'08 Hunting/harvest report

[Dave]

Got my birds this morning.

2 - mallard drakes
2 - green wing teal (1 hen, 1 drake)
1 - gadwall hen
1 - widgeon drake

Hunted over Lou for the first time. He says my shell to bird ratio needs some work.

Weather is moving in tonight. Tomorrow could be good or not.

 

[Mercedesrover]

Mercedesrover, are you satisfied with the Leverevolution ammo?

I guess it's alright. I sighted both my Model 94 Winchester 30-30s and my Marlin 336 35 Rem with it at 100 yards. As said, this last one was shot with .35 Rem and maybe 50 yards. Blew up one lung and she didn't run far. Maybe 100 feet or so? I actually expected her to drop in her tracks but it didn't happen. That little buck was shot with .243 Winchester at maybe 30 yards and didn't run as far. Both were shot in about the same place. I expected this .35 Rem to have better knock-down power. Guess we'll see with the next one. :sombrero:

 

[Dave]

6 wood ducks
5 gadwall
4 mallards
1 widgeon
1 shoveler

Five guns, full blind this morning. Quit at noon when one of the guys had to get to work. That's a lot of wood ducks for our spot. We see hundreds of them every time we're in our blind, but they normally fly the tree tops and completely avoid the open holes. Today it was cloudy, rainy, and windy. I don't know if we got some new woodies with the weather change or if they just wanted out of the wind, but they sure were bombing into our decoys.

 

[KG6BWS]

6 wood ducks
5 gadwall
4 mallards
1 widgeon
1 shoveler

Five guns, full blind this morning. Quit at noon when one of the guys had to get to work. That's a lot of wood ducks for our spot. We see hundreds of them every time we're in our blind, but they normally fly the tree tops and completely avoid the open holes. Today it was cloudy, rainy, and windy. I don't know if we got some new woodies with the weather change or if they just wanted out of the wind, but they sure were bombing into our decoys.

nice bag!! ducks have been a little scarce around here so far. hopefully thatll change soon. the only thing ive gotten so far this year has been 12 quail...and i REALLY had to work for them. this just looks like a sparse year for everything in my neck of the woods.

 

[98dango]

we got not enought lol


7 hunters in my house

father in law non yet still has seasons to go

brother in law got a small elk and a 4 point wit the truck

sister in law #1^ got a deer forked horne

sister in law #2 only went once usless

wife went a lot but dident have much luck found out brests and bows dont mix

me i well wasent a good season broke 3 trucks my bow and lost my optics over a cliff

best friend <guy on th couch> got a nontypical 4 point ish

 

[762X39]

I guess it's alright.I expected this .35 Rem to have better knock-down power.

I find the mythology of "knockdown power" to be just that. If the prey dies in short order then the round did it's job.If you made a good shot within the capabilities of the round and you harvest the animal, that is all you need.Knock-down power sounds like a bs term some gun writer made up. I have anchored many deer since I started hunting and only once did I experience the mythical instant knock-down! All the rest merely died after a few moments.

 

[Mercedesrover]

I find the mythology of "knockdown power" to be just that. If the prey dies in short order then the round did it's job.If you made a good shot within the capabilities of the round and you harvest the animal, that is all you need.Knock-down power sounds like a bs term some gun writer made up. I have anchored many deer since I started hunting and only once did I experience the mythical instant knock-down! All the rest merely died after a few moments.

I guess what I'm saying is both of these deer were basically the same size, shot at basically the same range in basically the same place. The .243 is .95 grain, the .35 is 200 grain and there was basically no difference in the distance the ran after the shot or more importantly the damage inside the chest cavity. I would have expected much more damage with the .35 than the .243 but it didn't happen. Not that it's good or bad, just surprising. I've had my Model Seven .243 since 1984 and have always thought it questionable as a deer round. In this case I saw no real difference to the .35.

 

[KevinNY]

I've found that until the size of the game really starts to get big, you won't see much of a difference in reaction between any two cartridges. Deer really aren't hard to kill and I've shot them with everything from 12 guage slugs too 300 mags with Barnes X bullets to hard cast bullets from a 45-70. The only thing that seems to make a difference is if the hit is a heart/lung shot or if the shot hits or comes close to the spine. Heart/lung shot deer have gone from 15 ft. to 50 yards while those hit in/near the spine have dropped like rocks. One of the heartiest things I ever saw was a zebra stallion I shot square through the heart (a straight pass through) with a 250 grain bullet from a 35 Whelen at about 60 yards broadside. It bucked and jumped around like a rodeo bull for at least 10 seconds and you could see the blood just pouring out of him. He landed in a thorn bush and was still kicking when we approached him and watched him expire (he went out with a tremendous fart which I thought was rather undignified). I took a really nice blue wildebeest bull with the same load/rifle with a straight on presentation that the PH was nervous about at 90 or so yards and it dropped like lightening struck him. Wildebeest are known to be rather bullet resistant but the bullet took out the spine which dips quite low at the front of the chest.

 

[Lookinforlunkers]

So far my season looks like this
Spring Gobbler

Black Bear

Archery Deer

I have one Deer tag left I hope to fill before the 31 of Dec

 

[Mercedesrover]

Nice!

What is it you shot that bear with? Looks serious.

My inlaws live and own land north of Huntsville. Gotta get up to Canada hunting!

 

[MoGas]

I ended up getting a bull calf on my last day. It is succulent. Clean lung shot, dropped on the spot. When the bullet fragmented, it nicked the spinal cord. Ended up with ~70# in the freezer.

Remington 700 30-06 180 grain

I had 10# of ground done as Italian sausage and the rest as steaks, roasts, and ground.

My wife made a roast last Sunday that was marinaded in Bourbon, brown sugar, cranberries and orange juice for a couple days. Baked until 140 at the thickest point. Juicy throughout. I made a lasagna for my office mates on Tuesday. A big hit.

 

[JJackson]

Nice one Dave, glad to see you were successful. I bet the meat is tender. Where did you have a tag for?

 

[Lookinforlunkers]

Nice!

What is it you shot that bear with? Looks serious.

My inlaws live and own land north of Huntsville. Gotta get up to Canada hunting!

The rifle is a Browning A-Bolt in 7mm Rem Mag with Brownings BOSS system to fine tune your group size. I was shooting 165g Failsafes. The combination is deadly to say the least but i've been wanting to get some 168g Berger VLD's to try. You should try and come up to Canada their is some great hunting to be had for sure.:26_7_2:

 

[MoGas]

Nice one Dave, glad to see you were successful. I bet the meat is tender. Where did you have a tag for?

Unit 9

 

[JJackson]

Been up in 9 once and loved it, some of the largest bulls come from up in that "trophy" unit, looks like you tender little piece of meat won't though. Looks like you had a good time. Did you use your large canvas tent/garage?