claybuster10
Well-Known Member
This deer season has been a weird one for me and a lot of others. Muzzleloader season started out very warm and windy, turned cold for a handful of days then back to 60s-70s for the rest. This past weekend was the opener for our rifle season and boy were the numbers way down across the state.
I didn't get to hunt much this weekend as my oldest kid came down with strep. Decided I was gonna go in the rain this afternoon. Made it to my blind at about 3:30. Bumped some does on the way in so I wasn't expecting to see much.
At 3:45 I had a very small buck come across the old hayfield at about 400 yards in front of me. At 4:00 I wasn't paying enough attention (checking the weather and playing with the applied ballistics app) and had does start appearing in front of me. Usually most of the deer just pass through this property but these does were just mingling and browsing. The small buck appeared again and pushed some off and then more appeared.
Had this piebald doe and her twins come within 5 feet of my blind. (Sorry for bad picture quality I was looking through lexan windows)
Well, right when she and her twins are standing right in front of my blind I see a buck come charging out of the woods 200 yards to my 2:00. I didn't even get the binos on him to realize I wanted to shoot him. He works his way to about 40 yards and I have to get my blind window open and the gun up without spooking him or the 3 does in front of me. Well I'm able to get on him and get the shot off, he runs 200 yards back towards the woods and drops right where he came out.
This is my first deer with my new Tikka t3x and my first deer ever with my own hand loads. 7mm Rem mag, Berger 150s over h4831sc. Not my preferred choice for such close range but I made the load specifically for this property (and hopefully a pronghorn hunt next year) as most of the available shots are 150+ yards when deer are passing through. Couldn't find any trace of the bullet, no exit, lungs and liver were obliterated and the stomach had been popped.
I didn't get to hunt much this weekend as my oldest kid came down with strep. Decided I was gonna go in the rain this afternoon. Made it to my blind at about 3:30. Bumped some does on the way in so I wasn't expecting to see much.
At 3:45 I had a very small buck come across the old hayfield at about 400 yards in front of me. At 4:00 I wasn't paying enough attention (checking the weather and playing with the applied ballistics app) and had does start appearing in front of me. Usually most of the deer just pass through this property but these does were just mingling and browsing. The small buck appeared again and pushed some off and then more appeared.
Had this piebald doe and her twins come within 5 feet of my blind. (Sorry for bad picture quality I was looking through lexan windows)
Well, right when she and her twins are standing right in front of my blind I see a buck come charging out of the woods 200 yards to my 2:00. I didn't even get the binos on him to realize I wanted to shoot him. He works his way to about 40 yards and I have to get my blind window open and the gun up without spooking him or the 3 does in front of me. Well I'm able to get on him and get the shot off, he runs 200 yards back towards the woods and drops right where he came out.
This is my first deer with my new Tikka t3x and my first deer ever with my own hand loads. 7mm Rem mag, Berger 150s over h4831sc. Not my preferred choice for such close range but I made the load specifically for this property (and hopefully a pronghorn hunt next year) as most of the available shots are 150+ yards when deer are passing through. Couldn't find any trace of the bullet, no exit, lungs and liver were obliterated and the stomach had been popped.
