Deer Season 2020-21

[edwea]

Got a nice doe Sat. morning. I'm as proud of this deer as any I've hunted. It was taken with rifle built by me (6.5 grendel Ingo lower #160xx) with one of my hand loads. I will do the butchering on this one too.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Not mine. A buddy took this guy yesterday out of our hunting woods.

 

[spainy79]

Took the "easy" road this year. My first time in the woods was last Thursday to get in a couple days of bow hunting before gun season started. Thursday morning there wasn't a lot of activity and had a small 3 point walk past about 20 yards. Called it about 10am and ventured back out shortly before 3pm. Got to one of our tripod stands and quickly remembered how much it sucked to bow hunt out of so I got back down and ventured to the other stand I was at that morning. Mind you this was a lot of walking in slightly warmer weather and I had on too much clothing for it. By the time I got to the stand I was a sweaty mess. Kind of a strong wind coming from the NE which was in my favor. Also felt good. Sometime after 4 I notice a buck walking on a cut through path that connects a couple fields. Grunted and he stops, looks and then continues on his path. Break out the fake horns and rattle. A couple minutes pass and he appears coming down a path we made in the woods. Start to grunt and he shows interest. Started to get a better look at him and pondered just giving him a pass. I did grunt a couple more times and he was very cautious but continued my direction. He gets to about 50 yards out and I start asking myself if I'm going to take the shot. Grunted one more time and he starts on a path that would put him 25-30 yards out. He walked behind a couple trees that abled me to draw the bow back and not get busted. He continued closer and eventually stopped at 25ish yards. He was quartering towards me and I placed my 20 pin a touch high in front of his left shoulder and sent it. Made a good "thwack" sound, a big kick from him and he took off. He eventually runs over a hill and I continue to listen and can hear what appeared to be him crashing. Called my brother in law who was off work heading home and he tells me to back out and come pick him up. His eta was 15 minutes to get home. After the shot maybe 45 minutes passed before going back to start tracking. I felt confident about the shot but you never know. I knew what direction he took off running and did not find any blood until 30 yards in. We found half my arrow that had broke off about 20 yards in; maybe less. The blood trail became easy to track and we found him just over that hill about 100-110 yards from where the shot happened. The shot was good as the arrow destroyed one lung and possibly clipped the other (I really didn't investigate it too much) and the broadhead lodged in the rib cage on the opposite side. This is only my 2nd bow kill to date. My first bow kill was in 2008 and was maybe a week or two before I joined this site. The only good chance I've had at a bow kill during that time was either the 2014 or 2015 season. That's it. Maybe if I put a little more time into it I might become more of a successful bow hunter but I've always loved gun hunting. So my vacation days revolve around the 2 week time frame that is gun season. I have 3 weeks off this month and the first week was for bow. The weather did not cooperate for me as I'm not a fan of hunting in 60+ degree weather and I believe it was above 70 a couple of those days. I think last Thursday was pushing 60. I did hunt the opener yesterday and got out before the rain started. Hunted the evening as well and didn't see one doe. Taking a few off from hunting to get some other stuff done and probably get back at this weekend for some doe hunts.

 

[The Dawg]

I went deer hunting this weekend for the first time in like 15 years. I really enjoyed it. My father in law invited me to the family hunting cabin and furnished like half my heart. I'm thinking about getting a lever action for next year. Do you guys think a .357 would get the job done?

 

[Yote69]

I got very lucky yesterday morning and took my largest buck to date. The morning started off slow with no deer heard or seen until about 20 minutes after legal shooting light. Saw plenty of does and some small bucks for the next hour and a half until this guy came out of some set aside into the picked corn field behind 2 does. He paid them virtually no attention and began eating corn. I tried to calm myself down once I saw him trying to get ready for the shot but honestly didn't do a very good job of it. Something about a big buck gets my heart pounding so I composed myself as best I could and dropped him at 118 yards with my 6.5 Creedmoor. This is a new caliber for me this year and so far I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully my college aged son will be home this weekend so we can spend some quality time chasing a couple of the other big ones that at least were alive before gun season started. Happy hunting to everyone.

 

[edwea]

Well done sir!

 

[phylodog]

That's a great buck!

 

[Rookie]

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[Yote69]

Well done sir!

Thank you

 

[Yote69]

That's a great buck!

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

I went deer hunting this weekend for the first time in like 15 years. I really enjoyed it. My father in law invited me to the family hunting cabin and furnished like half my heart. I'm thinking about getting a lever action for next year. Do you guys think a .357 would get the job done?

A .357 would get the job done, but I think I would choose a .44mag over the .357. I really like how the .44 performs on deer, and it is my wife's favorite gun we have.

 

[Restroyer]

I went deer hunting this weekend for the first time in like 15 years. I really enjoyed it. My father in law invited me to the family hunting cabin and furnished like half my heart. I'm thinking about getting a lever action for next year. Do you guys think a .357 would get the job done?

Yes sir a .357 would get the job done. There will be people on INGO every year that will say you can't kill a deer with a .357 and I laugh at their comments. I have killed plenty of deer with a .357. It's all about shot placement. Now there are larger calibers that you could use that might work better (I now hunt with an inline muzzleloader because I can use it during firearms season and muzzleloader season, but I still use my .357's sometimes during firearms season). I have used my .357 Lever Action Rossi and my bolt action Ruger 77 in .357 to take down deer. Use a 158 Grain bullet that is a JSP (Jacketed Soft Point) Flat Nose. That will give you a nice combination of penetration and expansion. In the offseason we shoot our .357 rifles with .38 special rounds since those are cheaper and fun to plink targets with. Good luck to you.

 

[tcecil88]

earth baby names

That's funny right there.

 

[Ruger_Ronin]

Yes sir a .357 would get the job done. There will be people on INGO every year that will say you can't kill a deer with a .357 and I laugh at their comments. I have killed plenty of deer with a .357. It's all about shot placement. Now there are larger calibers that you could use that might work better (I now hunt with an inline muzzleloader because I can use it during firearms season and muzzleloader season, but I still use my .357's sometimes during firearms season). I have used my .357 Lever Action Rossi and my bolt action Ruger 77 in .357 to take down deer. Use a 158 Grain bullet that is a JSP (Jacketed Soft Point) Flat Nose. That will give you a nice combination of penetration and expansion. In the offseason we shoot our .357 rifles with .38 special rounds since those are cheaper and fun to plink targets with. Good luck to you.

^Exactly what he said^ I use 158g Fiochhi jsp. Taken my largest buck to date at 60yds with a Rossi .357 20".

 

[jy951]

Check out the Buffalo bore heavy 357 mag loads. Should be no problem taking a deer down with one or others.

 

[NKBJ]

Seven or eight of them along with Mister 8Point are back on the front fence for the third afternoon.
Maybe me and the Hawken should go sit on the front porch.

 

[Hookeye]

My buddy is 12 for 12 w a .357 mag rifle. All under 100 yards, no movers.

" Shot placement ".....its always about shot placement, no matter what you use.

Ive only taken one deer w .357...


And where I shot it a .22 rifle would have done same thing.

Only shot I had so I spined him.

Now what a .357 might do.....is with lesser recoil, allow folks to better put shots where aimed.

But then other cartridges are usable and recoil isnt as much a deal and many try to make it

Proper fit and not being a wuss can go a long ways to shooting better and or bigger

 

[Hookeye]

My .357 kill was w a revolver.
Wanted to kill an 8 pt w my dads gun.
So did it.

I like a .35 rem rifle just fine.
Esp in a pump.

 

[Hookeye]

357 works.
Aint magic.
Some stuff might allow for a bit of error,
But a gut shot is a gut shot....and they all suck.

People use whatever they want. If it takes the game cleanly thats good enough.

Lesser recoil stuff is nice for those w health issues.

Pretty neat to have options these days.

 

[jagee]

Going back out Saturday to sit the tree line between 2 fields. No real woods to speak of. I have a feeling I'll be skunked again, but you never know til you try.

Anybody willing to have a hunting buddy sometime over bonus antlerless season if I don't end up getting one?