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How Do "I" know........

1K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  soupy1957 
#1 · (Edited)
Friday I took a "Vacation Day!" Yeah "me!!" (lol)

I used it to get a bunch of stuff done.

For example, I went and got my Hunting License and Deer Permit (didn't know they were seperate until recently), costing me $38.00 total for the two.

Then I mailed in my Maine Application for a "Big Game" Hunting license (apparently NOT separate). $115.00, having already Applied for the Moose Lottery ($25.00 for three "chances"). If the Lottery fails to choose me, I'll go there for Bucks which are NOT under a Lottery currently.

In fact, according to a recent article I read concerning Deer population in Northern Maine, the numbers are "coming back" significantly up there. An apparent fact that my local friends who live there seem to disagree with.
I've been told by them that I have "more deer in CT than they do up in Aroostook County these days!"

I took my wife on Friday morning, to yet another MRI, and while I waited for her, I had with me the State of CT Hunting and Trapping magazine that I received during the Hunter Safety Course.

It seemed that (and I knew already that you couldn't use a high-powered rifle in our State, unless you are hunting on Private Land), the book read, that you couldn't use anything higher than "#2 Shot" for Deer (no "00"); and that you had to use a Breech Load style.
So I decided that while waiting for my gun, I'd inquire about this in the store. I was referred to one gentleman who said that using "slugs" was perfectly fine, and a pump action was, too! Having chosen a Remington 870 (which came with a couple of chokes, in case I decide that I don't like deer hunting, and want to hunt birds using buckshot), I would learn that I was buying a smooth bore gun, and would need (or "should use, for accuracy sake") Rifled Slugs.

After the wife's MRI, I had a few more errands to run, and the wife asked me if I was going up to Cabela's, (having heard me talk about the requirement for shotguns in our State on Public or "State Land," and assuming I was going to go up and get a shotgun, since I only have a .30-.30).

Since she asked............well.........I decided to go. (lol)

I found a Remington 870 for $329.00 and figured that would be sufficient, so I bought it (of course, I had my newly-purchased Hunting License with me, so I knew I would be able to walk out of the store with it, that day, without a "two-week waiting period."

It seemed that (and I knew already that you couldn't use a high-powered rifle in our State, unless you are hunting on Private Land), the book read, that you couldn't use anything higher than "#2 Shot" for Deer (no "00"); and that you had to use a Breech Load style.
So I decided that while waiting for my gun, I'd inquire about this in the store. I was referred to one gentleman who said that using "slugs" was perfectly fine, and a pump action was, too! Having chosen a Remington 870 (which came with a couple of chokes, in case I decide that I don't like deer hunting, and want to hunt birds using buckshot), I would learn that I was buying a smooth bore gun, and would need (or "should use, for accuracy sake") Rifled Slugs.


Naturally I had lots of time to wait around anyway (for those of you who know what it can be like to buy a gun from Cabela's), so I picked up a soft case, a spacer for the tubular magazine (that green plastic thing about 5 inches long, that is required in the magazine because we can't have more than three rounds in the gun at any time, which I assume includes the round in the chamber), and a book about Deer called, "Hunting Deer For Food," by Jackson Landers.

Wouldn't you know that they would NOT have any "rifled Slugs" in stock, (they haven't had .30-.30 Ammo for months either, which seems to be the trend these days).

I waited a couple of hours at least, for Cabela's to finish their paperwork, and I finally got outa there and came home. First on my list was to assemble the gun (naturally it came dis-assembled in the box; I watched the gal take it apart and package it, while I was sitting there) and get the spacer into the tubular magazine.

Wouldn't you know, that I would find a green "spacer" in the box, after spending the $6.00 for another one. You'd think the gal who packaged the gun, having seen what I was holding in my hands (the book, the case AND a spacer), would have spared me the $6.00 by telling me there was "already a spacer in the box?!" Nope!

I got that spacer in, and put the trigger lock on the gun that came with it (nice lock! Wish they made a decent trigger lock like that for my Lever Action Model 94, instead of having to use a cable lock!!). I locked the gun away in the cabinet, and set out to read the book.

So far, ..........what have I learned from the book by Mr. Landers: Well, first off, I DIDN'T know that Deer do NOT have any upper front teeth!! A dumb little detail, but nonetheless, something I didn't know.

Here are some rookie questions:

1. When I look at the hunting sections in the State of CT Hunting and
Trapping Guide, I see the boarders, but I wonder how I would know
those boarders in the woods? What's the best way (if I was hunting
alone, which I don't plan to do), to know I'm within the boarders of
any given hunting area?

2. I see that I can put a few different lengths of shells in my new 12
gauge (I'd owned a 12 Gauge some years ago; a Savage Stevens
Model 67 Slug gun). I'm not sure if the "longer" shells are "longer"
because the slug is longer, or there is more powder. I'd assume
both are potentially true. Which to choose for Deer? I dunno!

That's enough fodder for now. I'm sure you're tired of reading my ad-nausium postings at this point. Back to my book!!

Looks like, (if I win a spot in the Lottery) I'll be going up for Season A which is Sept/Oct (I forget the actual dates), or Nov/Dec for Deer (if I read the Maine season booklet right). My pack is together now (except for a couple of incidentals that I will wait to put in it, until I go) and I need to get some "range time" in.

I have just completed and uploaded "Part 7" not long ago, to my running series in YouTube about becoming a "Hunter," and I'm already ready to do a "Part 8" with the details recited here, and a bit of show-n-tell.
If you are following the series as I do them, the most recent is here:


So, you want to be a hunter, Part 7 - YouTube


-Soupy1957
 
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