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Same buck?
Nov 29, 2022 17:28:26 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by M4Madness on Nov 29, 2022 17:28:26 GMT -5
Very interesting thoughts of the lower jaw, I see it too. I don’t think it’s the same deer. I was just trying to find some non-antler feature, and there's just not a lot to compare. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 29, 2022 14:56:03 GMT -5
The buck in last year's photos appears to have a short lower jaw. Is that just the angle of the photos you've posted?
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 28, 2022 17:55:10 GMT -5
Here's my muzzleloader of choice. Savage ML-II with PacNor .45 cal barrel and an Allen Precision Shooting Muzzle Brake on it. It makes shooting it a LOT more pleasant. Pittman 300 grain 45 cal Aeromax bullet. I'll break out the chronograph tomorrow to see how fast they are running. No sabot, just sized to the bore. The powder giving them a kick in the butt obturates them so they engage the rifling. I need to get serious with my .45 smokeless Hankins-converted CVA Axis. I fired it tonight, as it has been loaded for years (lol) and I didn't want to risk it being compromised. IT SHOT JUST LIKE IT SHOULD. I'm using 56 grains of 4198 and a saboted .40 SST. I'd really like to go with something like you're using, but I've never tried sized-to-fit bullets. I did read something once about knurling bullets, but I'm still ignorant of the process. I also read about people cutting an inch or so off their barrel and using it to press a bullet through to get rifling on it, but I didn't want to cut a crowned barrel to do it.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 28, 2022 17:02:54 GMT -5
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 19:25:57 GMT -5
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 19:21:31 GMT -5
If you truly bought a "Northwest" model, then you are stuck with loose powder and musket caps. youtu.be/bmQXxhPNJc4
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 18:19:48 GMT -5
Another firearms season in the books. If I can figure out where the deer are feeding during muzzleloader season, I'll probably give it a shot. It's been years since I hunted that season.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 17:00:17 GMT -5
Well, the does are certainly active in the hay field in front of my house at this moment.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 16:28:24 GMT -5
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 16:10:22 GMT -5
If you run the numbers for wind drift you might see that there is more drift than drop. Depending on the wind speed of course! Exactly. I prefer to not hunt when wind can be a factor in a good shot turning into a bad one.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 15:01:58 GMT -5
MISSION ABORTED!
Radar shows all rain has passed here, but it's still pretty gusty here -- and a SW wind isn't good for my stand of choice tonight.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 27, 2022 13:17:55 GMT -5
If it's not raining or windy, I may go out around 3:00 or 4:00 for one final hurrah -- with my tree umbrella, of course.
As for hunting after today, I've got an awesome 45-caliber smokeless muzzleloader that I had built a few years ago that has yet to shed blood. The only negative is that I don't have any trajectory data beyond its 100-yard zero. It's throwing 200-grain bullets around 2500 FPS with 56 grains of powder, but I've not done the math (ballistic coefficient, etc) and certainly no real world verification. For my normal woods hunting, that's fine. But my recent deer sightings have overwhelmingly been in a hay field with extended ranges.
EDIT: My quick math shows 3.7 MOA up for 200 yards, 9.2 for 300, 16.1 for 400, and 24.9 for 500, but it's ALWAYS best to verify that dope with live fire. Besides, in over 25 years of deer hunting, I've only shot two deer beyond 100 yards. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 26, 2022 19:27:50 GMT -5
I ran into husband and wife that hunts next to my brother's place. Very nice couple. I also ran into two guys that hunt a farm past. All four said the same thing, not seeing much and no big bucks. This year reminds me of 2012 and 2013 EHD outbreak. I'm trying to talk mt brother into food plots next year. Pulling teeth might be easier. Just use feeder less hassle unless you got the time and equipment. The problem with the feeder route is that it's not legal to hunt over. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 26, 2022 18:37:38 GMT -5
Well, pretty busy evening to come home with a tag. Lol! After the sneaky 4-pointer, around 5:00 three does trotted out into the field about 200 yards out. Sure enough, a small half-rack 6-pointer was the cause. And as luck would have it, he bee-lined right to the small clump of trees I was set up in. There he is nosing around 15 yards in front of me at the edge of my hiding spot, when I spy a deer crossing in the tall grass around 400 yards out. It was almost across the field before I could slowly raise my rangefinder to get a closer look, with that darn half-rack looking right at me. Lol!
It was either a decent 8 or 10, but nothing huge. More than likely I'd have passed it if it were right in front of me. Then a spike shows up and checks out the does, while nosy half-rack was circling my clump of trees to the left giving me the eye. He finally looks away and I start to reposition myself after sitting still for so long. Suddenly I hear something to my right, and it's the 9-pointer from last night on the opposite side of the clump as half-rack. If I spooked him, it was very subtle, as he trotted a few steps and then stopped to look around. It was then that I realized that half-rack had been eyeing him and not me. All the deer eventually wandered away without spooking and the last half hour of shooting light was uneventful.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 26, 2022 16:17:23 GMT -5
Congratulations!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 26, 2022 16:15:03 GMT -5
In the same pasture stand as yesterday evening. I can't fathom the activity this hay field sees -- I hunt in the woods pretty much exclusively. I've been here 45 minutes and a 4-pointer already casually crossed right behind me. No telling how many have slipped behind this stand. I only started watching that way tonight since I caught that 8-pointer crossing in the same spot last night. Hundreds of Booners have probably snuck by in the past. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 25, 2022 18:50:36 GMT -5
I'm very discouraged. I really don't know what happened here. I have shot my rifle at the distances and feel confident with it. Not sure where to go from here. Thanks for the support. About all you can do is give it a final search tomorrow, and if unsuccessful, know that you gave your best effort. I once put two arrows in a 10-pointer the first week of November. We found bloody bed after bloody bed for hundreds of yards the next morning, but no deer. It was hit by a car during a January snowstorm with one of my arrow stubs still lodged in its vertebrae. Good luck, and hang in there regardless of the results!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 25, 2022 17:39:54 GMT -5
Talk about a deer drought turning into a flood. Around 5:00, the 9-pointer jumped from his bed, ran a short distance, then started staring at the woods to our left. Shortly thereafter, a very vocal coyote started barking and howling. This continued for something like 10-15 minutes. I glanced over my right shoulder, and lo and behold, there was a very nice 8-pointer perfectly broadside. I was extremely tempted and even clicked the safety off, but in the end let it walk out of my life.
I turned my focus to the tall grass in front of me after the coyote finally quieted down, and all kinds of deer started standing up 3-400 yards in front of me in this tall pasture grass. The section behind me has been round-baled, but for some reason, they didn't cut the huge portion on the other end. I had another buck about the size of the 2.5 year old 9-pointer stand up, a smaller buck other than the spike, and a handful of does. I can't believe they were all just lying there in front of me all afternoon. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 25, 2022 16:50:01 GMT -5
Small 9-pointer and even smaller buck gently sparring in tall grass 300 yards from me. The spike wandered off and the 9-pointer just bedded down in the field.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 25, 2022 16:39:02 GMT -5
Small 9-pointer and even smaller buck gently sparring in tall grass 300 yards from me.
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