Winchester Model 70 Stainless Steel 300 WSM Coyote Light Rifle with Zeiss Conquest HD5 5-25-50 Riflescope

I am a proud owner of the Winchester Model 70 Stainless Steel 300 WSM Coyote Light Rifle with Zeiss Conquest HD5 5-25-50 Riflescope.  It's taken a year or more to make the decision as to which long range rifle big game rifle and scope to buy.  I have yet to fire it but I'd like to share the discussion of why I bought this rifle.

It all began with the notice of the Canadian military snipers shooting award with the 338 Lapua shell. They were shooting a mile away.  Imagine reaching out and touching someone a mile away.

Well, to put it bluntly, most everyone I talked to said the 338 Lapua was principally a 'man hunter'.  There's a 50 caliber sniper rifle and a 338 sniper rifle. The latter shoots deadly to 1500 meters while the former is 2000 meters.  The Win Mag shells shoot to 1200 meters.  My present 30:06 is said to comparatively shoot to 800 yards.  

Ruger Stainless Steel Bolt Action 30:06 with Bushnell 10 power riflescope

My Ruger Stainless Steel bolt action 30:06 with Bushnell 10 power scope and  Federal  180 grain Nozzler Partition bullet has been a veritable harvest tool of the first order.  I've shot deer in the neck, moose and bear.  It's been a guarameed workhorse.  When I first took it out of the box with my friend Bill Mewhort, of Campbell River, and my ex Sherry, we'd been talking about the Knights of the Round Table and the sword Excalibur.  Seeing this beauty, someone said, "Sexcalibur" because it looked so sexy.  Before that stainless steel rifle I'd had wood rifles with blued barrels. The stainless steel caught the light that day.  And it's served me faithfully now over 20 years.  

I've shot moose at 400 yards with my 30:06. The 30:06, 308 and 7 mm are generally thought of as the mainstream all round hunting rifles. If you had only one rifle for big game it would best be one of these. I love the 30:06 and have used 150 grain shells all the way to 220 grain shells but settled in with the all round 180 grain nozzler partition since I'm admittedly a lazy kind of hunter. I'm out there gathering food and want something dependable simple and reliable. So that's what my Ruger 30:06 has been. A beautiful rifle. In WWII the 30:06 was the principal rifle of soldiers too.  If the Z -wars happen, I'd pick up this rifle first, every time.  It's accurate, reliable, and really simple. The bolt action, safety and trigger have all been superb.

Mossberg 30:30 Lever Action Rifle with Bushnell Scope

Now that said, I bought a Mossberg 30:30 Lever Action Rifle with Bushnell Scope  as back up a few years back. Mossberg's Lever Action is a beautifully engineered rifle. My father had a 30:30 all his life and shot moose, deer and bear with it. I think it was a Browning but it could well have been a Winchester or Remington.  He loved that rifle and frankly in the Cold War Kennedy Missile Crisis when I was a little kid, I took comfort in my Royal Canadian Air Force veteran father having that rifle in the front room gun cabinet. I had nightmares of cold war soldiers ranging the neighborhood but dad defending the house with that rifle.  My older brother would have the shot gun and I'd have the 22 Rifle which I'd been using at the hunting club.  I was 10 then. Even at 12 when I first got to shoot the 12 guage it set me on my ass in the swamp, Dad and Ron laughing, saying how that had happened to them. 

The 30:30 is a 'bush gun', known for it's value in wooded areas. It's the Rifleman's gun on the TV series and the favourite 'boot' rifle of the cowboys.  Grandad was a rancher. My uncle was till he died a true western cowboy and Dad was until his teens when his fascination with engines turned him from horses to trucks and airplanes.  

Dad always hunted on foot, finding a white tail, game trail and waiting for a deer to come along so he could shoot it with the 30:30.  Probably his longest shot was a 100 yards. That's where the 30:30 excells.  The 30:30 round was the hunting load equivalent of the famous WWI  British Enfield  303 rifle. 

I've shot the heads off grouse at 75 yards with my Mossberg. I've shot one deer with it at 100 yards running, dropping the deer as it was jumping.  It was a lucky shot. The deer ran across the road in front of my truck as I was finishing a morning hunt. I was able to get my rifle load and shoot it as it ran along a field. 

The last few years due to injuries, occasioned by vehicles, and the fun of off road vehicles I've done less hiking and wanted less to drag game long distances to the road. There's something about aging and the wisdom that has me looking about to see where I'm going to load the game. This is something I never considered as young man so have the experience of dragging and hauling a deer on my back a mile or so as well as hauling moose quarters an equal distance or more on my back out grizzly woods. The last elk I shot took me all day of hauling quarters out.  I bitch and complain alot about hauling meat and think every old hunter should be bequeathed a slave for hunting seasons. When I see the sahibs on elephants hunting with the beaters all on the ground ready to carry back game, I'm truly envious of the glory days of hunting.  Even Medieval knights had knaves for their game fetching.

I've got a cockapoo called Gilbert. He gets the grouse. I've a Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV. Before that I had a Honda 250 enduro which was a hell of a machine. I love the Yamaha Kodiac as much and enjoy that I can look about alot more and have the Kolpin muffler silencer which works at low speed quite well.  

My hunting is frankly, longer distance, now.  I'm less patient. I get less shots. I shoot more cans.  I probably have more fun. I ride around the back woods like a mad man. I shoot a lot of targets. I see game at further distance and I am always aware where the nearest access for hauling is.  I hunt mule deer, moose and black bear.  

So the Mossberg 30:30 isn't really suited to the kind of hunting I do.

I was on a Pink Mountain Moose Hunt 25 years ago, which required taking a week off work, loss of income, major outfitting after flying almost to the Yukon and renting a truck. Thankfully I had 2 rifles because one failed though (firing pin wear damage or something not fixable by me) it had worked just fine on the range.  Now one rifle is enough, obviously.  Soldiers depend on one rifle and Dad spent a lifetime with his 30:30.

I've got more money than time when it comes to taking time off for hunting given the work demands. I'm a survivalist too so like to have back ups to everything I can. 

That's one justification. I miss my 30:06 when I just have the 30:30 with me. 

I wanted more 'stopping power'.  Deer seem to always come down on the first shot but Moose and Bear can keep moving.  So that was a real feature in the powerful 300 win mag.  The 300 win mag shell is simply more powerful than the 30:06 shell.  More stopping power. Now the 300 WSM is an even newer and more powerful shell.

The muzzle velocity of the 300WSM is 2980 fps and at 400 yards it's still travelling at 2230 fs. The Energy of the Federal  P300WSM is 3550 ft-pos at mussel and 1900 at 400 yards.  The killing range is at least 2 x the outer killing range of the 30:06 and has a flatter trajectile.  

I once shot a small island deer with my 30:06.  I saw it high on a mountain.  My friend Bill got out his spotting scope and watched as I took a shot. The deer was lying in the sun.  My shot was 20 yards in front of the deer despite holding over.  So with Bill calling out elevation and me leaning over the truck I 'walked' the bullet up to the deer like the rifle was a mortar.  The last 2 shots the deer was out of view of the scope and I was just estimating the increased elevation.  The deer had stood up after a shot landed directly in front of it.  The next shot killed it.  We estimated it at over 600 yards but under 800 yards. We considered it 'our' kill.  

Now everyone I talked to who was a hunter recommend 300 win mag especially if I wasn't planning on hand loading. There are other choices possible for the hand loaders but the advantage of 300 win mag and WSM shells is availability and price. They're all over whereas the 338 Lapua shells are alot harder to find. The price of the 300 WSM and the 30:06 is about the same.  $50 to $60 for a box of 20. The Nossler Partition bullets are another $10 on that.  So it's at least a couple of bucks a bullet where as the 338 Lapua are apparently twice that.  

Now these long range hunting rifles or 'sniper' rifles come in a 'hunting' rifle type, like mine and a so called 'target' type. The latter is more military application.  The difference is 'weight of the rifle' .  My Winchester Coyote Light is only 7 lbs.  The "Target" sniper rifle regardless of caliber are 2 or 3 times the weight.  That means 15 to 30 lbs to carry about. No thank you. 7 lbs with a bit more for the scope is definitely something, I a relatively old man, won't mind packing.  Anything more than 10 lbs is really a load. 

I've got the stainless steel because I'm on the west coast and it rains alot. Further I sometimes think of sailing around the world and I'd like a long range rifle to shoot back at pirates if they open up at me with 50 guage rifles, just to discourage them and have them go after somebody else.  I sailed solo to Hawaii and it's lonely and terrifying out there in the night when another vesell takes an interest in you but doesn't answer their radio.  I had one experience of that, with this boat coming within a mile on the radar.  Thankfully I never saw it but i was considering the merits of being armed at sea then and certainly if one sails in the south China seas now it's recommended though that's a controversy.  This rifle would be ideal for that too though I doubt I'd ever consider it.  Just more justification for parting with a $1000.

The Zeiss Conquest HD5 scope is a must.  Indeed the ratio I was told by all I discussed this with, and the Finland guns were highly recommended and they cost $3000 to $12000, figure at least a 1 - 3 ratio of rifle cost to scope cost.  If you can't see it, you can't shoot it.  So you need a real scope. This Zeiss Conquest HD5 riflescope lets me look 2 or 3 times further than my Bushnell with greater clarity. I love Bushnell Scopes but German Zeiss optics really are a thing of beauty.  Now I can see a really really long way.  The cross hatches are also set up for ranging and knowing the distance of 'holdover' once you've sited in at 100 or 200 yards. I have the beautiful  Bushnell Rangefinder Binoculars which help me get a good idea of the distances though with this scope alone the instruction booklet tells me how to set it up and then know by the scope alone the distance. This is done given the 18 inch chest width of the average deer and the 24 inch chest width of the average elk or moose.  With that knowledge and a little geometrical consideration one can extrapolate the actual distance. Personally I prefer the Bushnell Range Finder Scope which gives me a heads up display in the optics of the actual distance in yards or meters.  

Anyway, that's the kind of reasoning that's gone into my latest hunting rifle. Because it's new, it's going to be the preferred rifle to the Ruger 30:06.  I like head shots with bear and but whether its head or heart with bear, moose and elk the  Winchester 300 WSM will be likely 'superior'.  It will be 'overkill' for deer so I'll probably go for a neck shot. I did this already with the smaller island deer when I had the 180 grain bullet. People shoot island deer with 223 so if I used a 300 WSM I'd probably loose a quarter of the meat. It's  the meat I'm hunting for.  

Silly urban 'critics' are as suspicious of home grown vegetables as harvested meat. If it's not bought in a mall it's questionable. I heard an actual Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio Show out of Toronto with 3 totally ignorant urban sillies talking about their 'opinions' regarding hunting.  They thought it was 'okay' and thought that their 'judgement' and 'opinion' and 'permission' were really important. Thankfully they acknowledged the change in wind from the bad old days of the anti gun, anti hunting, anti male, anti rural , anti north , pro shopping mall and supermarket fashion talking idiots. Still it really reflects poorly on urban CBC when they think there's a need for a 'fashion expert' to comment on clothing and would never ask the opinion of a street bum or northern logger on 'city attire' but they get sillies to talk about hunting depite there being increasing thousands of men and women involved in the sport for the joy of it or for food.  Thankfully to the Canadian Conservation services are as good as ever though there really is a need to 'police' the big time abuses which some individuals and groups perpetuate to the detriment of all those who support resource management.

Spring is the time to buy a rifle. I will likely get a chance to use it perhaps bear hunting but really fall hunting is my time for hunting so buying it now gives me the summer of target shooting to get in the 'slot' or the 'groove'.  You don't want to take a new rifle you haven't used on a hunt.  

I'm looking forward to a whole lot of pleasure on the rifle range.  Maybe I'll get some friends out and do a little friendly competition. I'm a better game hunter than some of my friends but I might take some lessons from some who are winning competitions with target shooting.  

Sniper Hunting Rifle

I love my Ruger Stainless Steel bolt action 30:06. it’s served me very well and I won’t part with it soon.  I’ve shot moose at 400 yards.  I use nozzler partition 180 grain. I stick with that and have shot a lot of deer and moose and bear and even elk with just that successful combination.  Some 30 deer later and a half dozen moose, a few bear and an elk, all extremely tasty for sure, I’ve got to admit that most everything I shoot seems to be under 300 yards away when I shoot it.  The closest shot was 30 yards in the rain. I used to switch around from 150 grain to once having 220 grain on a bear hunt but frankly it always meant re sighting and different ammo could confuse me so I got into the habit of 180 grain. Sometimes that means I go for head shots to save meat. I don’t used the nossler partition for target practice simply because it’s twice the cost.
I bought a Mossberg 30:30 lever action, the rifle man gun, mainly because my Dad had one. I’d bought an off road motorcycle and figured without stalking and ambushing I wasn’t going to get particularly long shots in the bush.  So it became my back up rifle, nothing more fun and by far the best can shooting, target shooting rifle I’ve had. The 30:30 is the best bush rifle.  Dad was a big white tail deer hunter.  I’m more likely to be in the open hunting mule deer.
The trouble now is I heard about the Lapua 338.  Imagine shooting a mile away I thought. I sail and imagine being offshore with pirates shooting at me outside my range and me with a shot gun or at best the 30:06.  I see myself sailing in the China seas and those fast boats coming after me.  This is silly thinking, like wondering what to have post apocalypse when the zombie wars begin.  Then the whole idea is to get far away.  Of course, bad guys will again have rocket launchers and such so the whole ‘just in case’ reasoning which makes it easier to buy something you really don’t need for hunting doesn’t work too well.
The fact is I don’t ‘need’ another rifle.  I’ve been looking at them for 2 years since I first heard about the Lapua 338 long distance shots.  Also I loved hearing that the Canadian women won sniper marksman awards as did the Canadian Military men.  The fact remains I hunt for food and even ost apocalypse I’m really going to be interested in barbecued wild game mostly.
I also thought of the Big Horn sheep I see with my binoculars but haven’t got close enough to shoot yet, and the goats.  Then I heard of a guy last year shooting a bull elk at 600 yards with the Lapua 338.  I’ve seen a whole herd of mule deer at 600 yards once.  The deer probably knew I had a 30:06 and that that was likely outside my range.  Probably if I got a Lapua 338 the deer would stand off at a thousand yards and mock me.
The velocity of the 30:06 with a 165 grain bullet is 2850 fps and the 300 win mag is 3150 fps, or at least in that range so that one can see the comparison.
MOA (minute of angle) refers to accuracy. This is a tight grouping. At 1200 meters the 300 win mag grouping is .8 to 1 whereas the Lapua 338 is .6 to .8 at 1500 meters.
The maximum effective range of my 30:06 is 800 meters, whereas the 300 winchester magnum is 900-1200 meters.  The Lapua 338 is 1200 to 1500 and the 50 caliber is 1500 to 2000.
Since I’ve got older, and I don’t know how this happened, I don’t like packing rifles.  The lapuas seem to be in the 11 to 12 lb range at best with the 50 calibers heavier whereas 30 win mags are down around 7 lbs.
My friends laugh and say how much I complain about hauling meat hundreds of yards.  So I thought maybe I’d sit in ambush on a hill waiting for a moose to cross a particularly pleasant road. I have a tree stand now.  I could shoot a moose walking by a road. I don’t have to shoot it from the roadside like I would with the 30:30, good to about 200 yards at best.
But then the price of the bullets was outrageous.  And everyone who hunts says the 300 win magnum is the way to go. Lots of bullet availability.
For my sake the 300 win mag is probably better than the 338 Lapua if only for the lower cost of ammo and the ready availability of ammo.  If I came across a pirate on the high seas they’d probably have a rocket launcher.
But I’d like something that packed a bigger punch than the 30:06 and the 300 win mag does. It reaches out further but the down side is that it has a real kick.
The Finnish developed the Lapua.  The SAKO TRG 42 is the rifle that gets the most blogging respect and is made for 300 win mag and 338 papua mag.  It costs however $3-5000 just for the rifle.  The scope will cost another $1-2000.  Meanwhile Weatherby, a great company, makes the 300 mags for around $1500 and the Ruger I love makes them around $1000.  So with scope one can get a 300 win mag for under a couple of thousand. And one fellow argued very strongly for a combination of Browning and Nikon scope for under $1000.  There's a lot of discussion around trigger pull on these long range rifles and the old Remington's get better press than the newer ones.  I have to 'feel' the difference on the trigger pulls to know this better.
Now I don’t need another rifle.  But I’ve had fun researching this and whereas a year ago I was all keen to get the Lapua and shoot some moose a mile away and curse the whole week it took me to get it back to my truck, now I’m a whole lot further along the learning curve.  By next year I may even know better. I’ve discussed this with a half dozen friends already and now plan to hone my discussions further when I go into stores to talk with the salesmen.
I love Reliable Guns family store on Frazer in Vancouver.  they were one of the first ones to steer me towards the 300 win mag when I explained what I wanted.
The key word here is ‘want’.   Not even ‘want’, more like, ‘what would you get if you won a lottery?”  Well, I think I’d like that Sako TRG 42 .
Now that I’m in the ball park with the ‘potential’ next rifle I’m going to start looking at scopes.  That could be a year of researching. Hunting season, really, isn’t until the fall, though there is spring bear hunt going on now.
I store my rifles in a gun locker with trigger locks at a special site for gun storage.  Dad stored his rifles in a wood locker he'd made with a glass panel you could look through.  Gone are those days.  We used to leave the doors unlocked and kids were taught not to touch guns.  People rarely stole in the neighbourhood and if they did the cops caught them and they went to jail.  One of the best events of the year was the 'wild game' feasts that we attended as a family at the hunting club.

Chilliwack Gun, Knives, Militaria and Antique Show

The 6th Annual Chilliwack Gun, Knives, Militaria and Antique Show at the Heritage Centre was a blast.  I heard about it when I phoned Victor to tell him I was buying  the Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV from Daytona Motorsports in Surrey
Victor, a great hunter, and long time quad and motorcycle rider,  has been one of my ‘consultants’ on which ATV to buy. Some women  like to discuss men but guys are much more likely to almost form ad hoc community committees when it comes to buying a new vehicle.  Everyone has had good advice but the Yamaha Kodiac ATV won the day.
’Did you know the Chilliwack Gun Show is on this weekend?” Victor asked
“No. I’ve wanted to go but I just spent all my money on a new ATV."
“I’m going this afternoon.” Victor said.
I then phoned Tom to see if he was back from Toronto visiting his Dad.  He had my controller cable for my winch which I need, (because I’m getting old and fearful) to assist getting my Honda motorcycle I’d traded in on the ATV,  on the back of my F350 truck. He was in, and he had my winch controller.
“I’m going to the Chilliwack Gun show. Why don’t you come?"
“Now there’s a plan."
So I bought the Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV at Daytona Motorsports in Surrey.  I’ll pick it up later when the accessories are all mounted. Gilbert and I were driving in the Mazda Miata. It was pissing rain.  An hour and a half to get to Chillicach. The Heritage Centre is just on the west end of Chilliwack.
At first I left Gilbert in the car. Only $5 entrance fee.  Two huge rooms of really good stuff in the Heritage centre.  I began to look about. .
Whenever I said to some guy with a table full of guns and knives, “I have enough guns and knives”, he’d answer,  “Why do you think my wife sent me here."
Tom found me and when we saw another little dog on a leash we both figured Gilbert should be with us. He went hysterical seeing his friend Tom.
Back in the gun show we were most impressed with the incredible shot guns from Europe, England and Scotland. They were being sold for $5 to $15000.  I got my first shot gun for $300 and my last one was still only $800. So there’s quite a range in guns. The workmanship is the thing.  There were $100 guns and $30,000 dollar guns. They even had  50 caliber sniper rifles.  All manner of Civil War rifles with bayonets and black powder creations as well.
I talked with a whole group of incredibly knowledgeable gun enthusiasts discussing my much loved Ruger 30:06 rifle and how I might consider having a back up rifle or alternative which shot further. I’ve shot moose with my 30:06 at 400 yards using a 180 grain bullet but the guys with the 300 win magnum rifles said the 300 win mag would punch a heavy hit at 600 to 800 yeads.  I’m hearing a lot of food things about 300 mags. The 338 would even hit something at 1000 yards.  Not many of the big game hunters were recommending the Lapua but they said it was a whole lot of fun for them to target practice hitting targets a thousand yards away.
Most of the equipment was used but in great shape.  I loved seeing enfield 303’s given their WWI history and the Canadian Ross Rifle.  There was a lot of history there from various wars Canada or America had been ing  Lots of military and civilian folk browsing everything including memorabilia, mukluks, jewelry, and all manner of swords and knives.
Tom and I had another really good chat about the newer better made ammo, especially Hornaby’s super loads, which were almost as good as the hand loads.  A lot of hand loaders and hand loading equipment was there. I haven’t done that in 25 years and don’t want to get back into it any time soon but I liked hearing all the news about new ammo.
The trouble everyone was having was getting stock in the states because apparently Obama’s government is buying up huge supplies of ammo and outfitting all the government folk in addition to police.  Sounded fairly ominous but that’s the nature of rumours. There were definitely some survivalists there. Tom and I were both eying the boxes of rations that were good for 10 years at $10 a meal and came with their only little heating pad.
I was more interested in the survival break down 22’s and break down single shot shot guns which all sold out.  These were very popular when I worked up north and every bush pilot had one.  I had a Marlin 22 breakdown rifle but the clip jammed and after I got the ruger 22  with it’s amazing semi auto clip I’ve never used any other 22 rifle. I just wish Ruger would make a back pack model.
We had a great chat with the RCMP folk there to assist with transport and transfer. I’d wanted to know more about the new laws for pistols and transport to gun clubs. It used to be 20 years ago when I had a pistol license that you had to get permission every trip to the range but now it’s not so onerous as long as you belong to a hand gun range.
As Canadians we’re really fortunate today to have the most reasonable and strictest gun licensing. I still don’t think our judges are on the same page when they don’t get tough with people having illegal guns.  At the same time the judges in Alberta were on the right page when the police had a fascist moment and used a flood situation to enter peoples homes and search and impound their guns.  I like to think our RCMP wouldn’t go off the reserve like that. I really would like the judges to come down really hard on anyone with illegal guns given the hassle all us law abiding citizens have been put through.
Certainly the RCMP people we talked to today were great. A young woman RCMP was most helpful with information. We discussed the need for more gun ranges where people could store their hand guns like I saw in the states.
None of this really  affects me unless they allowed me one day to carry a hand gun in the woods when I’m hunting for game.  I could see the benefit of having a pistol when I’m bow hunting bear.  My love of guns though is the same as my love of fishing rods.  It’s a product of my taste buds and stomach.  Definitely an extension of my love for wild food.
That said Gilbert and I both really enjoyed MacDonalds burgers we had on the way to the show. As usual he almost climbed out my window through the drive through window to help the staff prepare his patty just the way he likes it. His little tail wags fiercely when he sees the golden arches.
I  got into a discussion about marinades with another fellow who had been raised on ‘wild meat’ as I had.  I sure am enjoying the wonderful gift of venison I got this year.  I talked with another older fellow selling rifles and we both bemoaned being skunked these last 2 years.  Neither of us had had the time to be out hunting more than a week or so.  I waxed poetic salivating about the elk I’d shot the year before and he was just as excited when he told me how good a mule deer he’d shot tasted the year before that.
I liked all the women there.  No high heels or party dresses but it was pretty obvious that the girls out there today would clean up real nice. They were a whole lot more than ‘ornamental’.  Lots of country folk but many like me had come out from Vancouver.
I was real happy, since I’d spent all my money on the ATV, that I got out of there not buying a rifle.  We never did find Victor.  This might have been good because with Tom and Victor’s assistance I might well have been convinced to get one of those beautiful 300 win magnums with high powered scopes that were selling for half the list price at least.  .
I didn’t get out quite unscathed, though.  I bought a fabulous little knife from Mike n Sons Custom Knives, (Mike Pisio) Kamloopsmikesknives@hotmail.  He makes them himself out of high grade 440 steeland even as I stood there his elk horn handled big one and the rosewood handled big knife were bought up.  I’d been eyeing both covetously but had resisted.    I asked him what the swamp kauri ‘wood’ was, he had labels beside the handles of each knife on his table.
“it’s millions of year old swamp wood they’ve been digging up in New Zealand.”
That’s how I spent a $125 on a knife I didn’t need but will thoroughly cherish knowing the wood is that old.  Another hunting knife I have and love has a handle made from ancient fossil.  I also once had a knife made from asteroid but gifted that to my spacey nephew. It was  just too lovely to actually use hunting or fishing. My knives are tools. The ‘art’ and ‘craftsmanship’ in the knives and rifles speaks to the centuries of competence and tool bearing that brought us to this cell phone computer age.  I really respected all the history present in this show.
I’m just thankful Victor told me and Tom was able to join me.  Gilbert and I had a really great time.

Spud Valley Sporting Goods Ltd.

This is a great hunting, fishing, camping, outdoors store. It's right in down town Pemberton beside the gas station just after the turn to the Hotel on the hotel side of town. There's the main grocers with the best potatoes across the road. From the door you can see the Scotia bank too. Brad and Sheridan are the sons of the owners. They know everything about everything about Pemberton hunting and fishing. I'm surprised they spend any time in the store. They're only there because their friends work so they have no one to play with in the mountains until the friends are let out of work. In the meantime they mess with their favourite stuff. Great out door stuff. Fishing rods, fly rods, reels, rifles. The best in clothing, the good stuff.
They had a particularly nice Mossberg 30-30 lever action but some guy came in and told them that his dad used to have a lever action rifle. It's a cowboy rifle. Good to 100 yards, the kind of gun you carry on a horse or motorcycle. The guys don't have that Mossberg anymore but they have every other type of rifle you could want. Their scopes start at $100 and go to $1000. They're that kind of store, good stuff and the highest quality stuff.
They were headed out goose hunting tonight. That's why Brad claims to have his big beard, so the geese don't look down and see a white face. The guys were all practicing their goose calls in the store. You could just tell that when they were a whole lot younger they compared farts too. Next week they'll be hunting 4 point deer. All summer they've been fishing. Oh yea, they're sometime in the store. Talking about the best boots and best gear and best places to go. They love Spud Valley. They love the outdoors. Too bad their friends have to work and their friends wives want to see them sometimes.