I never owned a rifle when I was a kid, except for my father's .22 rifle, which I occasionally use under his supervision. It may be a matter of money, I'm not sure why I never got it. On the contrary, when the deer hunting came, my father borrowed a rifle from a friend, a 0.243, and I used it to kill my first white-tailed deer, a doe.

After I left home, this borrowing continued. The last time was in 1980, when a friend of our common employer Pioneer Press lent me a pump-operated .280 Remington.

It was not until a year later that I bought a rifle of my own, a Ruger M77 with a 0.270 caliber, which was famous by the late Jack O'Connor.

Before buying, I have read a lot of articles about rifles, including everything written by O'Connor. O'Connor is an English-speaking firearms expert-conflicts of interest have generated a lot of firearms writing.

"Outdoor Life" magazine appointed O'Connor as the gun editor in 1939, and two years later he began to write a column on weapons and ammunition. As a skilled hunter of large prey, O'Connor chose the .270 Winchester 70 rifle. Among other pursuits, he also hunted sheep. He was impressed by the rifle’s flat shooting, low recoil and relatively light weight. .

These characteristics also left a deep impression on me, and-40 years ago-when I walked out of the old Joe sporting goods store in Como and Dell, Sao Paulo, holding my own rifle in my hand, I felt good. .

In the years since, unlike O'Connor, I have never killed a sheep with my .270. But I used it to kill deer in various states, as well as moose in British Columbia, elk in Colorado, and black bears in Montana. As the old saying goes, "Beware of the person holding the gun, he may know how to use it."

This is how things continued until Christmas last year, when my wife and two sons insisted that I buy a new rifle.

Obviously, the family has reached a consensus that my strength is insufficient, or in any case, it is time for the elderly to join the gun buying frenzy in the United States. My new rifle is the Christensen Arms 7mm Remington magazine, with a synthetic stock, carbon fiber barrel and muzzle brake, with a 4-16x50 Vortex Viper scope on the top-this is the sweet suit I long to name.

This is what I did while hunting Trevor in Montana, about a week ago I was looking for mule deer in a wasteland country.

Hiking up and down the jagged hills, deeply cut apart, we hunted from dark to dark handbags, which contained our rifles, ammunition, food, water and survival equipment.

If we shoot a deer, the same bag will bring out a quarter deer.

The first trick is to find money worth tracking.

The animal may be eating, moving, or bedridden. However, when we locate a possible suspect through high-power binoculars or our observation glasses, we will navigate to it as quickly and concealedly as possible. Every ravine we crossed seemed to be deeper than the last, and every cliff was higher.

Trevor is a man who insists on preparing, he insists on shooting practice before hunting. "Finding these animals is difficult enough, you don't want to hurt them or miss them," he said.

We loaded 139 Barnes long-range ammunition with copper bullets into the chamber, and we zeroed the rifle at 200 yards.

During the first and a half days of the hunt, we performed four moves on the deer, and found nothing except for back pain and tired legs-mine anyway. As a result, by 4 o'clock in the afternoon the next day, when we were sitting on the icy ground, in the labyrinth of spires and cracks, a certain fatalism had formed, and we were constantly searching for antlers.

The shadows are getting longer and longer, and the end of the day will soon come.

"We need luck," Trevor said at last, walking closer to reposition his scope on foot.

After a while, I joined him, and after a while, he said, "Two yuan."

These animals are half a mile away, upwind.

We drew a route in their direction, we threw away the backpack and inserted earplugs. Then, when we narrowed the distance between us and the deer by about 500 yards, we curled up in a circle behind the outcrop.

We finally climbed to a small hill overlooking the animals and watched them unsuspectingly foraging on the rock tabletop.

The mule deer in this country can spot an ear twitching a mile away. To avoid being spotted, I slid the rifle over the riser inch by inch. As I did, the bipod attached to the front end was purchased, stabilizing the aim of the rifle.

Collect the deer into his rangefinder, Trevor said, "350 yards."

On the butt of my rifle, there is a table attached to it, showing the adjustments to my scope at a distance of more than 200 yards. This is my zero yard.

Checking the printout, Trevor reached out to adjust my scope while I was lying prone on the rifle, leaning on a bipod, and supporting the rifle stock with my binoculars.

The corrected sight allows me to accurately aim the crosshair behind one of the front shoulders of the stag without having to guess the trajectory. This is a fairy-tale shooting technique, favored by hunters, and their refrigerators are often empty. Instead of being full.

When one of the bucks cleared himself-a 4x4, Western Count-I said, "I'm on him," and pulled the trigger.

The shocking report from the rifle echoes the weakening of the visible and invisible canyon walls.

The deer was dead before hitting the ground. When night fell, under the cone beam of our headlights, we put it in Trevor’s backpack and also in my backpack.

We still have a mile to pass before we can climb steeply out of the rugged country. The only sounds are the singing of coyotes and the clinking of our trekking poles against the rocks.

Following the topographic map downloaded to his mobile phone, and looking at a small spot that can pinpoint our location, provided by a high-altitude satellite, Trevor led us along the top of a series of rugged ridges, the black sky shining a hundred Ten thousand stars.

Jack O'Connor might use his .270 to make the same shot.

I'm glad I don't have to do this.

Outdoor columnist and editor Dennis Anderson (Dennis Anderson) joined the "Star Tribune" in 1993 and previously held the same position at the Sao Paulo Pioneer Press for 13 years. His column topics are diverse, including canoeing, fishing, hunting, adventure travel and environmental protection.

© 2021 Interstellar Forum. all rights reserved.