What are you using?

[daytime dave]

I had hopes of posting a photograph with a deer and the implement that put it down, but as the NY season nears an end it seems I won't be getting one this year. I have the time, but I'm a bit under the weather lately. (Sinus infection)

I am curious what members are using in the woods for deer hunting. I'll start.

I initially started with my 12 ga Remington 1100 slug variant from the 60's with a 2.5 Leupold on top. It's a smoothbore barrel, which I prefer, and I load it with Brenneke KOs. It is great for 100 yds and in, which my deer hunting property is.
I decided that I wanted to try a Henry half way through my hunting. I chose the .357 mag steel Big Boy carbine. It's so much easier to carry around and is also great for closer shots. I carry it with factory 158 grn jacketed soft points.
I also carry my 6" Smith and Wesson 686 with the same loads. I have triple K leather for the belt and holster. I have an Old Hickory hunting knife on the belt too.
I wear traditional wool pants and jacket supplemented with battery heated gloves and socks. I stay cozy until I need coffee or it gets dark. I am fortunate in that I can just walk out to the pasture and woods behind the barn and hunt. It sure cuts down on the travel time.

How about you, what do you use?

[Vaquero]

Dave, so far this year I connected on a big spike on Halloween, used a Marlin in 35 Rem. and a cast 200 gr pill. approximately 65 yds.
Two days later took a nice 6 with a Savage bolt action in 6.5 Creed, 143 gr Hornady eld-x. Around a 170 yds.
I have threads about these two on here.
Then the next week I got a fat doe with a Sav. m99 & a 150gr Speer hot cor in 300 Sav. and this one around 125 yds.
I am now alternating between the Henry BBS 41 with a 280gr fn Beartooth bullet, and a Marlin Cowboy in 38-55 and an Oregon Trail 255gr fn.
I am also carrying a BH in 41 mag with a 210 gr xtp just in case one was to get real close, like inside of 30 yds.

RP

[Hatchdog]

Interesting subject Dave.

My dad wasn’t a hunter so I didn’t start until I was an adult. I went to work for a sporting goods (hunting and fishing) distributor so was surrounded by hunters at work. I hunted with co-workers for a couple of years and then started hunting with my cousin who grew up hunting. He with his dad and grandpa had hunted this large piece of ground north of Spokane that was owned by the Boise Cascade lumber company. So this is where he and I hunted for decades. A couple of years after we started hunting together the fish and game dept in cooperation with Boise Cascade gated all the roads. This was to reduce the hunting pressure in the area due to the extensive road system put in place to access the timber. So after a few years of walking 2-3 miles in past the gate we started using bicycles to get in to the place we hunted. Worked great until it snowed which then had us back to walking in with meat frames on our backs. We packed many a deer out on our backs after gutting, skinning and cutting the deer in half. We were younger then.

In the beginning I wore wool pants and jacket and later progressed to a nice set of wool bib-overalls. Eventually I progressed to more modern fabrics using insulated pants and jackets. The smartest think I ever did was to start carrying a good set of rain gear in my pack. As noted above, we would go in 2-3 miles and then start hunting so we would go in in the dark and come out in the dark. If we didn’t carry it in out packs we simply just made do without it. This includes lunch and water.

Mostly I used my good ole’ Ruger 77 in 30/06. Out shots could range from 30 yards to 300 yards although we didn’t take super long shots and most of the deer we killed were within 150 yards. At first I had a Leupold 4x but later replaced it with a Burris 3-9x40. I did use a Browning A-Bolt in 7mm rem mag to take my once in a lifetime moose. Over the years I used this and that but I loved that Ruger and it was for the most part my go to rifle.

I’ll try to did up some pictures and add them later.

[Vaquero]

Just got back from retrieving one of the camera cards. This guy came by 7 days ago, twice, once around 8 pm then 4:15 am.

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Check out that twig hung in his antler.

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RP

[daytime dave]

Since I'm staying in today, I gathered the gear for a photograph.

[Vaquero]

Here's mine, Sav. 99, Henry bbs, Marlin 336, and Sav. Axis. And the Ruger BH.

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And the Cowboy.

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RP

[GFK]

I was planning to use my 336W. But, I did get out either. Time was not on my side.

[Mr. Neutron]

Carried my brass framed Henry 30-30 as I hiked through the woods. I like carrying this rifle.

Never saw a single deer in 10-12 days afield on public land. Saw the most deer on my own "rural residential" zoned 2.5 acres property, where I can't rifle hunt, hee hee...... I dunno if this speaks to my crummy hunting tactics during my hunting season, or smaller herd numbers. Again, I'm convinced the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife has quit making deer and elk. Probably a supply chain issue, I'd bet. Anyway, no pics of hunting success from me. Did learn where NOT to go next year, however.......

Seriously, the ODFW has unfortunately had to transition to "people management" instead of game management when it comes to issuing tags for various areas of the state. They (the ODFW) will publish hunter success numbers, numbers of hunters, hunting units success rates, and other pertinent info in a few months, and it's gonna be interesting to study.

[graywolf]

I'll have to save some pictures from game camera to post on here. I haven't been much yet because I like to wait until we've had a couple freezes. I think we only had 3 mornings that it was below freezing. I started in the 60's using 12 gauge with 00 buckshot. Land owners back then didn't allow folks to use a rifle and most deer hunting was done with dogs. But as time went by my first deer rifle was a 30-06. Then .260, .243, .223. Now for last few years, believe it or not, 410 shotgun. With these woods around my house being so thick, there's not many long shots. I have my stand set for the 410, where max shot is less than 30 yards. Oldest Grandson mostly bow hunts. Says it's not a challenge anymore to shoot one with gun. I tell him it would be a challenge foe me to just draw the bow.

[Hatchdog]

Interesting subject Dave.

My dad wasn’t a hunter so I didn’t start until I was an adult. I went to work for a sporting goods (hunting and fishing) distributor so was surrounded by hunters at work. I hunted with co-workers for a couple of years and then started hunting with my cousin who grew up hunting. He with his dad and grandpa had hunted this large piece of ground north of Spokane that was owned by the Boise Cascade lumber company. So this is where he and I hunted for decades. A couple of years after we started hunting together the fish and game dept in cooperation with Boise Cascade gated all the roads. This was to reduce the hunting pressure in the area due to the extensive road system put in place to access the timber. So after a few years of walking 2-3 miles in past the gate we started using bicycles to get in to the place we hunted. Worked great until it snowed which then had us back to walking in with meat frames on our backs. We packed many a deer out on our backs after gutting, skinning and cutting the deer in half. We were younger then.

In the beginning I wore wool pants and jacket and later progressed to a nice set of wool bib-overalls. Eventually I progressed to more modern fabrics using insulated pants and jackets. The smartest think I ever did was to start carrying a good set of rain gear in my pack. As noted above, we would go in 2-3 miles and then start hunting so we would go in in the dark and come out in the dark. If we didn’t carry it in out packs we simply just made do without it. This includes lunch and water.

Mostly I used my good ole’ Ruger 77 in 30/06. Out shots could range from 30 yards to 300 yards although we didn’t take super long shots and most of the deer we killed were within 150 yards. At first I had a Leupold 4x but later replaced it with a Burris 3-9x40. I did use a Browning A-Bolt in 7mm rem mag to take my once in a lifetime moose. Over the years I used this and that but I loved that Ruger and it was for the most part my go to rifle.

I’ll try to did up some pictures and add them later.

I dug out my old hunting album and took some pics. I was unable to remove the pictures from the clear plastic cover due to age so I had to take a picture of the picture thru the plastic thus the blurry results. Still gives you the idea.

Here is my cousin, myself and my son wearing our woolies. I’m in my wool bibs here and when my son got a little bigger I bought him a set too. He got such a kick out of the ear flap wool Elmer Fudd hats we are wearing. Very warm.

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This is my brother and myself dragging a buck out for our cousin. He had shattered his ankle that summer playing softball and was still in a cast on this hunt. So we told him that if he killed a buck we would drag it out for him. Well, you know the rest of the story. Thankfully while dragging the buck out like this a timber company crew came along in a truck and gave us a ride out.

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Note in the following pictures the pack frames under the deer. These are some of several deer we packed out 2-4 miles on our backs. Easy pack out as it was mostly logging roads we walked on which are pretty level for the most part. We would drag the deer whole from wherever it went down to the road then gut, skin and halve it on the road.

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I saved the best for last. This is the cart my two brothers and our cousin and myself “build” to haul deer out of our hunting spot. Later we decided that there was way too much whiskey involved with the construction. In the picture with the deer on the cart that is my youngest brother and myself. Our other brother who shot the deer was taking the picture. After this picture he headed back to the truck with the deer on the cart and my other brother and I continued hunting. Several hours later we got back to the truck to find out that our other brother had just finished his last trip to the truck. Shortly after we separated and while hauling the deer out the cart collapsed. So he had to drag the deer out by himself and then make 3-4 trips in and out hauling the cart parts back to the truck. We were younger then.

After this disaster we figured out that it was much easier to just gut the deer, drape the head and neck over the handlebars, drape the body cavity over the bike seat and walk the deer out on the bike. Duh!

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