So let me tell you a story about whitetail hunting here in the Annapolis Valley.
In 2018 when we arrived in NS I set out to locate all the crown land determined to hunt here in NS, we live on the west side of the river and there is virtually no crown land in this zone. I began exploring the South mountains and found abundant land available and for the most part no hunting pressure unlike the public lands east of Winnipeg where we witnessed drivers leaning out of their truck windows blasting away as they drove down the dirt road right in front of where we were parked. There were many other instances of scary unlawful behavior to the point we never hunted the 2nd year we lived in Richer. That drove us to purchase our beloved hunting property once we moved to Reinfeld, there are many blog posts on here relating to the wonderful hunts we shared there as well as the great times being completely off grid.
Back to NS, in early 2018s season the hunting opportunities here looked amazing, I was 20 yds max from a 4X4 (they call them 8 pointers here) that looked about 2.5 years old, nice rack skinny underdeveloped body. I had ample time as he was following a scent and was very preoccupied - but - I had no desire to end my hunting season on day two. Little did I know that was the last look I would get at a shootable buck all season, I vowed that I would not make that mistake again, an easier vow as I also learned that here in NS the general season (rifle) tag and muzzleloader / archery tag are separate tags and I could have simply bought a muzzleloader tag and kept hunting.
Most of you are aware we had a very damaging hurricane strike NS in September, on day 5 of no power we had ran out of propane for showering in the camper, after running around we finally found the Home Hardware in Annapolis Royal was filling tanks - all the exchange locations were out. While in the lineup my lovely wife started talking to the couple next to us, turns out they are our neighbours. They are a very nice couple who have 400 acres and were quite happy to share some hunting space with us. Additionally, the landowner adjacent has a private road for his business and was happy to let me park about 2 kms up where we would be entering our hunting area. This let us get in and out without interfering with the property owner and his brother where they hunt about a km south of us, and no more driving an hour plus each way to hunt. We put up trail cameras and a double tree stand near some apple trees, and rubbed our hands in glee. We put in a ground blind, brushed it in with a small shooting lane 80 meters from another apple tree. Life is good right? As of last night Nov 13th) I had hunted 98.5 hours and all I had seen was set of ears as a doe slipped away deep in the swamp during muzzleloader season (did you catch that, I bought a smokepole tag early this year) We had a small doe (we can shoot does in this zone) and a medium sized black bear on camera. So I also bought a bear tag.
If you know me well you know I love rifles, I ended up selling several and bought myself a Browning XBolt Hells Canyon Speed in the infamous 270 Winchester. It is an amazing rifle - superbly accurate, light, well balanced and a wonderfully slick action and trigger. I loved it so much I bought a XBolt Hunter in 280 Rem. But I learned something hunting here, that mountain rifle may have been the bees knees back out west, and yes lots of hunters sit in treestands and blinds with their 270's and shoot deer here every year. But it is not an optimal caliber for a bush gun so earlier this fall I spotted a XBolt Micro Medallion in 308 used in Halifax for a very economical price, I drove in and picked it up. (See a trend here?)
I had previously owned a semi custom Remington M700 carbine in 308 (one of two rifles I regret selling) that I had load data from, so while in Bass Pro I grabbed a set of dies and some 165gr Hornady SST bullets. I loaded up some of my Norma brass with CCI 250 primers and 44.0 gr of Varget. What are the odds this "hand me down load would be accurate? I took 10 rounds to the range to site in and test for accuracy, well folks it shot under an inch at 100 yds, I felt like I won a small 50/50 draw or something lol. The rifle is awesome for crawling through piles of deadfalls and blowdowns, great short rifle for sitting in the blind and superb to carry at the ready in the forest. I am in love with this rifle, four inches shorter on the barrel does not seem like much but in the woods it is very noticeable. I now have a better understanding of why the 30-30 lever actions are so popular in the Eastern deer woods, I am not a big 30-30 fan, but a second carbine will be in the works. The reason being, where we are hunting, a 100 yd shot is a rarity, most places you can't see 50 yds. Shooting through bush in tight quarters demands a heavier bullet in my mind, I know there are lots of hunters who believe a light fast bullet is just as effective but in my head (where it matters when I am squeezing the trigger) I believe in heavier bullets, in fact I will be looking at something in the 180gr or higher for the 308. I have some reason for this as you will see by reading on in my next blog.
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