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Thread: 3 Deer Season

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
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    Central Virginia
    Posts
    146

    3 Deer Season

    This year has been one of the best deer hunting seasons I've personally had. Although I struck out during bow season, I was able to connect with a doe during muzzle loader and 2 small bucks during rifle season. Additionally, one of my friends gave me a buck that he shot so I could have the meat. It will be nice to not have to buy meat for quite awhile.

    Warning, there are some graphic pictures below.

    Muzzleloader Doe:

    - NEF Huntsman 50cal
    - Arsenal 432-250 TC (H&G 503 Clone) in a Sabot
    - Powder Coated Water Quenched COWW
    - 80g 777 powder @ 1600fps (estimate based on hodgdon data)

    I had been sitting on the ground in a pretty thick part of the woods on the property I hunt. I have had pretty good luck there during prior muzzleloader seasons. After a couple hours, I decided to try and slip to a different location. I decided to go check out an old tree stand location I had built about 10-15 years ago. I don't think I've hunting out of that stand in the better part of 5 years. I climbed up in the stand and gave a few fawn bleats to see if any does were in the are. About 10 minutes later, 2 does slipped in across the train tracks. One of the does jumped the fence onto the property that I hunt. She was almost head on, slightly quartering at about 40 yards. I felt good about the shot & decided to take it. Entrance was left front shoulder low & exit was offside rib cage. Clipped her lungs & unfortunately the stomach a little. The weather was a very overcast and misting/light rain. By the time the smoke cloud cleared, I didn't see which way she had run. The other doe with her took off across the train tracks. I went to the spot where I shot and found hair & blood. Due to the wet ground and rain, tracking wasn't super easy. After about 30 mins I was able to find her about 40 yards from where I hit her. When I got to her she was still alive, so I put a finishing shot into her lungs. The boolit performed very well, unfortunately placement on my first shot was not as good as it should have been.



    First Shot:


    Second Shot:


    Second Shot:


    Lungs:



    First Rifle Buck:

    - 350 Legend
    - NOE 360-232-RF (Cup Point)
    - Powder Coated COWW
    - 19.5g Buffalo Rifle @ 1794fps

    I was sitting in a little makeshift ground blind that I made out of pallets several years ago. I was just sitting there reading with my rifle in my lap. I decided to throw out a few soft grunts to see if there were any curious bucks in the area. I was looking up from my book every few minutes. All of the sudden, I looked up and saw a deer staring straight at me about 30 yards away. He was perfectly broadside, but very aware that something was out of place. He started stomping his right front foot. I held steady hoping he would turn his head for just a second. As luck would have it, he looked away from me just long enough that I could get my rifle up. He looked back at me & snorted real big. It was cold enough that I could see the steam from his snorting nostrils. I held on his front shoulder and let one fly. He stumbled forward and took off running up the hill. He ran about 20 yards up the clearing, then went back in the woods. I heard him crash not long after he got in the woods. He made it maybe 40 yards total from point on impact. Boolit performed very well clipping the top of the heart & the lungs. He was a spike, but I don't believe he was a young deer based on his face & body size.





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    Exit:

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Central Virginia
    Posts
    146
    Second Rifle Buck:

    - 300 Blackout
    - NOE TL310-178-RF (Hollow Point)
    - Powder Coated COWW
    - 15.1g H110 @ 1790fps (estimated with GRT)

    My buddy that gave me a buck that he had shot invited me to hunt his property on the last day of the season. He had a few cull bucks on his hit list & knew that I wouldn't mind having some meat for the freezer. He has a nice little enclosed blind that overlooks a food plot planted with turnips. Farthest shot would be 100 yards, so I figured that would be a good place to test out the 300 blackout. When I got to my buddy's place, he told me that the wind wasn't going to treat us too well. He told me that he would put me in the best spot & he would go down to another ridge. I got in the blind about 2 hours before sunset. At about 5pm, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to see any deer. A few minutes later, I caught some movement at the edge of the field. Within a few minutes, there were 6 does in the field. After grazing for a few minutes, they looked across the field and then all turned around and went back into the woods. About a minute later, another deer came into the field. It was one that my buddy had told me about. He wasnt sure if it was a buck or a doe, but it was an older deer that had a bit of a limp. I cranked my scope up to 9x to try and figure out what it was. Turns out its just a real old buck that isn't growing antlers anymore. He grazed for about 10 mins or so & I only had about 10 mins of legal shooting light left. I decided to hit the grunt tube a few times to see if that would coax anything else into the field. About 2 minutes later in came a big bodied spike that was one of the cull bucks. He was about 40 yard & broadside. I aimed just behind his left shoulder and let one fly. I could tell he was hit good by the way he hunched up before he took off running. My buddy came over at dark to help me look for the buck. We walked down the trail that the buck went down when he took off. He made it about 30-40 yards before he piled up. I just barely clipped the left shoulder and it exited about the middle of the right shoulder. I didn't pay as much attention as I should have while gutting, so I'm not sure what internal damage was done. Based on the entry/exit location, I'm guessing his heart didn't stand a chance. The hollow point fragmented (I found 3 pieces), which would explain why the exit hole was also caliber sized. Overall the boolit did its job, but I will probably switch to using a cup point with my alloy. Meat loss was was not as bad as pictures makes it look, but still more than I would have hoped for.



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    Exit:


    Under Entrance Shoulder:

  3. #3
    Cast Hunter

    RugerFan's Avatar
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    Congrats on a great cast bullet year!


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  4. #4
    USMC 77, USRA 79


    Markopolo's Avatar
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    Congrats!!! Might be best in the future to move shot placement back a bit to be able to salvage more meat next year…

    Awesomeness
    Any technology not understood, can seem like Magic!!!

    I will love the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    Blackwater, Virginia
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    706
    Great Hunts & Good story description! Thanks for sharing. -06

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    580
    That was a dedicated cast boolit season with good visuals to show how well your projectiles performed. Glad for your success. I took one management doe with an arrow and then two large does with cast this season, which is all I've deer gun hunted with for many years. They work as advertised.

  7. #7
    Moderator
    Texas by God's Avatar
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    Mar 2016
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    I may get to do the 3 deer thing with cast also if I get a shot at a doe or spike this weekend. I’m taking the 44-40 with 205gr fn cast.
    Opening weekend I got two spikes; one with the 38-55, the other with the 6.8SPC. Both with Lee bullets.
    Good work staying with it on the first deer. And thanks for sharing.


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  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    I may get to do the 3 deer thing with cast also if I get a shot at a doe or spike this weekend. I’m taking the 44-40 with 205gr fn cast.
    Opening weekend I got two spikes; one with the 38-55, the other with the 6.8SPC. Both with Lee bullets.
    Good work staying with it on the first deer. And thanks for sharing.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Thanks! Hope you are able to connect with another one. Finally finished putting the last one in the freezer tonight. Did 10lbs of burger. Also I cured a ham for the first time this year. It cured for 2 weeks and then smoked it for a few hours. It was so good I already have 2 more curing in the fridge.






  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy Ateam's Avatar
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    Mar 2017
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    Northern MI
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    That ham looks darn good, care to share the recipe? Congrats on the cast boolit success!

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master


    missionary5155's Avatar
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    Last trip to Arequipa... till April.
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    rtyler... Congratulations and well done !
    Thank you for the good photos and write up. I do enjoy these.
    "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
    Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ateam View Post
    That ham looks darn good, care to share the recipe? Congrats on the cast boolit success!
    I just did 1.5 tablespoons of tenderquick per lb of meat & about 3/4 tablespoon of brown sugar per pound with a little bit of black pepper. Just coat the meat with the salt/sugar and put in the fridge uncovered for 10-14 days. After that I put it on the smoker @ 225 until internal temp on the ham reaches 150.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy SoonerEd's Avatar
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    Sep 2020
    Location
    Madison, MS
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    Congrats!

    I'm standing at 3 as well.

    Nothing special
    a 4 pt
    Button buck I thought was a doe
    a doe

    They were all between 100 - 130 lbs. So, got over 120lbs of meat put up.
    Got one hunt left and I should get a least a doe.

    I'm a meat hunter, not into trophies...or should I say my wife is not into trophies hanging on our wall.

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