2012 deer camp success thread

[kollector03]

My 15 year old daughter harvested a small button buck (her first) on opening evening and my 11-year old son harvested a very nice 6-point buck (his first) this morning.

She was using a AR-15 with 62grain Federal Fusion and he was using a Ruger 77/357 with 150gr Hornady ammo. Both were one shot kills with the deer running no more than 40 yards.

I've always been proud of my kids, but opening weekend of the 2012 season will forever hold a special place in my heart.

[SAM]

Joe got his button buck Sat. A.M.----I also took a button buck Sat. P.M.-----Mark N. took a big doe Sun. A.M.-----I took a nice buck Sun. afternoon and this young man we saw at the gas station on Sat. afternoon with his first deer ever from near where we hunt. 27 point non-typical -- dressed at 229 lbs. Happiest young man I've ever seen.

[photogpat]

27 points.png

[Dakotared]

Paint me GREEN

[Dante]

Me too but it brings me joy to see those young hunters grins!

[goalie]

Joe got his button buck Sat. A.M.----I also took a button buck Sat. P.M.-----Mark N. took a big doe Sun. A.M.-----I took a nice buck Sun. afternoon and this young man we saw at the gas station on Sat. afternoon with his first deer ever from near where we hunt. 27 point non-typical -- dressed at 229 lbs. Happiest young man I've ever seen.

Wow, that kid has nowhere to go but down.

He'll be "passing" and 150-class 12-pointers for the next ten years thinking that he'll see a monster like that again.

[minnesotahunter]

Taken Sun morning with and Encore pistol in 7mm08.

[yuppiejr]

We ended up hunting a new area up in rifle country near MIlaca in the Rum River state forest... pulled in a pop-up camper plus a gear trailer around 5 AM Friday morning and set up camp including some new outfitter gear that will be part of our kit for out of state hunts in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, etc... The shower/toilet tent was a particular highlight:



Anyway... out of 4 hunters we managed to fill 3 tags by Saturday afternoon. Encroachment from other hunters was a surprising problem given there are 40,000 acres much of which is accessible from handy unoccupied walk-in/parking sites all along the road.... I had another hunter park his tree stand no more than 30 feet from mine and another yahoo put one directly across from my brother in law and actually took at shot that impacted directly at the base of the tree he was parked in.

I managed 2 kill shots this trip out of my Rem 700 that was more suited for target than hunting work (18" bull barrel, fiberglass/aluminum bedded stock and a 10x Bushnell Elite scope with target knobs) - one a facing shot at a button buck about 120 yards out and another profile shot closer to 175 through the neck of a large 6 point buck that my brother in law shot in the boiler room with a .223 moments before, both unsupported off-hand (thank you Appleseed / CMP S.R. clinic + much practice). We also managed a smaller buck the same morning from another stand. The rest of the week was pretty quiet, we saw a few deer at distance but the pressure in the area from the weekend had a lot of them pushed into the deeper woods and most of our drives were unproductive. We skipped shots on 2 deer due to proximity to other party members or hunters behind the animals.



Lessons learned:

- First come-first serve does not necessarily mean much in the woods, at least where we were hunting... I need to get some private land.
- A 10x scope is way too much even when posted over an open field edge with shots out to 400 yards, a 3-9 or even fixed 4-6x would be a better option particularly with targets that like to move around where FoV is key.
- The .223 (A Winchester 64 grain monolithic bullet) did impressive damage out of a 16" / 1 in 7 twist AR, when I field dressed the deer the heart and lungs were soup and there was a large exit wound on the far side of the animal, it's neck was huge so we are guessing it ran on pure adrenaline/testosterone out of the woods where I made the kill shot but it was probably less than 50 yards from dying on it's own.

[yukonjasper]

Here's the 9 pointer I shot 9:10 Saturday. 25 yards broadside - pretty easy shot. We estimated he was about 170lbs.

[45Badger]

I wiffed on a pretty nice one this morning

[rukwikenuf]

i got one yesterday just before sundown, around 4:40. shot him at 15-20 yards broadside while he was running away from Lunchbox (Lunchbox has that affect on women too). after we pulled the hide, there's a second entry wound/exit wound. i hit him with a Rem 870 20ga youth model that Lunchbox has had since he was a kid. i gotta get my own damn shotgun! anyways, my shot severed his spine and he dropped about 8-10 feet from where i shot him mid-stride! i'm pretty pleased.
he was a 4 point fork buck with brow tines measuring .860 with my caliper. couldn't be an extra 1/8", huh?! it dressed out around 140ish i'd guesstimate, but must have weighed around 300 while we were dragging him.

BTW, Lunchbox is hunting for the first time this year, and while i've been hunting off and on for over 17 years, this was my first deer. my main hunting buddy (dad) is a thorn in my side when we're in the woods.

the reason i mention this is because we didn't know how to gut this ****, so my dad came up from work to do it and show us how. well, he got there after 6pm, and it was pitch black outside, we didn't learn anything. he gutted it, and it wasn't too bad to drag from there on out!

i'll try to get the pics up, nothing special though, just some freezer-filler!

[tman]

the reason i mention this is because we didn't know how to gut this ****, so my dad came up from work to do it and show us how. well, he got there after 6pm, and it was pitch black outside, we didn't learn anything. he gutted it, and it wasn't too bad to drag from there on out!

Seems to me that you did it correctly.

[goalie]

This is success:

[45Badger]

This is success:

Finished up a batch this morning.

One Cabela's grinder, 5 pounds venison trimmings, 5 pounds pork top butt, 1 pound pork fat, a pile of coarse sea salt, a pile of fresh cracked pepper, a pile of sage, a couple pinches of nutmeg = 11 pounds of yummy

[goalie]

This is success:

Finished up a batch this morning.

One Cabela's grinder, 5 pounds venison trimmings, 5 pounds pork top butt, 1 pound pork fat, a pile of coarse sea salt, a pile of fresh cracked pepper, a pile of sage, a couple pinches of nutmeg = 11 pounds of yummy

Heffay and I did a little over 30 pounds yesterday. The 3/4hp grinder is essential.

So was the Surly Bender