wolc123

I think it would be selfish (i.e: sinful) of me not to share what I have learned to be true.

I will take a shot on a deer if I believe that I have a 90 % or better chance of making a clean kill. What is kind of percentage do you look for ? How has your results been over the last 10 years (any clean misses) ? I figured that I had a 99 % chance of a clean kill at that "slightly" quartering-to crossbow buck from a range of under 15 yards. How many years have you hunted ? I was 99 % sure that the "Texas-heart-shot" rifle buck (50 yard range) would be killed quickly, but I was not expecting it to be so clean. I lost less meat on that one (a little bit near the exit wound at the front of the neck) than I did on the crossbow buck, where the mechanical broadhead passed diagonally thru the body. I was even more surprised that the guts came out as clean as a whistle, and a lot cleaner than the crossbow buck where the mechanical broadhead cut a wide swath from lung to butt. That Texas heart shot was as close to a perfect shot as I have ever made on a deer. I have heard others (including two or three on this forum) who have killed with that shot, but never so cleanly. There is a lot that goes into a "perfect" kill-shot. First, it has to strike the exact location where it was intended. In this case, I was able to verify the location with a bore gauge (Butt-out II). Second, since a "live target" is 3 dimensional, it has to be aligned perfectly with the projectile's path. Third, the point of aim has to be such that the greatest circular margin of error exists to allow for inaccuracy. Fourth, it can destroy no edible meat. Grampy, I appreciate your reply and I hope to extend my own streak in the coming years. If I had less hungry mouths to feed and more time to available to hunt I would raise my own shoot/don't shoot percentage to 99 % or so. I don't expect perfection but I do know where to find it. I have been practicing a ton with open sights this summer and I hope that pays off in a cleanly killed buck with my new lever action deer rifle this fall. I hope that Jesus blesses you with one with your new scoped bolt-action also and I am glad to hear that you give Him some credit for those you have taken in the past.

It might happen Grampy, but it has not in the last 10 years and I give Jesus all of the credit for that. As I have said before, about the only thing that I do not enjoy about hunting is being unable to recover deer that I have shot at. If it happens this year, you can trust that I will post it here for all to see. If I make a mistake, my hope is that others can learn from it and hopefully avoid making the same one. You might recall a thread I started last season on that very subject, where I tried to explain a "less than perfect" shot that I made on one of four deer that I killed then. I felt bad that the big doe suffered for a few seconds before I was able to deliver the second finishing shot. It was my own fault for trying to conserve ammo and not using enough of it on the target range. It also cost me a chop or two when the first shot struck above the spine rather than below as I intended. I made a mistake three seasons ago also, on the largest-bodied buck that I have ever killed. Careful investigation last fall showed me that the likely cause of my first well-rested miss at about 300 yards was an unseen branch. I could curse Jesus for that branch but I have to thank Him for providing another, to rest my rifle on, so I could bring that buck down dead in his tracks with my third shot. We got to eat real good that year as a result, and my father in law got the local wildlife "wall decoration" that he was looking for for his new Adirondack lake house. What some view as mistakes, I view as "learning experiences". Ideally, you learn before you shoot. How has your record been over the last 10 years ?

I have a bunch of WWII ammo made in 43 and 44 for them. They look like 156 gr FMJ bullets. I don't see why something inexpensive, like 150 gr Remington Corelocts would not work in it for deer hunting.

I give Jesus all of the credit for bringing me thru some physical trauma twice, that I should not have survived. Each time there were lots of prayers by family and friends. When God-fearing folks do not survive, I can only assume that the mission He has planned for them in Heaven is more important than on Earth. I lost a very good friend and hunting partner to ALS, while I was recovering from my last major deal. He was one of the first ones who stopped to see me when I was released from the hospital, but he was gone (on earth) before I was able to return to work. That disease is much crueler than Cancer and I don't know that anyone has ever beat it. I tried my best to get him to "see the light" before he passed, and I trust that I was successful and will get to do some more hunting with him someday.

You are implying that there is a limit on what He can do. How do you explain those who have recovered from cancer after the doctors tried all known treatment options and gave up ? How many deer have you hit (or missed) and not recovered over the last 10 years ?

Spot on there. Veterans day is always the peak of the rut (Sat Nov 11). I put in for that Friday off, two more days earlier in October for northern zone crossbow/ML season, and a half a day for Friday of the last weekend of late southern zone ML season. Hopefully, I will be tagged out by then.

I am sorry that you are scared. Nothing drives out fear like belief in Jesus Christ.

It's good to see all the posts on this thread, which is clearly all about religion. This is very relative on a hunting websitse, because I would have liked to know at 25 what I found out at 50, concerning the connection between Jesus Christ, and the fate of every living creature. If I knew then, what I know now, the (6) deer that I wounded and lost more than 10 years ago would have ended up in my freezer. If I can help someone else avoid making those same mistakes, then that is great.

I wonder what lesson He was trying to teach you and JR with that one ?

garden hackle

That's interesting. I hope Olcott and Wilson will be open for launching. My brother said that the St Lawrence was down about 1.5 feet last weekend, from it's peak earlier this year, at his place up on the St Lawrence. They are just down-river of Alex bay.

Welcome to a great site. What part of the Adirondacks are you from ? The only problem I have with the Hunting up there is it makes what we have back here in Western NY loose much of it's appeal. I would take a small Adirondack 6 point over a big flat-land 12 point any day. The scenery up there, and the lack of pressure makes all the difference. It definitely gives you a taste of what the hunting must be like up in Heaven, that's for sure.

Nice king. We are hoping to get out of Olcott or Wilson on this Saturday afternoon (as long as the big waves and thunder holds off). If it is too windy out on the lake (or hopefully if our arms get sore from reeling in all the big kings), I hope to bring back a bucket full of bluegills and a largemouth or two from in the harbor in order to re-stock our pond that I re-excavated last fall after it dried up in the drought. Is the lake level back down a bit now ? .

He was a heck of a singer/songwriter and could act pretty good also. He and John Wayne were a lot better in the first "True Grit" than the couple of modern-day Hollywood actors (who's names I can't recall) that starred in the remake a few years ago.

That would be my biggest problem. I buy an average of (2) 12 or 6 volt batteries a year now for various boats, tractors and vehicles, so the last thing I need is another. Another thing that sucks about batteries is that you never know when they will die. Sometimes they last 12 years, and sometimes just 2. I can't recall ever burning out an A/C electric motor, or wearing out a rope on a hand-powered block and tackle. I don't even like battery-powered portable power tools for that reason. I will take a drill with a cord any day.

One of my most memorable running shots was one that I took offhand, from a range of about 80 yards, on a 10 point buck that was running full tilt thru thick hardwoods. Right at the shot, the buck folded up, just like a pheasant hit with a full pattern. That scene will be forever etched in my mind. The reason that I took that shot, from high up in my treestand, is that I knew it was safe (In case of a miss, the trajectory would take the bullet into the ground on the pancake-flat land), and I could not believe that my first shot had missed. The buck had stepped out into a shooting lane, about 70 yards away. With my gun well-rested on a rail, I calmly placed the crosshairs behind his shoulder, and fired. He wheeled around and bolted. The second shot was perfectly timed with his expiration, but it never touched him. The hair at the site of the first shot, and the side that the entry wound was on, made it clear that it was the first shot that got the job done. Another one that I will never forget, was the first deer I ever killed, 36 years ago. My uncle and I were hunting up a steep hill in Allegheny state park. We heard a shot up on top, and soon two antlerless deer came barreling down. We had a party permit, along with my dad, so I found an opening between the trees, about 60 yards away and pulled the trigger when the first deer reached it. The family still talks about that shot today. Looking back, it might not have been the lead deer that folded up, struck perfectly thru the front shoulders. More likely, it was the twin button-buck following close behind it, and my lead on the first one was about 6 feet short. It would not bother me at all if I never took another running shot at a deer. I will continue to practice them on targets though, because it is more fun and challenging. I have no problem with challenging myself on paper, but I have no need or desire to do it on a living animal.

I can't argue that one, and it was certainly the main theme of the movie. One of the main characters (the little girl's father) must have told his wife "You got to have faith" about half a dozen times or more. I don't think anyone is born with Faith, but it is available to all. If you lack it, you can still act like you have it and someday, when you least expect it, you will be pleasantly surprised when the Holy Spirit gives it to you. The first thing I did to "act like I had it" was to try and get my family to Church on most Sundays. Next, I started some regular Bible reading (I like the NIV best). Over the last five years, at least two deer made it into our freezer as a direct result of that Bible reading, along with (3) more probables. The first "confirmed" kill happened when I "accidently" dropped my Bible from my treestand and went down to get it with just a few minutes of remaining daylight. Immediately a flock of turkeys decended on my position in the bush-patch below my stand (I was wearing blaze orange cammo so they would not have got close had I still been up the tree). A wise old buck was with them, which I was able to kill from point blank range with my slug-gun before he knew what hit him. The second "Bible deer" was my ML doe last fall (see last season's ML harvest thread if you want to see that story). The three probables also happened on days when I took my Bible with me and read it up in the stand. You can even see what was the last verse that I read on last year's crossbow harvest thread. I call them "probables" because they may have happened without the Bible, while the two "confirmed" would have been impossible for me to kill as I did without it. Another, and maybe the most important thing you can do to "act like you have Faith", is to do things for others, expecting nothing in return. There is lots of truth in the saying "it is better to give than to receive" Prayer is another big one, and the more your faith grows, the more of those will be answered. It gets a lot easier to recognize the little miracles around us everyday as that Faith grows. That movie did an excellent job of portraying that in the closing scenes.

I mostly avoid running shots these days, but it does make sense to practice them a bit. Many years ago, down at my buddy's southern-tier camp, we would run a cable down a hill between a couple trees and slide a deer-shaped piece of plywood, hung from a couple eyebolts. Drives were the go-to technique down there, and running shots were common. I practice hitting moving targets a lot these days from our deck with a bb gun, shooting at a beer can hung from a wire attached to the clip. The length of the wire and the speed of the wind mostly controls the speed, as well as the impacts from previous hits. This is about the cheapest way and most convenient way that I have found to get lots of practice. It usually costs less than 10 cents to cut the cans in half, including the loss of the 5 cent deposite, and the cost of the bb's. I modified my daughter's Daisy red-ryder with an adult-sized stock and "big-loop" to make it dimensionally similar to my new Marlin 336 BL. Hopefully all that bb gun practice will pay off in the deer woods this fall. I have also practiced a bit with with the Marlin 30/30, by shooting gallon milk jugs filled with water, and plan to do a bit more from now until deer season. They explode pretty good when hit with 170 grains of lead. Maybe I will hang some of those in front of my big backstop and get them swinging to practice moving shots. It would be cool to cut a seperate supporting string with a still shot (or several) from a rest , then pop the jug as it swings down.

I don't think He would be a liberal, because that would make Him "pro-choice" and we all know that He is "pro-life". I think He would take about 75 % of the popular vote, based on the percentage of American's who identify themselves as Christians today, and most of the electoral votes except maybe NY and CA. The last election showed that there is still a lot of work to do in those states. Things are not so bad upstate in NY, but downstate where you are, I definitely understand what you are hearing.

I am glad that your buddy is doing ok. Have you asked him why he thinks God let him loose those birds ? Turkey is a lot less appealing to me than venison, but that would still hurt for a while if it happened to me. The key is the part where "all things work to the good for those who love Him". The "good" is not always immediate. Fire tempers steel and pain and suffering can make one stronger. He will be a better hunter now. We all learn by making mistakes. Believing in Jesus will not eliminate all bad things from happening, but it will give you more patience to wait for the good. Nothing bothers me more about hunting that the loss of game that I have shot at. I am very thankful that it has been more than 10 years since Jesus Christ has let it happen to me with a deer. A gray squirrel that I lost in a rock wall after dropping it off a limb with my .22, two seasons ago still bothers me. It was right at dusk and I regretted not having my "bloodglow" CSI-type night-time tracking agent with me. Where was the "good" in the loss of that squirrel ? That ugly experience contributed to my holding off on small-antlered, small-bodied bucks last fall with both my crossbow and rifle. The much larger bodied crossbow buck showed up less that 5 minutes after I passed the little guy (Jesus delivered quick that time). The slightly larger rifle buck showed up over a month after I passed the smaller one, but also allowed me to make the only "perfect shot" that I have ever pulled off on a deer. He took his sweet time on that one (almost to the end of the northern zone season) but really used it to prove to me that He calls ALL the shots.

There is enough room in Heaven for everyone, so it would be selfish of me not to spread the word. To answer your question, I believe that the answer would be a negative number, meaning that there would be more wars had no one spread the Word about Jesus Christ. I am extremely thankful to live in a country that identifies as about 75 % Christian and I have no intention on letting up the pressure on that other 25 %. I love them too much for that. They just don't know no better and it is not their fault. Politics does have a special section but I welcome any personal attacks you care to deliver on me about my religion. Every bullet I take for Jesus moves me one notch higher in His Kingdom someday, so thank you very much. I have asked that the moderators let them continue and they have kindly obliged. Carry on my friend and happy hunting this fall. That was not me. Mine involved a head-on collision with a pickup truck. I did not break any bones, but did dislocate a hip and suffer a concussion. The doc said at the time (28 years ago) that I would probably need a hip replacement within 5 years. It has not bothered me at all since that time.

One who may have a lesson to teach. All things work for the good to those who love Him.

You sound like someone who may have shot at a few. Care to answer that question ^ ?

I also don't know how many deer you have hit and lost or failed to hit when you shot at over the last 10 years. How about it ? The world wonders.