2008 deer hunting and general hunting adventures - POSSIBLE BLOODY PICS INSIDE!!

[lilbuddy]

I have a little dilemma.  I've had these deer ravaging my garden for a while now, but the last several weeks has seen most go away.  2 have stuck it out, a doe and a spike, which I just found out tonight is actually a legal spike/fork.  When I got home tonight I found him standing inside my deer fence I built around my garden eating the new growth on my tomatoe plants, the plants they ate down to nothing a while back.  The same plants I had nursed back to a point where I had multiple blooms on.

I left the truck running in the driveway, calmly started walking toward him while he just stared at me.  He started to turn his head and I took off at a full run and chased him as he jumped out of my garden. 

This makes 3 times in 2 days I've chased him out of my yard.  It doesn't seem that he's getting the hint that I don't like him, or the hint that the only way I will like him is about 9 ounces at a time    My landlord doesn't want me killing them and my neighbors are too close to shoot it, so I'm at a loss right now 

Ill take care of it for you.

Last two weekends i havent got anything up in C4 and if I recall correctly you are in zone C2 and my tag covers all of C sooooo.....

EDIT: I just looked and thats C3. Id consider going up there if i dont get anything up here since the season is longer. Only problem is i dont know any of that area...at all

[Ramrod]

keep at it lilbuddy, this coolfront/storm coming at the end of this week will get the deer out and you'll get one if you put in your time and get out of your truck.

On another note back on deer topic, this heatspell has the bucks hiding.  I put in some good time on what I guess ill call a scouting trip in bzone.  saw no bucks but did see quite a few does, 3 really nice shed horns, tons of sign, a coyote, a fox, and a couple guys on quads that cant get even close so its gonna be on with this rain the weekend

[lilbuddy]

keep at it lilbuddy, this coolfront/storm coming at the end of this week will get the deer out and you'll get one if you put in your time and get out of your truck.

On another note back on deer topic, this heatspell has the bucks hiding.  I put in some good time on what I guess ill call a scouting trip in bzone.  saw no bucks but did see quite a few does, 3 really nice shed horns, tons of sign, a coyote, a fox, and a couple guys on quads that cant get even close so its gonna be on with this rain the weekend

Oh yeah im stoked on the storm. i will be goin up after work on saturday to get like an hr hunt in and then sun morn and sun evening and then its done this weekend... if i dont get one, weak.

saw a bunch of doe on sunday but no legal bucks. i guess my dad had a running shot on one thru the trees and just kinda shot but didnt get it.

[kneedownnate]

in alaska we blast bears with 8 shot out of the 12 guage in camp and they never come back or even have blood drawn, tell you neighbors you truck backfired

  holy that's funny 

[kneedownnate]

Ill take care of it for you.

Last two weekends i havent got anything up in C4 and if I recall correctly you are in zone C2 and my tag covers all of C sooooo.....

EDIT: I just looked and thats C3. Id consider going up there if i dont get anything up here since the season is longer. Only problem is i dont know any of that area...at all

That was the last place I lived, and that landlord kept asking why I didn't just shoot one of the 3-4 nice bucks on the property (c-zone) and just say I got it across the freeway in b.  I'm solidly in B now.

this coolfront/storm coming at the end of this week will get the deer out

  That's what I'm banking on too!  I've said it before, but my boss and I have an agreement:  if it rains during deer season I'll be *sick* that day 

Sadly, I can't count the number of times I've gone out in the rain, walked all over where most people won't and don't see a deer, then get back in the truck and start seeing deer/bucks.  It sucks cause I really don't like road hunting, but I've probably put in thousands of miles and seen far less bucks than I have from my truck 

[Ramrod]

ya they like to come out right after it stops raining, its also a matter of how quite you can walk

[kneedownnate]

They also like to stand out in the open so's it's easier to see something that may walk up on them    Missed a very large buck that way the first time it rained one season, and it was straight pooring!  Forgot to add, that was the hardest rain I'd had the gun out in to date and proved to be too much for the scope.  I bought a bushnell 3-9X40 to replace it but found the optics to be, well, what you'd expect for a low level scope!

I snagged a nice redfield off ebay a while back, not one of those leaky widefields.  It's a tracker 3-12X44 in matte finish.  I'll hopefully be mounting it soon and am hoping it was worth the $135    , just need to sand down and re-finish the stock since time has taken a heavy toll on a not so good factory finish. 

I have my heart set on a burris (can't remember the model) with the ballistic plex recticle for the .308, but they seem to go for $200 or so and I'm flat broke now after buying tires for the motorbike.

[Ramrod]

ive shot 12 deer, 1 bear, and 2 boar with a cheap savage 30-06 and $40 simmons 8 point scope without any issues.  some day ill talk myself into upgrading but its so expensive

[kneedownnate]

Ebay baby    I think I snagged that redfield for about $100 off regular price, and the way I usually work it is I only spend money on ebay that I make selling stuff, so it usually evens out somewhat.... usually.  I've looked through my bushnell then looked through a leupold vx2 or 3 and    at the difference in light collection!  Both the redfield I bought and the burris fullfield (that's the model I couldn't remember) have excellent light collection and are supposed to be excellent scopes.

And I've been very curious to try a savage with the accu trigger    I still really want to shoot and buy a savage bolt action .17hmr.  I'm also kicking around the idea of getting one of those little over/under rifle/shotgun combo guns, which I seem to remember savage making, just so I don't have to carry the shotgun and rifle at the same time.  I'd just like to get one in a big enough caliber to be effective on a deer.  I know you could easily take a deer with a .223 or smaller under the right conditions, but I kinda feel like a .243 is just right for blacktail!

[kneedownnate]

Oh, and I think figured out how to deal with my little buck issue!  I was walking around the property tonight to check things out and it hit me.  I just need to get a tranquilizer in a form I can inject into the acorns he seems to like so much    Soon as he passes out he's mine 

[lilbuddy]

Damn i didnt know you were in b now. thats weak.

and yeah leupold vari-x II and III scopes are so bitchin. they pick up so much light, its amazing. my dad and bro have that on their three .270s, and my grandpa has one on his .257.... good scopes.

[kneedownnate]

.257 roberts I assume?  Strange little round that should have great potential and be a great in between round, but from what I've researched you have to hand load to get good performance out of them.  Either that or get a .257 weatherby, but who the hell can afford ammo for any weatherby ammo?  Weatherby does do an amazing job of making any existing round a fire breather though    Just a shame they have to re shape the case and make it so you have very few choices for ammo 

[Doof]

on campus this morning i saw a lil buck with two doe... it was a small little guy and from the angle and sun i was only able to count 2 point on one side o the rack... there might have been an eye guard so 3 if you count it, but i couldnt see to well... made me wish i had my camera

[lilbuddy]

.257 roberts I assume?  Strange little round that should have great potential and be a great in between round, but from what I've researched you have to hand load to get good performance out of them.  Either that or get a .257 weatherby, but who the hell can afford ammo for any weatherby ammo?  Weatherby does do an amazing job of making any existing round a fire breather though    Just a shame they have to re shape the case and make it so you have very few choices for ammo 

Nope, a .257 weatherby magnum

I think a box of ammo was like $50 bucks for it or something.

[SLIVER]

Awesome!  That's a very nice set of antlers.  I saw a small herd of elk today, a big rarity around here, and after the last one crossed the road I stayed on the brakes because deer like to CRAP! there's a bull!  Luckily just as he got to the edge of the road he realized we'd be floped if we made contact and did a quick about face.  Anyway, congrats to her on the elk!  Some day...

Oh yea, what caliber was she shooting?

She was going to use a .270, But I talked her into shooting it with my 300 WSM.
It got the job done a little faster than the .270 would have.

))--SLIVER-->

[joey0712]

what caliber does everyone use on deer...? Ill start .270 in CA .338 win mag outta state.

[Ramrod]

oh oh oh this weather is looking good, I think im heading out tonight.

I shoot a savage 110 30-06 with a simmons 8 point 3-9 x 40 scope and a versapod bipod that usually just sits in my pack.

only gun I want to buy is the remington 700tvr .308 with the new leapold 50mm scope that sits low but i can afford it right now and it doesnt really matter

[kneedownnate]

Nope, a .257 weatherby magnum

I think a box of ammo was like $50 bucks for it or something.

F'in cool man    I've seen weatherby ammo go over $100 a box, so $50 kinda isn't too bad for their own stuff!  I don't doubt that that's a capable 500 yard round.  They just do such a damn good job making a caliber perform quite well!

She was going to use a .270, But I talked her into shooting it with my 300 WSM.
It got the job done a little faster than the .270 would have.

))--SLIVER-->

Excellent choice!  .270 is a good all around and capable round and could definately kill an elk, but like you said the .300 wsm will just do it so much better!  I have no doubt that my .308 would handily drop an elk with 165-180 grains, but if I had the choice I'd prefer a .300 win mag, .300 wssm, 7mm or .338 win mag.  .338 would be my gun of choice for a bigger caliber, probably the biggest my little shoulder would wanna shoot, maybe a .35 whelen though 

what caliber does everyone use on deer...? Ill start .270 in CA .338 win mag outta state.

.243 remington, remington 788.  Very very accurate rifle!  If you're hunting blacktail there's really no reason for anything bigger, but some people are just more comfortable with a little larger caliber.  I would take the .308 I bought a couple years ago if I were hunting in a zone where there was either a chance of shooting a mulie/blacktail cross or if it were a mule deer zone.

[kneedownnate]

Pat, I saw that pic on your profile and couldn't agree more    I think it said something like  "this is why it's not just about the kill".  I've felt that way for a long time.  It's that mentality that keeps me from shooting a little barely legal buck still hanging out with momma, or the decent 3 point that was posing for me at 50 yards last year.  I'm not a trophy hunter by any means, but when the meat's gone it's nice to have a rack you don't hide or throw away so you won't be reminded of how you fealt like a jerk for shooting such a small deer!

That said, I have had a monster bodied forkie with a tiny tiny rack follow me down a trail once, and with a body like that I woulda shot him in a heart beat but he ran too fast and far.  His rack was maybe 8" high and 8" wide if that, but it was thick and stumpy and his body was huge!

[Ramrod]

so last saturday evening after dinner I figured id go walk down to the river at my ranch and see if any bucks came down to get a drink but didnt have my gun just some big binoculars and managed to see a big group (7+) of deer coming down a canyon but it was too far and too dark to really see what they were but I was definitly interested.

Yesterday afternoon I was working on my truck sweating my ass off and finally said F this im going hunting, drove home, packed up and drove the 2.5 hours as fast as I could up to the ranch.  By that time it was already 6 so I threw on my camo as fast as I could and put together a half ass pack and went down to get set up on that same canyon.  Right from the start there was a ton of sign and thing were really looking good then I peeked over a little bump and about 300yrds away was a Big buck looking at me but I couldnt tell exactly how big so I ducked down and mangaged to get about 100yrds closer and could tell he was definitly a shoot judgeing by the rack being much wider than the ears so I set up the bipod and took the shot which was the longest shot ive taken on a deer ever.  There was a big cloud of dust and then him still standing there not even a flinch so I reloaded and shot again, same thing. Now I was getting pissed but had noticed that the dust cloud was to the right of where I was aiming so i aimed farther back and nailed him right in the neck but he still took off and after a big search he was at the bottom of a gully pretty much right where I shot him.  He turned out to be just a fork but hes the biggest fork ive ever seen---


after that it was  a nasty drag down to the river than about 1/4 mile down river in the dark and i fell like 20 times and am bruised as hell now but it was worth it. 

Miday today I decided to go after some quail and pigeons and spotted this guy and his friend and managed to sneak up to about 30 feet away-

but with just 8 shot lowbases a picture was about all I could do

[joey0712]

Dam nice buck man where did u kill him at? How wide is that mo fo?

[Ramrod]

killed him on my property right on the eel river where A and B zones are devided outside of willits, havent measured him, probably 22" wide 20" tall

[joey0712]

holy helllllll thats a toad good shootin.... As for that pig.... Thats why i carry slugs and 9 pellet when i bird hunt hahaha

[kneedownnate]

Congrats Pat    I totally dig the big, wide forkies!  Some people claim they're pacific forkies, but though I've found stories and opinions I've never found any solid facts stating they exist.  Either way, great buck!

Are you in a different zone for pigeons?  It's over up here but I know there are different seasons in california for them.

Bummer on the pig!  That's one reason I want to get a sidearm.  A nice .41 magnum or .45 semi auto should do just fine on a pig 

I'm really hoping the rain comes in this weekend like they're predicting    No biggie if it doesn't though, I still need to finish the 4by so I stop taking the 2wd where it doesn't belong    I do wish I'd already refinished my .243 stock though so I felt better about getting out and walking a whole bunch in the rain.

[olivedrab85]

nice score pat! My deer season starts tomorrow..... it's been raining all week i'm pumped

[Ramrod]

thanks guys, ive been hearing about the pacific fork I think its just a term for a big buck that only grows a fork, I have a huge rack and scull in my room from a deer that got hit by a car right outside of sonoma I found when i was a kid that is almost as big as mine but way way heavy like it was an old buck.  About the pigeons.........ugh i just couldnt resist really i havent hunted them since i was seven and dont even know about when the season is

[46&2]

For you So Cal guys we have a show going on at the San Diego Fairgrounds starting tomorrow at 8AM (4-5th). I am not going to be there but I thought I would mention it.

[kneedownnate]

My deer season starts tomorrow..... it's been raining all week i'm pumped

Good luck man   

Just got back from a wet day of hunting.  Drove around the first part and saw 5 deer in the woods and 2 as I left one spot.  Decided to go walk behind a locked gate in an area I knew would have lots of people around tomorrow, but on the way I decided to check another spot I saw several rigs parked on opening weekend.  I ended up spending way too much time covering way too little ground there, but I mostly wanted to see what the huge attraction was.  Turns out it was a pretty neat area and led into an area that burned several years ago, I just never made the connection while driving by.

Anyway, I saw a doe just up the hill on my way in and looked all over to see if it was alone.  I kept moving and got a good view of the hill it was on and found nothing else so I kept moving.  When I came back through it was gone, which was good because I wanted to go up the skid trail just off to the side.  I worked all over that area until I determined that I'd be royally screwed if I went any further since I didn't know where it dumped out.  I turned around and headed back, and just as I got toward the beginning of the skid trail I was on a couple deer spooked about 35 yards from where I'd seen the first doe.

Lucky for me the fog had rolled in and both lenses on the scope had water all over them, so I never got a really clean look at what they were, but I could tell one was a doe and one was at least a small buck, looked like a forkie.  I worked around the backside of the hill they crossed and found where they'd gone over the other side, worked around that area but came up with nothing.  I wouldn't have shot him anyway, but I just wanted to be 100% sure what I saw!  I worked around the area a bit more, picked some oddball purple raspberries - no, not blackberries - just some that I'd never seen before.

When I pulled up to the gate I saw what looked like a rib cage laying down in the gully below, so when I got back to the truck I ditched my gear and walked down to check it out.  Looked like it was probably just a doe or something, maybe got hit by a car, but while I was checking that out I heard something on the hill and saw a mid-size fawn running away.

It's supposed to rain some or most of tomorrow too but not sunday, so what I think I'll do is check out a couple spots I wanted to tomorrow, put some miles on the boots then leave sunday for working on the truck.  I NEED to get the 4by going asap, especially if it's going to be a rainy deer season this year!

[toyotamobing]

i shoot a .270 for everything around where i live....from deer to squirrels it works fine!!!

[joey0712]

I leave for Colorado on the 15th..... Cant wait i sighted in my hand cannon (.338 win mag) Dead on at 200yds. One deer and one elk cant wait!!!!!!!