2025 Deer Season Preparations

[HenryFan]

cee-Kamp -

One could not ask for a better hunting g camp! Congratulations on a job well done.

HenryFan

[daytime dave]

I'll be out with a new gun in my pasture. Batteries are charged for the electric socks and gloves.

[cee_Kamp]

Sometimes preparing for opening day of deer hunting season isn't about the land, ladder stands, shooting shacks, and trail cameras.
At times, it is preparing a new-to-you firearm for deer season usage. Or perhaps just swapping scopes around.
I've owned a Smith & Wesson Performance Center revolver chambered in .500 S & W Magnum for more than 20 years. Actually several. One which I sold several years ago, the short barrel model.
The last five or six deer seasons, the long 10.5" barrel Performance Center model, it sat in the safe, and didn't get out in the woods.
There are several reasons why. One is my age. I am not as "tough" as I was ten years ago. It's fairly "punishing" recoil when loaded fast for a flat trajectory.

Second, here in upstate NY, and for many decades, it was smoothbore shotguns and lead pumpkin ball slugs only for big game hunting. Unless you rifle hunted in the VERY rural Adirondack or Catskill Mountains.
This isn't the time or place for discussing the reasoning behind those obsolete regulations.
Those obsolete regulations are now gone, and centerfire rifles with bottleneck cartridges are in use now, virtually across most of New York State.
The big .500 scoped revolver was a "then legal" means for dodging around the old shotguns/slugs regulations. (and still is legal today for taking big game in NY)
The practical effective range of the scoped .500 revolver was about double of the smoothbore shotguns/slugs. This was the reason for buying it long ago.

But that big scoped .500 revolver was painful to shoot and still required yearly checking for being sighted in every season. That's not even counting regular range time practice.
As I have aged, it became less fun every year that passed.
This year, I decided the smart move was sell off the .500 revolver and recoup the invested cash. My new top-tier handgun caliber for revolvers is .44 Magnum.

I stopped it at my local sporting goods store, and in the used rifle rack, there was a very gently used Henry Big Boy brass rifle in .44 Magnum.
Brass/bronze receiver, 20" octagonal barrel, brass butt plate.
I had been looking online for a new Ruger manufactured Marlin SBL in .44 Magnum as a companion rifle for the .44 revolvers, but those are somewhat difficult to locate, and very expensive!

I looked the used Henry over closely, and decided to do the trade deal, and dump the big .500 revolver. I was extremely pleased with the big .500 revolver trade-in appraisal.
My first range outing with the Henry, it shot very nice tight groups, but shot quite high, even with the rear buckhorn sight elevator fully down.
No big deal, it wasn't my first rodeo where a new-to-me used firearm didn't shoot where the iron sights looked.
Dawson Precision (online iron sights seller/maker) has a neat feature on their website for calculating sight heights, and my prior usage there with the SIGHT MATH calculator worked perfectly.
I did my math, ordered a taller Skinner Sights front iron sight (brass bead style) and swapped out the front sight. My second time using the Dawson Precision SIGHT MATH calculator successfully.

Just because I like to prepare early, I tried on my winter hunting gloves and handled the Henry rifle, my winter hunting gloved fingers would not fit inside the factory equipped small loop lever. (2XL sized gloves)
I looked online at the Henry Rifles/Firearms website and quickly found Henry Outfitters, and within minutes ordered a new large loop lever.
I decided to GO BIG, and ordered the color case hardened large loop lever! I DO like the brass/blued steel/color case hardened visual appearance!

The new-to-me Henry Big Boy brass rifle in .44 Magnum made a second range trip. It's now dead on at 50 yards, and you can hit a 9" x 9" diamond shaped steel plate target at the 100 yard berm with every single shot fired.
Iron sighted rifle, chambered in a revolver cartridge, buckhorn rear sight, and hitting modest sized steel plates at 100 yards with every single shot sounds like good enough! (Benchrest & sandbags)
I also now have available rear buckhorn sight elevator travel, it is now one "click" from being centered.
My reload for .44 Magnums, both rifle and revolvers, is: .44 Magnum cases, 200 grain Hornady XTP projectiles, and a maximum charge of Hodgdon CFE pistol powder, Large Pistol Primer.
The result is HOT .44 Special performance, and just barely into entry level bottom tier .44 Magnum performance. Whitetail deer just aren't that hard to kill IF you hit what you are aiming for.
I use the same projectile in my .50 caliber muzzleloading rifles & handguns, it's just inside a green plastic sabot.

I have it completed now, new Skinner Sights front brass bead sight 0.130" taller, cleaned and lubricated, new factory Henry color case hardened big loop lever, and sling attachment points installed.
It is ready for hunting season now with just a few days to spare!
Being gently used, it has just enough "character marks" on it that I won't feel bad taking it out in the woods for deer hunting usage.
I'm a BIG fan of stainless steel rifles and handguns for serious outdoors purposes, as it is significantly easier with aftercare when outdoors in the rain, sleet, and snow.
I likely won't take the new-to-me Henry rifle out hunting until there is a weather forecast/day with no rain, sleet, or snow, it's too attractive of a rifle to abuse it.

When I walked out of the sporting goods store with the used Henry, I also had a store gift card with six hundred Hornady .44 caliber 200 grain XTP projectiles on it. The store needed to order them.
I may never need any more .44 jacketed projectiles ever again, my reloading projectiles order has arrived.
I also pulled the Leupold variable scope off the big .500 revolver before trading it in, and transferred it over to one of my Ruger .44 caliber hunting revolvers.

If I ever feel the need for abusive recoil, and all the .500 revolvers are now gone, I still have a T/C Encore single shot pistol chambered in 30-06 Springfield which scratches that itch.
It also reaches out pretty good, even better than the big .500 revolver!

PXL_20251028_212938484~3 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20251028_212607440 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20251028_212746578~8 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20251028_212816552 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20251018_170108034 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

I pulled this scope off of this revolver when I traded it in for the Henry .44 rifle & the projectiles.

Destroyer 002 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

I installed the scope I removed, and put it on top of this .44 revolver. I had a fixed 4X on the Ruger before, and hated it. This is a 2.5 x 8 variable, which I greatly prefer. The swap required two steps up in scope rings height.

PXL_20251011_003505348 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

This photo is just a quick "glamour shot" view of the 30-06 Encore pistol!

Guns 003 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

[rickhem]

Those are some good looking toys CK. I like that your new, taller sight has a smaller bead, which doesn't cover your target as much.

A buddy of mine let me try his Contender in .375JDJ one time. He was an acquaintance of JD Jones from SSK, and hunted with him, and he had a couple handguns that SSK had worked over. That .357 had a 2.5x scope, and I was shooting it at 50 yards, it really didn't recoil all that badly. My buddy told me to look out to the berm in the distance, find some big rocks about the size of a bowling ball, and shoot those. It was amazing how easy it was to hit them. Your Encore has that same look.

[cee_Kamp]

The Encore 30-06 pistol is easily capable of a five shot group of less than one inch at 100 yards.
It likes Remington Core Lokt 150 grain spitzers, which in the past was one of the most affordable choices of factory ammo.
Obviously, benchrest and sandbags, and also during nice weather when your fingers aren't frozen.
A folded towel underneath your shooting hand elbow is a mandatory benchrest shooting accessory.
It tries to ram your elbow through the benchrest tabletop surface.

The Contender platform was limited on cartridge power level because once a certain cartridge case head rearward thrust force was reached, the standing breech deflected/deformed. Rearward case head thrust is calculated by the case head area multiplied by the cartridge chamber pressure.
With a high pressure cartridge, in the Contender, it needed to be a small case head diameter.
With a low pressure cartridge, in the Contender, you had much more leeway on case head diameter.
This is the ultimate reason for all the wildcat cartridges being created for the Contender platform. Including the .375 JDJ.

The Encore platform, having the "side of frame gussets" that help stiffen the standing breech against case head rearward thrust is
much more tolerant of large case head/high pressure cartridges. You can get an Encore rifle barrel in .300 Winchester Magnum, or even .375 H & H.
Which means technically, it is possible to "create" the same cartridge/configuration in an Encore pistol.
Not that you should, but you could! The 30-06 in an Encore pistol is just about my personal limit for recoil and muzzle blast.

Once in the past at my former location, I took the 30-06 Encore pistol to an outdoor range. Checking it for being sighted in for an upcoming deer hunting season. That evening after returning home, I got a phone call from the guy that did Mr. Fix-it tasks for the Gun Club/Range.
He asked/told me not to shoot the 30-06 Encore under the rifle range covered firing points ever again.
I asked why, and he replied that the muzzle blast/concussion from the 30-06 Encore pistol had lifted the steel roofing panels on the covered firing point roof, and the screws with the little rubber gaskets had pulled right through the steel roofing panels!

[rickhem]

After some research, I zeroed in on Cuddeback/Cuddelink cellular trail cameras.

I looked into this, as it sounds fantastic. Saving me the trip out to change over the chips would be great. That said, I find it's a good idea to get my boots in the woods regularly, and check to see the property in-person. Usually I'm just clearing fallen trees and/or branches from my trails, but sometimes it's to look into what is going on with some of my border neighbor's properties. I have a snowmobile trail that runs along the edge of our land in one area, and that seems to be a popular spot to stop for a break, cause I find beer cans all around there in the spring after the snow melts. That's not a big deal, but it may be if they decide to leave the trail and go bushwhacking.

One down side I see with the Cuddelink is that it is only pictures that can be transmitted, not video. I have all of my trailcams set to record 10 or 15 second video clips, so the video is my preference. That may be outweighed by convenience, still thinking about that part. They don't give those cameras away either, price for the black flash units are $150 each. I may wade in with one of those starter kits and see how I like them.

Anyway, thanks for posting about them, I wouldn't have known otherwise.

[cee_Kamp]

All of my deployed Cuddeback/Cuddelink cameras have the black flash.
Deer will stand right in front of a camera tending a "licking branch" and aren't bothered in the slightest by the nighttime flash.
White light flash will generally spook them.
The setup instructions say that the black flash is invisible to the human eye.
They also say, use a smart phone (have the camera app open & ready to take a photo) and THEN you can see the black flash on the cell phone screen.
I simply don't understand the preference for video over still photos.
You're trying to identify an animal (or trespasser) and not make a motion picture for National Geographic!
For me, the convenience of not needing to pull SD cards routinely FAR outweighs the lack of video arriving on my cell phone or PC.
Here is Me: Is the picture a buck or a doe? If a buck, how many points. What else really matters?
Most of my cameras are running on the original set of Four D batteries. (4 "D" cells, alkaline in each camera)
This is after more than 94 days of the system being up and running. Over 1000 pictures sent.
If you get the Cuddeback/Cuddelink system, don't be afraid to PM me.
I'm a computer/cell phones/Wi-Fi/network person, and the Cuddeback/Cuddelink "learning curve" is steep when you first start out.
Read the directions!

IMG_1889817848 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_1889521281 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

[rickhem]

I have two "low glow" cameras, and while the deer seem curious about them, the coyotes and the fox get spooked and bolt.
The rest are all "no glow", and while they are invisible to my eyes, a lot of wildlife do seem to look straight at the camera at some point in the video, so that makes me wonder if they see something that we can't. They've been out or four years now, so I have a level of comfort with them too.

I have videos of the bucks and does hitting scrapes and licking branches, and the bucks are easier to identify when you can see them moving their head in the video, and forked or broken tines are easier to see. For some reason, I get a few seven pointers every year, they seem to not form a G1, or brow tine on one side or the other. I can tell which is which with video. I've also seen a buck with an arrow stub in his neck that I definitely wouldn't have been able to see for sure in a still frame. That buck's movement through the Queen Ann's Lace blocked most of it, but you can see the stub as he walked through it. A guy about a mile east of me shot that one last year on opening morning. All that said, powering those IR illuminators for 10 or 15 seconds for a video does eat up more battery power. I get almost a year from 8 AA batteries, but a windstorm that blows a branch in front of the detecting sensor, or that blows the weeds and such around creating movement in the target area at night, that will end up giving me dozens and dozens of nothing videos, and probably uses lots of juice from the batteries.

My no-glow cameras also record sound with the video, and I've recorded videos that included the conversation of two guys walking along the edge of a field where my camera was trained on a mock scrape I made. Actually got two videos worth of them standing there talking, every word audible and clear. I can't even count how many I get with bucks and does grunting.

Good luck tomorrow!

[HenryFan]

Speaking of hunting.....

Yesterday evening I sat the front field for about three hours until a short time after the sun set. I didn't see deer this trip but an hour or so after getting in the box blind, a high speed rabbit ran the full length of the field south to north about 30 feet or so from the edge of the woodline. I thought to myself that he is one lucky rabbit to make it from one end to the other, about 100 yards, when there are so many coyotes, bobcats and hawks on the property.

About 30 minutes or so later, I saw a bobcat (him/her?) emerge from the woodline. It sat still for a few minutes watching the field and then entered and behind it a second bobcat (her/him?) came out. They both walked slowly down the track taken earlier by the high speed rabbit but they went north to south. I enjoyed this because although I spend a good bit of time in the outdoors, bobcat sightings of me are just not that common but to see two at the same time was exceptionally enjoyable.

Both cats were stocky and appeared healthy so if I were a rabbit, high speed or otherwise, I would not trade speed for luck.

Trips like this are why I consider myself to be an outdoorsman.

[CT_Shooter]

Speaking of hunting.....

Yesterday evening I sat the front field for about three hours until a short time after the sun set. I didn't see deer this trip but an hour or so after getting in the box blind, a high speed rabbit ran the full length of the field south to north about 30 feet or so from the edge of the woodline. I thought to myself that he is one lucky rabbit to make it from one end to the other, about 100 yards, when there are so many coyotes, bobcats and hawks on the property.

About 30 minutes or so later, I saw a bobcat (him/her?) emerge from the woodline. It sat still for a few minutes watching the field and then entered and behind it a second bobcat (her/him?) came out. They both walked slowly down the track taken earlier by the high speed rabbit but they went north to south. I enjoyed this because although I spend a good bit of time in the outdoors, bobcat sightings of me are just not that common but to see two at the same time was exceptionally enjoyable.

Both cats were stocky and appeared healthy so if I were a rabbit, high speed or otherwise, I would not trade speed for luck.

Trips like this are why I consider myself to be an outdoorsman.