Brock following Mason through the woods.
- Thread starter brock ratcliff
- Start date
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Quick catch up...
I took my buddy Lathe out Monday. I saw 11, he saw 4. No shots fired, but one of the 11 I saw was a nice buck, just not the right one.
Worked this morning, hunted this afternoon. I saw just one small buck. Checked two cams in the area too. The biggest deer to show up on them was a wide 8 that I already gave a free pass to this season. I did buy a new 45-70 on Thanksgiving night and am starting to get an itchy finger to turn it loose on a deer. I've never shot a deer with one, kinda curious. Two days in, still holding out.
I took my buddy Lathe out Monday. I saw 11, he saw 4. No shots fired, but one of the 11 I saw was a nice buck, just not the right one.
Worked this morning, hunted this afternoon. I saw just one small buck. Checked two cams in the area too. The biggest deer to show up on them was a wide 8 that I already gave a free pass to this season. I did buy a new 45-70 on Thanksgiving night and am starting to get an itchy finger to turn it loose on a deer. I've never shot a deer with one, kinda curious. Two days in, still holding out.
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I bought a Marlin 1895, 22" barrel. I put a Bushnell Banner 3x9 on top. It's a decent set up, I think. My neighbor bought one too, but his is one of the guide guns, 18.5" barrel, in stainless. He had to kill his buck Monday morning with open sights as he kept hitting his nose with the scope he had mounted on top, not enough relief to get away from the recoil. I can't believe he didn't throw that gun in a ditch, he was pretty upset with it before deciding he would just shoot it with open sights.
Hey Brock, I shot my deer with Ron's new Henry 45/70 and it's topped with a 4 x12 Leo and is one great shooting rifle! I shot my deer with a Hornady 325 grain bullet. The bullet did it's job but it didn't expand for some reason. He bled internally leaving not much blood cuz it was all still in him. I crashed 75 yards all downhill after the shot and died within 15 seconds I'd say!
Enjoy your new toy! Any questions just PM Ron!
Continued good luck to you two!!!
Enjoy your new toy! Any questions just PM Ron!
Continued good luck to you two!!!
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After reading up on some older threads, I looked into the .444 that Ron mentioned. I was unable to find one on short notice ... the bug for a new rifle just bit me last week. I too am shooting the 325 Hornady. While sighting in, I found their trajectory to be exactly as advertised; 3" high at 100, 4" low at 200. I can live with that! Jimmy shot his buck with the same bullet during the youth season at 50 yards, dropped. Jason shot his Monday at 75, never wiggled from his bed. I'd like to see one fold up too, so I may shoot a deer with it yet, even if it isn't Tines. From what I've read, at slightly longer range (100+), what you saw with your deer is supposed to be fairly common. If we get around to doing some pushes this week, leaving the 1100 behind will be hard to do. Mason can have the new one...
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I was with him when he bought it. He just told the guy behind the counter to mount whatever they would recommend for that gun. Apparently, that guy didn't know what he was doing, and Jason made the mistake of trusting his "expertise". Fail on both counts there. He wanted the same gun I got, but there were none available at the store we went to at 5 AM , so he wound up buying the only rifle they had in stock, which cost him a couple hundred extra. When the fever hits....
With a 4" eye relief this should work.
http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/crossfire-II-1-4x24-riflescope-with-v-plex-moa-reticle
http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/crossfire-II-1-4x24-riflescope-with-v-plex-moa-reticle
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I'm very pleased with every piece of vortex glass i own..... great company, great customer service and excellent warranty. .. and the glass is great.
I will have a hard time buying any type of optics except for Vortex. Best warranty and customer service out there.
My diamondbacks took a good fall out of the stand last season. It broke something internally so that the left side wouldn't focus. I loved the so much I didn't want to go through any of the season with out them so I just used them as a monocular. After season I procrastinated and waited to long to send them in. It was the first week of hunting season when I shipped them in. I got a confirmation email that gave me the expected turn around time for binos. It was 3-4 weeks. I thought damn that sucks, but you made your bed now you got to sleep in it. Two days later I got another email from them with a FedEx routing number. Three days later I had a totally brand new pair.
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I let Mason skip school yesterday to hunt. We started off sitting, but the boredom put us doing small pushes fairly early. It netted us a big fat zero on the farm we were hunting. I never saw so much as a flag, heard nothing take off. That place is empty, it would seem. So, we found our way home to get a drink and shed some clothing. We decided to go across the road from our home. Hoped on the quad and ran three out of a tiny patch of cover while heading back to the woods. Those three deer running got the attention of an apparently bedded buck that stepped out of the woods as they ran by. He was a dandy. I looked him over and I feel comfortable saying he is likely a 140" 8. We watched him run to join the three others and then set up our push. It resulted in nothing, but we did run into the big 8 again, and Mason tried to run him out to me... I would have shot him if Mason would have pushed him to me. It was the first time he has ever been the "driver", and it would have thrilled him to help me kill a deer. Didn't work out, but I did see four more antlerless. That was the end of our Wednesday hunt.
This morning I headed over to the same area. I saw three antlerless right off, three more a short while later. The last three I watched as they headed toward my house. I figured I knew where they were going. I left the farm I was on, headed into town to run a few errands. I spoke with my buddy Dean while I was out running around and mentioned that I may go shoot a deer, for no other reason than I wanted to... I have this shiny new gun after all, and I haven't shot anything with it. I've had it for nearly a full week for Pete's sake! So when I returned home, I loaded up the gun and walked across the road. I snuck up to the thicket where I suspected the three deer from earlier had gone, looked closely with binoculars and couldn't find them. Leaving my glassing point, I had taken two or three slow steps when I heard a deer stand up. Two others bounded a few hops. I hurriedly got the deer in the scope, felt confident it was a big old fat doe, and pulled the trigger. It dropped like a sack. Dang. So far, I like the gun.
I had the deer back to my house, hung and skinned by 1. I think it was about 12 when I walked out of my driveway. Sneaking around with a gun is just fun, and maybe a little bit unfair. I'm ok with not playing fair all the time, at least one week a year.
I think the morning will find me where I was early today. I can see a long way, and I always like that. I don't want to shoot another deer, but that is subject to change at a moment's notice. Lot's of season left, why rush things?
This morning I headed over to the same area. I saw three antlerless right off, three more a short while later. The last three I watched as they headed toward my house. I figured I knew where they were going. I left the farm I was on, headed into town to run a few errands. I spoke with my buddy Dean while I was out running around and mentioned that I may go shoot a deer, for no other reason than I wanted to... I have this shiny new gun after all, and I haven't shot anything with it. I've had it for nearly a full week for Pete's sake! So when I returned home, I loaded up the gun and walked across the road. I snuck up to the thicket where I suspected the three deer from earlier had gone, looked closely with binoculars and couldn't find them. Leaving my glassing point, I had taken two or three slow steps when I heard a deer stand up. Two others bounded a few hops. I hurriedly got the deer in the scope, felt confident it was a big old fat doe, and pulled the trigger. It dropped like a sack. Dang. So far, I like the gun.
I had the deer back to my house, hung and skinned by 1. I think it was about 12 when I walked out of my driveway. Sneaking around with a gun is just fun, and maybe a little bit unfair. I'm ok with not playing fair all the time, at least one week a year.
I think the morning will find me where I was early today. I can see a long way, and I always like that. I don't want to shoot another deer, but that is subject to change at a moment's notice. Lot's of season left, why rush things?
Big_Holla
Senior Member
Congrats Brock! And it IS playing fair, don't carry that awful burden of thinking otherwise. Lol.