Snuck out for a couple hours

[Dwh7271]

With all the stuff going on my time has been completely taken between family stuff, house and work. Decided I was going to sneak out before daylight today while everyone else slept.
Went back to my stand at the corner of my woodlot, corn field and switchgrass. Trashy weather, 20 mph wind, gusts to 30, rain and 34.
Nothing moving at daylight. About 740 a deer took two steps from the switchgrass ( about 45 yds away) busted me and jumped towards the switchgrass/woods. Gun came up, scope picture looked right and boom. Looked out, no deer. Ruh-roh.
Got down from the tree, walked to where the deer was, no blood just torn up dirt. Crud.
Walked into the woods edge, nothing. Walked in about thirty steps, looked over toward the fencerow

Snuck up ready but this old guy wasn't going anywhere. :grin:
Better picture:

Score for the 45-70: 1 coyote, 1 deer. I like this rifle.
Load: Hornady brass, hornady 325 flex tip, WLR primer, 49.1 RL7. Used it as it was the most accurate in my rifle and the load is almost a duplicate of the Leverevolution load, speed and trajectory.
Hit right behind front shoulder. Chest cavity was soup. Exit about half palm size. Impressive result from a bullet I wasn't 100% sold on. Also impressive this guy went thirty steps with nothing left intact in his chest. Tough animals.
Made it back in the house by 9. Now for the family and house duties. :|

 

[DrMike]

Congratulations on a great buck! You did well, and the Marlin performed flawlessly.

 

[SJB358]

Very nice Dewey! I'm surprised as well, I would have bet on buckets of blood on that shot.

 

[NYDAN]

Great buck! It looks like a 20" spread. Great shooting also. Congratulations on a successful hunt.

I used a 450 Marlin with the 325 gr. FTX in a factory load. They do the job on a deer. I haven't tried loading any of the 325 gr. FTX yet. Did you use the seating die to crimp the shorter case or did you modify a Lee FCD?

 

[Dwh7271]

Scotty,
There was a bucketful where he dropped. No where else though. You said you wanted to see the lever laying on a deer. :grin:

Dan,
No, the Lee wouldn't work right on the slightly shorter Hornady brass. Ended up picking up a Hornady die just so I could crimp the FTX bullets. No matter where I set the Lee it didn't work on these.

 

[gerry]

Congrats on getting out and getting a buck, he looks good to me.

 

[Dwh7271]

By the way, thanks all!

 

[SJB358]

Scotty,
There was a bucketful where he dropped. No where else though. You said you wanted to see the lever laying on a deer. :grin:

Dan,
No, the Lee wouldn't work right on the slightly shorter Hornady brass. Ended up picking up a Hornady die just so I could crimp the FTX bullets. No matter where I set the Lee it didn't work on these.

That is a odd. I assume it went right on through.. I am not sure how I feel about that FTX sometimes. Seen it do really good stuff from a muzzle loader around 1600-1800 then completely come apart when pushed just a little faster in the jugs.

My best friend runs them in his ML and has taken quite a few deer with them now.

i would have thought you'd have seen buckets of blood everywhere a few feet after impact.

Either way, it is a beauty of a buck and didn't travel too awfully far.

 

[Thebear_78]

Great buck! You have gotta love a quick handling lever gun for that kind of hunting.


I've got reservations on that fxt bullet as well. It's probably a fine whitetail bullet but they don't hold up well on bigger game.

When they first came out they had some company exects bring them up here for brown bear. According to the guide performance was very poor and bear ended up shot by the guide. They still ended up with their PR photo but would have ended very different without the guides rifle.

The remington bulk 405 gr are pretty cheap and have proven accurate and effective on deer sized critters without the crimping issue of fxt bullet.

 

[JD338]

Dewey,

Congratulations on a dandy buck. Your 45-70 looks good laying on brown fur!
Way to go buddy.

JD338

 

[Palouser]

Wow what a great deer! Congrats!

 

[sask boy]

Good job on a nice buck Dewey!! Thank you for the post & photos, I am sure glad there is going to be venison in your freezer this winter !

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Vince]

Very nice buck, congratulations.
Nice looking rifle too.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[Oldtrader3]

Dewey, nice buck! I killed my largest whitetail with a .35 Remington in 1969.

 

[Dwh7271]

Thank you all.

 

[Elkman]

A dandy buck, really nice. Well formed and very pretty. My 70 is a GBL, 1895.

 

[Charlie-NY]

Congrats on a fine buck. A deer can leap 10-20yds easily without the first drop of blood escaping. I've shot whitetails broadside with magnum rifles and frangible bullets that exited. You'd expect blood splatter where they stood but it doesn't always happen.
Personally, I shoulder shoot them when possible. Yeah, I loose a little meat but 99% of the time they only go 18" - straight down!

 

[Oldtrader3]

I try for high lung shots and if they get there, I typically get a lot of splatter out the backside with Partitions.

 

[Dwh7271]

Good points.
Agree with the bullet placement completely.
When I opened him up, both lungs were shredded and the heart came out in two pieces.
I can't complain about the bullets job I guess.
I didn't have an awful lot of time on this guy, happened real fast. :grin:

 

[super-7]

When it gets fast , the levers guns still rule in my books . Quick to shoulder and just feel good. I'd say nothing wrong with your bullet/ gun combo, nice buck. Congrats