Chronic Wasting Disease Found in White-tailed Deer in Virginia

For anyone not following the latest news from the VDGIF , Virginia has had it's first case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The VDGIF has a press release at, CWD in Virginia .

I know it was only a matter of time before Virginia had it's first case but it still worries you. I have also read that West Virginia has had more cases of CWD. That story is at the WV Gazette

New Youth Rifle by Weatherby

With the SHOT show over new weapons and firearm related items are headed our way. One of the new rifles for 2010 is the Weatherby Vanguard Synthetic Youth . The rifle looks great for a young hunter to grow with weighing in at 6 1/2 pounds and a 20" barrel.

The rifle also offers an adjustable length of pull from 12 1/2" to 13 5/8" to fit the young hunter as they grow. The list of available calibers are, .223 Remington, 22-250 Remington, .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester and 7mm-08 Remington. I would like to see a .260 Remington offered but feel the 7mm-08 is just as good for a young hunter to shoot deer sized game.

It is good to see several companies offering youth rifles these days for our young hunters to join us in the field.

Predator Rifle

I am trying to decide which bolt action predator rifle I am going to save up for. There are a lot of choices as of late. Even more if you include the AR rifles however I am limited on my budget so my dream predator rifle, Rock River Arms Coyote carbine will not be in the running.

Weatherby has a nice looking Vanguard in Natural Gear camouflage with a 22" barrel and an adjustable trigger.

Savage Arms also has a 22" barrel in Mossy Oak Brush camo in their model 10 series.

Thompson/Center has just announced a new predator rifle, the Venture bolt action with fully adjustable trigger, MOA Guarantee and Max-1 camo.

Remington has their Model 7 in full Mossy Oak Brush camo. I have handled this rifle recently and really love the way it feels.

CZ-USA has a new predator rifle also in the 527 Ultralight with Backlands West camo. Anyone who has shot the CZ rifles know this one is in the running.

There are many more rifles without all the fancy camo and Predator name that will kill coyotes, bobcats and fox just as fast and just as dead. However I have decided to go after one of the marketed rifles so that I will have the full camo already and not have to send the rifle off or have to mar it with my poor painting skills.

I have been debating calibers for the last month or so. I am pretty sure that I will settle on the tried and true .223 Remington. I would like a .17 Remington Fireball for the foxes and bobcats but like the .223 better for the coyotes. Maybe one day I will have both or I might just get a custom .17 Ackely Hornet barrel for my Encore.

Dang it

I have not wrote anything in too long. I have been without a computer at the house and doing nothing but field training at work for too long. I really hope to start posting more especially since I replaced my lost camera. I lost the last one some where on the New River in late January of 2009 while duck hunting. Oops.

My lovely wife bought me an electronic caller for hunting predators on our recent anniversary. I have been out only on one hunt due to being sick for several months with sinus infections and bronchitis. Hopefully will get some predator hunting in the last couple weeks of the season.

I have been on a couple of duck hunts with my good friend Dale. I shot a very pretty hen mallard on New Years day on a local body of water that was not frozen. Beautiful evening on the water with approximately 70 mallards seen. They were landing everywhere but where we were but it was still a great sight to behold.