Dakota Arms Discontinues Miller Rifles

[Gary in MD]

YZ
Yea, the farms are vanishing with new houses built on and all around them.
The farm that I still hunt in western MD doesn't have anywhere near the numbers that used to be there. There were times in the 80's and 90's that I could kill 20 in a day, and I always left seed for the next year. Nowadays, I could hunt all day to see a couple.

 

[jjmp]

Great pix's thks

 

[YZ-80]

YZ
Yea, the farms are vanishing with new houses built on and all around them.
The farm that I still hunt in western MD doesn't have anywhere near the numbers that used to be there. There were times in the 80's and 90's that I could kill 20 in a day, and I always left seed for the next year. Nowadays, I could hunt all day to see a couple.

Yup. The farm I used to hunt got leased by a strip mining company and that was the end of that. Then, we used to deer hunt on all the old stone mining areas. We had 600 acres to ourselves back then and never saw anyone other than members of our own hunting party On Opening Day! A few guys got bucks and 2 weeks later, everybody got a doe. The deer population has really waned up there since I used to hunt that area.

 

[tony d willIiams]

Yup. The farm I used to hunt got leased by a strip mining company and that was the end of that. Then, we used to deer hunt on all the old stone mining areas. We had 600 acres to ourselves back then and never saw anyone other than members of our own hunting party On Opening Day! A few guys got bucks and 2 weeks later, everybody got a doe. The deer population has really waned up there since I used to hunt that area.

We're livin in california, San Bernardino mountains. Haven't hunted for many years, got distracted by raising children and working.
In Arizona I have found a couple large deer herds out in the desert, 30+ head each. In the desert you can find cisterns and watering holes by following the dragon flies, or the bees. Being retired I have time.
In our mountains we had many fires several years ago, the forest is still recovering. But, I have found a few deer trails progressing through the burnt areas. Followed their paths and found the springs they use. There is good from everything. I would probably have never found these springs otherwise.

 

[kiwikid]

Back in 1969 Mr Frank de Haas devoted a chapter called "Random Thoughts On The Single Shot" in his Single Shot Rifles and Actions. It outlined what he considered would be the ideal Single Shot Rifle. At the end of the chapter there is a picture of a rifle that combined all of his ideas and it is a De Haas- Miller Custom made by Dean Miller. Just like your pair Panhead57 it too was an exquisite piece of art.

 

[shortgrass]

There is still a very small niche market for custom wood stocked hunting rifles. And, they can be as accurate as the more common synthetic stocked rifles. You just don't see many on this forum. The difference is in the price. A Mc stock for $500-$600, or an English walnut blank for the same amount, the inletting, shaping, checkering and finishing of the blank not included.

 

[nicholasjohn]

I grew up with the wood stocks, I am trying to make walnut grips for my pistols. I was ashamed when I scratched my first rifle at 11 year old. My dad opened a walnut when we got home and had me rub it on the scratch. If you didn't know it was scratched, you never would be able to see it.
Myself, I have both types of stocks. I like the feel of wood better than synthetics, maybe because the wood and I are the same age.

A walnut stock also doesn't sound hollow when you bump it on something, like a composite stock does. I have never sat on a rock with one of my synthetic stocks across my lap and admired its paintjob like I have admired the figure on of my fine walnut stocks. All that said, walnut doesn't flex at all and reduce felt recoil, and it is HEAVY to carry around.

I have recently found the happy middle ground between the light weight of a composite stock and the beauty of walnut, and it is in the form of a Dakota Model 10 single shot. It's a different design than the discontinued rifle in this thread, but it is a very elegant piece in its own right. It also only weighs around 6.5 pounds, and carries well in the hands. I haven't hunted with it yet, but I do intend to - even though it's a bit fancy for a rough-country hunt.

 

[nicholasjohn]

Hey Nick. Got 2 degrees from
IUP and used to hunt chucks all the time during grad school in the mid-90s in Clearfield county on a 220 acre farm. Got a lot of rifles from Grices! My record is 8 in one 2 hour hunt up there. Land is posted now. How I long for the good Ol' days stalkin' the fields with a .22-250 or .243 and a pouch of Redman!

That's a wonderful way to burn off the stress that grad school would lay on a guy. Eight chucks in short morning hunt is a stellar performance. Congrats to you. The best I remember was one fine day when my old friend Buster and I shot an even dozen between the two of us, all in about an hour and a half -with zero misses. One was a running shot at about a hundred yards, as it squirted across a narrow lane between a corn field and the woods, as we were sneaking around to get to another big alfalfa field. Your eight-chuck day still takes the trophy, though.

We hunted a well to the west of your neighborhood, in Erie & Warren counties. Not much going on there anymore for chuck hunting. While I've heard it said that the coyotes ate them all, Buster says that it isn't so - they're still around, but the farmers won't let guys onto the fields to hunt them. Perhaps some ill-mannered hunters have spoiled it for the rest of us. Have you been hunting them at all recently ???

Nick

P.S. I'm not familiar with Grice's. My only use of that word was when we used to debate whether the plural for "grouse" is "grice." Back in my chuck-hunting days, I was also an avid grouse hunter, as western PA was at the top of the grouse cycle during my late teens & early 20's. Those were great days ……..

 

[nicholasjohn]

YZ
Yea, the farms are vanishing with new houses built on and all around them.
The farm that I still hunt in western MD doesn't have anywhere near the numbers that used to be there. There were times in the 80's and 90's that I could kill 20 in a day, and I always left seed for the next year. Nowadays, I could hunt all day to see a couple.

WOW !!! I never got twenty in a day. That's a lot of chucks. Also, the ones in your pictures are all big, fat ones - is that typical, or did you take those pictures because they are exceptional specimens ? The ones we used to get were usually around seven or eight pounds, with an occasional bruiser like in your pictures.

On another note, we also used to eat woodchuck about once every summer. We'd nail their hind feet to a beam in the barn and skin them ( it was about like skinning an old tire ) making sure to remove all of the glands in their armpits. This only worked with the smallest ones, the young of the year that had never had to dig a burrow. Anything bigger than a bunny-rabbit was too big to eat. They still had to be par-boiled for several hours, then made into a stew with onions, carrots, and turnips. People thought we were nuts to eat them, right up until they tried some. All that said, once each summer was enough - way too much work to get them ready for the pot.

 

[Gary in MD]

20 in a day didn't happen all the time, but there were times when there was a "hog on every rock" and my 22-250 was wicked with a 55 grain Sierra.
Gary

 

[Gary in MD]

Definitely nowhere near as pretty as the OP's Dakotas but here is a pretty blonde. It's a 6mm AI and is a real hammer.
Gary

 

[nicholasjohn]

Definitely nowhere near as pretty as the OP's Dakotas but here is a pretty blonde. It's a 6mm AI and is a real hammer.
Gary

View attachment 145746

Looks like a "long-distance" delivery system. My Pennsylvania chuck-buster was a 22-250 Sako, with sporter-weight barrel. ( Due to the low volume shooting, it did just fine.) It also smoked the furry rodents with the 55-grain Sierra, and 4350 was the powder. NOBODY used that powder in that cartridge, but I had a bunch of it for the 30-06, and found that it worked like a charm. ( Velocity was not especially fast, but accuracy was exceptional.) It also did well when I ran out of the Sierra's, and switched to the 64-grain Winchester Power Point. When I saw how this worked on woodchucks, I knew that I had my new "meat conservation" bullet for doe season. It was just as accurate as the Sierra, but didn't blow up the chucks nearly as well - exit wounds were like a dime, and perfectly round, just like the many does I ventilated with it over the next several years. This was "the load" for shooting 110-pound does, and maximizing the pile of bambi-burgers each doe produced. No more blown-up shoulders; no blood-shot stuff to trim off. I always preferred rib cage shots, and every single one of them fell down on the spot. Alas, that rifle got completely "used-up" while shooting prairie dogs one afternoon, in southern New Mexico. No more throat, from too much shooting in 110 degree heat. New barrel time.

 

[YZ-80]

That's a wonderful way to burn off the stress that grad school would lay on a guy. Eight chucks in short morning hunt is a stellar performance. Congrats to you. The best I remember was one fine day when my old friend Buster and I shot an even dozen between the two of us, all in about an hour and a half -with zero misses. One was a running shot at about a hundred yards, as it squirted across a narrow lane between a corn field and the woods, as we were sneaking around to get to another big alfalfa field. Your eight-chuck day still takes the trophy, though.

We hunted a well to the west of your neighborhood, in Erie & Warren counties. Not much going on there anymore for chuck hunting. While I've heard it said that the coyotes ate them all, Buster says that it isn't so - they're still around, but the farmers won't let guys onto the fields to hunt them. Perhaps some ill-mannered hunters have spoiled it for the rest of us. Have you been hunting them at all recently ???

Nick

P.S. I'm not familiar with Grice's. My only use of that word was when we used to debate whether the plural for "grouse" is "grice." Back in my chuck-hunting days, I was also an avid grouse hunter, as western PA was at the top of the grouse cycle during my late teens & early 20's. Those were great days ……..

You are exactly correct! I'd get done as a TA with my last lab for the day and head for the fields in Pike Township. The farmer would take the hay off twice a season and on the fresh cut, I'd go out with my 700 VLS in .22-250 and smack a few, but my favorite and most productive way was to just stalk them when the grass got to be 7"-9" with my .243 (Old A- bolt). I'd just walk the perimeter and a center line or two through the big field. They couldn't see me and I couldn't see them until they stood up. Sometimes, they'd stand up 20 yards in front of me and I'd turn them into a yard sale with an 80 grain PSP out of that .243! What a hoot!

I'm not hunting up there anymore as the mining company Posted it. I have access to a nice farm here in MD but I agree that the chucks are not near as plentiful as they used to be. I would have to say it's about the funnest form of hunting to me because there's no work after the kill!

 

[Holycity73]

That's a shame. Those were some of the best examples of singles still made.