Hunter's Thread

[h0llywood]

Post here if you and your set up, your field load and also any shots from the hunt. 

Out here in California, deer hunting sucks as it is so scarce but the thrill of being out is awesome. I did 2 2 day hunting trips and hiked about 30 miles between the two in about 6,000 feet elevation the last 2 months. Hunting season ended here earlier this month so I have to wait until next year.

How is hunting where you guys are at?

[thefuzz]

I don't hunt any longer, got involved with inshore saltwater fishing, but I hunted quite a bit until after college.

 

The deer here are pretty small, but there are TONS of them.  I hunted in a field that I named "the goat pen" when I was in high school...literally couldn't go there and not see 20 deer...but all of them were about the size of large goats.

I would like to kill one per year to harvest the meat, but I'm just not that much into killing anything but fish any longer.

 

As to what I would shoot....mostly a .308 that's older than me...passed down to me 20+ years ago.

[h0llywood]

21 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

I don't hunt any longer, got involved with inshore saltwater fishing, but I hunted quite a bit until after college.

 

The deer here are pretty small, but there are TONS of them.  I hunted in a field that I named "the goat pen" when I was in high school...literally couldn't go there and not see 20 deer...but all of them were about the size of large goats.

I would like to kill one per year to harvest the meat, but I'm just not that much into killing anything but fish any longer.

 

As to what I would shoot....mostly a .308 that's older than me...passed down to me 20+ years ago.

Total opposite from me out here. On average, we sat out about 10 hours a day with not a single deer passing us. It was sad really lol. The only time a deer would be near us was when we were driving through the mountains but i'm sure drivebys would be frowned upon.

This is my view from the last trip I took this month. It was about 25 degrees at night and high of 65 so it was a better day than it was night.

[h0llywood]

Looks like hunting season just opened up earlier this year for you guys in NC. How is it hunting in the cold? Seems like a pain to sit for a long amount of time.

[PanthersBigD]

10 minutes ago, h0llywood said:

Looks like hunting season just opened up earlier this year for you guys in NC. How is it hunting in the cold? Seems like a pain to sit for a long amount of time.

I haven't hunted at all this season, but it's been unseasonably warm here this year. I talk with my Dad weekly and he hunts several days each week outside of Raleigh. Mostly stand and blind hunting, depending on whether it's bow or rifle season. Sometimes it's freezing cold and sometimes you're sweating through a single layer long sleeved shirt. 55-60 during the day would be a nice median temperature here for a good part of the season. I usually don't feel freezing cold until January duck hunting season, as it sometimes gets into the teens and even single digits in the early morning. 

Where you're hunting looks beautiful. 

[t96]

I want to go to Montana anyone got land there I can use?

[thefuzz]

2 hours ago, h0llywood said:

Looks like hunting season just opened up earlier this year for you guys in NC. How is it hunting in the cold? Seems like a pain to sit for a long amount of time.

We don't really sit that long here.  If I'm hunting, I'll get to my stand about 30 minutes before sunset, wait for about 15 minutes, and you will start seeing does and fawns coming through the brush...then right before it's dark you may start to see some bucks.

Total time in the stand is about 45 minutes...some are covered, and I hunted one for a while that had plexiglass windows on hinges that you can fold down when you see the deer you want.

I can't recall ever hunting here, and not seeing deer...not once.

[h0llywood]

45 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

We don't really sit that long here.  If I'm hunting, I'll get to my stand about 30 minutes before sunset, wait for about 15 minutes, and you will start seeing does and fawns coming through the brush...then right before it's dark you may start to see some bucks.

Total time in the stand is about 45 minutes...some are covered, and I hunted one for a while that had plexiglass windows on hinges that you can fold down when you see the deer you want.

I can't recall ever hunting here, and not seeing deer...not once.

Interesting....wish we had that out here. I might have to make a trip to Utah or Northern California.

Are there time rules for hunting there in NC? Here in CA we're not allowed to hunt 30 min. past sunset.

[rayzor]

we've got 40 acres. i usually go out with my cousin and hunt. i've been dealing with a concussion this year and can't do heights and i'm still seeing double. it sucks. he's gotten 3 so far this year. 2 with a crossbow and one with a rifle. i'm not sure what he's using now. he changes up every year. we both have gotten into crossbows the past couple years. he used a compound for a long time before that. i liked the challenge of a recurve, but one not so clean kill a couple years ago got me away from that.

he'll go out and do black powder occasionally when it's that season, but it's such a pain.

come rifle time, i'm not sure what he's using, but i always go with my 1910 mosin nagant. of course i use the 7.32x54R ammo, but when i'm target shooting between seasons i'll use bulk ammo that i pick up where ever i can, but to hunt i'll use winchester 180 grain soft point. oh...i don't use a scope...again, i like the challenge.

my vision has started to suck, though, so i may stop using that before too long. i'm not sure what i would go to next. lol i've got this buddy who is trying to get me to buy his blackout AR15 that he made a couple years ago because he wants to make a new one. it's nice and so little recoil and the scope is unreal (i can't remember what he has on it). i don't know if i want something that complicated after using an old russian rifle for so long, but it would make hunting a lot easier. he's been using it for deer hunting and done pretty well, not to mention the coyotes he's taken out. coyotes are all around here and have taken out a few deer along with some other small game so it's about time for me to get something to help cut down that population.

i am probably going to pick up a .22lr rifle soon since the price of ammo is down and availability is back up. plus my daughter is wanting to start hunting so i'll probably get a little plinker to start her off on.

oh yeah....got an old 12 ga. remington that i go duck and goose hunting with, but i'll probably go get a .410 ga to get the daughter started as well. not sure she'll stick with it, but she likes going out with me to hunt. it's good having that extra set of eyes and it's pretty good quality time. whenever i go out, i'm usually out there 2-3 hours at a time. sometimes twice a day. i love doing it in the cold and it's best when it's been snowing. those days are too few and far between anymore. it's getting colder, though.

[PandaPancake]

Someone please come to my Colorado ranch and kill some pronghorns. They tear up my fences and drink the livestock's water

[rayzor]

16 minutes ago, PandaPancake said:

Someone please come to my Colorado ranch and kill some pronghorns. They tear up my fences and drink the livestock's water

sounds like fun.

tbh, that's some of the reason we try to harvest a few deer every year. they get into my gardens and eat up all my plants in the summer. they even eat my tomato plants. just started eating those a couple years ago. the goal is 6 every year between me and my cousin who lives nearby. even with that, we still have deer all over the place and i'm surrounded by people who take out about that many every year. it's amazing how much damage they do. i know a lot of people think they're cute, but i kind of think of them as giant rats. giant, really tasty. rats.

we usually process all our own deer, but this last deer we sent in to make a bunch of breakfast sausage and summer sausage. next one or two will be pretty much all ground up.