Rifle Considerartions

LOCK, STOCK & BARREL

- Lee J. Hoots

Even though this column was written in mid-June, by the time it’s published and found on newsstands, mid-summer will hopefully have begun ushering in cooler evenings. Hunters across the country will have but one thing on their minds: spending long days in the outdoors hiking up and stalking along tall ridgelines for elk or mule deer, slithering up sage-filled washouts in pronghorn country or standing high in a perch awaiting a whitetail. About the same time every year, another summer tradition (more like a phenomenon) is the natural urge to buy a new hunting rig, a new or used rifle usually chambered to a cartridge that has not yet been used in the field.

John Barsness once wrote that “Many hunters think their rifle decisions are based on reason, that they analyze what’s required for their kind of hunting and buy precisely what’s required. In general this is self-delusion, along with emotion . . . We are all both rational and emotional, though the mix varies considerably, depending on the person and moment.” I search for “new rifles,” too, and have been both rational and emotional (perhaps even clearly irrational, looking back), but purchasing one on the cusp of opening day requires careful consideration and deliberation. After all, familiarity breeds confidence. Following years and years of putting in for elk, that one and only shot a hunter “might” get needs to be right on the mark. So ask yourself if you would trust that singular opportunity to any old rifle while “Old Trusty” has proven to be reliable and accurate over the years? I wouldn’t, and perhaps some readers might call me irrational as a result – fair enough.