Well, here it is early Aug and I am really getting the itch:
Nice thing is, I am starting to see ammo and starting to come down some: I picked up some Fed small game and trap loads in 12 and 20, 100 round boxes at Walyworld for $23 and seeing steel loads (Black Cloud) starting to show up also.
Dove, early goose and teal, a nice trip to OK for duck, goose and with luck: a Sandhill Crain. Deer season: gun, can’t use a bow anymore, and small game.
Yep, the itch is really getting annoying but Love it as it means hunting season.
Anyone else getting the Itch?
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90 days 16 hours and 42 minutes till November!
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Got me a mouse this morning. Feels real good.
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@William220 @Aaron25 @Todd30 @mattm @Barry54 @FrankS >>Years ago Remington had a commercial about hunters counting every day hour and minute until hunting season. Anticipation is part of the fun.
BE SAFE AND GO FOR THE GUSTO WHILE YOU STILL CAN.
PS: safety rule DONT bring baked beans to hunting camp. CLICK HERE >>> Blazing Saddles Fart Scene - YouTube
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80 days from now I’ll be in Wyoming. Yeah, I got the itch!
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The itch is getting more intense…
@FrankS @Barry54 @William220 @mattm @Aaron25 @Todd30
@Shamrock >>> ANYBODY GOT HUNTING STORYS TO SHARE <<< 
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I’ve been thinking about taking up hunting. I may look into hunter safety courses in my area.
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Not personally…got animal stories, but for hunting, my favorite was a former coworker bow hunting for turkey. Got the scent, got the decoy hanging on his back. Early morning, sits down under a tree, dozing off, using the decoy for a pad, and a bobcat attacks it.
My latest animal stories have all involved mountain biking and black bears. Another former coworker hit a deer on his mountain bike, messed him up bad.
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Here’s my first attempt at uploading a photo. That’s my best friend Bruno with my 9mm buck from November 2020. I had him trained to “get the deer” which was most helpful when they ran out of sight after being hit. He went to the big hunting place in the sky during the big cold spell back in February. I sure do miss him.
I was using a 16” carbine with handloads. A 147 grain Hornady XTP over Vihtavuori 3N38 powder. My wife asked if a 9mm would take a deer and I proceeded to find out…
The load is about 20% faster than every other 147 grain 9mm load. So much faster that I emailed Vihtavuori and asked if was a plus P load. They responded with a lawyerly answer. “It’s not listed as plus P” I tested for penetration and expansion on gallon water jugs and decided it would work.
Anyway, I got a broadside shot about 60 yards out. The buck turned 180° And ran less than 100 yards in the woods. I could hear the leaves as he ran and then heard him pile up. The XTP hit behind the shoulder and opened up quickly. Tore up the lungs and a couple of ribs on the entrance side. The damage on the exit side was minimal. The core exited, and the jacket was visible in the exit hole. There was an adequate blood trail to find the buck, but Bruno always got lots of praise for finding them! The buck weighed a little over 175 lbs. not sure exactly because I couldn’t raise him up high enough to get his head all the way off the ground. So, yes, a 9mm will harvest deer. I’m sure glad the bullet hit where it did, and didn’t have to go through more meat before reaching the vitals!
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I’m a life long hunter. I grew up in a time and place where a boy started ‘hunting’ with a BB-Gun, mine was a Daisy Pump, as soon as he was allowed outside by himself. I’m a archer and a wing shooter first. I probably harvested 200+ deer with different types of bows before I ever shot one with a firearm. So yes, I’ve got stories.
However, for humor a fishing story is one of my favorite. In my college years I was friends with our starting fullback. I won’t name him, others, or the university, but it’s a major SEC school. Anyway my uncle owned a fairly large amount of property and raised beef cows. One area was a beaver swamp and a favorite winter hunting area of mine. One winter day while moving through the swamp I happen to notice some bass in the pools and creek behind one of the beaver ponds. I filed this away for future use.
Now move forward in time to the spring and I trade my shotgun for a ultra light spinning rod, My first cast hooked up what we call a redeye largemouth and every cast after that produced at least a strike if not a hookup. I kept none these.
A couple of weeks went by and I ran into my football buddy on campus and told him we needed to go back there. Plans were made and our starting defensive tackle, a rather large young man, decided to join us. I warned the guys that this being a beaver pond there as a large population of Mr. No Shoulders with the cottonmouth sharing my secret fishing hole and to be carful wading around. At this point I should say that our big tough tackle is terrified of snakes. To him every snake is a dreaded mutant diamondback cottonmouth coral copperhead water rattler that can kill simply by looking at you.
Back to the story. The day we pick for our fishing trip started off chilly but quickly warmed to a sunny t-shirt morning. We drive back across the pastures and park near the beaver swamp. I strap on my Super Single-Six and throw a bandolier of ,22mag across my shoulders. My fullback buddy slings a 12ga. auto and a belt of shells. Meanwhile Mr. Tackle starts giving us grief about “going to war” and laughing at us in general. I tell him, “this place is full of snakes”. He replies it’s to early in the spring for snakes to be out. I shrug and say whatever.
We arrive at the first little pond, spread out, wade in, and start casting. We have not gone 5 steps before I see a rather large cottonmouth in a little leafless bush right in front of Mr. Tackle. I say “SNAKE”, pull the six-gun and offhand hip shoot at the snake. As luck would have it I hit the dang thing right in the head. I’m lucky to have hit the water much less the snake but I act cool just holstering the gun and say nothing. Mr. Big Tackle climbs up on a log and stays there while we go fish for a couple of hours. He only comes down off the log when we return and he follows me out oy the water.
I few weeks later I run into the fullback on campus and he tells me. Man, you can never fire that gun around “Mr. Tackle” or team members again. He has told everyone in the athletic dorm the gunslinger snake story except in his version your gun came out like lightning and you ‘saved’ him by hitting the snake “between the eyes”. I never shot around them again. That my friends is how legends start.
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@Eric183 <<[quote=“Eric183, post:8, topic:75204, full:true”]
I’ve been thinking about taking up hunting. I may look into hunter safety courses in my area.
[/quote]
do it >> even if you don’t get anything its good for the soul.<<
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Any day in the woods is a good day.
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@Eric183 >> I use to mushroom hunt to, in the fall. Sit on a log and look up found shrooms in my book. The smell of crisp clean autumn air is intoxicating.
Good luck
BLACKY
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@William220 >> ( 1974) had friends over from another camp to eat at our camp. Had a pile of deer meat and young black bear meat that grew up on apples an beech nuts., big cooler of ice cold beer and a gallon of Cucamonga wine.
Land of the giants sallied bowl of salad, red onions, and fresh Italian bread. As the guys were inhaling the deer meat one of the guests commented how much he hated Eating bear meat without knowing I was going to cook that next. I cooked the meat on a cast iron grill with
butter and salt and pepper. After they were three sheets to the wind I told him ( Dusty was his name he just ate black bear ) he didn’t Believe me until I showed him the bear skin.
Love black bear but he didn’t like BLACKY.
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Yes sir. Even if you don’t get anything! And of course they know that turkey season was closed.
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Opening day of Elk season. I had been out in the area two weeks prior hunting deer with bow and arrows. In a swampy valley there was elk rutting in the mud staying cool every morning. I worked my way over to a stand I put up before deer season to look down into the swamp area. I had about an hour before daylight. After the sun rose up and started brightening the area up I was using my binoculars to seek out these Elk that I had so frequented every day before but there was no sign of them. Surprised, I heard an Elk bugle off to my right and I scanned the area looking for him or even some cows but nothing. After a couple more calls I spotted where it was coming from, another hunter in a tree stand. Before I could decipher anything I heard a bugle on the other end of the swamp. With my curiosity going full speed I used my binoculars to scan the area looking for any movement. Now, I had a really good spot for viewing the area but, I could not see any movement at all. After the third bugle I spotted him. Another hunter blowing on his call. Quickly the guy I first spotted Bugled back at him then the other guy bugled back. Now knowing that these woods where to crowded I decided to leave but before I did I whipped a smaller tree back and forth like crazy and did some deep grunts and let out my own long and loud bugle. As I was walking out of the woods back to my vehicle I continued to hear them going back and forth.
Best hunting I ever had was when I was lost down by Mount Saint Helens. I would always get me an elk. Then I had to figure out where I was and how to get back. After two days of packing each section out, I went to drive out and I spotted a familiar area about 100 yards away from where he had laid. The road was not visible from where I was at and I basically tracked over a hill top and along a swamp. Basically walked about five miles to where I had came into the woods. As John Wayne said, Life is hard, It is even harder if your stupid!’ I have learned from that lesson though!
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You can smell the air as it changes. That distinct smell of fall in the air. Just wait for it,… just wait,… here it comes!
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