2022-2023 Hunting Season

Xae289

Xae289

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Cold weekend where I hunt for sure, but a pretty fun one. We hunted all day Saturday with a quick lunch/warmup break. Saw tons of deer, but all antlerless. All told, I saw over 20 deer, a fox, and beautiful owl. We don't shoot antlerless on opening day, so we all went back to camp empty-handed.

Sunday, the wind was pretty extreme. Most of us didn't see squat and we were all freezing. That said, my buddy got a nice, big-bodied doe in the morning. A few min later, I notice a coyote to my right, confirm it's not a dog, and shoot it. She goes right down, gives a couple kicks and passes. By around 11, I grab the coyote and haul it to where my buddy hit the doe to help him drag her out. We planned to come back for the evening hunt, but those of us that came back to the house ended up getting too comfortable watching bad football and stayed in. Our buddy that stayed out late didn't see squat unfortunately.

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The next day, we went afield with about half our group gone home for the week ahead. Those of us left stayed on the ground, not wanted to get beaten down by the wind chill again. I posted up between the tree stand I was in the day prior and my buddy's stand who took the coyote pic. Just before sunrise I had 2 or 3 coyotes quickly pass me by, but I was fully ready for deer that day, no longer limited to bucks since it might be my last day out this entire season. I saw a lone, young deer come by right at first light and passed on it.

Then I hear a few rustles to my right that quickly turned into a big noise. Four deer eventually work their way within sight. I did my best not to move much, but IDed the largest – the rest looked small. I hear gunfire close enough that I knew it was one of my buddies. The deer don't react. I keep hearing noise to my right, so continue to wait to see what comes within sight. Another gunshot. Another of my buddies fired. This one was much louder and spooked the deer. They ducked, but soon relaxed and resumed grazing and occasionally looking at me. That's when I decide to take the largest doe in sight so not to go home empty-handed. By now, she's within 30 yards of me. She moves up past a tree and I shoot. All the deer start running. I saw 3 or 3 more small, anterless deer run out from where I couldn't see. They all run in the same direction together, but mine makes it only about 40-50 yards before laying down next to a tree. Me and 2 buddies had taken down 3 deer within 10 minutes. An hour later, we began the process of recovering the animals and carrying out all the chores between the shot and a full freezer. My doe is on the far left.

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This year I decided to take out my .300 Blackout AR, since I put a new stock and scope on my .270 Win and didn't have time to do serious load development with it. I handloaded some Barnes Tac-TX 110 grain bullets over a charge of H110 that pushes that bullet around 2400 fps in warm weather. I'd never hunted with it, but the results impressed me. The exit wounds on both animals were huge and the internal damage was very good. The coyote dropped on the spot. The doe didn't run far with the heart shredded beyond recognition, the near lung having a big hole in it, and the far lung looking much worse. The blood trail was very good. Not as thick as the one left by my buddy's with his .30-06, but shorter. My only concern is that the entry wound on both animals was tiny. I couldn't find it on the coyote from the outside, and it was only a small blot of blood that gave it away on the doe. I worry that if the bullet were to not penetrate completely, I wouldn't have a blood trail at all.

I'll probably hunt with this rifle again next year, but I have a much better understanding of the 300 Blackout's limitations. As far as the benefits, it has a few. The specific load was expensive thanks to the extremely expensive Barnes bullet, but there are much cheaper .308 bullets. Plus, I can practice with my 5.56 AR and everything translates. Recoil is nothing with this round, making post-shot follow-through and visual tracking easy. The report is also relatively quiet. My ears didn't ring or my hearing dull like after an unprotected shot with a .270 Win.

I probably won't get a chance to hunt again this year, so I'm very glad to have had a great time with my friends this past weekend and to have a nice deer to fill my freezer.
 
camper4lyfe

camper4lyfe

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This about sums up today’s hunting experience.

This was his first time out deer hunting with me. With a temp over 50 degrees, I wasn’t expecting much action. I was right. He also insisted on bringing his Red Rider in case there were any chipmunks or squirrels (not that it would have done much).

He enjoyed himself, though, as I’m sure the ants in his pants did also. 48B58E5F-01F8-4DAF-9AAA-8B11612BAA0B.jpeg
 
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Saltwater60

Saltwater60

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camper4lyfe said:
This about sums up today’s hunting experience.

This was his first time out deer hunting with me. With a temp over 50 degrees, I wasn’t expecting much action. I was right. He also insisted on bringing his Red Rider in case there were any chipmunks or squirrels (not that it would have done much).

He enjoyed himself, though, as I’m sure the ants in his pants did also. View attachment 181359
Click to expand...
Better than mine. The heater at my parents camp broke so o hunted for two hours yesterday and it was too cold to spend the night. Took me much longer to unpack, repack, and drive to and from than I hunted. I’m not happy about it. I was thinking it would have been a beautiful day in the woods today. My property is a good morning hunt so some early movement might have been possible.
 
phatfarmerbob

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Had a spike and two does in front of my son this pm. He passed on them, easy shot but he’s holding out for one we’ve been seeing that’s substantially better than a spike… I told him if he wanted to take one to go for it but he’s set on a big boy at least untill muzzleloader, then if there’s no meat anything goes.
I haven’t even touched the gun yet just sitting with him. If he doesn’t have school or work to do he’s got me sitting in the woods with him.
 
Saltwater60

Saltwater60

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phatfarmerbob said:
Had a spike and two does in front of my son this pm. He passed on them, easy shot but he’s holding out for one we’ve been seeing that’s substantially better than a spike… I told him if he wanted to take one to go for it but he’s set on a big boy at least untill muzzleloader, then if there’s no meat anything goes.
I haven’t even touched the gun yet just sitting with him. If he doesn’t have school or work to do he’s got me sitting in the woods with him.
Click to expand...
Glad to see you’re enjoying some time with your boy and aren’t working like crazy. I’m hoping to tag one this weekend. I bought a back up heater today so I won’t get frozen out like last weekend.
 
Shoots100

Shoots100

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Spotted 5 bucks with the thermal fighting and chasing a hot doe before the sun rose Sat Am.
Had a perfect broadside shot at an 8 pointer 350 yards away as the sun was rising.
Was almost ready to pull the trigger when a small basket 6 bumped the doe and both bucks followed the doe into heavy brush at 400 yards.
After the eight point chased the 6 away, I was hoping they would both come my way to feed in a hay field closer to me, but that doe was tuckered from being chased all morning.
At 8:30 I decided to attempt a stalk and see if I could get in range before they left the area.
Since they were in heavy brush, I was able to circle downwind of their position.
With the aid of the thermal monocular, I spotted the doe in the brush and got to within 10 feet of the her before the wind shifted.
She got nervous and jumped up.
The buck that I couldn't spot also jumped up and as they both bolted, I dropped the buck with a spine shot and ran up and finished him off with a 44 mag to the pumper.
I had only seen a spindly fork horn after six days hunting and it was a big surprise to see five bucks in an hour's time.
I practiced regularly taking shots with the Blaser R8 300 WSM/Leupold CDS combo out to 400 yards, anticipating a long shot in the hay fields I hunt, so it was only fitting to shoot a buck at 20 feet with it.
We have many trail cameras around and had never seen this buck.
SJC

11 26 8 Pointer.jpg
 
Saltwater60

Saltwater60

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Shoots100 said:
Spotted 5 bucks with the thermal fighting and chasing a hot doe before the sun rose Sat Am.
Had a perfect broadside shot at an 8 pointer 350 yards away as the sun was rising.
Was almost ready to pull the trigger when a small basket 6 bumped the doe and both bucks followed the doe into heavy brush at 400 yards.
After the eight point chased the 6 away, I was hoping they would both come my way to feed in a hay field closer to me, but that doe was tuckered from being chased all morning.
At 8:30 I decided to attempt a stalk and see if I could get in range before they left the area.
Since they were in heavy brush, I was able to circle downwind of their position.
With the aid of the thermal monocular, I spotted the doe in the brush and got to within 10 feet of the her before the wind shifted.
She got nervous and jumped up.
The buck that I couldn't spot also jumped up and as they both bolted, I dropped the buck with a spine shot and ran up and finished him off with a 44 mag to the pumper.
I had only seen a spindly fork horn after six days hunting and it was a big surprise to see five bucks in an hour's time.
I practiced regularly taking shots with the Blaser R8 300 WSM/Leupold CDS combo out to 400 yards, anticipating a long shot in the hay fields I hunt, so it was only fitting to shoot a buck at 20 feet with it.
We have many trail cameras around and had never seen this buck.
SJC

View attachment 181599
Click to expand...
What thermal Monocular do you have? I’d like to get one for walking into the woods and stalking. My property is very thick and I spook too many deer walking into my area to hunt.
As long as you had fun and got some meat that’s all that matters. Nice looking deer.
 
1075tech

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My younger brother lives outside of Binghamton. He has a guy who gets nuisance permits for his farm a little farther north.

He won't let anyone hunt the farm. He'll shoot and dress them and then gives them away.

Just before Thanksgiving, he gave my brother a 10pt.

Today, he sent this picture to my brother

17075.jpeg
 
Bustedknees

Bustedknees

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mca90guitar

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1075tech said:
My younger brother lives outside of Binghamton. He has a guy who gets nuisance permits for his farm a little farther north.

He won't let anyone hunt the farm. He'll shoot and dress them and then gives them away.

Just before Thanksgiving, he gave my brother a 10pt.

Today, he sent this picture to my brother

View attachment 181676
Click to expand...
A guy I know leases land right next to the property this one was shot on. He has trail cam photos of this buck the last few years. He went down in size a little, his live photos last year were insane.
 
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mca90guitar

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Man the rut makes things interesting. Hunted a spot near the pond on the property I hunt. You can see it from the house and they like to hang out by the spillway and eat. Saw nothing all morning. Walked back to the house and a buck was in the damn driveway. A second later a doe zips by with two brutes tailing her. Got down hoping they would go down to the pond but she swing up the hill instead.

Decided to just head straight up to the blind we have in a corn field above the house. Figured they might end up there at some point. Unfortunately they didn't. At 4:45ish a doe came through one of the lanes in the corn and than a few bucks came through quick. Got setup fast and ended up taking a smaller 8. Passed him a few times earlier this year but at this point i just wanted meat.

I'll be back out with the muzzle loader next weekend. Hope one of those big guys shows up. First actually hard chasing I have seen this season.


Also want to switch to a different rifle round. Hornady precision hunter 178 shoot great out of my gun but cause a ton of meat damage and this one seems to have fragmented. Some pieces ended up in the guts. Saw green stuff on the ground and thought I was in for a long tracking job and confused how I managed to gut shoot a buck at 60 yds with a rifle. Found him around 50 yds away, entrance broke a rib and exit offside shoulder.
 
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1075tech

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Sat out yesterday morning until about noon and then again from about 330 to 5. Nothing.

Didn't get out today until about 3. Kicked up 3 as I was closing up the blind a little after 5. Heard snorting and it was just light enough to see the white on their tails.

This was the first weekend I've been able to get out.

I'll have some time this week and next weekend. Then a few days into the next week.

I don't know if I'll get any time after Christmas. Maybe a couple of days.

Our season ends 1/2
 
Bustedknees

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Just missed a fat one at last light with the muzzleloader. It's time I retire from using open sights for hunting. I still love my T/C Greyhawk but I guess I need to buy a fancy inline with a scope next year.
No regrets though, it's been years since I took a shot at a deer with black powder. The cloud and smell is always a thrill. And it went bang after being loaded for 2-3 years.
I hope with the warm weather I'm able to get out a few more times before it closes.
 
Saltwater60

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Been too sick to get out. I’m probably done for the year with being sick and all the home troubles I have.
 
Xae289

Xae289

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Bustedknees said:
Just missed a fat one at last light with the muzzleloader. It's time I retire from using open sights for hunting. I still love my T/C Greyhawk but I guess I need to buy a fancy inline with a scope next year.
No regrets though, it's been years since I took a shot at a deer with black powder. The cloud and smell is always a thrill. And it went bang after being loaded for 2-3 years.
I hope with the warm weather I'm able to get out a few more times before it closes.
Click to expand...
If you still like that rifle and its more traditional stylings, maybe reach out to TC and check if they or someone they recommend make a rear aperture sight for it. I've been getting worse and worse with open ironsights, but peep sights work great.
 
Bustedknees

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Xae289 said:
If you still like that rifle and its more traditional stylings, maybe reach out to TC and check if they or someone they recommend make a rear aperture sight for it. I've been getting worse and worse with open ironsights, but peep sights work great.
Click to expand...
My problem is I can't see well in low light and at 100 yards at dusk, its horrible. I'm well overdue for an eye exam.
I have no idea where T/C is at this point. Smith Wesson bought them then killed them off. No idea if anyone has plans on bringing them back.
 
JamieZ

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Saltwater60 said:
What thermal Monocular do you have? I’d like to get one for walking into the woods and stalking. My property is very thick and I spook too many deer walking into my area to hunt.
As long as you had fun and got some meat that’s all that matters. Nice looking deer.
Click to expand...
He has a AGM Fusion 640 and I think he still has a AGM Taipan TM15-384.

The Taipan TM15-384 for the money is absolutely the best little unit out there. Wide field of view and pretty damn good clarity.
They are actually cheap for a thermal, $1300
 
Bustedknees

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Yesterday's report. I saw several deer yarded up in the pine trees while driving my utv out towards my tower. There was a decent 6-8 pointer in the mix. I couldn't get a bead on him quick enough but they were very settled and just walked off. No rut activity, it seems the bachelor groups are over and the deer are settling into their winter groups.
I'm headed into the Northern Teir for the weekend so no holiday hunt up there. I'll keep an eye out for more backyard coyotes through the winter.
 
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