So what are you using this year???

[cloverleaf]

Once again they have reduced the number of deer licenses available here in eastern South Dakota. Since I drew a coveted Any Deer License last year in our drawing I am quite sure I will not be hunting this year as there are only 400 Any Deer Licenses issued for my home county this year.

With that said after I acquired my H&R Ultra in .25-06 Remington I promptly sent in the receiver to H&R to be fitted with a .50 Caliber Muzzleloader Barrel thinking I could get a Muzzleloader License. Recently I discovered that South Dakota is only offering 1000 Any Deer Muzzleloader Licenses Statewide and they have eliminated all of the Any Antlerless Deer Muzzleloader Licenses for many eastern South Dakota Counties.

As such I may not be hunting anything other than Predators this year, in which case I will be using my 16" DPMS .223 and the H&R Ultra .25-06.

Is my guess correct.... a couple late deer seasons and a couple bad winters caught up with the deer population? At least SD goes with a draw only license.... There is always hope. In Mn those dropping numbers just mean more dead spike bucks. IMHO. Good luck with the draw and the song dogs. Nice to see you around. Hope things are going OK. CL

 

[JD338]

I am thinking....

240 Bee for antelope
7mm bee for deer
340 Bee for elk.

May the Weather bee with you... :mrgreen:

Nice!

JD338

 

[maverick2]

Sako .375 H&H for my brush and timber hunting (elk and whitetail) and TC Icon 6.5 Creedmoor for my open country hunting (mule deer, wolves, coyotes, and if I draw, bighorn sheep...)

 

[SJB358]

I am thinking....

240 Bee for antelope
7mm bee for deer
340 Bee for elk.

What bullet are you running out of the 340 for elk this year Fotis? I hope to see some tan hide hanging in your camp pictures this Fall!

 

[FOTIS]

210 PT or 210 TTSX or 225 AB whatever she likes.

I can tel you she shoots the factory 200 Hornies at 3200 fps and 1/2 - 5/8"!!

 

[SJB358]

Wow, yeah, that is a screamer for sure!

Can't wait to see the load work with that one Fotis. Love the 340. Ultimate elk basher.

 

[Larry in SD]

Thanks Guy, I like the Eagle too. My beloved wife absolutely loved watching the Bald Eagles migrate through every spring and we'd spend hours watching them on Mud Lake as the ice went off. I saw that blanket and had to buy it for Bonnie. Yes I had to ask her permission to use it for the photos.

Cloverleaf, we have always had a drawing system in South Dakota. South Dakota for many, many years has been issuing way to many Antlerless Tags. Yes several bad winters have not helped as has the disappearing habitat.

I found a HOT SPOT a couple weeks ago that was literally crawling with Flickertail Gophers. I asked a local Farmer about the possibility of thinning out the population. He requested me to concentrate on the area next to his yard where he feeds his cattle all winter long.

Over the past couple weeks I had been sneaking away for an hour here and an hour there when my daughter was with Bonnie. All in all I took out more than 300 Flickertails. The arsenal consisted of:

Ruger 10/22 (this was a pawn shop find), shortened the factory barrel to 16 1/4" and added an Aluminum Non Vented Green Mountain Barrel Shroud to it. I set it in an Archangel 556 Stock and mounted a really old Tasco World Class 4x40mm Riflescope. This rifle happens to shoot Remington BULK Hollow Points very well. The longest shot to date so far has been 158 yards. The gopher was facing away from me down on all 4's so you can guess where the bullet hit. The amazing part is the bullet exited his right eyeball.

Ruger 10/22 (this was a pawn shop find). This one sits in a Nordic Components AR-22 Receiver Chassis Kit to which I added a Model 1 Sales A2 Buttstock with DPMS 1" Buttstock Extension, Model 1 Sales Aluminum Rifle Length Free Float Tube & CAA UPG-16 Pistol Grip. It sports a 20" Stainless Steel KIDD Bull Barrel and a complete Precision Trigger Job by TT Shooter. The Bolt has had the headspace set, firing pin pinned and rear face chamfered, radiused and polished. It is set up with a Weaver V-24 6x24x42mm AO Riflescope with Weave's Varminter Reticle. This one happens to group the best with SK Jagd Standard Velocity Hollow Points so that is what it gets fed for hunting. Longest shot with this one this spring so far has been 100 yards. Yes I was totally impressed with the bullet performance of the SK Jagd Standard Velocity Hollow Points even at 100 yards.

Ruger MKII 5 1/2" Stainless Bull Barrel. This one was originally my late brothers that I got from my sister in law after his passing. As such it is a special Handgun. A couple years ago I traded the original grip from for a MKII 22/45 grip Frame that had the Replaceable Grip Panels modification done to it and fitted the stainless steel barreled receiver to it. It has a Clark Custom Guns Steel Ruger Trigger, Volquartsen Target Sear and a polished Factory Hammer. I have also had the headspace set on the bolt and replaced the extractor, extractor spring, firing pin and firing pin spring. The Receiver has been drilled and tapped with the same hole pattern as the MKIII Rugers. It wears a Weaver 2x28mm Classic Handgun Scope. This one too happens to shoot the Remington BULK Hollow Points quite well so that is what it gets fed. the longest shot with this one so far has been 40 yards and again bullet performance was quite good.

I haven't been out to that spot since last Monday and then Flickertails were getting hard to find. Maybe next week I can sneak out for an hour or so some day.

Larry

 

[bmgillum]

I will only be hunting WTs this year...

I have a brand new Sako 85 Delux in 6.5 Swede and a new (to me) pre 64 M70 in 270 that have not tasted blood yet...I am gonna try to change that...

Chjeers/bg

 

[Bruce Mc]

Drew a tag for Mulies in New Mexico. Taking two rifles out of the cabinet that I've not hunted with in a while. Primary will be a Rem 700 classic in .270 win loaded with 130 partitions and the secondary will be my Rem 700 classic .257 Roberts with 110 AccuBond.

 

[sask boy]

Our tags for the draw will not be out until the first or second week of July. But for Elk & Whitetail I will be using my new 280AI :mrgreen: not sure which bullet will be used. I believe that I am going back into the bush this year for Moose so I will likely be using my 35 Whelen and the 225gr. AccuBond. I not sure how many more chances I am going to get but still need to take a Bull Moose :wink:.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Wondermutt]

Elk: Hopefully get it done with stick and string. If not, out comes the 300 UM.
Deer and Bear: The old trusty 700 BDL in 30-06.
Wolf: Hopefully they will feel some 200g AB love from the 300UM.

 

[IdahoCTD]

As of now, crop damage deer will get the 338 RUM with 250 gr AB's at 3000 fps and the 280 AI with 150 gr ABLR's at 3100 fps. The 257 Roberts with 115 gr BT's at 3100 fps will also get some action.
Rifle season for WT deer will be with the 1895 Guide gun 45-70 with the 300 gr BST at 2100 fps. Muzzle loader late season will be loaded up with 2 777 pellets and the .458 300 gr BST. Late season doe will be S&W 629 Classic 44 Rem Mag loaded up with 240 gr JHP at 1400 fps.

IF I draw a MI bear tag, 1895 Guide gun 45-70 with the 300 gr PT at 2100 fps. MI Elk 338 RUM 250 gr AB at 3000 fps.

Still looking at WY antelope OTC doe tags. Would bring the 280 AI with 150 gr ABLRs and the 257 Roberts with 115 gr BT's.

JD338

No where did I see a .416 weatherby in all of that. Don't leave the poor thing home. You will be impressed with how they kill stuff.

 

[Micky80]

New to reloading, so I am taking my time soaking up all the information that I can. I will be hunting whitetail with my trusty Model 700 in 30.06 and my LaRue Tactical .308. The 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips have proven very effective for me. So, that is what I will be going with. Still have plenty of the Federal Premium Nosler BT for both calibers. Pretty sure that I will have a load worked up by October. Our season runs from October through February.

Happy hunting!

EDIT:
Oh, I will be flinging arrows as well. Will use my Mathews HeliM and Creed bows. Both are setup at about 63 pounds with 28" draw length. Arrows of choice are Easton Full Metal Jacket.

 

[IdahoCTD]

If I draw for the muzzleloader elk hunt I put in for then it will be my Rem. 700ML .50 cal. If I'm rifle hunting then it will most likely be either one of my 7-300wm's or one of my 6.5-300wm's.

We'll usually find out if we draw by about the 2nd or 3rd of July.

I already shot my bear with a .460 Weatherby :mrgreen: .

 

[ScreaminEagle]

Gonna be using the new 257 Roberts Ackley Improved for whitetail this year. Load is:
100gr Nosler BT
51.7gr IMR 4350
CCI 200 primer
3450fps!

Really need to come up with a load for that thing using the 110gr AB.

 

[buckfever]

For Deer 2506 110AB or 300 Savage 168 a max
Elk 7mm 150 BT or 300 savage 180 BT or 300 rum
Fall bear any of the above.
Its kind of fun to see what every one else is using.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Archery WT will get a 2005 Hoyt vtec that still flings em perfectly after 10 seasons of use.
October antelope in Wyoming will have me carrying a .270 stoked with 140 BTs at 3000fps and the 300 H&H stoked with 180 gr PPT's.
Rifle season in Missouri will have me carrying the model 71 with 200gr Hornady Interlocks
Late season the TC prohunter with 200gr shockwaves.

 

[w8n4rut]

Ruger#1 30-378 with 210lrab and 165 bst. Might take out the model 70 supergrade 7mm mag too with 150 ballistic tips, still haven't shot that one yet.

 

[rjm158]

They have reduced the number of tags available for the fall season in Missouri but I had already decided to make this a .35 caliber year. I plan to use my two Whelens (Remington 700 and 7600)and my Browning BLR .358 WInchester as my primary rifles.

The Whelens will likely be loaded with 225 AB's and the .358 with 225 Sierras, only because the 200 AB's seem to be extremely scarce.

Ron

 

[SJB358]

They have reduced the number of tags available for the fall season in Missouri but I had already decided to make this a .35 caliber year. I plan to use my two Whelens (Remington 700 and 7600)and my Browning BLR .358 WInchester as my primary rifles.

The Whelens will likely be loaded with 225 AB's and the .358 with 225 Sierras, only because the 200 AB's seem to be extremely scarce.

Ron

Good luck Ron! That sounds like a cool year to me!

Don't be scared to try the 225 PTs in the 358 Winchester. TAC or W748 (what I use) run really well and that bullet is a stick o dynamite in the 358. Either way, you have a cool sets for the Fall.