Hunting On The Tejon

During my travels to different areas in the western states, I've always been told you never know what kind of weather you're going to get. It can be sunny and warm one minute, and then cold and snowing the next. Well...that was the case on the Tejon Ranch, just outside of Los Angeles, last week while we were there hunting hogs, turkeys and ground squirrels...and one coyote!

We arrived to beautiful sunny California on Sunday, only to leave on Thursday while it was raining, sleeting and snowing.

We were testing a variety of lead free ammunition that Winchester Ammunition manufactures, such as the E-Tip line (300 Win., 30-06 and 7MM), Xtended Range turkey loads (12 ga.), XP3 slugs, lightening fast Super-X rimfire ammunition (22 LR and 22 Win Mag) and the new Ballistic Silvertip Lead Free 22-250.

The new Ballistic Silvertip Lead Free line can also be found in a 223 Rem. Winchester and Nosler teamed up to produce this bullet. It features a plastic tip to reduce tip damage and promote long range performance, and a gilding metal jacket. It's designed with a fragmenting copper core so that it explodes on impact.

It's pretty safe to say that no matter where you are hunting, whether you're in a lead free state or not, Winchester Ammunition can provide you with the ammunition you need to enjoy your hunt and be successful.

Good times in Virginia

With Karen being the editor of the NWTF's Turkey Country magazine, and my wife, you would think we'd have plenty of time to hunt together but it rarely works out that way. However, this spring she received an invite to turkey hunt at Virgina's Primland. And she invited me to join her. (Yes, I did bug her non-stop until she did — but that's beside the

point.)

The new lodge is almost too good to be true, and everyone who works here is first rate. We chased ridge running gobblers in the mornings and fly fished and explored the property on ATVs during the afternoons.

During the fishing trip I managed to land a great 15-inch brown trout, but Karen ruled the roost on turkeys. She tagged the attached longbeard this morning with just a few minutes left in the morning hunt. (Virginia stops all turkey hunting at noon until the latter part of the season.)

A great trip and certainly a place we hope to visit again soon.

STOP THE THREAT™

I recently got back from a personal defense event in Illinois, co-sponsored by Taurus International and Winchester Ammunition where we tested a variety of guns and ammunition at Winchester's handgun range.

We started the day with a couple of product seminars and then dove right into several gelatin demonstrations that really showed how well the two companies products perform together.

The Bonded PDX1 line uses the same technology the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses as its primary service round. It's engineered to maximize terminal ballistics, as defined by the demanding FBI test protocol, which simulates real-world threats.

During the gelatin demonstration we shot seven different PDX1 loads, including the highly talked about

PDX1 410. We tested it out of The Judge at several different distances and the results were lethal every time.

If you haven't kept up with this new product, it features a distinctive black hull and black oxide high-base head and combines three plated Defense Disc™ projectiles and 12 pellets of plated BB shot. It's the ideal personal protection load for short range engagement with the performance needed to stop threats. Another

cool feature about this load is that it's also suitable for varmint hunting and pest control.

After learning about the products and watching the

gelatin demonstrations, it was time for everyone else to test out the guns and ammo themselves. Check out Kristin Hunt at the range. She'll take out anything that gets in her way...paper targets, watermelons, steel plates, water bottles, you name it....she'll shoot it.

And I can assure you that she would be fine, if she was ever put into a threatening situation, due to the knowledge and experience she's gained while shooting and spending time at the range.

Turkey Time

Spring is here in the SC upstate but you wouldn't know it by the way the turkeys are acting. It looks like I'm gonna have one of "those" seasons unless I make some last minute plans to head out of state. It's tearing me up as I was really looking forward to trying out the new TurkeyPro scope on the best target available....an actual turkey head!

At least good friend Wade Middleton sent me a photo of a nice tom taken with the scope.