This is my year

[warbirdlover]

This buck was gotten this weekend on the leased land Sssmokin and I hunt on for gun deer season in Wisconsin. The camp leader was putting a new roof on my box stand and had three similar bucks run by this weekend also. This buck field dressed at 210 lbs!

[warbirdlover]

Four days go by....no comments.

Well, maybe it's not!!!

[warbirdlover]

Yup... my year alright

Oh never mind.

:mad:

[Willy]

So....... how big?

[Sailor]

And with a bow? Nice. Has some of him wound up in a crock pot yet?

[Willy]

I think I smell deer chili already.....

How about donating to the Cantina cook's larder? That way at least we'll know what's in the chili pot and the burritos......

[Awesome]

Bow hunting?! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDD....

Geeze I wanna USE that bow of mine! :d :violent:

Awesome

[warbirdlover]

Mine's on the car. Smmokin's is on the ground. Mine's 9 points, 18" spread, 170 lbs. dressed wgt. His is 8 points but slightly smaller.

[Awesome]

First I read that without seeing the pics and I wondered what the heck you were talking about. :costumes:

Nice one! :medals:

Awesome

[warbirdlover]

Awesome,

That's because I forgot to put them in and had to edit it, LOL!

I wanted a bigger one because there's some real monsters roaming those woods (see top pic). This one came limping up (someone clipped the brisket and broke it's right shoulder) so I put it down. Opening day saw 68 deer and passed on two bucks. Another in our group saw 163 deer and had them bedding down around his box blind. Saw 50 in first 1/2 hour on opening morning. They came "pouring" over this hill like ants coming out of an anthill.


When registering it there was one that will surely push 180+ Boone and Crockett. It had to be 24" inside spread and huge long tines. The main beams were so heavy you couldn't get your hand only half way around. And a typical too. It should pop up in some of the magazines. Well over 225 lbs. dressed.

Also shot a nice big doe. The old .300 Win. mag. puts 'em down.

[Willy]

Glad to hear you got one. 300 Win Mag will reach out there and touch one. I just use my old 44-40 as I tend to hunt the thickets and rarely have a shot over 50 yards.

[warbirdlover]

Well, it would be hard to get a shot over 100 yards where my stand is (shot the deer this year at about that) but I'm limited to one gun for all my big game hunting so my Ruger stainless synthetic is my tool. So far it's dropped 3 whitetail, 2 elk, 1 muley and a black bear (not all by me). Brother-in-law used to borrow it (until he dinged up the muzzle crown) and got the elk and black bear.

Here's sssmokin's view out of his blind. He got his buck right by the road, 100 yds.

[Ivan]

Why are you limited to a .300 Win Mag as your only big game gun? How well does the Ruger do as a target rifle? (One of my target guns is a Remington Sendero in .300 WM.)

- Ivan.

[warbirdlover]

I used to buy and sell guns all the time. I've had that gun for almost 10 years now because NOTHING could outshoot it. From benchrest you can take cheap Remington PowerPoint ammo 150 gr. or Federal Premium 180 gr. and it will shoot two or three hole groups (3 shots) that all touch to the same spot. I used to handload and sold the whole works (had a super nice setup) because I couldn't beat the factory stuff in this gun. It's one of those one-in-a-million shooters you just hardly ever find. I can't justify buying lot's of guns. I don't use them only during deer hunting. I've got a nice Weatherby Orion over/under for pheasants and that's all I need. I've got a couple of black powder replica revolvers for playing at the range. And since using the .300 on deer NO ONE has been able to put their tag on my deer. It drops where I shoot it.

[Ivan]

A Ruger big game rifle shooting that well is unusual from what I have heard. Only Ruger centerfire rifle I own is a Number 1 and it does not shoot particularly well. Pity you got rid of your reloading setup. I use 168 Sierra's and IMR 4064 to load target rounds for my Sendero and it puts them consistently into about 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards (5 shots). Recoil isn't particularly bad either. Federal 150 grain factory loads get about the same accuracy out of this gun. The only thing I have ever done to it is to polish the feed ramp with 600 grit to remove a sharp edge. I usta do the rifle range about once a week before life got busy.

BTW, It seems to me that .300 WM on a deer is still overkill. Kinda like using a sledge hammer to crack an egg.... ...Though I can't imagine one failing to crack an egg.:costumes:

- Ivan.

[warbirdlover]

Well, if you live in North Carolina (mountains) or Texas where the deer don't get that big (body weight) it IS overkill. However, if you've ever seen a huge 260 lb. (dressed wgt) Wisconsin or Canadian deer it is not overkill. I have seen them weighing deer that size at registration stations, frequently. The first year I hunted (40 years ago) here on public land and I used a borrowed 30-30. I had a huge bruiser pop out 40 yards in front of me and trot slowly broadside. I emptied that whole gun into it and it never even flinched. I followed the blood trail 100-150 yards only to find someone had tagged it. Now I don't have that problem.

[Ivan]

I guess you have a pretty good point there. I shoot targets quite a lot (or used to) but don't do any kind of hunting. I only own two moderately appropriate hunting guns: a 7 mm Magnum and a 25-06. The 7 mm usta see the range quite often and may again whenever I work the bugs out of it. I figure it could use glass bedded and a decent scope mount on it.

Happy Hunting!
- Ivan.

[Willy]

Well, if you live in North Carolina (mountains) or Texas where the deer don't get that big (body weight) it IS overkill. However, if you've ever seen a huge 260 lb. (dressed wgt) Wisconsin or Canadian deer it is not overkill. I have seen them weighing deer that size at registration stations, frequently. The first year I hunted (40 years ago) here on public land and I used a borrowed 30-30. I had a huge bruiser pop out 40 yards in front of me and trot slowly broadside. I emptied that whole gun into it and it never even flinched. I followed the blood trail 100-150 yards only to find someone had tagged it. Now I don't have that problem.

Had one about that size on a hunting lease come out in front of me about 5 years ago. The was the first one for "ol' #81", my 44-40. Broadside through the lungs and heart with a 200gr JHP. He went about 75yds before coming to a stop. Ol' #81 has dropped a couple a year since then all one shot kills and none of the others have even taken a step as all have been neck shots. Since the first one I switched to a Winchester 210gr Silvertip JHP that I've got loaded up to a chronographed 1900fps.

Not bad for a cartridge originally designed for the Winchester Model 1873 and came out that year with it. :d

[Ivan]

Hi Willy,
I have a .45-70 that I did a lot of reloading for. 460 grain solid is chronographed at 1475 fps. I also loaded 535 grain cruise missiles, but can't remember what velocity I got from those. Powder is IMR 3031 if I remember right.

- Ivan.