wildcat junkie

Or castrated buck.

IMO 8mm is one of the most versatile medium bores. Big brother to the 7mm.

I moved the trail cameras put to the opposite corners of my 2 back hayfields. I have a new ladder stand set up on a fencerow a month ago that covers both fields affording shots out to about 150 yds at either corner. Sure enough the big 6-point showed up tailing a small group of does. They are still avoiding him and there doesn't seem to much of a "chase" going on, but he always shows up right after them. So far he's nocturnal, but I think he'll slip up once things get into high gear. If you look at the times, you'll see that he has been cruising these field edes all night. These 1st 2 are at a narrow 80 yd long lane that connects the corner of my South hayfield with a neighbor's field through some dense popples on the right and mixed oaks/old growth white pines on the left. The edge of the field is grown up with small popples and pines Here he is at the NW corner of the smaller North hayfield. This is about 100 yds East of the place back in the woods where I got the 1st pictures of him on the 7th Here is a picture of a solitary doe that showed up right at daybreak. You can see the ladder stand in the distance right above her hindquarters. I don't really believe in box blinds as they just seem to take something away from the experience. That rectangular shape you see is a heavy burlap skirt around the stand and a shoulder wide 4 layer burlap backdrop on the tree trunk to conceal my outline. I was going to sit on that stand this afternoon but decided to stay away until the boys get to hunt this weekend. I don't want to screw it up for them and I don't think I could pass this guy up if he showed himself.

I found this after your post. https://nygunforum.com/threads/beikirch-is-closing-moving-to-henrietta.22200/

Maybe not. I used to make it a point to stop on whenever I was passing through back in the early 2000s. In those days they had racks full of Italian O/U shotguns. The last tome I stopped they had racks full of AR-15 type rifles. The latter choice probably lead to their demise when the panic subsided.

The spread at the base and lack of brow tines is a give away. Most down state hunters guess 1-2 years younger when aging bucks from these parts. We had horrible genetics being spread in the late '90s when the area was overrun with deer. Here is a buck I killed in 2004 that was aged by the local taxidermist as 4 1/2 years old. An example of our bad genetics for rack, but dressed 219#. He had a wide spread base with no brow tines. I think the buck in the 1st post may be descended from this buck. Here is a 3 1/2 year old buck from 2009, again aged by the local taxidermist. He had a high tight basket rack at 1 1/2 years. I watched him for 3 seasons before taking him. Obviously better genetics. for rack, but only weighed 142# dressed.

Beikirch's has one of the widest selections of reloading supplies in the country. http://beikirchs.com/

IMO, fender skirts look kinda weird period. My Dad had rattlesnake rattles hanging on the rear view mirror of his '49 Ford. He "collected" them one summer when he expanded the perimeter of our yard after killing one on the back cellar steps. Some slimeball stole them when he left the windows down after he parked the car in downtown Butler, PA.

We got some "C" rations when I was in basic training that had Luckies in O D green packs!

Been there, done that!

Anyone want to guess the age/weight of this guy? Knowing the genetics and average rack size of the area over the last 20 years, I'm guessing at least 4 1/2 years old and over 200# dressed from what I can see of his pot belly.

A button buck is the same as a doe, "antlerless". It should not count as a buck in this contest IMO.

I Hope One of the Boys Flattens This Guy Because if he shows up while I'm in the tripod, I'm going to be mighty tempted to let the air out of him with an 8mm 200 gr Hotcor. I went out and pulled the cards from my trail cameras this afternoon. Nothing has been showing up except a few does and 3 yearling bucks that seem to have taken up residence in my woods. For several weeks, I was seeing a pair of young spike/crotchorn bucks traveling together but that ceased several days ago indicating that the rut was beginning to heat up.. Last night at 3:10 AM a solitary doe was caught on the camera located about 80 yds north of my tripod in a shooting lane. I erased her pictures because I had seen her numerous times in the camera. 7 minutes later, at 3:17 A M this slob showed up tailing her about 20 yds to one side closer to the camera. My son has killed 3 bucks on my place, but never anything larger than a crotchorn. His buddy has just started hunting and hunted the last 2 years without taking a shot. Last year they both wimped out on a cold damp snowy afternoon and I went out in their place and killed a fat 10-point pig. I told both of them that they better start getting some ass time in because I don't know if I can let this guy walk if he shows up while I'm in the tripod..

Savage bolt actions are super easy to rebarrel. Just rent some headspace gauges. Insert the gauge, close the bolt, screw the barrel in until it stops against the gauge, then tighter the lockring. Make sure the ejector is depressed when you screw the barrel in before the lock the ring down. https://www.reamerrentals.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=26 You can sell the old barrel on E-Bay if you don't want to keep it..

I shot one about that size in 1990 with my recurve bow. We roasted it whole for about 10 hours at a keg party on my 40th birthday. The cavity was filled with potatoes, carrots and onions. When we placed it on the table I gave a little speech. "I know I promised everyone that we would roast a deer. I didn't get one so I shot the neighbors dog instead." After 20 minutes there was nothing but bones left on the aluminum foil that we had wrapped the deer in.

Any competent machinist with a lathe can cut and crown a barrel. Just give him a drawing of the crown you want ans specify that there are to be no burrs at the bore. I like a recessed flat crown myself. I usually polish with a .350 round lead ball and fine valve grinding compound to remove any minute burrs. I even do that with new store bought rifles on the rare occasions that I buy one.

I look forward to going back to standard time in the fall so I don't have to take my dog out when it's dark in the morning. Makes avoiding his previous bowel movements easier. He always does his #2 business in the mornings/afternoons so I have to take him some distance from the house.. At night I just stand near the steps and let him do his #1 business at the end of his long retractable leash..

If you are using a cartridge that shoots a bullet with similar BC as say a 140 gr .284 Polymer tipped projectile at 2800-2900 fps. 2" high at 100 yds would put you dead on at a little over 215 yds and 2" low at about 250 yds. You would never be more than 2" above or below the LOS (Line Of Sight) at any distance from the muzzle to 250 yds. However, if you sight in at 100 yds with the same combo, you will be zero from about 70 yds to 100yds and start falling below LOS from then on. At 250 yds you would 7" or more low. At the 35 yds distance that the 2" high zero crosses the LOS, you would still be almost 3/4" low with the 100 yd zero.. What many don't realize is that you will start out at about 1 3/4" low using medium height rings and the bullet path will be rising in relationship to the LOS until it crosses it. Sighted in 2" high at 100yds, that would occur at about 35 yds. The path would peak at 2" high between 100 and 150 yds and drop slowly until it crosses the LOS again at around 215 yds. Conversely, zeroed at 100 yds, that combo will be below the LOS until it peaks at 70 yds and will stay near that peak out to 100yds where it will start to drop below the LOS. With a rifle that shoots a bullet with a BC (Ballistic Coefficient) of .400 or better at moderate to high Mv (2800+ fps) there is no good reason to sight in zeroed at 100 yds when hunting anything larger than a squirrel. I sight in between 2 1/2 to 2 3/4" high at 100 yds depending on caliber. That keeps the trajectory + or - 3' to between 275 to 310 yds depending on BC and MV. I just aim from the vertical center of the vitals at any distance that I normally encounter deer from my tripod stand. Most shots are between 75 and 250 yds. Of the 30+ deer I have killed from that stand, I have had to shot 1 twice when I hurried the shot at 240 yds and held high on the vitals hitting the spine. The deer dropped in its tracks and I did not wait to see if it was down for the count. AS I walked the distance the deer has reviewed enough to crawl about 10 yds. I distathed the 2 1/2 year old buck with another bullet through the shoulder but I learned my lesson and never held high again. Sighting in zero at 100 yds is inviting a wounded deer if that occasional long shot presents itself. Calculating "holdover" is fraught with error in the heat of the moment.

I've hunted open hardwoods where 150 yd shots are common when the deer is on the other side of a ravine.

Isn't that a M98 Mauser?

Works for me.

I think that we could use antler restrictions that target bucks with less than 3 points per side.Let the 5-6 point yearlings walk for a few years. Maybe a "slot restriction". Right now I have a spike and a 3-point screwing up the hunting on my place. The does have left the immediate area, most likely due to being constantly harassed by the young bucks. I'm afraid that when the big boys start cruising, they won't bother spending any time on my place. When I first set my trail cams out, there were at least 4 different does hanging around. Now they show up in the wee hours and infrequently at that.

4 1/2 year old 219# dressed weight 4 point. Dominant buck on my farm. Never saw or killed a rack buck until I took him out.

The old sunrise to sunset rule made more sense when deer rifles were predominately adorned with iron sights. Good quality optics make it easy to pick out antlers under most conditions long after sunset. If you can ID antlers and see your reticle against the target, you can see well enough to make an ethical shot. That brings up my pet peeve about illuminated reticles. I can see my duplex reticle long after I can ID antlers so what is the need for an illuminated reticle on a deer rifle?

Same for any "camo" accessories. Flashlights, grunt calls etc. Deer: I see a black grunt call suspended on mid air over there. I'm outa here!