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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Jan 4, 2016 10:42:14 GMT -5
Think I just set my worst personal record to close out the season. Ive gone over 8 weeks now without seeing a single deer from my stands on the Mississinewa. As I was sitting last night I was figuring that these past 8 weeks I have averaged "roughly" between 15-20 hours in the stand per week. To not even see a deer within 500 yards in well over 30 trips to the stand was a pretty tough pill to swallow. All I can do now is sit back and lick my wounds and hope things look better out there next year... Congrats to everyone who was successful this year!! This sounds like my season. It sure did get tough to keep going out. Hats off to you for the resolve to keep at it. I knew there were plenty of deer 250 yds from my stand in a big bedding area, but they came my way after hunting hours.
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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Jan 4, 2016 10:50:39 GMT -5
I got a feeling this won't surprise John but I have eaten lots of coons ,they taste like coon Cooked in oven on one of those pans where the geese fall away from meat Had an old friend , I gave two ,he gave back one cooked miss those times and old friends Now throbak, why would you think that I wouldn't be surprised? I think I have a better opinion of you than you think. The way this guy's wife described how she cooked it, one would think they were having Thanksgiving dinner. I think his mouth started to water. I'm just thrilled that they're not going to waste or to the coyotes.
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Post by nfalls116 on Jan 4, 2016 11:30:50 GMT -5
yes And skittles and chicken
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Post by sakorifle on Feb 16, 2016 16:16:43 GMT -5
greetings Yes over the pond we are still at it so here is an update from my ara. The doe season has been the hardest season i have had in almost thirty nine years i have seen nothing like this. In November and december the tempratures were very mild and it was very very wet, the deer were not hungry so therefore spent most of there time in the trees and to compound the situation once nightfall came the winds dropped the rain stopped and yes the deer fed through the night, heading back to the trees at first daylight. Now that is frustration. Right the result is i am thirty deer short of what i had this time last year.
Things this week seem to of improved a little, the deer are now getting hungry and i am seeing a lot more than i was, this week i have shot seven up to now.
I went out this morning i stalked down a road and as i just cleared the forest edge to look onto a new plantation i seen a doe our eyes met together and oh how i wanted her in my van, lol unfortunatley she had a different idea and took off at a rate of knots i tried to get the quad sticks up but they kept slipping on the ice, eventually i got them up and she stopped i was just settling the cross hairs on her shoulder when she decided she had enough and moved into the trees.
So it was back to the van and move to another area. Second stalk.
I set of again leaving bailey the dog in the van, (daft decision) as i stalked up thr forest edge i eventually came upon a deer i looked through the binos and it was a big buck, i glassed around and on his right i seen another deer it was a doe ranged her at 250 yds, i crept forward to close it down to 200 or less, as i was sneeking around i looked at the buck to make sure he had not seen me, then i seen another deer beside him that had just appeared out of a drain it was another doe. I never ranged her i just put the stick up got ready and as she was broadside i sent the 123gn sako on its way. She ran at full tilt initially i thought i had missed her then as i played the reaction back in my head i thought no that deer is hit, not very well but it is hit.
I went forward and there was a lot of sprayed blood on the snow, so i started tracking, i went nto the thicket stage sitka trees and seen were she had laid down twice but then i lost sign on the pine needle floor. So i pulled out to give her s little time, and i walked back for bailey taking my rifle with me to lock in the van cabinet. This is the first time bailey has had to track a running deer in 2.5 years all the others have been bang flop. I put bailey on an extendable lead simply because otherwise she is too fast for me to keep up with , lol We set off into the thicket trees, she was keen we got to the blood, bailey wanted to go up hill, now i knew that the hit deer would go downhill if given a choice, but never mind i let her take me up hill as we were going i was watching for blood, there was none after a while it was obvious that bailey was tracking foot scent and that had to be the buck that was with the doe, so i called her off and went back to the blood. I gave the dog and myself five minutes, me to get my breath back and her time to re scent the area.
I said to her where is it then she dropped her head again and we set off this time she took a scent slightly down hill and i knew then she was on it, at no point did i see blood but she could smell it, then she got very keen then she knew it was there , as i looked there it was stone dead, my bullet had gone in too far forward of the shoulder, with my mistake and the wind making my error worse the bullet had gone wrong.
Never mind these things happen, the carcass was perfect i was absolutley goosed and the dog was smiling. She got a biscuit right there and then. It would of been almost impossible to find that carcass without a dog unless one was vry lucky i was ripped to bits pushing through thicket stage sitka spruce trees. Bailey is the star of the show. lol regards Billy
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Post by esshup on Feb 17, 2016 0:35:08 GMT -5
I think Bailey needs to get another biscuit when you get home. Good going. Season has ended for us here, but don't let that stop you from telling us your experiences. This weekend it is supposed to get abnormally warm for the time of year, highs are normally in the 30°F range and it is supposed to be 55°F here on Friday with a high in the upper 40's on Saturday.
Have you tried shooting any heavier weight bullets? What brand of ammo are you using? I know you are having to use non-lead bullets, and reloading there is about impossible, so you are stuck with what is commercially available, right?
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Post by nfalls116 on Feb 17, 2016 8:48:06 GMT -5
Make sure and give yourself a biscuit for the effort!
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Post by sakorifle on Feb 17, 2016 19:02:35 GMT -5
greetings esshup We were going onto copper bullets, but this season because it is a new thing here there was not enough copper for us all so i went back onto sako lead 123grn game head bullets, they are brilliant on anything in the uk and they tell me they drop boar like lightning abroad. Yes over here we can reload indeed all the bullets i use in my private rifles i put together myself. 308 gets 45grn of hogdens 4895 and either a 155gr amax or a 110grn vmax depending whether i am going for deer or foxes with it.
Hornet gets 12.5grns of lillgun and a 35grn v max for everything, seems to work. lol
i am getting short of official work ammo and i have a hundred coming tomorrow my work mate says they are copper i hope he is joking but if not i will have to re zero and use them. All hand loads are banned at work. Eight does this week up to now, its a slow haul this year, lol regards Billy
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Post by esshup on Feb 17, 2016 20:07:37 GMT -5
Billy, if the copper is required, who is the mfg of the loaded rounds? It would be nice if you had a variety to try to make sure you were shooting the most accurate round you could.
Thanks!!
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Post by sakorifle on Feb 18, 2016 8:59:17 GMT -5
greetings My friend came over this morning with the ammo it is 168grn copper sako stuff so it looks like that is what the deer are going to have to have. I shot three does this morning,before i went to meet my friend to collect the ammo. Deer are getting hungry now so they are out feeding, makes life a lot easier. lol regards billy
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Post by esshup on Feb 18, 2016 9:47:38 GMT -5
I think that will require you to hit the range and re-sight in the rifle! The bullet drop will be different, and I wonder how they will group in your gun compared to what you were shooting?
Congrats on the 3!!
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