Deer Hunting With Milsurps 2014 Edition

[vintage hunter]

this open area type hunting is altogether different! Way easier if the deer cooperate.

Now you see my attraction to large weed fields and cutovers. Plenty of food sources for deer plus they provide cover. One would think it's easier hunt ''open'' areas like this but after a year or so of regrowth it's just as much of a challenge as hunting in dense wooded areas. You'd be surprise how easily they can slip past unnoticed. Most of the time all I see are their heads when they poke them up for a look around.
Not many hills for vantage points around here so we build ''goon towers'' to perch in. You more or less act like a hawk, sit up high, be still and watch for movement.

One of my hunting buddies was watching a cutover on the backside of my farm this morning, spotted this old fellow going about his business just after it got light enough to see good. He ain't into milsurps but manages to do ok without them. He at first though he'd missed but after it got a bit lighter he noticed another smaller buck in the same spot acting a bit weird. Turns out he'd killed the first one in it's tracks and the little guy was getting his revenge by kicking and hooking it with his horns. He has some video of the small buck fighting the dead one and if we can figure out how to get it from his smarty phone to my computer I'll post it later on.

[vintage hunter]

Yall are probably getting tired of seeing critters I've shot with my No.4T and L42 by now but this time you get to look at a totally different T never before featured in Hunting With Milsurps....and a different critter to go along with it.
I've had this rig for better than 2 years but the scope and bracket had issues that I just recently got straightened out, with lots of help from Peter Laidler and Brian Dick.
I've been in water beetle mode at work for the last 2 weeks so wasn't able to get to the woods again until Thursday. No luck. Got busted by a doe I didn't see when I broke a twig that was messing with my view. Went back to the same spot yesterday but they did a George Jones and didn't show. Tried a different location this morning and managed to bag a nice doe. This mornings hunt was an odd experience. I spooked that doe twice and she kept coming back. Never had this happen in 35 years of deer hunting. First time I was asleep and woke up to the sound of her stomping at me about 20 yards away. Had a coffee cup in my hands instead of the rifle so you can guess what happened there. Second time I managed to knock the bolt out of battery while adjusting my grip and the sound spooked her. Much to my surprise she came back a third time but things went ok that time although I was a bit unhappy with the shot placement to begin with. I have this T sighted in with milsurp HXP's so would've liked it to have been a bit higher than it was but it did the job cleanly. Interestingly enough the exit wound didn't bleed a drop, unlike the much smaller entrance wound did.

[jmoore]

Our open area has been slow since the cold killed off a bunch of vegetation. Not sure if that's the main reason or whether my hunting buddy has been working it too hard. He hasn't managed to kill anything in three years.

Went out with the Chinese NDM-86 Dragunov Friday. Saw one a little bit at 350-400yds but didn't feel comfortable pulling the trigger. Was hoping it would come in closer, but that was it for the day.


Rubber eye cup removed, as it's mostly annoying for daytime use.

Saturday saw nothing but had a good time hunting with a Colt 6720 AR carbine which had an old SP1 1-12" twist barrel installed. The butt heavy balance made it rather less stressful to the shooting hand wrist than even my lightest 20" barreled set-up to date. Overall weights are probably almost identical. Had a very non-milsurp 25-06 strapped to my back for an extended sit-down session on an eastern overwatch not previously hunted due to it's remote location.

[Brian Dick]

I'm always a bit confused by non-hunters who are admitted red meat eaters. I'd say they have a point if they're strict vegetarians but other than that they're just hypocrites.

Sorry Doug. My brain said not to type this but I couldn't stop my fingers! I put a nice 90lb doe in the freezer last week. I wish it was as easy as our friend from GA says it is.

[lboos]

I'm always a bit confused by non-hunters who are admitted red meat eaters. I'd say they have a point if they're strict vegetarians but other than that they're just hypocrites.

Sorry Doug. My brain said not to type this but I couldn't stop my fingers! I put a nice 90lb doe in the freezer last week. I wish it was as easy as our friend from GA says it is.

Brian,
Thanks for inviting me back, It's been kinda boring on the other forum anyway.
You put a nice 90 lb. doe in your freezer last week?.... that's great news.

[Aragorn243]

Unless someone out there used a Thompson Contender in their military, I guess I'm out this year. Normally marginally in as the Canadians actually used the Savage 99 in one of their guard units, I'm feeling extremely lazy this year. I want my daughter to get something more than myself and that likely means a LOT of walking. I have a real nice holster for it and if need be I can probably hit something with it out to 100 yards. It's in 7-30 Waters and scoped. So for the first time in my lifetime, I will be entering the woods without a rifle. I've carried the Contender before but the rifle has always been at least in the truck.

My K-31 is looking real good but I don't have any soft points for it, plus it's HEAVY. I could also put my scope back on the 303 but again, it's HEAVY.

[vintage hunter]

K-31 heavy? After lugging around No.4T's, L42's M-1A's and other heavy barrel varmint class rifles all these years the K-31 is a featherweight. Even my 6.8 AR feels heavier. The Sharps would really wear you out I reckon as it tips the scales at a bit over 14lbs. Maybe you need to renew your gym membership and get back in shape.

[vintage hunter]

Hey Aragorn don't take the above comments personally. I was just yanking your chain a bit. Heck the older I get the heavier they all get. I spent the better part of 3 hours tonight looking for a deer I shot and another a buddy shot, Did'nt find either one but by the time we called off the search the 1911a1 I was carrying felt like it weighed 10 pounds.
It's hard to believe a deer could be flattened by a .45 caliber 405gr HP through the chest cavity and then get up and run off without leaving a drop of blood. One thing I did learn today though, it's not an easy task to reload a scoped Sharps while sitting flat on the ground. Could'nt tip the muzzle enough to keep the dang round from sliding out of the chamber before I could close the breech.

[Aragorn243]

Getting in shape is the problem I suppose. I work pretty hard most days and am on my feet but construction is different than walking all day with heavy clothes on and carrying a backpack and a rifle around. The boots are killers too. I'm used to wearing sneakers all day.

I'm used to sitting while deer hunting also. We never put on drives until the Saturdays came along and now the Saturdays are the only days I'm out. So I end up putting on drives for my daughter most of the day after 10am. The area we hunt is a series of high ridges so I'm up and down those. If I get real energetic, we hit the mountain but I haven't been higher than halfway up that in five years.

I wish I could hunt with my AR. I have a nice bull barrel Stag but we can't use semi-autos in the state to hunt.

[vintage hunter]

It was, and still is, a very rainy day here but around 3 pm it faired off a bit. Could'nt get the internet weather site to work right so I gambled and headed to the woods about 4:30 even though I knew there was a good chance of t-storms this afternoon. Soon after I began hearing rumbles of thunder to the south but they were far enough away that I wasn't inclined to bail out right away. About 5 the storm was close enough to make me nervous so I was gathering my plunder, as I made the move to retrieve a plastic bag from my pocket to wrap the L42 in I saw movement in the brush to my right 60 yards away, I had done spooked a descent buck I hadn't noticed slipping past. It's a real good thing they don't shoot back or I would've been a dead duck. Never seen him till he moved his head. Anyway he turns through the bushes going away from me then at about 120 yards he turns back in the direction he was headed in to begin with and qives me a quick shot through a hole in the brush but it was good and he piled up after going 50 or so yards. Just as I was loading him up the bottom fell out. Perfect timing.
Aragorn, you'd think construction workers would be in pretty good physical shape but most aren't. I've worked construction all my life as either a Millwright or Ironworker but I'm a long way from being in top physical condition. I think these birthday things that come around every year have a lot to do with it.