Arizona rabbit hunt -- Report

[earlmck]

Coupla' weeks ago I posted pics of 30/30 rounds I'd loaded to take along for a southern Arizona rabbit hunt.

Dtnloads30wcf.jpg

Fellow levergunner ving-thorr had been telling another fellow levergunner Azmark about a place to find jackrabbits to shoot down close to the south border. Turns out the state of Arizona wants you to have a hunting license if you intend to bop one of their jackrabbits. Couldn't talk cousin Bill in acquiring a hunting license and it isn't worth it for an out-of-stater for a one day hunt. So we decided to just go check out the area and take a few tin cans along to ventilate while we were there.

Hmmm -- turns out the good old BLM (Bureau of Land Management -- bureaucratic federal agency charged with managing public lands in the west for you folks that aren't acquainted with the breed) has the area posted as "You can hunt but you can't shoot". So we repaired ourselves to the nearby public shooting range (nice facility and nice folks range-mastering there).

BillShoots7253.jpg

BillShoots7256.jpg

That's cousin Bill shooting his "new" model 94 (post '64 but pre-safety) which seemed to shoot just fine and operate fine and just needs a nice receiver sight to make into a first-rate levergun. Yes, I'd taken him a Williams receiver sight but couldn't talk him into changing over. He hadn't shot a center-fire rifle since Army days and had forgot that those M-14's had peep sights.

So we didn't ventilate any of those Arizona jack-rabbits but got some fun shooting in anyway. Weather was great and maybe I need to spend more of my wintertime down in that part of the world. Nice area you fellows have down there, ving-thorr and Azmark.

[gamekeeper]

On a Hot Air Balloon trip near Phoenix we followed a Arizona Jack Rabbit for quite some time, I thought then this would be a cool way to hunt..

Sorry to hear you did not get to ventilate any Rabbits but at least you were in a beautiful part of the world.

[Mike D.]

I go to NV to hunt white tail jacks and don't bother with a license.

[JerryB]

Glad you had a good trip. How did your 30wcf loads work out?

[Old Savage]

I am with Bill - except I will scope a levergun but not put one of those ^%**(_)% receiver sights on it and least of all a tang sight. Real men shoot open sights.

Looks like great fun. Nice report.

John Wayne used open sights!

Yup, Bill n' me and John Wayne - we're three to ride the river with - rode all the trails in the lone star state, rode 'em early and rode 'em late but rode 'em all in Ford V8 - yippee aye oh ty ay.

[Blaine]

I vividly remember a gun writer in the sixties that wrote up an article about AZ rabbits with his Benjamin .22 pump-up....He described the crack, snap, and backward flop when he connected perfectly

[Mescalero]

I should put together a New Mexico Blacktail hunt for the boys.
If BigSky 56 comes, I will have to go across the river to get some Mescal.

[FWiedner]

It's prolly best that you didn't get the chance to take on any of those AZ jackrabbits.

I used to hunt 'em myself in days gone by, and as I recall those hares always required something considerable more than a simple under-powered .30-30 to take 'em all the way down.

Pointy bullets and high velocity. It's really the only way they'll fall.

[rjohns94]

Mescalero, that sounds like a great trip in the making.

[Mescalero]

A lot of possibilities, have to get Joe in on it.

[earlmck]

I go to NV to hunt white tail jacks and don't bother with a license.

Yeah, ain't Nevada a great state? Arizona is kinda' in the middle. My present state of residence (Oregon) thinks you should purchase a hunting license if your only planned "game" is a tin can.

How did your 30wcf loads work out?

They did just fine once I figured out they shot quite a lot higher than the standard 150 grain WWs Bill had. But the 150's needed to be on the third notch of the sight-ramp and dropping to the first notch put these little 110's right on the money (for the 50 and 100 yards stuff we were shooting at). In sighting in I shot one 4-shot group with the bull at 50 yards and put 'em in about 2". But we were some ways from having good bench-rest bags and I was really struggling to see the open sights. (danged aging eyeballs).

Real men shoot open sights.

While I can still shoot an open sight my aging eyeballs seem to be doing an awful lot of squinting to try to see the danged things. And I can still hit pretty fair with any kind of a peep sight. Sure do love a receiver sight on a levergun. But I notice that once I put a 2X7 Burris on one it kinda' seems to stay there. Which is why I had a spare receiver sight to take down to cousin Bill. (I'll bet he puts it on before long).

I vividly remember a gun writer in the sixties that wrote up an article about AZ rabbits with his Benjamin .22 pump-up....He described the crack, snap, and backward flop when he connected perfectly

As a kid I killed a jillion or two of these Arizona jacks with a single-shot Remington and 22 shorts (I think shorts were $.45 while long rifles were maybe $.60). But I sure like how they just come plumb unglued when they get hit by something like the 30/30

[Shrapnel]

Rabbits are always good game with the old rifles, nothing but head shots...

[kimwcook]

Earlmck, glad to hear you got out and were able to do some shooting.

Shrapnel, you have way to much fun. And, the toys you use, well, you make me very envious.

[1894c]

Earlmck, glad to hear you got out and were able to do some shooting.

Shrapnel, you have way to much fun. And, the toys you use, well, you make me very envious.

+1 kimwcook...i was just thinking the same thing...life is good and Earmck & Shrapnel are gooder... :)

[Pitchy]

Glad ya had a great trip Earlmck

A BAR for rabbits always wanted one of them.

[Sixgun]

Earmck,
Sounds like a blast. Only in this great nation can we all have so much liberty and fun.

Shrapnel,
You 'da man! Nice Pics--and nice looking shootin' irons. I especially liked the BAR. What caliber is the '89 Marlin in?-------Sixgun

[Griff]

Earl,

Cousin Bill's .30-30 looks like one of the Winchester "Antique" models from the late '60s to early '70s. Love those case colored receivers. Even if you didn't get to ventilate jacks... you did get some shootin' in!

Shrapnel, you have way to much fun. And, the toys you use, well, you make me very envious.

+1