A good year and a full freezer

samsmix · December 4, 2006, 08:02 PM

I said I'd let you know how it went. Here goes:

My wife filled here 5 tags in one day. She cares not a whit about antlers.
Her .257 Roberts killed a WT doe at +/- 300yards across an alfalfa field. That evening we were going from place to place on a field road and I spotted an old grey muley doe bedded 150 yards off the road. Just before Heidi shot her through the neck, I whispered that there were probably others beded out of sight. At the shot 2 more good sized does got up and ran. They paused for a second at about 100 yards, and she nailed one in the lungs. The last one ran but to no avail: At the crack of my wife's rifle it rolled, shot through the shoulders. Sweet! It took us an hour or so to dress and drag these 3, and this let the surrounding hills forget about us. Just around the bend we spotted another herd of muleys. It was a longish shot with no time left for a stalk, so Heidi set op her bipod. Seeing only small bucks she opted for a dry doe instead. I told her to hold for 300yds, but in the fading light my eyes decieved me; she missed. I told her she must have missed, but she insisted it looked more like 400. She held for that distance and WHOP! Hit from the guts, through the liver, to the far lung and shoulder, it ran about 60yds and died.

Approaching this final deer another doe broke cover at a mere 15yds, trotting kinda slow. I know it ain't the right gun, but my .38 was already in hand... A stoutly loaded 158gr LRN went full length and took a lung without exiting. It tried to get up, but by that time I was a mere 6ft away and fed it another couple of .38s, this time in the neck.

Over the next 4 weeks I took 3 more muleys: 2 does with a Mosin 91/30, and a forked horn buck with my own .257. Taking advantage of surplus tags I also popped 4 WT does. One fell at about 30' to a charge of '00' buck in the head & neck. 2 more went to the .257 at +/- 200yds & +/- 350yds, and just for kicks I popped (blasted?!?) a doe at about 85yds with my brothers .375H&H. This was an offhand shot on a windy day and I slopped it through both front leg bones and the brisket! The 270gr bullet did '06 like damage, but knocked it over a bank that I didn't realize concealed a RIVER! Imagine my surprise when all I found was a 2 chunks of lung on the thin ice out past a big shattered hole! Luck intervened and one of her hind legs got caught in some overhanging brush and we were able to recover the deer.

All tolled I shot 8 deer and guided family members to shoot 9 more this year. There were no monster bucks, but my father, a disabled 87 year old, shot a 4x4 muley that I drove to him (7 mag 150yds). That deer was the one of which I was most proud this year, since a cancerous bladder & a mini-stroke teamed up in August to keep him hospitalized for 22 days. I couldn't have been happier than to see him shoot a nice buck! I also put my 14 year old nephew onto his first buck, a 3x3 WT (200yds/.257) and a fat as mud WT doe (80yds/30-30).

That was mine. How was yours?

rem33 · December 4, 2006, 10:41 PM

Sounds like you had a great season with lots of good meat. Surprised how many tags are available in Montana, other states too from what I have been reading here.
One deer one elk is all we get here in Idaho. The way the wolf population is exploding I wonder how long we will get even one, especially elk.
Are deer tags that way state wide? We filled four deer centerfire and one elk with a muzzeloader so the freezer isn't empty.

samsmix · December 14, 2006, 04:43 PM

No, it's not that way statewide. You gotta be willing to go where the tags are. Some areas are overpopulated, but others are hurting. It's a big state. I am surprised to find that Idaho is the way it is though. There are some parts of MT that are feeling the burn from wolves, too, but it's not as bad as you describe yet....yet.

We don't have a set muzzel loader season here, but I wish we did. I'm going to try my hand at pheasants with a flintlock on Saturday. I'll be using a Brown Bess replica stoked with #4 shot. Also, a .70 Ste. Etienn smoothbore pistol, similarly loaded.

willsjeep · December 14, 2006, 05:56 PM

It has been a good year for me also. I haven't filled all my tags yet and probably won't (not that much freezer room) but I have got 4 in the freezer and one more getting processed. My friend has been able to get one for his use also.
I got one (doe) with my grandfathers model 742 -06 (tradition for me to kill the first one every year with his old rifle). I got the second one (doe) with my Henry 44. The third and fourth (both bucks a 4 and a 6) fell to my new to me 700 CDL in 30-06. The fifth went down at 24 yards with my Super Redhawk in 44 mag.
All I really need is maybe 2 more to fill the freezer and hold us (family of five) till next year.
Will

FirstFreedom · December 15, 2006, 08:02 PM

Wow, sounds like a hunter's paradise up there; congrats on the harvest AND the good wife!

BIGR · December 15, 2006, 08:33 PM

Great hunting. I will be going back Monday through Saturday to try it again. I have 5 tags to fill but I'd like to get 2 or 3 for the freezer. Hunting this time of the year will be hard but I'Ve got to end the year on a positive note.

samsmix · December 25, 2006, 07:43 PM

...but it's close. I would add, however, that this is my home turf, and that counts for alot when filling your tags. For instance, if I don't fill my tags today...Oh well! I'll just go again tomorrow. Many of you would have the same home field advantage where you live. Talking to Art a few months ago I got the impression I might be a bit lost in Texas scrub country.

I've met alot of land owners and befriended them. They have introduced me to neighbors, and them to their neighbors... and so on for 20 years. All tolled I could probably get on over 250,000 acres...

...but it was not always so.

Hans · December 27, 2006, 06:44 PM

You gotta love good old Montana!! My parents live in the NE corner of the state, giving me a great place for whitetail hunting, and I live in the south central part, where the elk hunting is good. I love it here!

samsmix · December 31, 2006, 10:57 PM

Helena? Great Falls? I'm in Great Falls myself.

BIGR · January 5, 2007, 07:52 PM

Yes it was. I have a six point and big doe in the freezer and could have tagged out but I didn't. In about 15 days of hunting I saw about 40 deer. I saved some small bucks for next year. I can't wait til November already. I guess I'll have to bird hunt and varmit hunt til then to pass the time.

December 4, 2006, 08:02 PM	#1
samsmix Senior Member Join Date: June 29, 2006 Location: Montana (Montucky?) Posts: 1,273	A good year and a full freezer I said I'd let you know how it went. Here goes: My wife filled here 5 tags in one day. She cares not a whit about antlers. Her .257 Roberts killed a WT doe at +/- 300yards across an alfalfa field. That evening we were going from place to place on a field road and I spotted an old grey muley doe bedded 150 yards off the road. Just before Heidi shot her through the neck, I whispered that there were probably others beded out of sight. At the shot 2 more good sized does got up and ran. They paused for a second at about 100 yards, and she nailed one in the lungs. The last one ran but to no avail: At the crack of my wife's rifle it rolled, shot through the shoulders. Sweet! It took us an hour or so to dress and drag these 3, and this let the surrounding hills forget about us. Just around the bend we spotted another herd of muleys. It was a longish shot with no time left for a stalk, so Heidi set op her bipod. Seeing only small bucks she opted for a dry doe instead. I told her to hold for 300yds, but in the fading light my eyes decieved me; she missed. I told her she must have missed, but she insisted it looked more like 400. She held for that distance and WHOP! Hit from the guts, through the liver, to the far lung and shoulder, it ran about 60yds and died. Approaching this final deer another doe broke cover at a mere 15yds, trotting kinda slow. I know it ain't the right gun, but my .38 was already in hand... A stoutly loaded 158gr LRN went full length and took a lung without exiting. It tried to get up, but by that time I was a mere 6ft away and fed it another couple of .38s, this time in the neck. Over the next 4 weeks I took 3 more muleys: 2 does with a Mosin 91/30, and a forked horn buck with my own .257. Taking advantage of surplus tags I also popped 4 WT does. One fell at about 30' to a charge of '00' buck in the head & neck. 2 more went to the .257 at +/- 200yds & +/- 350yds, and just for kicks I popped (blasted?!?) a doe at about 85yds with my brothers .375H&H. This was an offhand shot on a windy day and I slopped it through both front leg bones and the brisket! The 270gr bullet did '06 like damage, but knocked it over a bank that I didn't realize concealed a RIVER! Imagine my surprise when all I found was a 2 chunks of lung on the thin ice out past a big shattered hole! Luck intervened and one of her hind legs got caught in some overhanging brush and we were able to recover the deer. All tolled I shot 8 deer and guided family members to shoot 9 more this year. There were no monster bucks, but my father, a disabled 87 year old, shot a 4x4 muley that I drove to him (7 mag 150yds). That deer was the one of which I was most proud this year, since a cancerous bladder & a mini-stroke teamed up in August to keep him hospitalized for 22 days. I couldn't have been happier than to see him shoot a nice buck! I also put my 14 year old nephew onto his first buck, a 3x3 WT (200yds/.257) and a fat as mud WT doe (80yds/30-30). That was mine. How was yours? __________________ You'll probably never NEED a gun. I hope you never do. But IF you do, you will need it worse than anything you've ever needed in your life. IF we're not supposed to eat animals, howcome God made 'em outta meat?

December 14, 2006, 04:43 PM	#3
samsmix Senior Member Join Date: June 29, 2006 Location: Montana (Montucky?) Posts: 1,273	No, it's not that way statewide. You gotta be willing to go where the tags are. Some areas are overpopulated, but others are hurting. It's a big state. I am surprised to find that Idaho is the way it is though. There are some parts of MT that are feeling the burn from wolves, too, but it's not as bad as you describe yet....yet. We don't have a set muzzel loader season here, but I wish we did. I'm going to try my hand at pheasants with a flintlock on Saturday. I'll be using a Brown Bess replica stoked with #4 shot. Also, a .70 Ste. Etienn smoothbore pistol, similarly loaded. __________________ You'll probably never NEED a gun. I hope you never do. But IF you do, you will need it worse than anything you've ever needed in your life. IF we're not supposed to eat animals, howcome God made 'em outta meat?

December 25, 2006, 07:43 PM	#7
samsmix Senior Member Join Date: June 29, 2006 Location: Montana (Montucky?) Posts: 1,273	Well, I don't know if I'd call it paradise... ...but it's close. I would add, however, that this is my home turf, and that counts for alot when filling your tags. For instance, if I don't fill my tags today...Oh well! I'll just go again tomorrow. Many of you would have the same home field advantage where you live. Talking to Art a few months ago I got the impression I might be a bit lost in Texas scrub country. I've met alot of land owners and befriended them. They have introduced me to neighbors, and them to their neighbors... and so on for 20 years. All tolled I could probably get on over 250,000 acres... ...but it was not always so. __________________ You'll probably never NEED a gun. I hope you never do. But IF you do, you will need it worse than anything you've ever needed in your life. IF we're not supposed to eat animals, howcome God made 'em outta meat?

December 27, 2006, 06:44 PM	#8
Hans Senior Member Join Date: September 27, 2004 Location: Montana Posts: 421	You gotta love good old Montana!! My parents live in the NE corner of the state, giving me a great place for whitetail hunting, and I live in the south central part, where the elk hunting is good. I love it here! __________________ G26, Ruger LCP Ruger 10/22, Wyndham AR-15 5.56x45 Savage 111 LWH .270 Win. Without the 2nd Amendment, none of the others would exist.

December 31, 2006, 10:57 PM	#9
samsmix Senior Member Join Date: June 29, 2006 Location: Montana (Montucky?) Posts: 1,273	Where you at? Helena? Great Falls? I'm in Great Falls myself. __________________ You'll probably never NEED a gun. I hope you never do. But IF you do, you will need it worse than anything you've ever needed in your life. IF we're not supposed to eat animals, howcome God made 'em outta meat?

December 4, 2006, 10:41 PM	#2
rem33 Junior member Join Date: March 31, 2006 Posts: 1,528	Sounds like you had a great season with lots of good meat. Surprised how many tags are available in Montana, other states too from what I have been reading here. One deer one elk is all we get here in Idaho. The way the wolf population is exploding I wonder how long we will get even one, especially elk. Are deer tags that way state wide? We filled four deer centerfire and one elk with a muzzeloader so the freezer isn't empty.

December 14, 2006, 05:56 PM	#4
willsjeep Senior Member Join Date: February 8, 2005 Posts: 180	It has been a good year for me also. I haven't filled all my tags yet and probably won't (not that much freezer room) but I have got 4 in the freezer and one more getting processed. My friend has been able to get one for his use also. I got one (doe) with my grandfathers model 742 -06 (tradition for me to kill the first one every year with his old rifle). I got the second one (doe) with my Henry 44. The third and fourth (both bucks a 4 and a 6) fell to my new to me 700 CDL in 30-06. The fifth went down at 24 yards with my Super Redhawk in 44 mag. All I really need is maybe 2 more to fill the freezer and hold us (family of five) till next year. Will

December 15, 2006, 08:02 PM	#5
FirstFreedom Junior member Join Date: May 31, 2004 Location: The Toll Road State, U.S.A. Posts: 12,451	Wow, sounds like a hunter's paradise up there; congrats on the harvest AND the good wife!

December 15, 2006, 08:33 PM	#6
BIGR Senior Member Join Date: June 13, 2000 Location: Mountains Posts: 1,385	Great hunting. I will be going back Monday through Saturday to try it again. I have 5 tags to fill but I'd like to get 2 or 3 for the freezer. Hunting this time of the year will be hard but I'Ve got to end the year on a positive note.

January 5, 2007, 07:52 PM	#10
BIGR Senior Member Join Date: June 13, 2000 Location: Mountains Posts: 1,385	Yes it was. I have a six point and big doe in the freezer and could have tagged out but I didn't. In about 15 days of hunting I saw about 40 deer. I saved some small bucks for next year. I can't wait til November already. I guess I'll have to bird hunt and varmit hunt til then to pass the time.

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