Hunting - any luck?

[bruce]

I wanted a whitetail yearling for the freezer. Whitetails are overpopulated in my local area and I am lucky enough to own a 57 acre strip of prime wooded hunting ground situated located betwen a row crop farm on one side and a dairy farm on the other. I, don't/can't bow hunt and rifle season is only about 10 or 11 days. The first 4 days were spoiled because the row crop guy decided he needed to combine his soy beans. But, I managed to get a little 7 point buck and my son baged a doe. I still have a doe tag rhat I might fill in the BP season... depends on the weather and whether or not I feel like field stripping the sucker... it gets harder and messier every year.

Good for you! And good for your son! Sincerely. bruce.

[jon_norstog]

My brother Paul called me last night. He is back from a winter muzzle-loader elk hunt down in the country behind Dworshak Reservoir on the N. Fork Clearwater in Idaho. My son-in-law Wesley, his brother and a couple other Brazilians were along. It was like a five-day season. The elk were there, but you had to sort out the legal from the illegal. PaUL got a 175 yard shot at a nice bull, but took a pass n it. Wesley got two chances, both times his gun didn't go off. None of the other guys scored. The elk are there, but you gotta get them into range and you have to have a gun thaT will go off when you pull the trigger.

Paul wants me to go hunt with them next year. I dunno ...

jn

[Pete Davis]

What constitutes a muzzleloader by law in Id.?

In Va. we used to have to use a sidelock weapon from 1990 until 1994. Then inline rifles were allowed, next year scopes and saboted projectiles. Now there is a new generation of these rifles that uses smokeless powder and modern primers.

I use a Knight Wolverine in stainless, it uses 90 grains of 3F black and a saboted pistol bullet. #11 percussion caps. The prospect of a misfire is pretty much nil.

I killed a lot of deer with a CVA Mtn Rifle in .54 I built from a kit wile in Alaska in 1980. Patched ball. I had a misfire with that rifle once but just when unloading. I rebarreled it last year and it's back in action now.

Cold temps can make the sidelocks uneven. But still a break from the old atlatl days.

PD

sb

[jon_norstog]

Pete, in ID a muzzle loader has to have an exposed hammer. Sabots are not allowed. There are caliber restrictions for elk (.50 and deer (.45) and you have to be able to see the cap when the gun is cocked. Oh yeah, you have to load with loose powder, either BP or that modern s**t. Scopes not allowed except you can use 1X with a hadicap exemption.

Paul wants me to go out next winter - I was thinking of taking a Hawken or a cut-down 1863 Springfield copy. With peep sights.

jn

[Richard Turner/Turner Saddlery]

Didn't get a chance to hunt last season, so the venison supply in the freezer was getting low. We are overrun with does in our area, so a few weeks ago, I decided to go over to our pasture and see if I had any luck finding a good size doe since it was the last day of 1st half of doe season. I had never hunted with my Remington Model 8, MFG in 1908 (.35 Rem caliber). This rifle is about 85% finish wise, with an excellent bore. She turns 110 years old in a few days.

About lunch, I decided I would head back to the house for lunch, when my old mule walked up behind me and began to low bray. I turned around and saw he was braying at a good sized doe which was at the edge of a large kudzu patch. I fired the old Model 8, and she dropped where she stood. Even though the .35 Remington is a slow moving cartridge, that 200 grain Cor Lokt does a good job. She was about 120 lbs, which is about normal in this area. Maybe the old mule was looking out for me that day.

Here is a good site for info on the Model 8 http://thegreatmodel8.net/

We had a surprise snow (5+ inches) here, North Central Alabama, Friday a week ago, and I decided to have Camille take a couple of photos of me and the Model 8 in the snow.
IMG_5154.jpg

[Bill E]

Nice picture, nice rifle too! Glad you got the doe.

[barretcreek]

Nice rifle, we get a few around here but they're getting pricey. PM sent.

[aintright]

Have couple of toys That I wanted to try on deer this year , but for some reason have had a really lousy season , have had trouble getting with it , all day hunting has been a challenge for some reason .
Anyway , have been chomping the bits to get a shot on a deer with my 45/70 , but so far the only thing I have scored has been a doe in muzzle loading season .
Also have a K-31 I wanted to knock the dust off to harvest another deer with , those hornady rounds punch a serious hole .
And a Ruger scout , but as it turns out I am seriously running out of time will be happy with just dropping the hammer on the 45/70 , hopefully a couple of times in the next three weeks .
Kenneth

[GA-Dave]

I picked up a nice buck in Ohio. We caught the tail end of the rut and he came running down a ridge, followed by a second buck, about 1:00 in the afternoon. I shot him when he reached the bottom of the draw and started walking away. He was kind enough to run out of the draw and into an opening before expiring. The second buck stopped when the first fell and stared at him. Then he started browsing. When I fired a coup de grace shot the second buck didn't even flinch. I had to wait for him to walk off before climbing out of my stand. He was an old bruiser. His hide was covered with scars from multiple battles.

Modern 12 gauge slugs do a number on deer. But they kill on both ends. I found the slug from the finishing shot under his hide. When my friend butchered the buck, he threw away a shoulder because of an old injury. There were remains on an arrowhead under the other shoulder in a long-healed wound.

Now I need some meat for the freezer.

[tmark]

I've always had great luck hunting deer with my.270 Winchester rifle from Montgomery Wards (Westernfield) and my Ithaca 12 gauge shotgun using slugs but I never had any luck hunting deer with my bow and arrow.

The problem was I could never get those rubber things at the tips of the arrows to penetrate the deer's hide!!!!!!!