Daveboone

I used to keep a lidded bucket in the woods in a handy location. I kept some plastic bags, gloves, a few hand warmers, etc. in it. I kind of got out of the habit of keeping it up, I need to start doing so again.

If he is there everyday, he came from somewhere and will be going somewhere. My guess is that figuring where he is going from the field is the best bet...wait him out for when he leave the field, give him some time and check out his route. Then plan your ambush.

I shoot to prepare to break the shoulder if necessary, but by choice aim for the crease. When things go wrong or I misread the angle, I want that bullet to hold together. Not important to me if it goes through, but my 8mm and .308 always have. Once it makes it through any bone on the near side and the organs, who cares if it lodges inside the muscle/ etc. under the skin? Holding behind the leg, I am taking out both lungs and have quite a bit of room for error. I rarely drop them in their tracks, but they are dead on their feet and seldom go more than 20 yards, usually ten or twenty feet (again, I routinely will NOT aim at the shoulder). I like the heart, so I aim above it (besides, most heart shot deer still run a hundred feet like a lit banshee!). I damn sure don't want to break up those shoulders and the accompanying meat. Hell, that's what I want in the first place. You hit the shoulder and you kiss the flatirons good bye. A lot of southern hunters use .27 and .25 caliber rounds, the .243 is very popular. But at the same time, the further south you go the smaller the deer are. When I hunted Georgia, I was loving the (then) 5deer limit, but my boned deer didn't equal two decent Finger Lakes deer. You don't need as much gun. It is funny when you are hunting, because when you are looking at the deer, the proportions are the same. ONce they are down on the ground its....WTF? A Three year old buck is fawn sized. My friends .270 quite literally blew a doe in half.

Unfortunately no matter what we think when we pull the trigger, what happens down range isn't always what we want...that is when we don't want excuses, but we need the bullet to hold together and/ or penetrate through what bone it hits to disable the deer and provide as much shock a possible...and here is the tricky part.... without blowing the poor darn animal to mincemeat and wasting a lot of meat. That is where historically 30 cal. bullets have enough mass to ballistic coefficient for stability, delivering foot lbs of energy and holding together. Of course, there is a tremendous wide range of weights available at a very wide range of speeds, for ones preference of range and power: thus we have the modest but capable 30-30 right up to 300 win mag. Of course, the 7 mm is very close, and the 8mm rds .32 cal/ 8mm, are right there. It is pretty easy to come up with an individual study (like any other statistic ) that will prove a point for an ideal cartridge/ financial plan or whatever, but I myself have no faith in lighter weight bullets holding together to do the job I want. I have long preferred for deer /mediumsized game 165 grain range in .308, or 175 grain range in 8x57. 150 grain should be fine, but I don't like the shorter projectile profile for stability. Moreover than anything...knowing what your round does at varying ranges, (NO ROUND shoots...flat) and knowing when to shoot/ when not to.

I seldom get a pass through out of my ML with basically the same ammo combo. How far to shoot is based on how far you practice. Heavy slugs moving relatively slow drop quick, no matter the inline folks bragging rights about shooting as flat as a rifle. I sight for 75 yards, (with a scope) really don't hunt where I would ever have a 100, and just know for myself I wont take a shot that far. By far most of my shots are 40-60 in the woods.

Going back to the books... Bond didn't have much of a sense of humor...he was very world weary, didn't have much love for his job. Craig is certainly darker...but I think he reflects more what the original Bond character was...not that I didn't love Connery. Moore, I didn't care for..his Bond was more played for laughs..I also thought Timothy Dalton did a great job,

I thought Charcuterie was an evolution Spock had to go to to meat Vulcan perfection.....

I haven't shot slugs in years, but I remember well that it was not uncommon for slugs to rattle a bit in their shell. Ya gotta remember slug shells certainly are not built to brass /rifle cartridge specs, the plastic casings are designed to be more flexible, and the cast slugs certainly aren't needed to be the precision of a jacketed bullet. Not only that, slugs were designed to be safe to fire through any shotgun choke- including full. That said, I remember measuring a number of brands of slugs with machinist calipers, and Remingtons had the smallest diameter, Winchester the largest...and generally, the Winchester pumpkin balls shot the most accurate for me. Thus better quality slug guns had an undersized slug barrel...of which esp. the Ithaca Deerslayers were famous for.

That looks very good, but a bit out of my normal menu.... Could you explain for my simple self the process and end result/ a bit more in depth?

Not as many as I would like! I tagged out (one doe, one buck) as of last Monday and had all week off through today to hunt. Spent about 3 days on and off processing and packaging. Successful year, but I love being out there too much to shorten my time out. Due to a hip injury I am not able to sit comfortably as long as I like, usually 2-3 hrs pushing it. Probably around 30-36 hrs on stand max for the season. How much of that time did I see deer?maybe 20 minutes. Blink or look the wrong way, snooze, get on stand five minutes to late or leave one minute too early...diff. of not seeing any at all

Thick pines/cover, or... I am right on the edge of the Tug (west side). As the snow deepens, they move out of our area down to the lowlands where there is less. If that happens, deer hunting is like fishing in a toilet. I can look all I want but aint gonna like what I see.

Whats been said....BUt….you mention a lot of brush between....70 yards in the woods can be a VERY long shot with the brush in the way....don't get over excited, tempted to take a shot where you don't have a clear shot....looking through the scope, depending on lighting etc. you often can see the brown /silhouette of the deer, and cant see all the obstacles in between, which are likely to deflect you shot. Be wise, and often the smart shot...is no shot. Once the bullet flies, there is no getting it back. Grouse hunters count their success in the number of flushes a day. I have many a day where I am very happy to just spot deer. It means you are getting closer....

I have a Colt 1911 on layaway, with several guns up for auction to pay for it. Hopefully I will be able to pay it off with the proceeds, but if not I am hoping for a little contribution to help with that. I have always wanted a genuine Colt 1911 (blued, 45 acp of course), but never justified it. I am thinning the gun closet of underperformers, seldom used uns without much value to close the gap. If I can pay it off clean, I have a small list of some accessories: a holster, some extra mags, a few boxes of ammo...

WOW! When I was a kid, we would look forward all week to sunday night if a Bond movie was movie of the week. I haven't missed a Bond movie at the theater since my buddies and I were old enough to go together....About 45 years now and we still see them together!! I love the Craig films, and this one, like the previous, look GREAT! I understand why he wants to step away from them, but it will be a sad day....

I enjoy baseball, but don't follow it much. Back in the eighties though, I closely followed the Mets, and they had a great team of personalities. I stopped watching regularly with the younger crowd moving in (post Hernandez, Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter era), and just got too busy to watch. Last year though, with the Mets owning the Syracuse team I watched more local ball then ever, and the team did great. I am really looking forward to the 2020 team, and am hoping to get a ticket package to make it a bit easier to get to more games with my buddies.