ND deer season with cast?

[Messy bear]

Anyone hunting with a cast bullet in ND this yr? Outside of close friends, I very rarely encounter anyone hunting without j- thingys and big glass tube things on rifles, not to mention a revolver or plain ol' lever gun or a battle rifle. Couple guys with flintlocks but most are in lines.
Messy

[runfiverun]

unless I were in the breaks along the Missouri, or at about MM3 on I-94 I'd have a big ol scope and a 25-06 or something that shoots as flat too.

[mikeORB]

My friend and reloading mentor refuses to hunt with anything but cast. He is a big TC Contender collector and shoots most of his game with those. Just trying to get my knowledge up beyond shot shell loading so beyond helping him, casting is out of my league.

[richhodg66]

Never been to ND but SOuth Dakota looks just about identical to where I live in NE Kansas, at least around Sioux Falls it does. Cast works great for me here and I never did take long shots even with jacketed. Most of mine have been with muzzle loaders. I hunt from tree stands mostly, sometimes on the ground, but I don't try to walk and stalk. Scout out an area and set up an ambush plan and getting close isn't as tough as it seems.

[GhostHawk]

ND does tend to be fairly flat and open. However there are always favored travel routes, and ambush spots where even a shotgun and slug at 50 yards max can score.

I'm not hunting this year, but if you watch and know where they move it is not hard to find ambush spots where cast will work fine.

[44man]

I agree that "hunting" is what it is about. I bet archers do well in those areas so why not a close range gun? Many are just "shooters" and don't experience what hunting is.
I see it here every year, a guy has to have a 7mm mag or .300 mag and sits where a 50 yard shot is far. He says, what if I see one down the power line, well he won't hit anyway since none know the gun they have and only sight to 100, never ever shot farther.
A real hunter lets animals walk and never needs to shoot if not right.
I admire a man that shoots an animal at 10 yards over a shooter that kills at 500 yards.

[runfiverun]

my answer is based on the fact I would have to hunt the grass lands.
since 99% of the state is pretty much squared off and privately owned and the grass lands are like a piece of paper with just enough cover to hide some birds.
I'm pretty good at getting close if there is a tree or some bushes around. but sneaking up on a deer there would be like sneaking up on your neighbors dog pooping on your front lawn.

[44man]

my answer is based on the fact I would have to hunt the grass lands.
since 99% of the state is pretty much squared off and privately owned and the grass lands are like a piece of paper with just enough cover to hide some birds.
I'm pretty good at getting close if there is a tree or some bushes around. but sneaking up on a deer there would be like sneaking up on your neighbors dog pooping on your front lawn.
So what? If you know deer you should be able to be out there in the grass with them. I wrote it all once, Walking with deer or another name, The Wonderful Whitetail and was rejected over and over to get a book. I posted too much for years and quit. I have never met a deer hunter that knows the animal. I see a deer far in the thick. I make her come to me. I see deer in a field, I go out with them.
Your biggest problem is "sneaking" because it does not work. Go read rags, I will not help more.

[ChristopherO]

Interesting how folks can get a chip on their shoulder by a simple question if anyone is hunting with a particular boolit.

[waksupi]

Back when I was young and spry, I crawled up on more than a few deer and antelope on the east side of Montana. Wide open spaces, and made kills with muzzle loaders and revolvers.

[KYCaster]

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days in Crosby, ND.....12 mi. from MT and 4 mi. from Canada.

We were cruising the section roads looking for pheasants and saw a young man at the back of his pick up truck pulled off into a two track. We stopped to chat.

At our greeting, he turned around.....a compound bow in his left hand. Dressed in camo head to foot with tufts of grass sticking out from various places on his clothes and gear and face paint in four colors.

The conversation went something like this......
Us, "You don't expect to kill anything with that do you?"
Him, "You betcha!"
Us, "What??? There's no place for anything to hide!"
Him, "Oooh, Bambi's Daddy will be along in aboot an hour and I'll be waitin fer him, yeah."

Divide County North Dakota covers 1000 square miles. We could see at least 10 miles in every direction. There wasn't a single tree in sight and this young man was confident that, within the hour, he'd be within 40 yds. of the biggest mule deer in the county.

We didn't hang around to see if he was right........but I wouldn't have bet against him.

Don't know if I could live long enough to learn to hunt deer there.

Jerry
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again.


Edit to add........If he can do it with a bow then your cast boolit should be a piece of cake.

[Messy bear]

I guess I have been lucky to get close enough every season since the early 80s to harvest game with a revolver. But I spend a lot of time out there on my own land. As someone mentioned learn travel routes and then learn to use every bit of cover. Most the time that means terrain. I have snuck up on bedded animals that didn't know I was there. Spot and stalk is my favorite way. Perhaps I will have to do a story on this years and antelope with new NOE boolit.

[Dan Cash]

I am most certainly in SW ND and my weapon of choice is an 1895 Win in .30-40 U.S. using a 215 cast, paper patched bullet driven 2200 fps. I might play with some lightewr bullets some day but as is, it is my kill everything gun and load. It has plenty of reach.

[44man]

You need to know your animal. I know deer and have walked into a herd feeding and stayed with them over 500 yards in a winter wheat field, on my two legs. I have had deer within a few feet of me. I just become another deer. Freeze or sneak does not work as well unless the deer can't see or hear you. Walk up to a deer on a trail and freeze. You are busted big time. The deer will only take so much, bolt and run behind cover to watch you. Take a step and see the tails run off from those you did not see. You don't understand and think your camo made you invisible. Big joke.
Buy the real dark camo and hide behind brush. The thumb you hit with a hammer is what deer see.
They know every stick and stump where they live so go sit on a stump!
I watched videos where a deer was spotted on a hill, duck down quick and plan a sneak. Damned fools, already busted. I would make the deer come to me. I have shot too many deer I spotted far and made them come to me.
Thousands of hours playing with deer and learning them. I know what scares them and what doesn't. I love the jerks in an elevated house over a food plot. Then the camera pans to the jerk as he clicks the safety off. Then you must have a Colt action with all the clicks with a revolver. Bows make the wrong sounds so aim under the deer because it will bend legs so it can leap away. You need 360 fps arrows. Deer do not jump a long bow. Grunt at a deer to stop it and expect to hit it with a compound. Peter Pan can fly too.
Shoot a buck near dark and sit until black, can't find it so go back the next morning but it was 70° to 80° all night and you found the buck at 10 AM. High fives over the rack with meat tossed. A Coleman lantern will show blood so you never quit.

[GhostHawk]

44man is right. Was in a tree stand with a bow one afternoon, dairy farm 1/4 mile down the road on the other side. 7 does and fawns browsing through a harvested corn field all within 75 yards of me. I was down wind or I'd of been busted.

Screen door slammed, not a ear twitch, or a raised head. Same for car door, car started, turned onto the road. Nada, no sign, broad daylight 3 in the afternoon. Same for a tractor starting up.

Five minutes later 2 squirrels fighting snapped a twig near to my stand. Every head up, ears and eye's on swivels, tails flicking. Then the squirrels came rolling out into sight and the deer went back to feeding.

For any given location you have normal sights, sounds, events. Deer know them all and are not concerned by them. But a snapped twig where there is cover equals heads up ready to run.

I walked up on a doe one evening, on a little 2 track trail. Started out 50 yards away when she saw me. When her head went up, I bent over, brushed grass with an arm. Made myself look like a strange deer. But I did what she did. If her ears perked, I stopped, her head went up I made feeding motions. I ended up close enough to touch her on the nose. But I took my own sweet time. Don't look directly at it,or walk straight at it. zig zag a little, look behind it at the ground. Animals have a sense about being stared at, like a predator would.

I had one walk by 2 feet away but I was sitting down in a corn row and I did not move. She could tell something was there, made her nervous, but she didn't run or alarm.

[Messy bear]

I am most certainly in SW ND and my weapon of choice is an 1895 Win in .30-40 U.S. using a 215 cast, paper patched bullet driven 2200 fps. I might play with some lightewr bullets some day but as is, it is my kill everything gun and load. It has plenty of reach.

Good to hear Dan! That should take care of your hunting needs handily. I have witnessed what 310 gr at 2200 out of a 405Win does to buffalo. That velocity seems to be very effective.
Messy

[pls1911]

Playing with deer is always a learning experience, building a knowledge base very useful in hunting.
It sure beats sitting on your fanny watching football.