Long season

I only was able to sit twice during archery season because of my daughter’s commitments to skating and us volunteering and running certain aspects of a junior hockey team so I was looking forward to rifle season.

Rifle season was slow opening weekend without much for antlered deer. The doe weren’t the biggest but saw enough to keep me interested.

Morning sunrise

By the time Tuesday the 26th of November came the activity was increased and the afternoon came with a lot of action. 4 bucks came through but only one was borderline what I was looking for so passed because it was 3:15 and had some time left for bigger. Ended up with 21 deer in the field that afternoon and none were repeat visitors. I had a few that were under 50 yards from my blind and they did not care that I was there.



Wednesday was a slow day and the wind picked with a cold front coming in. Thanksgiving day was very windy and about 8*F. I hunted the morning and then packed my camper up and pulled it out of the pole shed at my parents farm and headed home because it was snowing and the forecast was iffy for the rest of the week. By the time I was unpacked and unhooked at home I was exhausted and needed a beer. My daughter gave me a hug and said “I haven’t seen you in 5 days”. I laughed and told her it was great to see her also.

My dog really missed me. She’s a Heeler and doesn’t cuddle but she needed to that night. My wife was setting up the Dickens Village for Christmas and playing Christmas music.



Tried hanging out at my cabin the last few days of the season and had the same visitors but nothing big enough to shoot for me. There were more deer along the woods but they wouldn’t come up high enough for me to shoot.



the season ended on Sunday and then rolls into muzzleloader season for another 9 days with a 4 day antlerless season. The weather turned nasty so I stayed home the first few days of muzzleloader season but did buy a new rifle…

 

[260madman]

I purchased a Tikka CTR stainless chambered for 260 Rem for a song. Tossed a scope I had laying around onto it and do some quick generic reloads for it and got it sighted in. Used my expensive shooting sticks and chair.

Sat at my cabin that night with my muzzleloader and took a baldie at 165 yards.
Guess I can’t post a pic because it says the file is too big. I’ll work on that.

Didn’t see anything during the rest of muzzleloader and did not have much movement during the antlerless season due to high winds and cold weather. It didn’t help that people were driving slow and stopping to gawk at the deer in our fields so that spooked them off quickly.

Holidays hunt (antlerless only) was upon us during Christmas and New Years and the weather was a bit bipolar. I was out every day starting the day after Christmas through New Years. My Black Friday orders started arriving during that time frame so I tossed the Tikka in a new Fieldstock and was set to hunt.


We had snow and warm weather with high dew points so that created fog up on the ridge for almost 5 days. The deer were moving but the visibility was poor for shooting over 50 yards. I could see through my scope at 200 yards and in and see antlerless deer depending on the movement of the fog. I was holding out for lunker doe to take but they were hanging in the woods until dark. Had a visitor.


On day 5 of this crap I decided I was shooting as the fog had lifted enough I could see everything clearly and pick the deer out better. Had a lot movement in the fog but the deer over 200 yards were hard to see more than a shadow. Now I could see back in the trees and could see the big doe I was looking for but unfortunately they would not come out into the fields but the small ones and 1.5yos were out. I shot 2 of the 1.5yo and then walked across the back cornfield to over look my cabin property and saw a doe and fawn out but the shot was 488 yards and I had my 223 in my hand so I walked to my cabin and waited 5 minutes because the deer I ad seen went to the woods. Hard to conceal a big orange blob in the open field. I had about 5 minutes of shooting light left so turned to walk back to my setup at the farm. I started looking back and I was walking and about 50 yards later I looked back and saw a doe with more doe behind her coming to the crown of the field. I got down on my knees and set my expensive shooting sticks up and waited for a bigger one to come out. My phone started buzzing in my pocket to let me know I had 1 minute left so I double checked my magnification was on 6x and out the dot on her neck at 220 yards. Squeezed and done.

 

[260madman]

I started looking for the first 2 doe and the coyotes started in and they sounded like they were at my cabin so I ran across the field and jumped in my truck to scare them off. Well they weren’t in the field and left my doe alone so I started dressing that one and loaded it in the truck. I went back to the first 2 and resumed looking and went onto the neighbors land. Not much sign and I scratched my head and went back out and there layer one of them about 8 feet from my truck along the fence line with its back to the truck. Blended right in with the ground and overgrowth. The other one was down the hill about 30 feet from the first one. Dressed them out and got them loaded up and hung in the pole shed. Picked them up the next morning with this for weather.



Took the deer to the processor because I wanted some sausage and sticks made. I cut and wrapped the muzzleloader baldy at my house during muzzleloader season.

Observations:
We have too many doe. I had 17 cross the road in front of me at last light as I was driving home past my parents pole sheds. The neighbors are baiting which is against the rules for my county and none of the neighbors are shooting doe. This makes it hard to shoot bucks at our place.

223 worked well again as usual. Used 75gr Black Tips from Hornady. I’m not sold on them yet because the 77 TMKs work so well but these are significantly cheaper and a slightly thicker jacket. I did have one exit on a severe quartering away shot that came out by the arm pit.

I’m getting too old to be in the cold weather sitting around. By cold I mean in the teens or colder with overcast skies. During the holiday hunt I dressed for walking around the farm and did just that and was overheated so I’d shed a layer and continue on. I need to get a few heated shacks up so I can sit in a sweatshirt and drink coffee in a comfortable chair.

I’ll be using the Tikka next year full time. I’ve about done all I can do with a 223 and really love a 260 Rem so I’ll be reverting back to a 260 and maybe take the 223 out for an antlerless hunt with a kid along.

Here’s a bone I found during a walk through the woods during the holiday hunt. I never find sheds but seem to find other bones.

 

[Tim.243]

I only was able to sit twice during archery season because of my daughter’s commitments to skating and us volunteering and running certain aspects of a junior hockey team so I was looking forward to rifle season.

Rifle season was slow opening weekend without much for antlered deer. The doe weren’t the biggest but saw enough to keep me interested.

Morning sunriseView attachment 412304

By the time Tuesday the 26th of November came the activity was increased and the afternoon came with a lot of action. 4 bucks came through but only one was borderline what I was looking for so passed because it was 3:15 and had some time left for bigger. Ended up with 21 deer in the field that afternoon and none were repeat visitors. I had a few that were under 50 yards from my blind and they did not care that I was there.
View attachment 412306
View attachment 412307

Wednesday was a slow day and the wind picked with a cold front coming in. Thanksgiving day was very windy and about 8*F. I hunted the morning and then packed my camper up and pulled it out of the pole shed at my parents farm and headed home because it was snowing and the forecast was iffy for the rest of the week. By the time I was unpacked and unhooked at home I was exhausted and needed a beer. My daughter gave me a hug and said “I haven’t seen you in 5 days”. I laughed and told her it was great to see her also.

My dog really missed me. She’s a Heeler and doesn’t cuddle but she needed to that night. My wife was setting up the Dickens Village for Christmas and playing Christmas music.

View attachment 412308

Tried hanging out at my cabin the last few days of the season and had the same visitors but nothing big enough to shoot for me. There were more deer along the woods but they wouldn’t come up high enough for me to shoot.

View attachment 412309

the season ended on Sunday and then rolls into muzzleloader season for another 9 days with a 4 day antlerless season. The weather turned nasty so I stayed home the first few days of muzzleloader season but did buy a new rifle…

Good to read a write up from the other side of the pond.

 

[WalkedUp]

Lovely pictures of the frost

 

[260madman]

Good to read a write up from the other side of the pond.

Unfortunately it’s a short season in crappy weather for us. We have a lot of predators and everyone can hunt so pressure is high and no long seasons with high bag limits.

My area has coyotes, bobcats, bears, and wolves with the occasional cougar/mt lion thrown in. I’m on the southern edge of wolf territory so they haven’t caused too many issues as they’re only here occasionally. I’m sure they will become more common as the years go on.

 

[260madman]

Lovely pictures of the frost

Thanks. I love seeing it as it is very beautiful. We just had a snowstorm last week when the temps were 34 with overnights of upper teens. Snowed all day with the wet heavy stuff and stuck to all the trees and bushes and froze. it was great to look at for a day as it warmed up into the 40s and then 50s a few days later. The week prior we had 81 for a high!