Shooting Season Suspended!....

[TXGunNut]

hunting season start soon! I'm in the middle of numerous shooting and loading projects but last weekend I checked the zero on Ellie Mae, Hawk Eye, Thumper and a RBH to be named later and all are ready to help me fill my freezer. Been having tons of fun with the "shooters" lately but it's that time of year again. I may even get to cook a bit, I love it when I get to be camp cook!

[buckwheatpaul]

Mine has ended for at least 2 weeks due to heavy rain and flooded woods and bottom hunting area....time to cast, load, and enjoy the Christmas Season...good luck TXGunNut....Paul

[Hickok]

One fella' you don't mess with is the camp cook!

We had a guy who learned that the hard way at camp once. The cook simply washed some dishes real nice and soapy and didn't rinse them, leaving a good soapy layer to dry on these "select" dinner ware for this special quest.

Worked better than ex-lax!:bigsmyl2:

Have a great time and good hunting!

[TXGunNut]

Thanks, guys. Been mighty wet here as well. Rain gauge was full last night (6") when I dumped it and it's well over an inch so far today. Last trip we had to split up cooking chores, I wasn't the only one that wanted to cook and the other guys are excellent camp cooks as well. Won't know until later in the week who will be in camp so will just plan a menu and wait. I put together a few 35 Whelen rounds for my rifles and did new case prep on a fresh batch of hunting ammo for my brother. Guess I might as well assemble those rounds and head to town for a bit.

[dragon813gt]

Rifle season doesn't open here until tomorrow. I have no time off due to a new job. But I don't have any work scheduled for tomorrow. Debating wether I want to risk hunting tomorrow morning. The woods will be thick w/ morons. It's commonplace to look into the woods and see a hunter every fifty yards or so. I'm not a fan of overlapping fields of fire. Especially when I'm in it. Rain might make my decision to stay home an easy one.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Texas has enough water to last a good long time. Looks like the EL Nino deal is real this year. Have to do your hunting from a boat.
Mike in Peru

[TXGunNut]

Greetings
Texas has enough water to last a good long time. Looks like the EL Nino deal is real this year. Have to do your hunting from a boat.
Mike in Peru


Not so bad down south, my place is pretty soggy but I'm hunting in Bee county. No boats on the lease but no shortage of ATV's and a certain Willys will have new shoes by Tuesday. If all else fails my pickup is no slouch when the going gets tough. It's one of the original Off-Road F150's and that decal is no brag, just fact.

[TXGunNut]

My hunting season was rather short, somewhat under 12 hours. Saturday morning a big fat lone doe showed up in a sendero I was watching and after no yearlings showed up for 20-30 minutes I decided she was going home with me-I won't shoot a doe with yearlings. She was getting a little antsy so I picked up my rifle, Ellie Mae, and got ready to shoot. The doe was walking quickly out of range but stopped to get a bite of something to her left, offering me a broadside shot at a bit over 120 yds. I took it, she bounced around a bit and dove into some thick brush. I lost track of exactly which clump of brush she jumped into so I had to track her. I walked past her twice, even got a whiff of her each time but didn't spot her until the third trip by. She dove over a small bush into some tall grass and was facing away with her feet under her. Was a bit apprehensive about approaching a deer in that position but she was quite dead, necropsy revealed a heart shot. She was one big doe, especially for S TX.
My brother came by after awhile and we hauled her back to camp so I could cook a big breakfast for the five of us and get my doe on ice while the boys watched college football.
After a nap and a bite of lunch we headed to the stands again. I was hoping for a nice hog but I was fidgety and nothing was moving. Finally something caught my eye about 200 yds out and at first I thought it was a rabbit or fox because I kept losing it in the tall grass. After glassing awhile I determined it was indeed a deer but I really didn't want to shoot another deer. I decided I'd let it pass unless it was a spike. As a guest on this lease I am encouraged to shoot does, management bucks and of course, as many hogs as I want. Turns out this buck was indeed a management buck; a short, nearly vertical "main beam" and brow tine on one side. Other antler was broken off just above the brow tine. I couldn't get this buck to offer me a broadside shot and he was getting a little close and was about to figure out I was there so Ellie Mae and I put a RD 360-230 thru the front of his chest. He jumped, fell down, got up and ran towards me. He finally offered me the broadside shot I wanted and a second RD boolit flattened the little guy. We hauled my little buck back to camp and my brother started supper for me while I got the deer on ice. I had him quartered in time to finish cooking supper. We had marinated boneless pork chops, baked potatoes, salad and brown & serve dinner rolls.
I really love cooking at deer camp but cooking two big meals and quartering two deer was a bit much for this old fat man. Sunday morning I slept in and started coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we tracked two wounded deer, both tracks were successful. One buck was the biggest-bodied deer I'd seen on this lease and the rack was wide, tall and heavy. Bucks like this one prove that deer herd management works!
Since my cooler was full I was done hunting but yesterday I got a little bored after spending my days in camp. There were quail in the fields behind camp and I had a riot gun and half a box of target loads behind the seat of my truck. Suffice it to say I'm no quail hunter, had plenty of opportunities but was headed back to camp empty-handed when a huge hog crossed the sendero 120-130 yds away and looked like he wasn't going to give me time for a proper stalk. I dropped to one knee, leaned the riot gun on the crook of my left arm and quickly drew and fired with my new Ruger SR1911. First shot apparently connected because he bellowed pretty good, second shot may have connected because he hurried a bit more into the brush. Third shot was probably a waste of ammo but it seemed like a good idea at the time.:popcorn: When I got to where he had gone into the brush I was greeted by a terrible stench and decided I wasn't much interested in recovering this stinky old boar. Since the thick stuff he'd run into was between me and camp I eased the #8's out of my riot gun and replaced them with a couple of slugs from the butt stock shell carrier. Never saw the big bruiser in the brush but wasn't really interested in tracking the old stinker anyway. I figured a couple of 45 ACP rounds at that distance hadn't taken much fight out of him, he was probably in a scrappier mood than I was. It was almost time to start supper anyway. :bigsmyl2:

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Sounds like a good time! Congrats on a successful season.

[rking22]

Nice shooin, how did you like the performance of the 360230? I did not use it this year because my pushfeeder is a picky eater but it sure looks to be a good boolit.

[35 shooter]

Congrats on the deer. Great to her Ellie Mae performed well with the 230 gr. boolits.

Got the same boolit loaded and ready in "ol contrary", but haven't been hunting yet...hopefully this weekend.

[TXGunNut]

Nice shooin, how did you like the performance of the 360230? -rking22

Thanks, I think the 360230 did quite well. Ellie Mae is a pushfeed Winchester M670, occasionally have feeding issues with my Ruger Hawkeye (M77). I've noticed the 360230 will feed quite well from one side of the magazine and not the other; first round comes from the balky side, second round from the easy side. Second shot on the little buck was very quick and I did not notice any feeding difficulties. On the doe the boolit broke both upper leg bones and penetrated the heart, a bone fragment also struck the heart. First round on the spike entered the chest and exited in front of the hip on the opposite side. Second round IIRC only broke one upper leg bone and exited the chest. My rifle alloy is 50/50 with a touch of extra tin, boolits also oven HT'd. I developed my load and alloy with big hogs in mind. I suspect I get minimal expansion in a deer but penetration even thru bone was not an issue. For some reason my loads for the 35 Whelen seem to work better with HT alloy, I don't think most critters I hunt need the extra hardness but I like to break both shoulders on the larger hogs.

[rking22]

Thanks,sounds like the first shot was plenty if there hadn't been a chance for #2. I used a Lee 200 from an alloy of reclaimed shot and pure with some tin. Probably 97/1.5/1.5 or so. Water dropped it is HARD, going to soften the noses next go round. I water drop for convience only, so may be easier to aircool hunting boolits. I want bone breakers too and the 360230 shure looks to be good. Sure wish I had hogs close by, but then not too close, we farm!

[TXGunNut]

I love busting big hogs with boolits but I wouldn't wish our hogs on any farmer. I once hunted a peanut farm near Turkey, Tx (any Bob Wills fans out there?) and killed a nice little sow there. A few years later the peanuts were replaced with another less profitable crop because of hog damage.
And yes, first shot on the little buck was likely fatal but he was still standing and presented a good shot so I ended it right then and there. I'm a pretty fair tracker but much prefer a DRT.

[TXGunNut]

Sitting here enjoying my leisurely Saturday morning coffee with Christmas carols on the radio before I get started processing a big cooler full of venison. I've kept it on ice since Saturday, draining bloody water and adding ice during the week. Today I'll process the shoulders, rib & neck meat and much of the hams into 1.5" "chunks" and package them in 2# vacuum sealed bags. I'll freeze them today and later I'll process them into burger/chili meat, sausage or simply use them as is for stew. I cut the loins into two pieces and freeze them in vacuum bags as well.
Hmmm...today looks like a good day for venison stew. Guess it won't all be going into the freezer after all. :bigsmyl2:

[TXGunNut]

Congrats on the deer. Great to her Ellie Mae performed well with the 230 gr. boolits.

Got the same boolit loaded and ready in "ol contrary", but haven't been hunting yet...hopefully this weekend.


Thanks, hope you get to go hunting this weekend. Field testing a new boolit certainly adds a new dimension to a hunting experience. Good luck and be safe!

[tdoyka]

congrats!!!!

[rking22]

TxGunNut, that sounds like about the same thing I do. Except I usually have the back strip eaten before I get I all processed! I'm eating bean soup from the remnants of neck roast for supper tonight. Most everything gets cut up for "grillin meat", and I use it however I want when I get it out. Saves confusion, it's either ground trimmins of grillin meat :)
I think I may have gotten to where I enjoy the cooking and eating as much as the hunting, seems you may be there as well!

[TXGunNut]

Weellll.....I don't enjoy the processing much but it's done and I have 74 #'s of venison in the freezer tonight.:bigsmyl2:
I do enjoy the cooking and of course the eating but carrying in and cutting up all that meat is a little hard on my old shoulders. One shoulder got a nasty sprain in deer camp (not ready to tell that story...yet ;-)) and that didn't help much. But its done, kitchen is cleaned up-other than that blood trail out to the truck-and I'm having an adult beverage!

[TXGunNut]

Making a huge pot of venison stew tonight; 2 pounds of cubed venison, a diced doe heart, 2+ lbs of potatoes, a bag of carrots, two turnips, two rutebegas and a bit of celery and other goodies.
Just occurred to be that I rebuilt the rifle, (JES rebore, Boyd stock, a bedding kit and a new Leupold VX3 scope), had minor input on the NOE/RD boolit design, cast and tested the boolit/alloy/load, loaded the round and of course shot and processed the deer.
Thanks, guys, for all the help and support. I wish you could all drop by for a bowl of this stew tonight.

[35 shooter]

Experimenting with alloys, casting the boolits yourself, and time spent working up the best load at the range, and then actually taking game in the field with it has a great feel of accomplishment indeed!

At the point the game is on the ground and the hunt is over, it's a well deserved feeling for sure.

Nothing wrong with jacketed i suppose, but the feeling of doing it with cast is totally different for me.
It's just something you have to do for yourself to understand.

Of course by then your pretty much hooked on cast boolits!:smile:

Btw, that stew sounds great!!

[TXGunNut]

I've put a lot of critters in the freezer with J-words and every year I help my brother do the same with my hand loads. Won't talk about it here but I have an awesome 30-06 load that has served us well, gave him 50 rounds as a Christmas present and he was speechless.
The hunting game has many levels: first hunt, first kill, first handload kill, first CB kill and so on.
Yes, stew was pretty good. By the time all the root veggies were done the venison was a bit overdone. Need to work on that. Did a coarse rustic cut on the veggies, will go smaller next time. Heart was awesome!

[TXGunNut]

Headed back out in a few days after a stop at my brother's place for Christmas and a day dedicated to eating fresh seafood nearby. Should be able to squeeze in a day's hunting in there somewhere; dove and quail are in season so I'll take my Citori along with a hog thumper or two (three?).

[35 shooter]

Hope you find a big ol nasty hog to try that 230 gr. on or another thumper of choice.
The Quail hunting sounds especially good!!

[rking22]

Sounds like fun! Good luck on the quail, man they are a fun hunt and quite tasty too! Our wild quail have learned to start running as soon as the dog points. Only way they have survived the coyotes, but instead of hunting with a 20ga cyl, I.m told we need at least mod and lots of shot for the distance. I no just have one covey on the farm and they flush wild even when I walk them up. I hear hogs are always in season for you Texans :)

Merry Christmas !