Just got back from deer hunting (warning - dead deer pics)

[Bill Hollinger]

M1A 7.62 X 51 with a Luepold Veri-X 3X9. I can do no wrong with that rifle!

[mike webb]

Nice buck, we grow them big here in N.B.. The guy who's cutting up my deer,(sorry, 3 point, 135 lbs. but good eating) gave me a list of the bucks he had hanging for people.
These are field dressed weights:
265 lbs.
232 lbs.
216 lbs.
202 lbs.
Several from 200 lbs. to 180 lbs.
Unfortunately the deer population is severely down in N.B. this year due to two severe winters in a row and the fact that whitetails can't winter in a clearcut.

[dastier]

gunner,

I don't have a milsurp that I use right now (though one season I tried my Ljungman AG42B with its iron sights) but for the past two seasons I've been using a Savage 99F in .243Win with a low power Bushnell scope. I spot and stalk in heavy brush so its light and handy and being a lever action gives me quick follow up shots if I need it.

I don't want to ruin any of my milsurps by putting a scope on them so I'm thinking a repro Mosin Nagant with a PU scope. Or possibly scoping my Russian capture mixmaster K98. Its not worth much but I haven't fired it so I'm not sure if its a good shooter.

Its not a official milsurp, though it was entered in the US SCAR competition, but what I want to purchase is a RobArms XCR in 7.62x39mm and mount a EoTech 552. Add a G23 FTS 3x magnifier for the longer shots and that would be a slick rifle to spot and stalk with.

And legal! AR 15s are range guns only here.

[Dan Wilson]

Or possibly scoping my Russian capture mixmaster K98. Its not worth much but I haven't fired it so I'm not sure if its a good shooter.

You may find you like that K98k, I have three of the capture rifles and they are really really sweet shooters, they would hunt very nice!!

Dan

[gunner]

dastier,

the K98 can be good shooters as Dan wrote. With a good selfmade ammo and heavy bullets they will work somtimes excellent. I use a SK scopemount on my LE so it isnt ruined. The lever action rifles are here very rare to see with hunters. The most hunters over here are very conservative. They hate to use synthetic stocks for some idiotic reasons. For me the synthetic stocks are very good, no problems with rain, scratches and they are cheap. They cost, depending on the maker appr. $500 -$600. Some of the wooden stocks are at $ 1400 and if you have a very high quality stock you have to pay $ 2000 and more. My gunsmith has a Blaser R93 with a luxury stock for $ 36.000 !!! So take this rifle, go hunting and be afraid with every movement to scratch that stock ! Must be funny. They also hate Rifles that dont look like a hunting rifle like semi auto`s. If you use this here, nobody will talk with you. I also use a Blaser R93 in .308 win. This straight pull rifle is a good choice. You can hold your target and load it again. I made more than 1000 rounds with it and had no problems. And the company is around the corner. The EoTech with the 3x power magnifier is a very good sight, but very expensive $ 900 -$ 1000.

Best Regards

Gunner

[dastier]

Thanks gunner,

My other hunting rifle is a Tikka T3 Lite in .270WSM - synthetic stock, scoped with a Nikon Monarch 3.5-10X. Its very accurate but where I'm hunting these past seasons, too much gun and the scope is too much magnification.

The Savage 99 is scoped low power in Leopold rings but they're not quick release. Sometimes I wish I didn't have the scope for taking shots at close deer that are running - I can't follow them in the scope when they're too close and then loose them in the bush. The XCR with the 552 would enable me to follow the deer as they run and take quick shots. Being a semi would give me the fasts follow shots. The flip to side magnifier would give a bit more reach when taking a static long shot.

The XCR would also allow me to participate in carbine/military fun shoots. Right now I don't own anything suitable and have to borrow my friend's AR15.

[Maple_Leaf_Eh]

Jon, the X Bullet doesn't seem to do real well on our small Columbian Blacktails, Mule deer, wild boar and small bear. They just zip through and have very little chance to expand. I am told they do a great job on large game animals though. I refuse to rifle hunt in Kaliforniev now. It's all about the bow now.

A month late replying, but I agree completely. I shot through and through an antelope with a Barnes X going very fast from a .300 Win Mag. I lost it, and felt very foolish because the "specs" told me this was a great combination. Reality was, it was too fast and the wrong bullet for expansion. I prefer to shoot Partitions or Ballistic Tip type bullets now.

[Bill Hollinger]

MLE, I once shot a mule deer with a Remington 700 BDL 7mm Mag using the ballistic tip in 130gr and pushing better than 3500 fps. I drilled him at less than 100 yards with two rounds right behind the shoulder The first hit he just stood there. Round two and he took off like the wind! He ran two miles but we were able to find him. It was two days after the season closed. The meat was ruined and I wasn't able to keep the antlers. The rounds just basted through him and left little to no damage behind. The 7mm Mag went in the trash and I moved on to a Springfield M1A in .308. I haven't lost a big game animal since. They just drop like a wet turd from a tall horse!

[Skippy]

I had a pretty good fall as well.

My dad, cousin and I happened to spot a moose accross a long marsh, on a steep sidehill covered in hardwoods. Close to 500yds away from us. It looked like a cow but we couldn't identify it in the brush from where we were.

My cousin and I, were able to sneak way around the marsh and cross a beaver dam down wind where we could sort of scramble up a cliff and get on even ground with the moose, while my dad stayed where we'd originally seen it and sort of guided us onto him from the far side of the long marsh.

We crested a knoll in the bush, 25yds apart from one another, We came upon the moose, which turned out to be a big mature cow, but she had two smaller bulls strutting around for her.

We only had one bull tag and my cousin was closer (50yds or so) and had a good shot at one of the bulls, he fired, and the wounded bull took off, affording me a nice broadside shot as he trotted through a bit of a gap in the brush.I fired at about 110 yds and all I saw through the scope was his white legs pointing straight at the sky.

We recovered my .7mm-08, 150grn Hornady handload, it had passed through the heart and stayed just inside the skin on the far side of the bull. The other round (an identical loading in my cousins rifle) wasn't recovered, but passed through both sides and both lungs.





Then in November, my first day of the whitetail hunt (although it had been open for a full week,) my dad jumped a doe that I saw a glimpse of accross a pond... I snuck arround to where I thought she might go to get around the water(s) in the hopes of getting ahead of her as she sort of quartered in my direction. In a few moments she came crashing out of the bush at full speed quartering towards me at about 45 yds.

I had two quick shots at this big old doe, from my .7mm-08 BLR, and both passed through both sides and lungs. She moved about 15yds before falling about 15yds from where I'd first shot at her running.



Then, on the last full day of my hunt, I hunted my my way up to where we'd hung the doe to wait for my dad and cousins who were going to bring a canoe to get the doe back to camp.

About 15 minutes into my trek, I jumped this nice 8pt buck. He jumped up behind a thick wite pine and began down a brushy steep gully heading away from me. I'd just seen the tall, yellow rack in my scope before he was down hill and out of sight.

I basically sprinted full tilt out to the edge of the ridge I was one, where the gully opened up into a wide yelloe marsh, and I spotted him scrambling up the far side of the gully where it was more of an open rockface.
I found him in my scope and had to consciously pause to let my huffing and puffing from the run dissipate before I could make a clean shot as he at a trot, almost broadside to me.

I fired accross the gully once, at about 150yds and the 140grn 7mm-08 Nosler ballistic tip handload stayed just inside the skin on the far side of the buck, after passing through his heart. He only took one step before falling after I shot.





I crossed the steep, wet, gully, and waited for my cousins who heped me drag him accross it again to a pond we could get the canoe to. We were able to get both deer, and a third doe that my dad shot in one canoe load...



And despite covering miles and miles of swamp, and beaver ponds, and cranberry bogs , and brushy beaver dams, I was able to keep my feet dry inside my boots for all of moose and deer season.

Until the last day...



Not a bad hunt this year.

[gunner]

Good hunt, good pics!

Regards

Gunner