koger
12-07-2015, 01:13 PM
Well where to start? This will be a long post. Roger and I had been talking about this for 2 years nearly, got to the doing part this past week!! Roger and his wife Kari, and son Matt are great, gracious host to say the least, and good Godly folks to spend time with! My emphasis was on having fun, hopefully getting a deer, learning how to swage and paper patch bullets from Roger, and let me tell you, he is the Guru on this subject. On the way home I reviewed what he had told me, and put in all on paper for future use. More on the hunting.
First day, that evening, we got out, found some mule deer last few minutes of daylight. I ranged a buck with my Leica rangefinder, said 96 yds, looked further, at the shot, dirt flew up behind him, I had shot under, ranged again, said 187, I had placed the reticle on a gray fencepost between me and him, did not see it, got a wrong reading, getting dark and done for the day.
Second day we were out at daylight, 8 degrees, 4+ inches of snow on the ground, love hunting in this weather! We went and scouted several places, glassing for deer where we had permission to hunt. We were watching one side of property, and nearly missed 3 deer right across from us 2 were doe, finally the third one raised its head and it was a fork horn. Roger asked would I be ok with shooting a small buck, I told him absolutely, as I don't trophy hunt, just for the meat and making memories! I ranged him and twice got 107 yds and he started walking away form us, getting nervous. I bleated like a doe and he turned slightly quartering away to the left. I took a rest, came up the opposite leg and into the ribcage with my crosshair to cross the vitals, pretty center of the body, and touched off my TC Omega .50! At the shot the black powder smoke was gone and the deer gave a huge lurch forward, then took off. Roger said he's running off, and I replied he is dead and don't know it, and he ran about 40yds and piled up Dead Right There ! Just like that, I had fulfilled a life long dream of getting to mule deer hunt out west, we looked at each other and we were both grinning like a mule eating saw briars! We shook hands, and I thanked Roger for his hard work hosting me and helping me get this deer, letting me hunt in his prime hunting spots. Roger was tickled at me, said I got as excited as his 16 year old son did hunting, and I agreed. I usually cant sleep the day before deer opener here in KY, after doing it all my life, that is how much I love hunting, especially black powder! My load was 95 grains of 2ffg black powder, and a Harvester Crush Rib sabot, with a .45-260grain plastic tip bullet. It blew a inch and a half hole thru both ribcages, and bullet broke a chunk out of the off side front leg, was lodged under the skin when I skinned and boned out the deer! This is my 14th deer with this combo, and it is pure poison!
I highly recommend getting a good rangefinder, when hunting out west. I am a pretty good judge of distance here in KY, across fields with reference lines from years of woodchuck and coyote hunting, but out there I came up short 50-75 yds each time I guessed a distance before ranging it. You can eat up 200-250 yds in a hurry! Roger had advised that I be set up to hunt between 100-250 yds and he was right on. I had practiced at these distances, and was getting 2" groups at 200yds, slightly bigger off my cross sticks.
While there we also got to do some hunting for grouse and pheasant, were successful and had a blast, and some fine eating that we cooked up. I also got to shoot some of Rogers custom ML rifles, and man are they accurate, he sure knows how to build a fine shooting, balanced off hand rifle! Roger also let me shoot his S&W K-17 .22 masterpiece, as fine a shooting revolver as I ever held. We were shooting it very well out to 100yds, and it was more accurate than most rifles. Now some of you might think this is hot air, but I am a lifelong handgun shooter also, even though I don't post about it much, have taken 2 deer with a Ruger Old Army and 2 with a .44 magnum 29 Smith and Wesson. The team I am on for Corrections also won the state championship here in KY this year! Roger can vouch for me on this, even though it does not really matter.
I want to end this post by saying, that morning I said a short prayer, and asked God to give us success, if his will, and I would be grateful for any buck. When I saw the fork horn, I had no hesitation in taking him, as I knew our prayers had been answered, and was glad for a quick humane kill, short drag. This was the bestest of times, fellowship and making memories, to never be forgotten! Just though I would share!
First day, that evening, we got out, found some mule deer last few minutes of daylight. I ranged a buck with my Leica rangefinder, said 96 yds, looked further, at the shot, dirt flew up behind him, I had shot under, ranged again, said 187, I had placed the reticle on a gray fencepost between me and him, did not see it, got a wrong reading, getting dark and done for the day.
Second day we were out at daylight, 8 degrees, 4+ inches of snow on the ground, love hunting in this weather! We went and scouted several places, glassing for deer where we had permission to hunt. We were watching one side of property, and nearly missed 3 deer right across from us 2 were doe, finally the third one raised its head and it was a fork horn. Roger asked would I be ok with shooting a small buck, I told him absolutely, as I don't trophy hunt, just for the meat and making memories! I ranged him and twice got 107 yds and he started walking away form us, getting nervous. I bleated like a doe and he turned slightly quartering away to the left. I took a rest, came up the opposite leg and into the ribcage with my crosshair to cross the vitals, pretty center of the body, and touched off my TC Omega .50! At the shot the black powder smoke was gone and the deer gave a huge lurch forward, then took off. Roger said he's running off, and I replied he is dead and don't know it, and he ran about 40yds and piled up Dead Right There ! Just like that, I had fulfilled a life long dream of getting to mule deer hunt out west, we looked at each other and we were both grinning like a mule eating saw briars! We shook hands, and I thanked Roger for his hard work hosting me and helping me get this deer, letting me hunt in his prime hunting spots. Roger was tickled at me, said I got as excited as his 16 year old son did hunting, and I agreed. I usually cant sleep the day before deer opener here in KY, after doing it all my life, that is how much I love hunting, especially black powder! My load was 95 grains of 2ffg black powder, and a Harvester Crush Rib sabot, with a .45-260grain plastic tip bullet. It blew a inch and a half hole thru both ribcages, and bullet broke a chunk out of the off side front leg, was lodged under the skin when I skinned and boned out the deer! This is my 14th deer with this combo, and it is pure poison!
I highly recommend getting a good rangefinder, when hunting out west. I am a pretty good judge of distance here in KY, across fields with reference lines from years of woodchuck and coyote hunting, but out there I came up short 50-75 yds each time I guessed a distance before ranging it. You can eat up 200-250 yds in a hurry! Roger had advised that I be set up to hunt between 100-250 yds and he was right on. I had practiced at these distances, and was getting 2" groups at 200yds, slightly bigger off my cross sticks.
While there we also got to do some hunting for grouse and pheasant, were successful and had a blast, and some fine eating that we cooked up. I also got to shoot some of Rogers custom ML rifles, and man are they accurate, he sure knows how to build a fine shooting, balanced off hand rifle! Roger also let me shoot his S&W K-17 .22 masterpiece, as fine a shooting revolver as I ever held. We were shooting it very well out to 100yds, and it was more accurate than most rifles. Now some of you might think this is hot air, but I am a lifelong handgun shooter also, even though I don't post about it much, have taken 2 deer with a Ruger Old Army and 2 with a .44 magnum 29 Smith and Wesson. The team I am on for Corrections also won the state championship here in KY this year! Roger can vouch for me on this, even though it does not really matter.
I want to end this post by saying, that morning I said a short prayer, and asked God to give us success, if his will, and I would be grateful for any buck. When I saw the fork horn, I had no hesitation in taking him, as I knew our prayers had been answered, and was glad for a quick humane kill, short drag. This was the bestest of times, fellowship and making memories, to never be forgotten! Just though I would share!