totally jeepless till unlimited rubi

hi terry! i emailed you several times before the move at whatever hotmail account you were using before but never heard back from you.

we narrowed it down to helena and billings (ruled out great falls the first time around) and ultimately decided on billings because of the extensive medical opportunities here for the wifey. we rented a place up in the heights figuring we would rent a place for the first year while we acclimate and learn the area so we can better determine where we want to be. im pretty sold on red lodge but that could end up being to much of a commute for the wifey in the winter. im not ready to buy yet, but currently shopping for rural land. i want to find about 100 acres and this is much easier to do around billings anyway. not as mountainous as our your way, but still nothing short of awesome. on my recent flight back from texas i took a couple pictures of the rimrocks around billings from 31,000 feet just before we landed. here they are:

next time you get down to billings (as everyone does sooner or later) give me a shout. email me or give me the email address you use these days and ill send you my contact info.

Sorry man, I haven't checked that darn hotmail account in months! Yep, I pass through Billings every once in a blue moon. We'll hook up one of these days for a beer. And perhaps for some Jeepin next summer out here in the Elkhorns whenever you get the new Rubi. My real email address: snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com.

We used to live in Texas for a while too. Once thing I sure miss about the place is the barbeque & steaks. One of our favorite restaurants was the Texas Roadhouse. I understand Montana now has one in Billings. That is worth the 3.5hr trip to Billings in itself! Montana is cattle country too, but one thing that surprises me about the Helena area is the lack of good steakhouses. Go figure. ??

Good choice in Billings. Living right in the mountains is cool, but I always did like it out closer to the plains anyway. I check the job ads from Billings weekly and would move out that way in a minute if/when the right job opens up. Cost of living is cheaper out that way. The closer you get to these mountains the higher it gets. Great hunting out Billings area too, which is one of my other passions. Upland bird, turkey, and pronghorn hunting is tops out there. You can also find the largest bull elk in the state out in the CM Russell area in the Missouri Breaks. Billings is closer to Wyoming too, were I used to live and where I one day hope to retire (either there or North Dakota).

Those pics you took are awesome! Appears to be the Bighorn Canyon National Rec Area just south of you down along the Wyoming border. That place is on my list of places to explore soon.

A big "welcome" to Big Sky to you & family.

Terry.

'twould be my pleasure to share a cold one with you terry. if youve the time we'll go down the lake (1 block away), crack open a couple cold ones, throw a few lines in the water, and throw a couple elk or buffalo steaks on the grille.

there is and its decent, but i prefer the mom & pop joints where they slaughter the cow in the back room, and cook/serve it in the front. :-) ive taken a strong liking to buffalo meat, no wonder they nearly went extinct.....thats good eatin'!

one thing we're not short on is employment opportunities for qualified workers. what do you do and ill keep an eye out?

....and thats where ill be this winter with a .30-.30 in hand. :-)

many thanks terry. this place is awesome and i love it more daily. its had a magical effect on my entire family and i wouldnt trade it for anything. i never thought it would be second nature to slip on my boots and cowboy hat before leaving for work. :-) ive traded eminem for randy travis, the sweats for overalls, and im happy. the kids love it here, the wifey considers it home, and im preparing to help my brother (and best friend) move his family out here from north carolina as soon as his house sells.

extinct.....thats

Yep, buffalo meat is awesome eats. Much leaner than beef. You can get it many places here in Montana & Dakotas. A buddy and I are going in on half for one in a couple weeks. A fellow out near Gold Creek raises them. You come shoot and gut it, and he'll quarter and pack it up for you. It is about the same price as a 1/2 beef, but better.

I'm a mainframe systems programmer, but can do just about any applications type programming too. I prefer the IBM big-iron work, which is harder to find outside of the larger cities. State of Montana still runs big-blue hardware which is why I'm here. I do contract software consulting work for them.

I'm an easterner myself (born & raised in southern WV). But there just isn't enough elbow room anymore back that way for me. When I lived in North Dakota, we used to always say "40 below keeps the rif-raf out". Man is that true!! The crime out here is nothing compared to down south/back east. Sad to say, but much of it is out on the Indian reservations.

Montana also has many good vacation spots in and around the state. It's a good central location for that. Family and I are heading out today to head down to the Salt Lake area & Utah for awhile.

Best wishes again to you & family, and your brother & his family. If you travel out this way, let me know.

Terry

cool, ill keep my eyes open.>Montana also has many good vacation spots in and around the state.

for sure. have you seen my pictures of beartooth pass by chance?

its awesome. we're headed up to yellowstone thisweekend but im lookin forward to riding beartooth pass more than seeingyellowstgone.

MontanaJeeper proclaimed:

Lakes are for drowning worms...the small creeks are where the nice pansize sweetfleshed cutthroat and such can be found. Nothing like water colder than a welldigger's [censored] to load up the flesh with good flavor.

Used to be a buffalo range up near Hamilton where you could buy a buffalo "on the hoof" literally... If the stuff is a bit tuff, build yourself a smoker and slow cook it over yew or similar.

Get a .264, 7mm, or 300 magnum with the long barrel so you can take pretty much anything in the state. 30-30 is pretty light for an elk unless you are fairly close and an excellent shot. Good for whitetail in brush, but then so is a .22 magnum.

It kinda grows on you, even in the middle of a 'norther. Just wait for the chinook.

.....but the lake is only 1 block from my house. :-) i havent had much time to fully explore the rivers and streams yet, but given time ill find all the best spots.

one of my buddies (may as well be a member of the family) is a butcher up in sidney. he cuts buffalo steaks at least 2" thick and brings them on the weekends. he brought some elk steaks that were frozen from last year and that was pretty good too.

.....i wouldnt know how to hunt without my trusty '94. :-) ive found the 170 grain rounds to be very effective. in considering buying a '94 in .44 mag. any better?

buying a '94 in .44 mag.

It sounds like you have no interest in buying a bunch of new guns ,so...

If you are gonna buy another lever gun, buy a .444 or a 45/70 and then you'll at least have a good solid elk caliber. It'll still be a little limited in range but if you hunt with a 30-30, then you are the guy (like me) who will be perfectly happy getting into the dark timber with the elk. Tote a 45/70 marlin into the timber and fill that elk tag!

Otherwise buy a 30-06, which will work just fine for all Montana game from antelope to elk. the perfect general caliber and it won't beat you up too bad.

-jeff

45/70 is a great bush/timber caliber, but factory loads are 'dumbed down' so they don't exceed pressure tolerances in old rifles like the Trapdoor Springfields.

You can hand load 45/70 to perform to the limits of more modern rifles, but if that's not your bag, consider the .450 Marlin. Essentially a belted magnum version of the 45/70 that can comfortably drop just about anything out to 200 yards. Marlin and Winchester both make nice little ported lever carbines for this cartridge:

These work great on moose and bear in the coniferous jungles where I live, but I'd expect that for those Montana vistas you'd want a flat shooting bolt action with lots of glass.

Steve

Handywired wrote:

That's all true.... I forgot to mention that. I handload for my 45/70 so I load my hunting rounds to 450 Marlin pressures.

I should also mention to Nathan that if he takes our advice and buys a .450 or

45/70, be prepared for some serious recoil! A hot load from my 45/70 Guide Gun is a very intense experience.

But it is indeed a heck of a caliber. THe Hammerhead loads, for example, are proven to shoot through a Cape Buffalo... lengthwise!

-jeff

Handywired proclaimed:

Well heck, if he is gonna load up for ticked off grizzly bears, why not just go all the way to the .50 caliber rifle?

For the best compromise of price, ammo cost, available models, I'd agree with the 30-06 recommend. It can handle anything found in Montana in the hands of a reasonably good shooter with moderate recoil that can be tamed by a good stock.

In open Montana country or ranges of 400-500 yards, I still prefer the .264, 7mm or .300 magnums, particularly the .264 that you can run light rounds for serious crosswind varminting or load up for elk, antelope, etc.

Of course getting in good with the local handloaders is nice.

with the 30-06 recommend.

.264, 7mm or .300 magnums,

Yeah, but if he's used to hunting with a 30-30, he's not anywhere near the kind of rifleman yet who should even consider a 500-yard shot at game. In fact it's my opinion that the percentage of people who have any business shooting that long at big game is miniscule. There is a LOT that can go wrong at 500 yards.

So I'll stick with my advice of a 30-06... that'll do out to 300 yards at that's a long way to shoot.

My own personal favorite deer caliber is 7mm-08, but then again I don't live in Montana.

-jeff

If I had to make kills at 300 yards with my 30-06 to stay alive, I wonder if I could keep from starving long enough to get my first kill. 300 yards is a long ways off. Hell, 200 yards off is a long ways off without some sort of a good support and concentration. ;)

Jerry

theres really no need as chances are i have at least 1 of most any common caliber you can name. i just prefer to hunt with the '94. my dad got me a '94 when i was 11 and old habits are just hard to break.

yup, dont mind it a bit! i believe the .30-.30 to be just as effective as most anything else to about 100 yards. since i hunt with open sites i dont take long shots anyway. ive been thinking about buying a '94 in .44 just to hunt with the same caliber as the super blackhawk.

Ahh! But a full pod of 2.75's is a thing to behold.

Montana Jeeper, What part of MT are you in I have 3 Jeeps in Great Falls. Jeepnut63

Hi Terry, Im a fellow MT Jeeper in Great falls. Have either of you guys joined the MT 4x4 Assoc.? The next Divide Ride (05) is supposed to be in Anaconda next July. I will also be looking for an Unlimited for the wife next spring. JeepNut63