Wednesday Windage II: 23 Years Of Deer Data and Best Times To Hunt

Wednesday Windage: Tim Sundles With Three Bear Encounters

 

Wednesday Windage II: .475 Turnbull

Wednesday Windage: Is The 30-06 Still King?

 

I am a bit surprised that 450 Bushmaster and 350 Legend weren't mentioned. Those new cartridges are popular in Illinois and are taking the place of shotgun slugs. There is a new .40 caliber straight wall that looks good, too. 

Wednesday Windage: Tim Sundles On 10 mm vs. 45 ACP For Bear Protection

 

Wednesday Windage: Ruger .44 Magnum Hunter, A Hickok 45 Oldie But Goodie

Wednesday Windage: Pairing Handgun And Rifle Cartridges

 Here's another good one from Tim Sundles of Buffalo Bore Ammunition.

Wednesday Windage II: Caliber Choices For Bear

Wednesday Windage: Dusty Bagged A Turkey!

 Dusty was out early Monday morning and he texted us at 9A to let us know he got what he came for!  We are thrilled of course.  He was out Sunday evening to listen for gobblers as they settled in for the night, and they had all moved half a mile north. A little time the day before pays off when turkey hunting.

Wednesday Windage: TC Contender

Wednesday Windage: The Versatile .44 Magnum, Tim Sundles

Wednesday Windage: Ethical Shooting Distance

 

Wednesday Windage: Loosen Your Tree Stand After Deer Season

Trees grow up and out every year. After deer season is over, visit every stand and loosen the straps so the tree doesn't embed metal. I will be carrying a ladder around my woods for a few days because tree stands are wrecking some of our sawlogs. I will have to do surgery to separate them, and I think these trees are ruined. Be a thoughtful guest when you hunt on the property of others. Don't use nails, spikes, or screws, and after you are done hunting, give the tree some breathing room. You can strap them in snug again next Fall. 

Click the photos for a closer look.

 

Dusty's Son Dawson Made A Perfect Shot!

 Dusty's son Dawson came to hunt yesterday evening, and made a perfect shot on this nice buck just before sunset. Please note that Dawson put his arrow at the neck/shoulder junction, through the heart, and out the lung on the other side. That shot will bring an animal down quicker than any other except for a central nervous system shot. I bragged on him.  We like to see hunters who take the craft seriously and prepare themselves so animals are not wounded, but are taken quickly and ethically. Congratulations, Dawson!

Wednesday Windage: A Mature Buck In One Day!

Dusty saw this buck on a trail camera one day last week, made an educated guess as to where the buck was traveling from, and was waiting for him the next evening. He placed an arrow above the right shoulder, cut the top of the heart and out below the opposite shoulder. The old boy ran about 100 yards, spun and went down. He was a big one, dressing out at 235.

You have to line up a lot of ducks to pull off a hunt that well. Marksmanship, understanding animal behavior and knowing the insides of a deer to make that shot at the right time and in the right place all have to be there in your mind to make it happen. Congratulations, Dusty!
 

Compare This Young Lady To Our Hunters...

You Must Be Very Quiet?

 This handsome buck along with a few other deer all were on camera a couple days ago. Forty-five minutes previously, Susan was on camera piloting the Grasshopper in what we hope is the final mowing this year.  Firearm season starts Friday, November 22. Remember your camo, your scent killing spray, a see through deer blind, rattling antlers, grunt call, super-duper deer cartridges, etc. Or, just don't plod along like a human, go sit against a stump or tree, and don't wiggle around excessively. Ride in on a lawn mower or John Deere tractor if you really want the deer to come and check you out. 

PS: One of our deer hunting tactics for friends going out in the afternoon is to crank up a chainsaw and let it idle at the house while they go to their hunting location. It works like a charm. 

Everybody Wants A Hawken

Jeremiah Johnson greatly increased the interest in hunting with muzzleloaders back in the 1970s. Manufacturers and importers are still benefitting from that movie. Hawken rifles evidently did not have a large role in the fur trade, but that does not make them any less desirable for enthusiasts today. A fifty caliber roundball rifle will do a number on a deer with a reasonable charge of powder, and will typically punch all the way through the heart/lungs to the hide on the other side. Modern muzzleloaders have a faster twist than the originals and can use Minie balls, saboted pistol bullets, or other "long" bullets cast of soft lead. Those projectiles will easily go completely through a deer. There is some interesting and informative history in the following videos. I need to warm up my bullet molds!

Little Six-Point Carcass

 

                                                                                                          Dusty Photo

Our friend Dusty was out in the timber looking for shed antlers and found this little buck that has been cleaned by coyotes and other varmints. We have a lot of hunting pressure around us. There are two outfitters selling hunts, and deer hunters are all around our timber  through the deer seasons. We saw more than a dozen impressive sets of  antlers on social media that were harvested around us. This deer was probably killed by one of those hunters. The shooter should have contacted us and collected it, but did not. Maybe the shooter was not competent to track a wounded deer, maybe the shooter wasn't brave enough to contact us and ask permission to retrieve it. Maybe he shot this deer, saw a better one, and then shot and tagged the second one. Maybe he shot when this little deer was in line with the one he was aiming at. Who knows? It's an aggravation. The outfitters charge well up into four figures for a successful deer hunt, and there have been many trophy quality racks taken around us. This little guy will not mature to be one of those trophies in the future, so sloppy hunting is not just bothering us, it will be hurting the outfitters. The heavy pressure* around our island of habitat for trophy bucks is not sustainable, and I am sure we will be seeing fewer big racks in the next few years.

*We are skeptical about the ethics of some of the hunting that goes on around us. We commonly hear rifle shots at night during both bow and gun seasons while we are out with the dogs. Deer carcasses discarded off of bridges are big red flags. 

George Called....

 ....just before sunset yesterday while I was over at the farm. "Got him." I got his location and hustled back to Belle Prairie and fired up the Kubota. George and Dusty have been seeing this buck on camera, always at night.  He came by George's stand yesterday while there was still light, just out of range, and kept going. George grunted and stopped him, and with nothing to lose he grunted again and the old guy came back to check him out. George put an arrow straight through his heart.  George can shoot. Congratulations, George!