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Deer Hunting 2015...

Crappy dude! You gonna back at first light? Or work calling in the AM?

Work calling in the AM. While I hate to let it go , I do feel that we put a good effort in last night. The area is all thick swamp grass and thorny vines, not easy to traverse and not easy to find a carcass blind even in the daylight. I knew id the blood didn't end at the deer we were screwed. The we I'm referring to is my dad, he followed me through a the whole tracking process despite not being in the best of health. Deer there tend to jump the river (Shiawassee River) which is pretty wide and fast moving. With the rain there no way we will find sign today. The rain was the killer, if not I would have tried to pick up where we left off but without blood it's a needle in a haystack out there.

I am going to try to sneak out to the range today at lunch and she where I am, obviously something changed since I last shot my muzzleloader....or it was just me...only one way to fins out. I don't want to hunt with it again until I know.


@aksavanaman Good job brother, the looks like a hell of a hunting trip.
 
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Does Caribou count??? :D View attachment 10165
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It was a great adventure flying out to Adak. I've been out the Aleutian chain before but never quite this far. I went with 3 other co-workers and together we brought home 8 caribou total for the week. Four more were shot just beyond that ridge behind us in the first picture not 20 min later. It was A LOT of hiking (around 10 mi a day) and even though the terrain isn't too harsh out there, it still left a sore...but definitely worth it. After deboning, we had just under 100lbs of meat for each person (small caribou out on that Island:)). Flight was on miles and we shared one house and brought our food with us, so a pretty cheap hunt all things considered. We had a blast!

P.S.= Incase you're wondering why we're killing baby Rudolf.... no limits. The heard was transplanted there in the 50's and has grown pretty much out of control since then. And with no natural predators on the island, hunters are the the only thing that keeps them from overwhelming the place. We had no moral issues with shooting Rudolf... he'll be darn tasty for sure!
Damn straight Caribou counts!! All I gotta say is you and your party did a helluva lot better than me this season! 100 lbs of deboned meat is nothing to sniff at...nice job AK!

Good to hear from you brother!
 
Snuck out to the range..it's all me the gun is spot on out to 100 yards.
 
Since you tracked blood until it started raining and it crossed the river, that tells me you got a decent hit on it. I would be leaning toward improper bullet performance.

Alsaka man, be proud that you and your buddy did so well. Even the cheap meat at our grocery store is almost $4 a pound and it only goes up from there. That's $400 worth of HEALTHY food.
 
Since you tracked blood until it started raining and it crossed the river, that tells me you got a decent hit on it. I would be leaning toward improper bullet performance.

Dont know. I quit using the Hornady SST's and went to tbe Barnes Expander MZ this year beacause I was not getting good expansion on deer with the Hornady bullets.

Hard to tell, so many variables come into play in the field vs the range.
 
Dont know. I quit using the Hornady SST's and went to tbe Barnes Expander MZ this year beacause I was not getting good expansion on deer with the Hornady bullets.

Hard to tell, so many variables come into play in the field vs the range.

Out of the 8 caribou we shot, 3 were me and 3 were my buddy in the picture.... both of us using .30-06, he was using 180 Core Lokts, I was using 180 SSTs.... both of us had "kill-zone" hits. His dropped on the spot, mine all were still walking for 20 yrds before they went down. Didn't see great expansion on any of my hits...

That said, they're all dead the same you know. Always lots of hype about what bullets to use... if you're shooting anything within 200 yards (which our shots were) and you're hitting heart or lungs... it's gonna die, period.
 
Since you tracked blood until it started raining and it crossed the river, that tells me you got a decent hit on it. I would be leaning toward improper bullet performance.

Alsaka man, be proud that you and your buddy did so well. Even the cheap meat at our grocery store is almost $4 a pound and it only goes up from there. That's $400 worth of HEALTHY food.

Lol, after a week of no contact with my wife (no cell service out there... but was expected) what's the first thing she says? Not, how was the trip... did you have fun.. etc.? No, the only I got from her was "You better have meat to bring home". (I guess the Kids were a little more stressful than usual ;))
 
Out of the 8 caribou we shot, 3 were me and 3 were my buddy in the picture.... both of us using .30-06, he was using 180 Core Lokts, I was using 180 SSTs.... both of us had "kill-zone" hits. His dropped on the spot, mine all were still walking for 20 yrds before they went down. Didn't see great expansion on any of my hits...

That said, they're all dead the same you know. Always lots of hype about what bullets to use... if you're shooting anything within 200 yards (which our shots were) and you're hitting heart or lungs... it's gonna die, period.
I've got both of those in my ammo box as well as Federal PowerShok and Winchester Power Point...in 270 Win ranging from 130 to 150 gr. The Hornady SST's are certainly the more expensive round. Doesn't necessarily mean they perform better I guess.

I would be able to give another point of view had I actually SHOT SOMETHING this season!!!! Dangitallanyway!!!
 
Out of the 8 caribou we shot, 3 were me and 3 were my buddy in the picture.... both of us using .30-06, he was using 180 Core Lokts, I was using 180 SSTs.... both of us had "kill-zone" hits. His dropped on the spot, mine all were still walking for 20 yrds before they went down. Didn't see great expansion on any of my hits...
The 180gr CoreLokt have been the best shooting round out of my 3006 since I got it many mnay years ago.
 
Went on 2 separate drive hunts in Germany with the locals (for doe and wild boar) a couple of weeks back. Got one of each. Both were skilled (with a little luck) shots to the heart/lung area on moving game at about 50 mtrs (deer) and 70 mtrs (boar). Rifles: Mossberg 4x4 (30.06), Zeiss Optics, Prvi Partizan (PPU) 180gr. on the boar, Tika T3 (.308), Zeiss Optics, Prvi Partizan (PPU) 180gr on the deer. Neither got farther than 20 meters before dropping :D :cool:
DSCF2120.jpg DSCF2201.jpg
 
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Went on 2 separate drive hunts in Germany with the locals (for doe and wild boar) a couple of weeks back. Got one of each. Both were skilled (with a little luck) shots to the heart/lung area on moving game at about 50 mtrs (deer) and 70 mtrs (boar). Rifles: Mossberg 4x4 (30.06), Zeiss Optics, Prvi Partizan (PPU) 180gr. on the boar, Tika T3 (.308), Zeiss Optics, Prvi Partizan (PPU) 180gr on the deer. Neither got farther than 20 meters before dropping :D :cool:
View attachment 10190 View attachment 10191

Nice haul Jungle Boogey. Where in Germany are you located??? I was born in Bavaria near Nürberg and spent most of my childhood in Schweinfurt and Kaiserslautern. My mother still lives in Germany, although since having kids, it's been tough getting everyone back.
 
DSCF4115.JPG View attachment 10198
Nice haul Jungle Boogey. Where in Germany are you located??? I was born in Bavaria near Nürberg and spent most of my childhood in Schweinfurt and Kaiserslautern. My mother still lives in Germany, although since having kids, it's been tough getting everyone back.

Rheinland-Pfalz. I live in Bad Kreuznach and I work in Baumholder (40 min from K-Town). Of course because of the former military installations, I know of Nürnberg and Schweinfurt. You need to get back for a visit, especially for your Mom and the kids... :)

Back to deer hunting. I completed the German Hunting Course and am licensed to hunt in most of Central Europe. Through 'Package Deals', Poland and the Czech Republic are especially inviting. They are overrun with all varieties of game. I especially enjoy the traditions that go along with hunting over here. :D
 
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Finally connected tonight. Took a nice doe. The muzzeloadeing season ended last Sunday but the extended forearm doe runs until Jan 1. Unless I buy another doe tag I'll just be hunting with a bow for the rest of the season (I can still take either with a bow)

Doe01_002_zpssdbpfrop.jpg


Right at the end of shooting hours I took her with the Traditions Buckstalker .50 cal muzzleloader. Two 50 grains pellets of Pyrodex under a 250gr Barnes Expander MZ bullet.

She only ran about 50 yards. Easy to track, so much blood it looked like red carpet. It was dark and raining when we found here else I would have better outdoor pics.
 
Finally connected tonight. Took a nice doe. The muzzeloadeing season ended last Sunday but the extended forearm doe runs until Jan 1. Unless I buy another doe tag I'll just be hunting with a bow for the rest of the season (I can still take either with a bow)

Doe01_002_zpssdbpfrop.jpg


Right at the end of shooting hours I took her with the Traditions Buckstalker .50 cal muzzleloader. Two 50 grains pellets of Pyrodex under a 250gr Barnes Expander MZ bullet.

She only ran about 50 yards. Easy to track, so much blood it looked like red carpet. It was dark and raining when we found here else I would have better outdoor pics.
Nice job Mike!!
 
I'm still seeing deer just not any good shots. I saw 3 does and an unidentified deer last night.

I never got a chance to sight in the new muzzleloader, can only get so much done over the holidays between work, family, etc, but I will be out this afternoon with my bow for the last day of our season.
 
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