2025 Hunting Season

[NYDAN]

Got a nice doe with the 30-30 this morning. The season has been slow this year.
View attachment 27944

Nice doe. Congratulations.

 

[NYDAN]

I’ve been playing around with developing a new load for my .308 Win and the 130 grain Barnes ttsx for a couple of years.
This summer I was able to find something that my rifle liked and it payed off.
About 20 minutes before legal shooting light was done, I was watching a young Doe graze the field edge east of where I was sitting. It was getting to that point in the evening when every shadow looks like a deer.
To my left, in the west corner I saw what appeared to be a dark shape come out of the woods so I picked up my binoculars and checked to see what it possibly was, and It turned out to be a pretty decent looking Buck.
I ranged him at around 270 and knew that my handloads were more than capable at that distance.
I let the gun surprise me and my shot knocked him down where he stood, making tracking him very easy.
Not the beast some have posted, but he will do well in our freezer.

View attachment 27949View attachment 27950

Your hand load worked perfectly. Congratulations on using your load to tag a nice buck.

 

[sako2]

Backcast and Wolfshead congrats on the bucks.

 

[Ralt71]

Every year mom, dad, and I put in for a public land draw hunt. We have been able to get drawn most years and we've all killed deer over the years. I've been a little more fortunate and killed some good bucks in my little honey hole. This year was no different. Dad passed on some small bucks, mom saw a bunch of doe but was holding out for a buck. The last day of the hunt (11/15) I shot a buck. He's a bigger body deer and was clearly an older deer. He had broke antlers and cuts all over his head and neck for fighting so he was clearly rutting hard and was an old warrior.

Glad I shot a bunch this summer and even shot out to 1047yds because that 19.6yd shot was tough. JK. But I really did drop him at 19.6yds and no tracking required with the neck shot. The 140 TGK did its job and we've got a lot of good meat for the table. We still have a fair amount of meat from last year so a lot of this will go to friends and family that want a little variety for the dinner table.
View attachment 27936
View attachment 27937
View attachment 27941
View attachment 27938
View attachment 27939

I sure am glad was there to help. They have done a lot of logging between my spot and the parking lot so an extra dragger came in nice.
View attachment 27940

The spot is loaded with Fox Squirrels so its always fun to watch them goof around and it passes the time.
View attachment 27942
View attachment 27943

Great story, and congrats on hanging a tag. The ol bruiser has been running your woods for some time! I've never seen a squirrel with colors like you posted. In central PA I see them either solid gray or red with some gray (true fox colors) and rarely I see solid black. Down in TX they are almost exclusively fox colors.

 

[Ralt71]

I’ve been playing around with developing a new load for my .308 Win and the 130 grain Barnes ttsx for a couple of years.
This summer I was able to find something that my rifle liked and it payed off.
About 20 minutes before legal shooting light was done, I was watching a young Doe graze the field edge east of where I was sitting. It was getting to that point in the evening when every shadow looks like a deer.
To my left, in the west corner I saw what appeared to be a dark shape come out of the woods so I picked up my binoculars and checked to see what it possibly was, and It turned out to be a pretty decent looking Buck.
I ranged him at around 270 and knew that my handloads were more than capable at that distance.
I let the gun surprise me and my shot knocked him down where he stood, making tracking him very easy.
Not the beast some have posted, but he will do well in our freezer.

View attachment 27949View attachment 27950

That looks like a great buck to me, how heavy was he?!?! Nice job on the reload and the harvest.

 

[RL338]

I’ve been playing around with developing a new load for my .308 Win and the 130 grain Barnes ttsx for a couple of years.
This summer I was able to find something that my rifle liked and it payed off.
About 20 minutes before legal shooting light was done, I was watching a young Doe graze the field edge east of where I was sitting. It was getting to that point in the evening when every shadow looks like a deer.
To my left, in the west corner I saw what appeared to be a dark shape come out of the woods so I picked up my binoculars and checked to see what it possibly was, and It turned out to be a pretty decent looking Buck.
I ranged him at around 270 and knew that my handloads were more than capable at that distance.
I let the gun surprise me and my shot knocked him down where he stood, making tracking him very easy.
Not the beast some have posted, but he will do well in our freezer.

View attachment 27949View attachment 27950

Congrats on the fine buck. Those 130gr TTSX are a great bullet for the 308 Win.

 

[JMRhino]

Decent farm buck rutting hard from about 2 weeks ago... It was about a 130 yard shot with Tikka Lite 16" barrel and 7-08 Barnes 120 TTSX going 3000 FPS with a high shoulder shot. Dropped in his tracks but very small entry/exit hole. Vitals were wrecked though. I saw him and three other bucks fight the previous day. He has an average rack but big neck and body for the region.

 

[DrMike]

He's a handsome buck. I've always loved the profile of those healthy bucks with their prominent Roman nose.

 

[salmonchaser]

Folks keep stacking them up, well done.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

Opening day rooster.

 

[NYDAN]

Decent farm buck rutting hard from about 2 weeks ago... It was about a 130 yard shot with Tikka Lite 16" barrel and 7-08 Barnes 120 TTSX going 3000 FPS with a high shoulder shot. Dropped in his tracks but very small entry/exit hole. Vitals were wrecked though. I saw him and three other bucks fight the previous day. He has an average rack but big neck and body for the region.

View attachment 27956
View attachment 27957
View attachment 27955

Great buck. Congratulations.

 

[NYDAN]

Opening day rooster.View attachment 27958

Good shooting. Were you hunting with a dog? If so, a pointer or flusher?

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

Good shooting. Were you hunting with a dog? If so, a pointer or flusher?

No dog. I tracked two roosters until they both hid in some bushes nearby. One crawled away, I crept up on this one and it was forced to flush.