Hunting

Suppressors for hunting? Yes, please!

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Texas Park and Wildlife Department is considering a rule change regarding hunting, specifically with suppressors.

Here’s the text from the agenda:

         The proposed amendment to §65.11, concerning Lawful Means, would allow the use of firearm silencers to hunt alligators, game animals and game birds. Under current rule, the use of sound-suppressing devices to hunt alligators, game animals or game birds is unlawful. The department has determined that there is no resource- or enforcement-related reason to prohibit the use of firearm silencers for the take of alligators, game animals or game birds, and therefore proposes to eliminate the current prohibition. The department notes that if the proposed is adopted, it will not relieve any person of the obligation to otherwise comply with any applicable state, federal, or local law governing the possession or use of firearm silencers. The proposed amendment also alters §65.11(3) to include additional counties to the applicability of the provisions governing the use of crossbows. This change is necessary to ensure consistency with the changes to §65.42 discussed elsewhere in this preamble.

Yes please!

Why? Well, first consider their own wording: “The department has determined there is no resource- or enforcement-related reason to prohibit the use….”  So on the one hand, I like this because they see no sound reason to keep a rule around, so they’re going to discard it. This is how things should work! Simplification. Enhancing freedom. Enabling choice. Plus, it also frees up the department and those bound to enforce the rules from work that serves no gain, thus enabling them to focus on work that matters.

Here’s an article with more reasons for suppressors.

But to me, this hits closer to home.

On this last deer hunting trip, Daughter got her ears rung pretty bad. Yes I know, I should have had hearing protection on her — I do know better, but I often don’t while hunting so I can hear what’s going on around me. Plus, the muzzle is out the blind window and due to the structure of things it usually works out ok. But this past one? Not so much. I regret it and do feel awful for it. But this is the trade-off that we have to deal with: to hear the game, but then to not hear the gunshot. I do have electronic muffs, but while they work great for me on the range, I find in the woods, not so much. Different dynamic.

But if we could have suppressors? What a world of difference it would make!

I can legally own a suppressor here in Texas, but I can’t use it for deer or game hunting. I could use it to take exotic deer, I have gone on hog hunts with suppressed rifles. And so why if we can take those with it, why can’t we take game animals? What’s the difference? Apparently none, and it’s great to see TPWD recognizing that and moving on the item.

So what to do?

Well, right now we wait. TPWD will have their meeting on January 25, 2012. After that we’ll know more about how to proceed. It will be a matter of public comment, and you’ll want to be sure to add your comment in favor of suppressor use.

Making Memories

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

After Daughter snagged her first deer, my father-in-law (FIL) checked with the property owner of his deer lease to see if he could bring his grandkids out to do a youth hunt (spike and doe). Lease owner said yes. FIL told me. We worked out a date, and it was set and ready.

This was going to just be Oldest and Daughter; Youngest has finally expressed interest in hunting. We thought about taking him along, maybe he could sit in a stand with his “Pa-pa” and Brother and just watch and learn, but alas the stands are small and it’s hard enough to fit 2 people in. Youngest was cool with it tho as it gave him some “spoil me” time with Mom. 🙂

Packed up the gear and the kids and away we went. Met my FIL up there. Got to the property, took care of a few chores, then got dressed in warmer clothing to go sit in the stands. My FIL took Oldest, I sat with Daughter. I took my Wilson Combat AR-patterned rifle in 6.8 SPC with the Leupold VX-R 3-9×50, Wilson Combat’s 6.8 ammo using a 95 grain Barnes TTSX bullet. Oldest wanted to use the Savage .308 bolt-action, but I managed to talk him into shooting Pa-pa’s trusty .25-06 deer rifle. My FIL has hunted all his life and shot just about everything out there, and he considers .25-06 to be about the best thing for hunting out here given how flat it shoots. I trust his word, he’s far more experienced than I. Due to this, I thought it’d be good for Oldest to expand his horizons and try something else just to see how it compares, especially something that Dad doesn’t have. But there’s more to this angle of the story later….

You have to understand that Mills County is overrun with deer. After we did our chores and before we went to the stands, FIL and Oldest ran back into town for some supplies. Daughter and I stayed at the property and the property-owner’s daughter took us around the area in their Polaris Ranger Crew (DAMN that thing is fun, I want one, Santa!). Showed us a lot of the area, which was really neat. We saw so many deer running around. Just a ton of deer. Unreal. So yeah, a little herd management is in order.

Since there were so many deer and since we were just going for does, there really wasn’t much need to be picky. Just look for older does, ones without yearlings, and then the biggest one of the lot. No need to sit for hours and agonize, y’know?

We didn’t need to sit long at all.

Started out with 4 does coming in to feed. We glassed them and figured out which one was the taker. Alas, Daughter could never get a clear shot. Either the doe was in a wrong position, or there was a tree in the way.

As we waited, more came in. And more. Probably had a dozen deer poking around (I was told this was an abnormally low count; more typical to have 30+, and sometimes upwards of 50-60 or more at a time… yeah, that ridiculous; I’m sure if we had waited longer we would have seen more). Of them all, only 1 buck. Small one, I believe just a 6 pointer (if I remember correctly). Too small and young to take, legally or management wise. There was one doe that was simply gorgeous; the coloring of her fur, this very light tan with the white under her, impossible to describe to do it justice, but she stood out beautifully. Daughter asked if she could take her, but no, one that good needs to be left around to breed.

But the waiting is always the hardest part, especially when you’re a child and the weight of that rifle starts to wear on you. But we kept waiting and waiting… and eventually Daughter had a clear shot on a big old doe.

She took it.

I could see immediately that it was hit, shoulder area. It ran no more than 50 yards before coming to rest.

Interestingly, while the other deer ran off, they didn’t run far. I thought it was odd they didn’t all hit the tree line and vanish.

We waited.

“Come on Dad! Let’s go see her!”

“No. Let’s wait. There’s 30 minutes of legal light left… let’s just wait. You never know.”

You see, the land owner was kind enough to allow me to also take a doe. So as soon as we confirmed Daughter’s doe was down, no reason to not switch off and let me try. The doe wasn’t going to go anywhere, and again, 30 minutes? No problem to wait, right?

And so I waited… Daughter grew impatient. I understand completely. But something told me to wait.

*BOOM* we hear in the distance.

(look at Daughter) “Hey… that must have been your brother.” We had been wondering how things were going for them. I guess that answered that question. Looking back, I realize the sound of his gunshot was a lot louder than I would have expected from a .25-06. I later found out why. You see, in my FIL’s rush to get out of the house he grabbed the .25-06 ammo, but not the .25-06 rifle. So when they got to the stand they realized they had a problem! FIL called back to the farm house and the property owner’s daughter let Oldest shoot her rifle — she doesn’t let anyone shoot her rifle (I later saw it, gorgeous wood work, fine piece). The rifle is chambered in .240 Weatherby Magnum. So uh… yeah… it’s got a lot more oomph. Oldest thought it was pretty cool, and I think it gave him some perspective.

Meanwhile, back in our stand….

Eventually I gave in. There was maybe 10 minutes of legal time left, so why not.

We packed our stuff up. Daughter climbed down the ladder. I started to climb down. Got one foot out the door when I looked up and out the window.

(to myself) “Oh shit! They’re coming back!”

(down the ladder) “Daughter, they’re coming back! Don’t move!!”

“OK, Dad!”

Sure enough, the ones that did hit the trees were coming back. I’m sure it was the same group, or at least, that one little buck was the same little buck.

I quickly grabbed the rifle and went to re-load it. This is one of the down-sides to an AR-patterned rifle for hunting: loading it will be LOUD. But I had no choice. I inserted the magazine, pulled back the charging handle and let it slam home. But thankfully no one noticed! No deer flinched, tho I winced in anticipation.

But the ugly part? I was in a horrible position. I didn’t want to move. I had one leg out the door, which then got wedged between the bottom of the door frame and the bottom of the door (my shin is still aching and bruised). I was basically kneeling, bad position, the rifle wasn’t well rested. I wanted to move, but was afraid of making too much noise (I’m big, the stand was very small, it was just difficult to move around without making noise). So I just did my best.

I glassed around, picked one that looked good. Slow smooth trigger press….

*click*

WTF?

Actually it was more like *CLICK*… it was a deafening silence.

First thought, dud? Do remedial action, and that told me the problem: I hadn’t seated the magazine all the way. Damnit. And I had previously told Daughter to always check the seating. *sigh*  Now I had to pull the charging handle again….. *cringe*…. and I did, it slammed home, and they heard it this time. Deer scattered, but not too far. Ugh.

My heart and head were racing. Time was ticking away. I really wanted to bag a deer as it would be sweet if all 3 of us got our deer in one evening.

I settled back down, the deer came back in. I tried to find a reasonable deer as quickly as I could. Found one, pressed off a shot… *BOOM* (good, it went boom not click).

And as soon as I saw the deer run, I doubt I had hit it. I watched as it made the treeline, no indication of faltering.

*sigh*

I did wonder if it could this be the rifle again having problems? Was it not the scope? I’m still wary with this setup, and I want to use it as much as possible to build back my confidence in the equipment platform. But in this case, I do figure it was my fault. I had a crappy shooting position and I was stubborn to not improve the position. Thinking back, I think I may have rested the barrel on the window ledge, not the rail tube. With the short length of the rifle, me being basically in the back of the stand, I recall when I first rested the rifle it “naturally” rested on the barrel, so I readjusted to rest the rail so the barrel floated. Well, when I had to reload I think in my haste I may have put it back down on the barrel, and that’s going to skew things. *sigh*  Stupid as well because I knew I’d have another chance in the morning, so why didn’t I just take the chance to get a better shot now? I was impatient, due to both excitement and being mad at myself for screwing up.

Oh well. I learned something, and will eventually stop kicking myself over it.

We went ahead and found Daughter’s doe. Notified my FIL. Eventually they came up on the Polaris with Oldest and his doe already in the back. We then headed to the barn, got the tractor (raise up the hay spear, hang the gambrel from it), and headed off to another part of the property to field dress the deer. I watched my FIL expertly clean the deer. I’ve cleaned things before, but still lack supreme confidence in my ability to dress things correctly and cleanly. So I took a lot of mental notes, knowing that when I got my deer I would clean her.

Deer cleaned. Hung up in the barn (it was going to be so cold that night). Off to bed we went, with 2 happy hunters… and a happy Grandfather.

The next morning I arose. I was going to get my deer.

Got suited up in my long-johns and gear, grabbed the 6.8, and my FIL drove me out to the stand. Opted to use the same stand as I did yesterday. Into the stand I went (solo) and FIL drove back to the house. Was out there about 6:40 AM, so I didn’t have to wait long for sunrise (legal shoot time started at 7:00).

Shortly after legal time, one small doe came out of the woods followed by a couple of others. The others ran up the hill out of sight, but the one came in to feed. I glassed her and knew she was too small and young to take, but I still studied her.

You see, everyone tells me I need to take neck shots. I see why they aren’t promoted to young hunters or inexperienced hunters, because a vitals shot is a more sure thing and a lot easier to hit. Neck shot, you have to get it just right. But if you do, you save a lot of meat and should get a “DRT” (Dead Right There) hit and not have to chase/track the deer, which is ideal. I’ve been studying the anatomy of things and I wanted to do my first neck shot on this deer. So while this little doe wasn’t going to be shot, I kept watching and studying her in my binoculars to be sure I felt comfortable with shot placement.

I kept seeing movement by the tree line. Other does were coming out, but none wanted to come in. No matter. More will come. Patience.

Eventually some did, but either not shootable or not in a shootable position. Then I see off to my right, some others come in. One stood out to me: a 4-point buck, limping pretty badly. His right hind leg was messed up somehow. His left side was facing me so I couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, but it was a good limp. He was followed by a doe, which I figured was his girlfriend. The buck eventually laid down while the doe poked around at food. I glassed her. She looked good, a taker.

I waited for an opportunity. Yes, I was going to take the neck shot.

She gave it to me.

DRT.

Obviously I didn’t need to wait. Signaled to my FIL that she was DRT. Packed up the bag. Headed down the ladder.

Walked about 90 yards to see her…. and then I realized… her was a him.

Yes, I had shot a spike. The antlers were barely peeking out of the fur on top of his head, but they were there. Who would have known at 90 yards? Impossible to have known. Size and coloration and everything looked like an older doe. But… wasn’t.

FIL later told me he was standing out in another field watching and saw the limping buck and the one I shot trotting over my way. FIL said that he had turned around to walk back to the house and hadn’t gone 10 steps when he heard me shoot and knew it was time to get in the Polaris to come get me. 🙂

We loaded him up, got the tractor, and under the expert tutelage of my FIL I field dressed the deer. I do feel more confident and, provided time isn’t critical, will certainly continue to dress and quarter my own in the future. The kiddos? They’re not quite ready for it. 🙂  Managed to save the heart and liver for the dog (she loves deer liver). I also was able to see that my neck shot was a little low, base of the neck, but still did the job of DRT. I learned from the experience.

Kiddos were done. They were ready to head home. I figure long weekends in the field will come later. I haven’t found the right words for hunting, but I have them for fishing. See, there’s “fishing” and then there’s “catching”. You can fish all day and never catch a thing and it’s a good day fishing. As a kid, as a first time fisherman, you want to catch; you don’t want to sit there and wait for hours and hours and never catch any fish. But the more you fish, the more you’re happy to sit and wait, to fish, to work, and again if you go home empty-handed after sitting all day on the water, that’s alright. For me, I’m transitioning from catching to fishing… well, hunting. I still want to take things home, I still get excited, I still want to “catch”. But I’m growing more and more content to sit, to wait. To see. The kiddos? Well, this was Oldest’s first deer and second kill; it was Daughter’s first whitetail and second kill. So they’re still squarely in the “catching” camp. And once we caught, they wanted to get back to the warmth and comfort of home. It just means we have to go hunting more often, that’s all. 🙂

In the end tho, it was a great time. I’m so happy that my FIL got to spend time with his grandkids. I know he’s been looking forward to hunting with them for a long time, and finally he was able to. He told me Oldest was so thrilled, so excited, and listening to my FIL recount the moments tells me that he’s got some pretty happy memories made by this hunting trip. To me, that’s what it was all about.

BTW, no pics because my phone camera doesn’t have a flash, but FIL’s did. So he took all the pictures. But he’s still out hunting for a few days and the reception out there is pretty bad. When he gets back home he’ll send me the pics he took.

I learned a lot on this trip, be it to double-check the seating on your magazine, to just risk improving your shooting position, that I really want a Polaris Ranger, improvement in my cleaning/field dressing skills, or to strive for the neck shot (DRT is good). I learned. It was enjoyable to spend time with my father-in-law and to learn from him. I liked being out with my kiddos, but again, I think the best part of this was enabling Grandpa and Grandkids to make some memories together. I know the Kiddos were happy for it and are looking forward to more opportunities in the future, as is Grandpa.

If you didn’t realize how bad feral hogs were…

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

… you need to read this forum thread.

It’s an engaging account of one man’s fight against feral hogs on his East Texas ranch. It’s a thread on a forum called The High Road, and the thread has been active for over 2 years. That alone should tell you something about his fight.

What I found so engaging about the thread however was the man’s willingness to recount as much as possible and answer all the questions he can. You gain a great insight into these creatures. It’s a mixture of a lot of respect, but also a lot of hate for the damage and hell they cause. Plus, reading his “play-by-play” you can see what is dealt with over time and just how smart and difficult the hogs are to control.

If you’re not here and living within the feral hog problem, you just can’t truly fathom what it’s like. But I will say, if you read this account all the way through, it’s just like you’re there in the thick of it and you will gain a deeper understanding of what’s involved and why this is a problem we have to work to remedy.

Back from hunting

/ hsoi

Just returned from a successful whitetail deer hunt with my father-in-law. Took Oldest and Daughter. We each got a deer. I’ll regale you with tales from the hunt later. Must catch up on numerous things first.

I need to buy an IR game camera

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

I live in the city. I can’t shoot any of the deer that come up through the greenbelt behind my house.

That’s ok tho… as far as I can tell, none are shooters anyways.

But they’re fun to watch, and Sasha sure loves to bark at them.

But that’s why I need a game camera… tho an IR one so my neighbors don’t get bothered by (or curious about) a flash going off at all strange hours. I’ve got a couple with a flash, want an IR one tho. Every time I go to Cabela’s I look at them then walk away because I just don’t feel right about dropping that sort of cash on one. Call me silly, but I’ve got this feeling that someone will notice and steal it and then I’m out a chunk of change.

I’m just curious about the deer that come around. Mostly it’s does, but we see a nice buck now and again. I’m very curious about those guys.

Then tonight as the sun was going down, I saw something I hadn’t seen before.

Looking out back and I see 1… 2… ah, 5 deer. A little one, a doe that’s probably 1-2 years old, a couple older does… and then a spike.

First time I’ve seen a spike around here this season. Hopefully won’t be the last we see of him… for years to come.

Sarrels Archery

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The other day when I picked up my venison from the butcher, another gentleman was in there doing the same.

We all got to talking.

He’s a bow hunter. And not just any bow hunter, he uses long bows. I thought that was pretty cool.

In fact, he doesn’t just use bows, he makes them.

Sarrels Archery.

I don’t know much about archery, but looking at the one bow he had in his truck and it sure was pretty. Crafting looked fine and good.

I’m posting it here in case any of my readers are into such things and would be interested in checking them out.

Venison consumed

/ hsoi

Venison acquired.

And venison was consumed.

We pulled out a sika deer tenderloin and a fallow deer tenderloin. I sliced them up, no more than 1/2″ thick. Threw them in the pan with just a bit of canola oil to mitigate sticking. Otherwise, no seasonings, nothing. Let’s see what the actual meat tastes like.

In a wonderful bit of serendipity (because we didn’t expect to get the deer back today), Wife had started a whitetail deer roast (from the whitetail does I shot last year; all hail the FoodSaver!). So, now we had 3 types of venison to try side-by-side, tho of course the whitetail would be a little seasoned.

Verdict?

We all like. A lot. 🙂

Using whitetail as our baseline, we all agreed that both the fallow and the sika are similar in taste to the whitetail — it’s all deer meat, they’re all in the same ballpark, no radical difference (e.g. the vast difference between beef and chicken). The sika seemed a bit milder than the whitetail, maybe a bit smoother texture — Daughter said “buttery” in regards to the texture. I’m not sure I’d go there, but I know what she meant: it was certainly “softer”. Very nice. The fallow had a slightly stronger flavor. None of us could come up with a way to describe it, but it was something with the overtones, a hint of something more, a little bolder flavor but subtle. Texture was also quite nice.

And in some weird way… the whitetail seemed to pale in comparison. Still good, just somehow the sika and fallow tasted a little better. Between the 3 types of venison, there was no grand consensus. Some liked sika more, some liked fallow more. Me, I think I liked the fallow more, but more research is needed. 😀

In the past we were always sparing with our use of venison because you shot what you shot during whitetail season and it had to last until next year. But now? Gee. Just use the venison at will. It’s no trouble getting an exotic, cost isn’t horrendous, and if that means better, leaner, tastier meat all year ’round? Heck, how can I say no? Well… I still love me some beef, but gee… I’m itching to get through all this meat because next I want to try red deer and axis.

New venison

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Just picked up the fallow deer and sika deer meat from Daughter’s first.

A little annoyed that I specified to keep the meats separate and label them “fallow” and “sika”, but they didn’t… well, they did on the backstraps but that’s all. *sigh* Never had either, wanted to keep them separate so we could know which was which as our taste buds experienced them. I’m annoyed, but I’ll cut them some slack as it’s the busy season and they may have just slammed through things due to volume.

We are guessing the little tenderloin is the sika and the bigger tenderlion is the fallow. Not 100% sure, but it’s a 99.9% good guess. They’re thawing and the family will try them tonight. Nothing to them: just defrost, throw it in the pan (maybe a little canola oil to avoid sticking), not even salt and pepper. Try the pure unadulterated meat and see how they taste, and how we compare them to each other and whitetail. Rumor is they’re good, and many prefer over whitetail.

We shall see.

I can’t wait. 🙂

On 6.8 SPC and Barnes bullet performance

/ hsoi

After yesterday’s successful hunt, I’ve a few random thoughts and pages to link to.

First, about 6.8 performance.

I admit, I was unsure of performance. It was a few things. First, all my past problems with this rifle. Was it the rifle? The ammo? The scope? The shooter? Something else? Too many factors in the equation, but over time I narrowed things down and am now 99% sure it was the scope. Still, you get your faith shaken that much, it takes a lot to bring it back. The range time I’ve had with the setup (plus rangetime with the old scope on another rifle), then with the 2 deer from yesterday, yeah I feel better about things, but I still want more field time to validate things. I’m pretty sure tho the problem is resolved… I just want an excuse to use the rig in the field more often. 😉

The other thing was the bullet itself, the 95 grain Barnes TTSX. I know Barnes Bullets are solid, no question there. I know the 85 grain TSX and 110 grain TSX have been well proven in the 6.8. And while the 95 grain TTSX is still relatively new, all signs point to the bullet being sound and good. Then looking at the performance the 95 TTSX handloaders are getting, comparing that to the Wilson Combat load, and of course knowing that Bill Wilson makes solid stuff (including his research on this load), I know — on paper — it’s all good. The question is, where’s the threshold of what the bullet and load can do? Granted, you can take almost anything with almost anything, e.g. many deer have been taken with a .22 LR. But even in doing so, there are parameters you have to operate within, such as those .22 LR deer harvests are headshots.  So what are those limits with this bullet and load?

I search the 68forums.com for such threshold information. It’s hard to get exactly the information I’m wanting (maybe I need to start a specific post on there about it). It seems you can take bull elk with 6.8… but then, what’s the limit? Should it only be neck shots? How about distance? I figured I would be OK taking a red deer, but still… were there any such parameters to have to operate within? I still wonder that, but after seeing first-hand the devastation those 95 grain TTSX’s cause? well… that gives me something to measure against in the future.

So to that end, HTR @ 68forums just posted this informative thread. Using the 95 grain TTSX in a load/rifle that slightly underperforms my setup (due to being an SBR), and nailed a hog to 300 yards. Looks like a neck shot (versus say going through the shoulder/shield), but still, hogs are tough to put down and if that 95 grain performs to 300 yards on a hog? That gives you some general knowledge about distance limits of performance.

Here’s another, of a big trophy whitetail buck taken with the 6.8 and 95 grain TTSX.

HTR posted a different thread with 2 useful tidbits. First, someone asked about the 3 Barnes bullets: 85 grain TSX, 95 grain TTSX, vs. 110 grain TSX. This is the best summary I’ve read comparing the three:

Well….hmmmm….best. tap, tap, tap.

Here are some minor differences. You will have to decide which is best for you:

1) The 85 has the flattest trajectory. You can get it to strike no more than 3″ from the LOS at up to 250 yards, and then only 8″ below LOS at 300. It requires around 1900-2000 FPS to open. It also has the lowest BC of the .277 X bullets.

2) the 95 has medium trajectory, a bit more drop than the 85, but opens at slower speed….1600 or so. The BC is .296, and it is accurate with a reasonable variety of powders. It has proven itself to me, in the field, over many kills, including a hog I shot at just under 300 yards this past weekend.

3) the 110 has the highest BC but also requires at least 2000 FPS to open. Given that its hard to drive it past 2650 in a 6.8, your range will vary accordingly. It will also have a little less flat trajectory than the lighter X bullets.

All 3 work, but my opinion is that the best compromise of all the features that make the TSX / TTSX line great, is the 95 TTSX, for a variety of game.

And the reference to “a hog I shot at just under 300 yards” is the very hog I linked to above.

BTW, HTR speaks with a lot of credibility. Take a look at his posts and performance on that forum, and you can know he knows what he’s talking about.

The other thing in that same thread, rather the main point of that thread — neck shot.

Everyone tells me about taking the neck shot, and I’ve thought about it, but was still not 100% sure just where to place it. HTR’s post — with pictures — did a great job of describing and showing exactly where to put it. I’ll spend a bunch of time visualizing it, trying to make sure I know it solidly. Heck, next time I go to Cabela’s I’ll look at some of the full-body deer in the dioramas and make sure I’m seeing what I need to (nothing like a 3-D model). Next time I’m out in the field, I’ll try it.

Anyways, I’m growing more comfortable with the 6.8. Now that I’m pretty sure there are no issues with equipment, this is going to be my primary rig for the foreseeable future.

Her first

/ hsoi / 12 Comments

Daughter got her first deer. 🙂

Setup

I’m overbusy these days and I knew spending many mornings and evenings in a deer stand for whitetails was just not going to happen due to lack of time. Still, I wanted to get something. A little time in the field. A little meat in the freezer.

So I thought, how about some exotics (since they can be hunted all year round)? I’ve never had but have wanted to try the meat of axis, red, sika, and/or fallow deer. Everyone tells me they’re better than whitetail, with axis being the best. So for the past some months I’ve tried to make time to go out to DB Hunting Ranch to harvest an exotic but just wasn’t able to make it out… until now. DB works well because the prices are reasonable, it doesn’t have to be a huge time investment, and I have yet to leave the ranch empty handed. No, it’s not hunting in the truest sense, but it’s not like going to the grocery store either. You still have to work for the opportunity. Daughter knows too… she’s been out with me a few times before, so she has some perspective.

The original plan was to do a stalk hunt for a red deer hind (doe, female). Then since Daughter wanted to go with me, originally she was going to just be along for the ride, but since she’s been out with me before but had yet to bag anything well.. I asked if we could get her something. No problem. The plan was to sit in a stand for her, because for a first time that would work out a lot better (could sit, rest the rifle, easier to manage  the excitement and nerves, etc.). I was going to have her get some doe like a sika or a fallow or whatever trotted across. Then after a few hours in the stand, we’d stalk for a red deer hind.

But it didn’t work out that way. 🙂

What Happened

As soon as we got into the stand, critters came out. It was dark, 5:30 AM or so (sunrise at 7:00), but thanx to having my Sniper Hog Light on the gun we were able to watch things. Lots of deer, some rams too. But being so dark and with only red light, we couldn’t tell for sure what everything was. But we watched them and really enjoyed how much the new Leupold VX-R 3-9×50 scope worked (yes, my prior 6.8 rifle problems, I’m 99.99% convinced now it was due to a busted scope). That thing really is crisp and gathers light wonderfully.

6:30 and the sun was rising enough we could start to make things out without the light. Most of the deer had left, just a few rams and one sika doe. The rams were beautiful, but we had no interest because I’m to understand they don’t taste very good and we’re out for food. Daughter kept wanting a buck because there’s nothing to put on the wall with a doe. I was generally against it due to cost and that we’re here for meat… but, I also knew that for a first time, there’s nothing like a memento. So I did some math in my head and kinda figured that if an opportunity presented itself, I’d probably let her take it.

Well, that sika doe just kept hanging around… so I told Daughter to put the glass on it and get ready. We watched for maybe 10-15 minutes and couldn’t get a shot for some reason or other: ram walks in front, whitetail (too young to shoot) walks behind, doe walks behind a tree, you name it…. and just when the doe was close to a perfect shot, something would always happen to blow it. Oh, it was frustrating! I was afraid that she was going to run off or get run off by the rams, but while she’d trot away, she never left our field of view… just never gave us a shot.

But then….

Out walks a fallow buck.

Me: “If you can get a shot, you can take it.”

Daughter: *quiet squeal of joy*

But of course, the buck was completely obscured by other things, just like the sika doe had been.

After a couple of minutes of waiting… 2 more fallow bucks walk in from stage right, and the first buck walks over to meet them. They formed basically a “choo-choo train” line. I mean, 3 bucks in a row, all perfectly broadside. About 45 yards away.

Me: “Pick one. Go for it.”

Unfortunately, they kept walking towards stage right, and Daughter could only pivot so much more to her left. I made some kissing noises to try to get the bucks to stop. They did. GO GO GO!

The 6.8 roared.

I watched the middle buck rear up… I watched the whole thing, knew he was hit. He took off. I kept my eyes on him to see where he went, but he didn’t get far… ran into a large bush, kept running against it, relaxed, reared up, flipped onto his back (NO! I hoped no antler damage), then that was that. We waited for a bit tho… because oddly, after the gunfire many critters ran off but the other fallow bucks didn’t run very far at all; in fact, one of them was right next to his fallen friend and hung around him for maybe 10 minutes or so trying to figure out what was up with his buddy.

While he waited, that sika doe came back to the area.

“Daughter, hand me the rifle.”

I glassed her. She was perfectly broadside. I let it fly. Hey… opportunity was knocking, I answered the door. No, it wasn’t the red deer I wanted, but that’s fine… just leaves me something to try for on another day.

I wanted to wait a little bit longer, who knows what else might present itself… but Daughter was done. So we left the stand and went to see everything. Oh, little girl was happy. 🙂

We called the folks to come get us. Jake cleaned things up. And I’ll drop them off at the processor’s after a couple of days of soaking.

We’re going to get the antlers mounted, and since the coat was so pretty we’re going to get the hide soft-tanned so it could go on a bed or a couch or something. Might take up to 3 months before we see the hide (maybe a couple of weeks for the antlers), but didn’t cost much and should make a nice memento. And so, little girl… next time we’re getting does. 😉

The fun part? Youngest is now starting to show interest in shooting and hunting. He asked when he gets to go. Going to have to enlist the help of their grandfather and uncle to take these kids into the field more… I can’t do it all.

Gun Geek Corner

Now for my fun. 🙂

The rifle is an AR-patterned rifle chambered in 6.8 SPC. The upper is from Wilson Combat (16″) and the lower is a Rock River Arms lower with their sweet 2-stage match trigger. The scope is a Leupold VX-R 3-9×50 on a Larue LT104 mount. The ammunition is Wilson Combat’s 6.8 SPC 95 grain Barnes TTSX.

This is not the first animal I’ve taken with this rifle, but it is with this particular setup.

I had my faith in the 6.8 shaken because numerous hunts and range times were showing odd behavior. Heck, the whole reason I took that water buffalo was because the 6.8 failed. But it turns out, it was the scope… or at least, I’m now 99.99% sure of it based on all that I’ve seen and experienced since then with that rifle and scope, including today’s performance. But after seeing today’s performance? Man… my opinion of a few things has really improved.

First, the scope is awesome. The picture is so crisp, so clear. The light gathering ability is wicked awesome. That night “ccoker”, of TacticalGunReview, and I did a bunch of scope comparisons? It was amazing how well the Leupold stood up against scopes that cost 3-4x as much. I will say, I’m still not sure I like the “Ballistic Fire-Dot” reticle in this context… but I think I need to have it out a few more times before I really pass judgment. I did find my eyes liked the dot being 1 setting above the lowest setting, else the dot was too bright and got in the way (in the early morning light). But all in all, I’m very happy with this scope.

Second, the 6.8 performance was awesome. The rifle worked well, did it’s job. Worked well for daughter, in terms of feel, trigger, etc.. A little heavy, but that’s part of why I wanted to use a stand, so she could have a rest.

But where things really impressed me? The ammo.

I’m a huge fan of Barnes bullets. The TSX’s are awesome and perform so well. But ever since they introduced the 95 grain TTSX’s specifically for the 6.8 well… I read a lot about the performance, and have been itching to try it for myself. The trouble has been that this bullet was only available as a component, so you had to handload. Well, I’ve not had time to get back to the reloading bench to work up a load. I was hoping a factory would produce something. Finally, Wilson Combat came out with a load that measured up to the performance handloaders were seeing. I bought a few boxes. Zeroed things in. And finally got to try.

They knocked the stuffing — literally — out of these 2 deer.

This is the left side, entrance. Daughter shot him in the shoulder. Massive trauma.

And here’s the right side, the exit wound.

Of course, skin peeled back. The actual external holes were small, which is typical of the Barnes (T)TSX bullets. But internally, massive damage. The vital organs? there wasn’t much left on the fallow. On the sika? as soon as the chest was cut open so much poured out… things were truly liquified. Yes I know, a little gross to some, but such is reality.

Comparing this to what the 85 grain TSX does? There’s no comparison… the level of damage done by the TTSX is astounding. Compared to what I’ve seen a .308 Barnes 168 grain TSX do? It’s well… different, but seems almost the same. That’s one thing about these bullets: smaller ones do a lot more damage than lead (core) bullets of the same weight/size/shape. I am just floored at how well this bullet from Barnes and ammo from Wilson performed.

Unless context dictates I need another gun (e.g. nilgai hunting? moose hunting? elk at 500+ yards?), this is my rifle, this is my ammo.

Fin

So, a great morning.

Time with my Daughter.

Got to get away from the computer for a while.

Got some meat in the freezer, and it’s things we’ve never tried before but are looking forward to.

Got to finally get this configuration of rifle/scope/ammo out into the field, and the results were great.

I wondered about the perception of a young girl shooting animals and what some people might think, especially after she puts antlers and hides on her bedroom wall. What are her friends going to think? Well… I’ll tell you what I see.

I see a girl who knows how to take care of herself.

I see a girl who knows how to provide for herself, and her family.

I see a girl who’s not afraid to get a little dirty, and even do things that some may find distasteful… because sometimes life is like that.

I see a girl that knows where her food comes from, and understands other realities about life.

But most of all? I see that boys better watch out… because it’s not just her Dad they have to worry about. 😉