Flushing DVD Collection, which seems pretty good if you're going to use an electronic collar. And I'm also reading Paul Knutson's The Pointing Labrador book since her granny points and there is a slight chance she may have inherited that trait...we'll see. The reason I chose a female is I wanted a slightly smaller lab without a dominance issue. I chose black over yellow (only two choices at the time) for fall turkey hunting. However, none of this realistically matters since either sex would have been fixed and I will most likely have to use some sort of blind to conceal the dog anyway. So I guess I saved 10-15 pounds of dog. I suggest reading some training books in advance before buying the pup. It makes it easier to be ahead of the game because they learn so fast. Game Dog is very simple and was suggested by some of my friends who have excellent upland and waterfowl labs & goldens.

Had two bucks come in together, 30 feet apart, in OH. Platinum Tip'd the second. When I fired two more jumped that were bedded in the brush 70 yards in front of me that I didn't know were there. All were 2-3yo bucks within a 100yd radius. Any ideas why 4 bucks would tolerate each other's presence in late Nov? [ 12-10-2006, 07:16 AM: Message edited by: 69beers ]

"........so as you can see from the video, silicone absorbs recoil. What our team of engineers propose doing is embedding it in the stock with a redisigned recoil pad. We could call it the ComforTech System. It will revolutionize firearm technology."

I don't know, are they? Seriously, if you have both guns then see if they fit.

Anyone tried these out yet in their Benelli? Mudhen???? Indian Creek Shooting Systems

Yep, I would try the Truball as well. I've killed many deer with Brenneke 1oz before going to a rifled barrel and sabots, so perhaps a box of those may be in order for your testing as well. If you're shooting within 60 yards I wouldn't cringe unless I was the target. Put one through the vitals and a blood trail will be the least of your worries.

Buy this part

Does anyone actually know someone who has bought that FCC license to use the GMRS frequencies? Does anyone actually know someone who has been busted for using GMRS frequencies without the FCC license? It would be interesting to see the amount of radios purchased compared to the amount to applications the FCC has received for those licenses. [ 10-03-2006, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: 69beers ]

Well, sort of. They were actually brassed. I shipped him the whole head, legs, tail, and beard. He puts the head in with dermestid beetles and then metallizes them with you choice of bronze, brass, copper, nickle silver, or pewter. Skull Metallizing

I made the first mount, and the second was done professionally. Unique to say the least.

Is the SBE blued or camo?