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Retro Deer Hunting ? Update
Old-Colts
Member Posts: 22,697 ✭✭✭
I posted a few weeks ago about my plans to hunt on a buddy's farm in Arkansas the opening day of deer season (Saturday the 10th) using a 44-40 Winchester Model 92 SRC and a 44-40 Colt SAA. The hunting was indeed enjoyable and I passed up some easy doe shots, including what I think was a last year's doe with this year's offspring, both very small. They both walked around below my tree stand for about 15 minutes and I probably could have killed both of them with the single action, one for sure. If a barren doe had passed near the stand I might have taken it, but I preferred to leave the youngsters to mature and reproduce. I hunted his property with the old guns the following Tuesday and Wednesday, but kept seeing young does, which were legal, but of no interest. I really wanted to take a deer with the Winchester or Colt, but wanted it to be a nice buck.
So, on Thursday the 15th I headed over to South Central Arkansas for some serious deer hunting on a 4000 acre lease where I was a guest. However, for this type of hunting it wasn't practical to use the old guns, so I selected a 1956 vintage Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 30-06. Again I passed up many does, legal spikes (less than 2 inches), and button bucks, but at 5:15 late in the afternoon on Friday the 16th a big buck walked out of a thicket about 200 yards away and onto a logging road. I was surprised he was only a 6 point based on his size and the wide spread of his rack and debated about whether to take him or not, but when he got about 100+ yards from me I decided to fill one of my buck tags and took the shot. I've always gone for the heart and lungs and I've always been successful, but they've always run a short distance, so this time I went for a neck shot and the deer dropped on the spot and didn't move or twitch. I think, given the circumstances in the future, a neck shot is the way to go, especially in the evening when you really don't want to track an animal after dark. I now have all the deer meat I need, but might go again to try for a bigger buck to fill my second buck tag, perhaps some more retro hunting.
So, on Thursday the 15th I headed over to South Central Arkansas for some serious deer hunting on a 4000 acre lease where I was a guest. However, for this type of hunting it wasn't practical to use the old guns, so I selected a 1956 vintage Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 30-06. Again I passed up many does, legal spikes (less than 2 inches), and button bucks, but at 5:15 late in the afternoon on Friday the 16th a big buck walked out of a thicket about 200 yards away and onto a logging road. I was surprised he was only a 6 point based on his size and the wide spread of his rack and debated about whether to take him or not, but when he got about 100+ yards from me I decided to fill one of my buck tags and took the shot. I've always gone for the heart and lungs and I've always been successful, but they've always run a short distance, so this time I went for a neck shot and the deer dropped on the spot and didn't move or twitch. I think, given the circumstances in the future, a neck shot is the way to go, especially in the evening when you really don't want to track an animal after dark. I now have all the deer meat I need, but might go again to try for a bigger buck to fill my second buck tag, perhaps some more retro hunting.
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
Comments
Fast clean kill with no meat damage.
I havent shot a deer in the body since I learned how to really hunt meat.
I am a firm believer in a neck shot.
Fast clean kill with no meat damage.
I havent shot a deer in the body since I learned how to really hunt meat.The heart/lung shots I've taken in the past were all slightly behind the shoulder, so no meat damage except the loss of a few ribs and both the heart and lungs were shredded. I'm now a believer in the neck shot when possible.
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
BTW, I have never "chased" or tracked a lung shot animal more than 70-80 yards.
I posted a few weeks ago about my plans to hunt on a buddy's farm in Arkansas the opening day of deer season (Saturday the 10th) using a 44-40 Winchester Model 92 SRC and a 44-40 Colt SAA. The hunting was indeed enjoyable and I passed up some easy doe shots, including what I think was a last year's doe with this year's offspring, both very small. They both walked around below my tree stand for about 15 minutes and I probably could have killed both of them with the single action, one for sure. If a barren doe had passed near the stand I might have taken it, but I preferred to leave the youngsters to mature and reproduce. I hunted his property with the old guns the following Tuesday and Wednesday, but kept seeing young does, which were legal, but of no interest. I really wanted to take a deer with the Winchester or Colt, but wanted it to be a nice buck.
So, on Thursday the 15th I headed over to South Central Arkansas for some serious deer hunting on a 4000 acre lease where I was a guest. However, for this type of hunting it wasn't practical to use the old guns, so I selected a 1956 vintage Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 30-06. Again I passed up many does, legal spikes (less than 2 inches), and button bucks, but at 5:15 late in the afternoon on Friday the 16th a big buck walked out of a thicket about 200 yards away and onto a logging road. I was surprised he was only a 6 point based on his size and the wide spread of his rack and debated about whether to take him or not, but when he got about 100+ yards from me I decided to fill one of my buck tags and took the shot. I've always gone for the heart and lungs and I've always been successful, but they've always run a short distance, so this time I went for a neck shot and the deer dropped on the spot and didn't move or twitch. I think, given the circumstances in the future, a neck shot is the way to go, especially in the evening when you really don't want to track an animal after dark. I now have all the deer meat I need, but might go again to try for a bigger buck to fill my second buck tag, perhaps some more retro hunting.
Retro? Cartridge guns are newfangled fooferaw that won't last, you'll see![:D]
Try hunting with a flintlock rifle (I know guys who hunt with flint smoothbores -- I like a little more precision than that....). This is not to belittle your effort with the pair of .44-40s -- very cool. But traditional muzzleloaders and flinters in particular are that same satisfaction several times over, and the beauty of it is, they work. To accept the limitations that reality placed on our ancestors -- then discover that they weren't half as limited as we thought before we actually tried it their way -- nothing like it.
Retro? Cartridge guns are newfangled fooferaw that won't last, you'll see![:D]
Try hunting with a flintlock rifle (I know guys who hunt with flint smoothbores -- I like a little more precision than that....). This is not to belittle your effort with the pair of .44-40s -- very cool. But traditional muzzleloaders and flinters in particular are that same satisfaction several times over, and the beauty of it is, they work. To accept the limitations that reality placed on our ancestors -- then discover that they weren't half as limited as we thought before we actually tried it their way -- nothing like it.Many years ago a friend loaned me a custom made flintlock (original design) and I used it for a couple of days during one deer season. You're right, other than that "one shot limitation"; they are deadly accurate with a lot of stopping power. And, since they shoot big slow moving pieces of lead, even with a shoulder shot you can eat the meat right up to the bullet hole. However, my era is after the primitive era[:D], so I prefer the older cartridge guns!
Actually the 51 year old Model 70 I used for this deer is almost retro, it even has a wood stock![:D]
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
Yes the neck shot will really anchor a deer.
I have made about lung shots with the 30-06, and many of those deer I had to track over 100 yards.
On the other hand, with the round ball from the muzzleloader, they only go about half as far.
I do take the neck shot, or the high shoulder shot, which is a spine shot, when the deer is close.