2020 Deer season Results

Let's see everyone's success pics

Yesterday morning, opening day muzzleloader on buck I've been following all summer.

Nice, congrats on getting him,

Congratulations on a nice buck SnakeLover, a great opening day of muzzle loader!

My weekend was rough, started on Friday when I found out my scope was not holding zero. So I picked another scope I had on hand and mounted it Friday evening. Hunted Saturday morning with my crossbow but didn't see anything. Spent a good part of Saturday trying to dial in the new scope but it wouldn't hold zero. Fortunately, I still had the Redfield Revolution scope that was on my Wolf 2 years ago(used it for 2 seasons with no misses). It still had pencil marks on it from where it was mounted, so I lined up the marks... still dead on at 100 yards. I couldn't get out on Sunday but I went out today. Saw several deer this morning but couldn't get clear shots. Went to a different stand for the evening with much success!

1st deer I saw was a doe and when she gave me a clear shot I popped her. While reloading, a 2nd doe walked through before I could get a shot on her. Within 10 minutes a nice 8 point came out, clearly trailing the does. He gave me an opening and that was his last mistake.

It was a good day, even for all the wind!





Big blood splat where I shot the buck. It was a trail even Ronnie Milsap could follow.

Congrats to the both of you!

Attaboy!! Awesome when everything comes together almost like we planned it

Now you have work though...

Haha, at this point I hope I don't see anything but does under 100 pounds. Them big boys will wear on ya!

Nice one, CWA! I see that Wolf up there doing work.

Ran into this dude opening day. That high pressure cold snap we had was wild- he was out chasing a doe around at 1:45 p.m. in broad daylight. Since the daily highs have surpassed what they are historically for the city of Havana, Cuba, though, it's been slow as hell. Fingers crossed we get one more shot here next week after the remnants of Eta move through.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2k4wUEG]

Congrats OXN, that's a nice one for sure.

You are also correct, the weather has sucked since after Monday.

Also, a follow up to my earlier post about scope problems. Thanks to advise from COUNTRY I checked the screws for the scope mount and found they were just slightly loose. I could not feel the mount move but they were loose.

I cranked them down with fresh loctite and spent a day shooting at paper to be sure and it is locked in now.

So a big thanks to COUNTRY... and yes, I feel stupid now for not checking the screws when I was swapping scopes.

I did see this fellow Saturday morning. To my surprise he ran 50-60 yards, dribbling blood... even with a rather large whole through his heart(see pic). Shot was just over 100 yards.

Sweet buck, congrats! The season started so good, but as you note, been slow since. Good luck with the rest of the season

Man that's a nice one too! I think we have one more day of usable hunting during blackpowder season- Friday- before things get silly. Anyone got a doe or two they want taken care of? Haha.

And I wouldn't feel silly, stuff like that happens all the time. My buddy just had a screw failure- the threads on the cheap Chinese made aluminum screws bent such that they didn't quite strip, but also weren't generating adequate pressure to withstand the (relatively mild) rifle's recoil impulse. By this point in my life, I've seen as many failures due to mounts as I have due to optics.

Thanks! Congrats on your end as well- all solid bucks in this thread. Fingers crossing we get one more good crack at them.

With all these nice deer pics I see no reason to ruin it with a pic of the spike I took on opening morning. Got to hand it to Barnes bullets though, a 75 yard shot behind the should and he dropped right there, never even quivered.

My 15 year old granddaughter went out this morning by herself since her Dad didn’t get off work until 7:00 this morning. About 7:15 she texted me a picture of a buck she shot. By the time my son in law got there she was waiting patiently and had already gutted the deer. Not a bad deer 16” inside spread. They are going to mount it for her. That’s her second buck this year.

Not bad at all Va Hunter, it ain't about the mount anyway. That would be a good story even if it was a doe.

Congrats.

Thats how you do it, making quick work of things. Congrats to your granddaughter!

Got a story with some learning points from today.

Took my western legal blackpowder rig out this evening for a bit of a full system op test. Basically, it's a CVA Optima shooting non-saboted Thors with an EABCO rear peep and Lyman globe front using the ultra fine reticle. I'm very glad I did, and hope this might be valuable for guys considering going with a globe sight to think about. Had a nice doe come into the stand of acorns I was hunting... and I literally could not get a good bead on her until she was 20 yards away. That setup with the rear peep plus enclosed front globe sight just kills light transmission- I kept looking over the sights, seeing individual tufts of hair off her coat, and then I'd look back through them and her outline disappeared. Quite disconcerting.

Shot ended up being just fine- severed her vena cava- and she went down in about 35 yards. The blood trail was actually unreal, I've never seen anything like it. Got her field dressed, cleaned, and aging overnight tonight with the nice high pressure system we've got coming in.

My AAR points are as follows:

1. Thor bullets create wild blood trails.
2. Front globe sights are easy to shoot very accurately... at targets. Field accuracy out of a treestand is what matters to a hunter and is a very different thing.
3. Shooting a nice small doe is nice not only because of how tasty they are, but also because of the packout. I had been blessed to forget what anything but a hellish packout feels like in a while.

Congrats on making the shot! I use peeps on both my Marlin and muzzleloader.
I remove the aperture and front sight hood making it a sort of ghost ring set up for that very reason. Works quite well.

Great reminder for folks about low light conditions. Congrats on the doe!

Congrats on a great shot and some fine eating.

I've been using Thor Bullets for years.

They Hammer.

For you guys or gals that have never used these bullets you should give them a try.

No sabot make for very easy loading.

keep up the good work in the woods.

Fiber optic front sight for me in the future. Wanted to be a cool guy with my "precision" iron sights... nope. Dumb move. Irons are for 150 yards and in, IMO, and the front fiber optic should allow that in a much greater range of conditions. Glad this reminder was handed down to me in such a relatively gentle way.

Here are the blood trail and projectile in question. Just very grateful it ended up with an ethical, successful hunting situation.

Nice buck, congratulations

https://imgur.com/a/Uhc5aPc

Took this with an M1 Carbine 12-12-2020

Congrats to you J, that's very nice.

That guy's rack looks almost like a Blacktail. Nice buck!

Congrats 👍 good looking buck 👏