Put a brake on it and you'll actually enjoy the rifle and you'll get more range time. I wear these on my hat while I hunt. Takes 1/2 second to pop on.
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Scouting has been by preferred method to stay in good shape this year. I have two buck tags, one antelope tag, and an elk tag so I have plenty of areas to lock down. Elk scouting is the most fun so that has been my priority. I have 14 different bulls on two cameras about 1 mile apart from each...
I use calcium hypochlorite...you can literally have a white and clean skull in one day. Potent stuff. You still will need to do some detail work around the antlers because you can only get it so close.
It comes down to energy for me when deciding how far I can ethically shoot something...I know I can reach past 1k, and the animal is much larger than the steel targets but I still don't try. With my 300 wby mag shooting 165 BST I feel really comfortable in regards to energy and performance out...
Depends on what your wife considers a lot of recoil...has she shot anything else? My wife shoots my 300 wby with no complaints. Hard to beat the 300 wm.