The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting American Big Game Hunting Opening day buckGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I filled a tag on the opening day of deer season for the first time this past Saturday, hunting about 45 minutes south of Duluth, MN. Third year in a row I've taken a buck out of the same field, around the same rock piles too. The deer appeared at about 1:30 pm a little over 200 yards away (sometimes sitting all day long pays off), and was first spotted by a buddy of mine who was sitting next to me for his first day of deer hunting ever. I thought it was a doe until it lifted its head and I could see the sun shine off an antler, and since I just wanted to fill the freezer it was down in seconds with my .270 and a 130 grain Gameking. It was just grazing when we first spotted it and started walking towards a treeline once I had my Winchester shouldered but paused after I grunted at it, and dropped instantly at the shot- was not a perfect shot on my part to be honest but at least the end result was still ideal and I was really glad my buddy ended up witnessing a successful hunt.  This is the sixth or seventh deer I've shot with this .270 and it has been very good for me. I just rust blued the stock hardware in October and finished getting a good start on checkering the grip of the stock last week, next up is checkering the fore-end and I'll actually have a completed hunting rifle for once.  Here's my friend looking back to where we were sitting, on the right side of the strip of green grass in the background. It was bizarrely warm out- maybe 70 degrees when I pulled the trigger, usually the temp on opening day is half that.  The antlers look like they might have been snapped off at some point, I dunno, you can see what looks like cracks on the other side where they get knobby. I wasn't out for a trophy but hey at least these make it more interesting.  Put 61 pounds of venison in the freezer with the help of my brother afterwards. A great opening weekend.  "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." | ||
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Very nice meat in the freezer | |||
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Looks like a good reason to "Cull" that buck. Good eating too. Am happy for you, George "Gun Control is NOT about Guns' "It's about Control!!" Join the NRA today!" LM: NRA, DAV, George L. Dwight | |||
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Nice work Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Thanks for sharing looks like some great venison to be eaten! Neat rack on the buck also. | |||
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Great job, great story. Those are the type bucks that need to be taken out, even if the antlers are not the product of genetics. Taking the chance of getting genetics that might have produced that type rack into the herd is just not a good thing. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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Great opener!!!  | |||
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well done! "Fear of the Lord is wisdom" Job 28:28 | |||
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