wolc123

I managed to get out of work on time, hit a few lights just right on the drive home, and make it into my tree stand in the first hedgerow behind our house, 1/2 hour before sunset on December 17, the last day of SZ regular ML season. 29 minutes later, this 8-pointer stepped out into my awp/wheat/clover plot, 120 yards away. I cranked the old Redfield on my 0mega 50 cal up to the max zoom of 7x, centered the crosshairs behind his shoulder, and squeezed off the shot. He trotted towards my pond, 90 yards away, and piled up 10 yards short of it. Stomach was full, chest taped at 39-1/2”. I’m guessing 2.6 or 3.6 yrs old. I think it’s the same buck that I missed with my crossbow in early November, when my bolt deflected off a corn stalk. I wasn’t entirely sure I missed him clean then, but there wasn’t a nick or blemish anywhere on him tonight, so I’m more certain now that I did.

1 minute before sunset buzzer beater 8-pointer tonight:

I’ve taken at least 3, 3.5 yr plus bucks from large blinds, including one from the upper deck of each of my two-story truck cap blinds, and one from an 8 ft elevated 4’x4’ platform with 3rd barnwood walls on 3 sides. Those were all during the peak two weeks of the rut when they are not thinking clearly or at the top of their wits. The largest bodied one charged in shortly after I cleared about a foot deep of leaves that had accumulated in the upper section. There was a fresh scrape nearby and I think he thought that noise was another deer visiting the scrape. Certainly they are tougher to fool outside of those two weeks.

Don’t do it, get yourself a good blind with nice overhangs to catch the rain: I do it for the meat. I like the taste of free range venison better than beef and it’s way more fun than raising livestock or shopping.

Yeah but a full one with the slug that killed the buck is cool:

Looks pretty dumb to me.

I think the 2 or 3 formerly active members on this site who did that all left for the other site and only one of them was still pushing hard for the dems over there.

Now that a full 2nd amendment friendly Washington DC government has been voted into power, it shouldn’t be too long until abusive state laws, like NY’ s on ammo, are stricken down. Until then, it’s not too much trouble for me to pick out my ammo on one day and return for it a day or couple months later. I did that once this year and it was no problem. I have long been conserving my “real” ammunition by doing the bulk of my target practice with an adult stocked Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. I also have multiple selections of deer weapons available such that I can choose one I still have ammo for if a run out of ammo for another, and so far at least, ML bullets have not been restricted by the current un-constitutional NY ammo law .

I always use a neck shot as a finisher on deer that I have spined (about 6 times in 43 seasons). I killed (2) others that were broadside with neck shots and shotgun slugs, a big buck from 10 yards when that was all I had to shoot at and a doe from 80 yards with open sites when the slug missed my point of aim (front shoulder) by that much for reasons unknown to me. I also killed an Adirondack buck with a perfectly placed Texas heart shot with my 30/06 that broke the neck on exit and also cut a shallow groove across the bottom of the heart. I believe that shot was more ethical than a frontal or side neck shot because the margin of error on a kill was greater. That particular kill was also close to the cleanest that I ever had on a deer because the bullet really didn’t expand until it broke thru the neck on the way out the front. The guts came out as clean as a whistle. Normally, a bullet will expand slightly when it strikes the hide but there’s no hide over the anus. Most attempted Texas heart shots miss the mark by a slight amount, leading to a very messy gut job. I’ve not heard of anyone else placing that shot right on as I did on my only attempt.

Speaking as someone who has likely struck things on two of my last 3 shots deer this year, and missed them clean as a result, I say cut them branches asap.

24 shots heard so far here on the nw corner of wmu 9F. One 7 minutes one two minutes before legal. Just heard 25 & 26 real close . No deer seen yet.

Thank you for your service and same to all the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Merchant Marine veterans.

I’m packing that gun on that trip Thanksgiving NZ trip whether or not I still have a buck tag. It and my Remlin 336BL fits in one of my lockable hard sided gun cases (necessary during transport per NY Safe act) and I’ll bring my scoped Ruger M77 in my second hard case, if I still have my buck tag. If I punch that buck tag during the first week of the southern zone gun season at home, then I’ll bring my Ruger 10/22 in the second case and the side by side 16 ga. in the other. I’ll still bring slugs for that, in case I run into a black bear, but grouse and number 7-1/2’s will be the primary task. The .22 is for squirrels and coyotes.

I’ve checked my J. Stevens Springfield 16 ga side by side with slugs and they cross the bulls eye at 50 yards. Beyond that the right barrel hits to the left and the left barrel hits to the right. I’ve never fired it at a deer but I have carried it a few times in hopes of getting a shot at one. I probably will again this year (if I still have my buck tag) up in the NZ over Thanksgiving weekend.

It all depends on how the upcoming “last weekend” of crossbow season goes. If it’s anything like this past one, then it’s looking like I’m going to be hunting our home farm this year. I had been hunting my parents farm, around 20 miles away, for the last (7) years (except (2) years ago when a blizzard stranded me in southern CA). Last year, I didn’t even see a deer over there, on opening day of gun, nor did I last Sunday afternoon with my crossbow. There’s been a lot more deer action around home this year, where I have a much better selection of foodplots available to them including some excellent field corn.