wooly

Bottoms up..., there's goes Dom in the back seat of that little red wagon,lol

I shot a deer straight up the ass once with my old Knight 50cal ML. (unintentionally) Hard quartering away shot trying to drop one in behind the shoulder shooting off hand. The buck dropped in his tracks but made every attempt to escape using only his front legs. The entire time he was bawling and bellowing like no other deer I've ever heard before. By the time I got another round stuffed down the barrel and primed to fire, the deer had disappeared from where he stood last and had "gone silent" almost 50yds away. I finally caught up to him laying with his head up looking directly at me almost as if to say "you dumb ass...like you didn't know this could happen." I finished him off and felt awful about the shot selection, and it left such an impact on me that I've passed up several of the same type of opportunities since then. My advice to you would be to learn from a mistake like this before it happens to you. Sometimes perfectly vital shot deer are tough enough to track so don't do anything that will decrease your odds of recovery with less than favorable marginal shot selection. Be patient and try not to force things to happen and the deer will start to hit the ground almost effortlessly when you make smart choices.

Pretty much a meaningless pee wee match up that doesn't even need to happen this season. They could reschedule it for June and it wouldn't matter. .... but if anyone wants to come shovel my driveway I'll give you $11/hour and 2 tickets to a Sabres game instead!

Yep- that's definitely the bad news. The good news is, this weather and the predicted weekend forecast, has really put a stranglehold on hunting pressure around here, and I expect many more bucks will survive to see the 2014-15 shed season! I took a hike around yesterday and visibility in the woods is very limited with all the snow clinging to the branches. Gonna be lots of deer that made it through those first few most productive days that survive another year!

Thanks again guys! The 8pt turned out to be the buck I killed opening day so I was pretty pumped about that! Unfortunately the row of spots down his back had vanished by the time I put a tag on him.

Congrats on an incredible 2014 season Treeguy!

I have tried it in the past and had some luck with it. There's plenty enough nice days in the season now for me to go out and enjoy myself and even kill a deer. Torture isn't part of my deer hunting vocabulary any more,lol I don't even like to exert too much pressure on them after season when the snow gets that deep while out shed hunting. That's just my choice.

We only got about a foot. 3-7 feet.., I give the deer a break. I don't get that desperate.

Just did. I honestly never realized I had options, but that's probably because I've never had an issue with them being loaded the first time. For $9 a bag of 50, I'll grab a bag of the standard replacements I've been using, and I'll pick up a bag od the HPH to mess around with in the off season just for kicks. Thanks for the heads up! I'll get this round sent down the range today and then get a fresh load down the barrel before I hit the woods again.

I hear ya . It's been snowing here all day and I've been locked down in the house letting my imagination get the best of me. I've got about 300 rounds here, so I really don't need to experiment, but I see no harm finding out what happens on paper. Even if I don't notice any difference in POI, I'd still load a fresh un used round before ever hitting the woods to hunt with. I'm not the kind of guy to take chances like that on living creatures I intend to kill with one shot.

The sabots, or the greasy strippers,lol

Pre-packed box of 20. I was just curious. Been shooting them for a few years now, but I usually just go with a new plastic jacket when I push one through and throw the old one away. Then I started piling up a bunch of actual projectiles, but now running short on jackets. This is the first time I've ever re-loaded the whole shot twice. I'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm guessing I wont notice anything on paper, but maybe velocity will be affected which I'll have no way of recording.

50 cal.Hornady SST 250gr I'm not sure if any difference will show up on paper at my 50yd range. I was more concerned with what nyslowhand mentioned about the loose seal. It went down so easy, I almost expected it to slide out when I pointed the barrel at the ground and gave it a shake.

I decided to pull the breach plug and push the last round I loaded through instead of firing the gun after my last hunt. I got the barrel cleaned good and proceeded to reload in advance of my next hunt using the same sabot and bullet I had pushed through initially. When I set the round on the end of the muzzle and applied the slightest pressure to the ramrod, the load slid effortlessly down the barrel like a stripper on a greasy pole all the way to where it bottomed out on the charge. I'm not going to take this load to the woods now not knowing how it'll shoot, but I am wondering what kind of crazy inaccuracy I'll get from this shot just so I know in the future for whatever reasons. Any of you guys ever try the same and want to fill me in how this story ends in advance?

Good thorough review if I was in the market! There's no way I'd be able to talk about my bow for 11 minutes straight without leading into a dead deer story around the 1 minute 15 second mark!

But..., but..., but..., blaze orange makes my butt look big and I don't have any shoes that match!

There's nothing "wrong" with liking it when it's in someone elses yard,lol

I think your pic is zoomed in a little too tight to make any movement suggestions based on other terrain features that may be relevant in that area. If that's all you have to work with, you may be doing the best with what you got and just have to wait them out.

Nothing photo worthy yet. Maybe 4"-5" so far but I didn't go out to stick a ruler in it yet. If I'm real quiet, I can hear the LE snow machine getting revved up down the road. Outdoor thermometer says 13 so I wont be going out until it warms up another 20 or so.

Lol- I stay out of the bars, so I don't end up behind bars! After this storm blows through later this week I'll try these stinkin' clothes out again.

Since it seems split down the middle 50/50 (Saturday/Monday)...... next year we'll start on a Wednesday so everyone will be happily miserable!

I rubbed my hunting clothes all over my deer the other day thinking the doe wouldn't be able to resist a handsome young buck like myself once they got a whiff of my new cologne. They WREAK of rutting buck to the point it's nauseating. I haven't washed them in years, but now I might have to! I can't get the smell out of my nose,lol

I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself this early in the season. It's only 3 days old man,lol I don't know the lay of the land there, but it might be a good idea to back off the corn a bit if you can. Hunting pressure may have them bedding farther than you think from the food source, so your best bet may be to catch one on his feet in a staging thicket or closer to his bed. Patience can be a boring practice and even a waste of time if you practice it in the wrong areas. I'd definitely make some kind of move and compare your observations to formulate a new plan if your already doubting your original set up.

I could care less. You want to know why I hate hunters. Threads like this that make them all sound like whining little cry babies that demand special attention. It's almost embarrassing to be associated with the kiddy nonsense any more.

Wait a minute...... aren't you the same Belo that admittedly shoots before and after legal shooting hours. I don't think you're allowed to address safety issues at this point and expect to be taken seriously.