Hunting 24/25: big bucks and a lot of ducks!

[RMac5 1538]

Love the 25-06 and the 7mm-08.

[fattyflattie 4630]

Weatherbys mentioned in the same vein as Creedmore smgdh.  

[Ragde 235]

11 hours ago, sith_horn said:

I'd probably have recommended a .308 Win.

Had i asked better questions that's what i would own.

[BabaYaga 15108]

.308 is a "parent" round.  Necked down over the years, you get the 7-08 (my personal favorite), and the venerable .243

30-06 is the parent round for the beforementioned .270 and 25.06

One is a short-action, the '06 line is a long-action.  Thing is, there is no perfect round.  That's the trap these manufacturers have set for everyone.  There is perfect shot placement, and bigger or smaller holes.  Most hunting is done <150yds, meaning even lower end hunting rifles will group comparable to much more expensive options.  Practice and train on what you have and be as proficient as you can be and have some fun with it.  If you want to upgrade later, upgrade your optics - that's where you will see the biggest improvement.  

[BabaYaga 15108]

8 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

Weatherbys mentioned in the same vein as Creedmore smgdh.  

Porsche vs Toyota Supra.....

[BHMCruiser 1804]

14 hours ago, sith_horn said:

I'd probably have recommended a .308 Win.

Hard to go wrong with holy trinity of .30-'06, .270, .308. All fantastic deer guns. 

[Herbie Hancock 7267]

I have .270, .308, 7mag and 6.5 cm all ready to hit the field at any time, but the 143 grain ELDX in 6.5cm from Hornady is so damn quiet with my Silencerco Hybrid 46 that I almost always get a shot at a second deer. It flies flat and I have never missed inside of 300 yards with it. I haven’t missed beyond 300 yards either, but that’s because I don’t possess the talent to take those kind of shots

[DalTxHornFan 3062]

1 hour ago, Herbie Hancock said:

I have .270, .308, 7mag and 6.5 cm all ready to hit the field at any time, but the 143 grain ELDX in 6.5cm from Hornady is so damn quiet with my Silencerco Hybrid 46 that I almost always get a shot at a second deer. It flies flat and I have never missed inside of 300 yards with it. I haven’t missed beyond 300 yards either, but that’s because I don’t possess the talent to take those kind of shots

 

[Herbie Hancock 7267]

 

I’ve never been much on embellishing the truth, mainly because I have a terrible memory and the truth is a lot easier to remember. But in this instance I have associates that are capable at distances that I’ve never dreamt of. A few years ago between Miami and Canadian I witnessed an 862 yard shot drop a Muley in his tracks. Can’t bullshit that crowd they’d sniff me out quick.

[Ragde 235]

3 hours ago, Herbie Hancock said:

I have .270, .308, 7mag and 6.5 cm all ready to hit the field at any time, but the 143 grain ELDX in 6.5cm from Hornady is so damn quiet with my Silencerco Hybrid 46 that I almost always get a shot at a second deer. It flies flat and I have never missed inside of 300 yards with it. I haven’t missed beyond 300 yards either, but that’s because I don’t possess the talent to take those kind of shots

The Hornady 143g eldx seems to be the round of choice for the 6.5. The debate always goes back to shot placement and round selection. 

[fattyflattie 4630]

36 minutes ago, Ragde said:

The Hornady 143g eldx seems to be the round of choice for the 6.5. The debate always goes back to shot placement and round selection. 

6.5CM gets a lot of shit because there’s ALOT of people that set the feeder between 75 and 100yds on the dot.  For quite a while, they commonly available bullet choices didn’t really perform at that speed/distance.    Not the calibers fault, but it got a lot of shit ie:Bleedmore.   Add on top of that crowd made crossfitters and vegans seem downright humble and there you go.   Made for some fantastic memes though.   
 

10 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Porsche vs Toyota Supra.....

I was largely joking, and if I didn’t mostly cut myself off in a quest for a Pgun I’d have already acquired one of those new .22CM’s.   But yeah Roy isn’t rolling over his his grave over it. Now off to spend $100 on this seasons box of shells  

[Herbie Hancock 7267]

The Hornady 143g eldx seems to be the round of choice for the 6.5. The debate always goes back to shot placement and round selection. 

I have moved to all ELDX across the board and it’s been great. It’s a bitch to find the 7mag 162gr, but everything else is readily available at academy. And given where everything used to make bullets comes from, I’m sufficiently stocked for the next few decades on everything.

[CHIEF 5034]

I usually shoot my Sako .300WSM now, but with a much smaller place and 100 yard shots, I think I am going to drop back down to my .243. It's a fucking tack driver with almost zero recoil. I have been shooting it for over 50 years, ever since I was five and weighed about 50 pounds. Our buddy, on the lease, has a twelve year old daughter, it would be perfect for her to borrow. It is considered a youth model now, back when my old man bought it, it was called a varmint special.

CHIEF

[fattyflattie 4630]

4 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

I usually shoot my Sako .300WSM now, but with a much smaller place and 100 yard shots, I think I am going to drop back down to my .243. It's a fucking tack driver with almost zero recoil. I have been shooting it for over 50 years, ever since I was five and weighed about 50 pounds. Our buddy, on the lease, has a twelve year old daughter, it would be perfect for her to borrow. It is considered a youth model now, back when my old man bought it, it was called a varmint special.

CHIEF

I bought my oldest daughter a 243 model 7 with really nice stock on it, a unicorn by Rem standards.  I bought it when she was very young and then fell in love with it - it drives tacks with the smaller pills.  It’s way too nice for a kid so she’ll get it when she gets older, and the little Ruger 300BO will have to do until then. But I loved that little 243 so much I bought early 50’s Flaigs Sako that had been fitted with a beautiful stock and a heavy Douglas barrel.  It loves ammo more sized towards deer and it’s difficult to leave in the safe when I head to the ranch.  243 is such a great round for Texas. 

[CHIEF 5034]

17 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I bought my oldest daughter a 243 model 7 with really nice stock on it, a unicorn by Rem standards.  I bought it when she was very young and then fell in love with it - it drives tacks with the smaller pills.  It’s way too nice for a kid so she’ll get it when she gets older, and the little Ruger 300BO will have to do until then. But I loved that little 243 so much I bought early 50’s Flaigs Sako that had been fitted with a beautiful stock and a heavy Douglas barrel.  It loves ammo more sized towards deer and it’s difficult to leave in the safe when I head to the ranch.  243 is such a great round for Texas. 

For sure. .243 was actually a sniper round developed for the LAPD in the early 1950's. A necked down .308 brass with a .243 diameter bullet. Low recoil with high velocity let the sniper relax and not worry about recoil, and the velocity meant it was very accurate out to 300 yards.

Our stand is big enough to have a gun rack that holds five guns, so I'm probably gonna stock it with:

1. .243 Winchester

2. .300 WSM

3. Suppressed .450BM shooting 395gr. subs

4. Suppressed .300BO shooting 220gr. subs with thermal

5. .17 HMR for coons and other small varmints

All of these rifles need to be shot more than they are currently. The landowner has asked us to shoot as many hogs and coyotes as possible. The .243 will accomplish most of that. I ear holed a hog about ten years ago with the .243 while he was running and his head was bobbing up and down in some broom weeds. When we got back to camp, CHIEF Jr. insisted that we go to town for me to buy a lottery ticket, as he said, "ain't nobody THAT skilled, you are just one lucky motherfucker."

We are headed up tomorrow to put out two more feeders that we have laying around. A couple of the guys don't have feeders, they left them at their last lease. We also have a connection to a company that sells old astroturf that was removed from football fields. We had it at our last lease, and it does wonders for keeping from tracking mud into your campsite and trailers. We bought two 40'x15' rolls for $600. This shit is thick, with the crumbled rubber still in it. Each roll weighs about 3500 lbs. If any of you DFW area hunters want some, DM me and I can get you the contact info, they have about 40 rolls still at their yard. They are off of Sun Valley just north of where I20 and Loop 820 intersect in SE Ft. Worth.

CHIEF

[Jerry Callo 8625]

Last dove hunt of the season.  Not many birds flying this morning.   Just enough for breakfast. 

Good luck to all you big game hunters! 

[Storm the Field 5232]

Not loving the forecast for Opening Weekend. Currently 80% chance of storms on Thursday, 65% on Friday, 50% on Saturday out at my lease.

I mean, we definitely need some rain after 6+ weeks of drought, but really, that's the weekend that the dam finally bursts?!?!

[DalTxHornFan 3062]

58 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Not loving the forecast for Opening Weekend. Currently 80% chance of storms on Thursday, 65% on Friday, 50% on Saturday out at my lease.

I mean, we definitely need some rain after 6+ weeks of drought, but really, that's the weekend that the dam finally bursts?!?!

True Texans never complain about rain.

[BabaYaga 15108]

17 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

6.5CM gets a lot of shit because there’s ALOT of people that set the feeder between 75 and 100yds on the dot.  For quite a while, they commonly available bullet choices didn’t really perform at that speed/distance.    Not the calibers fault, but it got a lot of shit ie:Bleedmore.   Add on top of that crowd made crossfitters and vegans seem downright humble and there you go.   Made for some fantastic memes though.   
 

I was largely joking, and if I didn’t mostly cut myself off in a quest for a Pgun I’d have already acquired one of those new .22CM’s.   But yeah Roy isn’t rolling over his his grave over it. Now off to spend $100 on this seasons box of shells  

Under 500yds 7-08 outperforms the 6.5 in almost every category while having the added option of stabilizing much larger pills.   It was a darling on the bench rest circuit for decades before the 6.5 came on the scene.  

44 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

True Texans never complain about rain.

Amen

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4955]

The hunting should dictate the caliber, not the other way around, unless youare one of those poor souls like me who like to wander around in the woods with a traditional muzzleloader or something like that. There are plenty of new hot rounds out there that are great for their specific application, but if your application is taking 100 yard shots or 200 yards shots or whatever, you should pick a round that is made for that and is commonly available at any outdoors store near where you hunt. 

[CleverNickname 1279]

WTB 7mm08 bolt action (rh), preferably something with a compact stock. Son is using borrowed rifle for his first hunt this year. Looking for Christmas gift. He mentioned enjoying the classic look of a wood stock. All I can find locally are synthetic stocks. PM me if you have one sitting in a safe, yearning to be free.

[Izhmash 552]

I'm surprised this caliber argument persists so well with time. Since scopes have both evolved and become more readily available to allow a quick adjustment of dope, almost any caliber can be made into a shooter at practical hunting ranges. This has been said above, but practice with your own and knowing the rifle, the load, and the conditions around you all matter more than the caliber (imho).

I have a lot of friends that spend a lot of money (in my accounting) on multiple factory rifles...I always recommend selling them and going custom build with one caliber that you can then work towards achieving excellence with it. You don't even have to go all in...just get a local smith to throw on a good barrel, bed the action, maybe work the trigger a bit, and thread the fucking barrel. Get a high quality scope (2nd hand is fine). Purchase the equipment and learn to load (or join a friend to help get you started....or test out 4-5 different custom loads from suppliers and see what works best for your setup, as an alternatively to loading yourself). Suppress it if within your means.

For CenTex, I love my little 300BO Rem 7 build...it's quiet, light weight / convenient, insanely accurate with tsx handloads, and I trust my little NF 2.5-10x24 to dial it in at any range within 300 yds (limiting to that because I haven't practiced with it further). It eats venison and piggies all day long.

[PortAHorn 21]

Texas hill country management buck 

[sith_horn 2320]

7 hours ago, CleverNickname said:

WTB 7mm08 bolt action (rh), preferably something with a compact stock. Son is using borrowed rifle for his first hunt this year. Looking for Christmas gift. He mentioned enjoying the classic look of a wood stock. All I can find locally are synthetic stocks. PM me if you have one sitting in a safe, yearning to be free.

You might consider the Browning X-Bolt Hunter Micro Midas. It has a 20" barrel which is about ideal IMO. Short enough to be maneuverable, but any shorter and muzzle blast gets obnoxiously loud. Browning's bolt knob is a little different from most.

Ruger has a compact 7mm-08 Hawkeye, but the barrel is 16.5" - a deal breaker for me and frankly, quite possibly flinch inducing for a young hunter even if the recoil itself isn't bad. In the used department, a Remington Model 7 might be an option if you can find one in acceptable condition/price.

Link to Browning X-Bolt Hunter Micro Midas 7mm-08 20" NIB - Gunbroker.com

Not suggesting you buy from gunbroker, but it's not a bad place to see what is available out there.

As for not seeing anything locally. I've been willing to drive some distance after calling around to see if a gun I want is in stock at surrounding gunshops. Other option is to have your local shop order one which may or may not mean paying full MSRP depending on the shop.

[fattyflattie 4630]

5 hours ago, sith_horn said:

In the used department, a Remington Model 7 might be an option if you can find one in acceptable condition/price.

That was going to be my recommendation.  But the prices are crazy for last couple years.   More than I’d pay anyhow.  I’ve been looking at building a rem 7 300BO for awhile but can’t wrap my head around the prices.  

[Anastasis 23190]

Was late getting feeders and cameras up and running, but starting to get some action. 

[Storm the Field 5232]

All I've been picking up on the camera I set up a month ago is pigs late at night/super early in the morning, usually between 10 pm and 2 am. I genuinely think the excessively warm and dry weather the past ~6-8 weeks at our place has altered feeding behavior. We were seeing a lot more action around morning and evening feed times earlier in the Summer. Very rarely lately have we been picking up anything, deer or pigs, during daylight hours. It's been a good 30 degrees cooler late at night than during the day where we are. 

There's a group of doe that have been stopping by 1 specific stand almost every evening the past 3 weeks, but usually not until a good 30 minutes after sundown, close to 2.5 hours after the feeder goes off. They hung around grazing from about 7:30 to 7:45 last night. Nice buck showed up about 30 minutes later. Frustrating.

One of the guys was out there this weekend and went ahead and set clocks back an hour and adjusted feed times to pre-emptively account for the DST changeover next weekend. We'll see if/how the animals adjust this week.

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:53 PM by Storm the Field

[Storm the Field 5232]

4 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Was late getting feeders and cameras up and running, but starting to get some action. 

Nice tall horns there. What county?

[Anastasis 23190]

2 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Nice tall horns there. What county?

Medina. Just north of 90. Low fence 165 acres, about half of it coastal. 

[Spaulding Smails 1548]

Took my son out for youth opener this weekend.  The last year that he's eligible.  He didn't see much of anything moving.  Just a few young bucks running together.  So, we knocked out some chores, ran into town, ate fajitas and enjoyed the time together.

Meanwhile from back home Saturday night, my wife sends me this pic.  She said this guy was sitting in our front pasture as she pulled in from picking my daughter up from a halloween party.  Crappy picture zoomed in and through the windshield, but he's a tank.  We might need to scrap the 2 hour drive to the ranch and hunt from the front porch this weekend.  

[Izhmash 552]

I can't believe I'm saying this....maybe it's because I'm old, or just cranky about life, or perhaps both....but I'm seriously considering delaying until next weekend. Fuck this hot weather BS. The lows don't get any lower than 66 where I'm hunting. Just depressing.

@Spaulding Smails That is a good looking deer. Wish I had one like that...even if just to look at.

[BabaYaga 15108]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

Low fence 165 acres

High fence that bitch!  

[BabaYaga 15108]

On 10/27/2024 at 6:45 AM, CleverNickname said:

WTB 7mm08 bolt action (rh), preferably something with a compact stock. Son is using borrowed rifle for his first hunt this year. Looking for Christmas gift. He mentioned enjoying the classic look of a wood stock. All I can find locally are synthetic stocks. PM me if you have one sitting in a safe, yearning to be free.

CZ 557 American

[Storm the Field 5232]

13 minutes ago, Izhmash said:

I can't believe I'm saying this....maybe it's because I'm old, or just cranky about life, or perhaps both....but I'm seriously considering delaying until next weekend. Fuck this hot weather BS. The lows don't get any lower than 66 where I'm hunting. Just depressing.

Forecast of 82/65 and 40% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday at my lease. That's following 2 days of heavy rain on Thursday and Friday.

Looks like it will be damn near perfect in time for Weekend 2, but unfortunately I'm gonna be out of state for a football road trip. If I decided to sit out this weekend, I wouldn't be able to make it out until 11/15, so a warm, wet Opening Weekend slopping around in the mud it is. 

[Anastasis 23190]

3 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

High fence that bitch!  

lulz. In some spots it’s no fence. And depending on the day may be open gate. 

[DalTxHornFan 3062]

54 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

lulz. In some spots it’s no fence. And depending on the day may be open gate. 

Good decision.  Way too small of a place to high fence without some odd genetics happening.

[Storm the Field 5232]

19 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

All I've been picking up on the camera I set up a month ago is pigs late at night/super early in the morning, usually between 10 pm and 2 am.

Right on cue:

[Ragde 235]

I hated all the hogs when i was on a lease in East Texas. After moving to Arkansas to hunt i never see any. Not sure if its the mountains or the bears but they are few and far between. I miss having a chance at one.

[CHIEF 5034]

17 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

Forecast of 82/65 and 40% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday at my lease. That's following 2 days of heavy rain on Thursday and Friday.

Looks like it will be damn near perfect in time for Weekend 2, but unfortunately I'm gonna be out of state for a football road trip. If I decided to sit out this weekend, I wouldn't be able to make it out until 11/15, so a warm, wet Opening Weekend slopping around in the mud it is. 

I look at moon phases. This weekend is supposed to be a really good weekend, next weekend is poor to fair, the following weekend is supposed to be excellent. Of course, when the rut is going on, all days should be considered good hunting days.

CHIEF

[CHIEF 5034]

We are opening feed pens, or are not building new ones for about two weeks. Letting the hogs clean up the broom weeds and dead grass to expose the ground so the deer will be able to find the corn:

This feeder has been up only since Saturday, this doe started hitting it on Monday morning, she has been there every morning since:

CHIEF

[Storm the Field 5232]

4 hours ago, CHIEF said:

We are opening feed pens, or are not building new ones for about two weeks. Letting the hogs clean up the broom weeds and dead grass to expose the ground so the deer will be able to find the corn:

Come borrow some of ours. They've cleared out some nice 25 yard circles around our feeders. Nothing but rutted up sand.

Funny enough, me and some of the other guys on my lease just spent part of the morning talking about putting up hog panel fencing at our 2 newest stands. Hogs have really taken over those feeders this year. Deer rarely ever get a chance to come eat in peace.

We estimate it'll be about $300 per feeder to put up 6 16-feet panels and a t-post every 4 feet. That sound about right?

[DalTxHornFan 3062]

47 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Come borrow some of ours. They've cleared out some nice 25 yard circles around our feeders. Nothing but rutted up sand.

Funny enough, me and some of the other guys on my lease just spent part of the morning talking about putting up hog panel fencing at our 2 newest stands. Hogs have really taken over those feeders this year. Deer rarely ever get a chance to come eat in peace.

We estimate it'll be about $300 per feeder to put up 6 16-feet panels and a t-post every 4 feet. That sound about right?

You may be underestimating the amount of time that you'll spend putting them back up after the hogs knock them down.

[fattyflattie 4630]

41 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

You may be underestimating the amount of time that you'll spend putting them back up after the hogs knock them down.

I’ve had real good luck with my pens.   But those fuckers have tried for sure. 

[CHIEF 5034]

1 hour ago, Storm the Field said:

Come borrow some of ours. They've cleared out some nice 25 yard circles around our feeders. Nothing but rutted up sand.

Funny enough, me and some of the other guys on my lease just spent part of the morning talking about putting up hog panel fencing at our 2 newest stands. Hogs have really taken over those feeders this year. Deer rarely ever get a chance to come eat in peace.

We estimate it'll be about $300 per feeder to put up 6 16-feet panels and a t-post every 4 feet. That sound about right?

After decades of putting up feeder pens, we have come to realize on low fence ranches, the feeder pen has to be huge for big bucks to ever come in and eat and be seen on camera. Our best luck has been using 18 t-posts, and 9 hog panels. It is about 40 foot in diameter. Low fence monsters are not used to being in a spot where they feel hemmed in, and that they can't escape quickly. There are a few spots, on the ranch we are on now, where we can rebuild larger feed pens, but the smaller existing pens were put in with a rock drill. The former leasee owned an oilfield construction company. For some reason smaller pens don't seem to worry does and smaller, young bucks, but I have never had a mature buck go into the smaller feeder pen. They will just eat around the outside edges, and the corned roads. The 180" deer a buddy shot off of our lease, last year, was never seen on camera until we rebuilt a larger feed pen.

CHIEF

[DalTxHornFan 3062]

15 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

After decades of putting up feeder pens, we have come to realize on low fence ranches, the feeder pen has to be huge for big bucks to ever come in and eat and be seen on camera. Our best luck has been using 18 t-posts, and 9 hog panels. It is about 40 foot in diameter. Low fence monsters are not used to being in a spot where they feel hemmed in, and that they can't escape quickly. There are a few spots, on the ranch we are on now, where we can rebuild larger feed pens, but the smaller existing pens were put in with a rock drill. The former leasee owned an oilfield construction company. For some reason smaller pens don't seem to worry does and smaller, young bucks, but I have never had a mature buck go into the smaller feeder pen. They will just eat around the outside edges, and the corned roads. The 180" deer a buddy shot off of our lease, last year, was never seen on camera until we rebuilt a larger feed pen.

CHIEF

Many years ago near Brady we built some big pens like that with welded and cemented iron posts and such.  The ranch sold six months later, we lost the lease, and we were out a bunch of money!  Hope they are enjoying our pens!

[CHIEF 5034]

19 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Many years ago near Brady we built some big pens like that with welded and cemented iron posts and such.  The ranch sold six months later, we lost the lease, and we were out a bunch of money!  Hope they are enjoying our pens!

That sucks. We always just use t-posts and panels, no concrete or anything. I have a gas t-post driver, and a t-post puller. We can build a big pen, or take it down in about an hour. It's also the reason I was opposed to putting a storage container at our lease from last year. If you move one onto the ranch it had to be removed if you left. We left one about fifteen years ago on a lease in Aspermont. I figured out don't put anything permanent, or hard to move onto a piece of property unless you own it.

CHIEF

[DalTxHornFan 3062]

7 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

That sucks. We always just use t-posts and panels, no concrete or anything. I have a gas t-post driver, and a t-post puller. We can build a big pen, or take it down in about an hour. It's also the reason I was opposed to putting a storage container at our lease from last year. If you move one onto the ranch it had to be removed if you left. We left one about fifteen years ago on a lease in Aspermont. I figured out don't put anything permanent, or hard to move onto a piece of property unless you own it.

CHIEF

Lesson well learned!

[Herbie Hancock 7267]

Wind has been insane. Blew so hard it was spinning my feeder plate and I’ve got about a 100 pound pile of corn on the ground. Fuckin hell

[Anastasis 23190]

23 hours ago, CHIEF said:

We are opening feed pens, or are not building new ones for about two weeks. Letting the hogs clean up the broom weeds and dead grass to expose the ground so the deer will be able to find the corn:

This feeder has been up only since Saturday, this doe started hitting it on Monday morning, she has been there every morning since:

 

CHIEF

 

Looks like I will be taking the AR with me when I head out to the lease this year. I am getting pics like this at both feeders. 

 

[BabaYaga 15108]

Soooooo, I have a friend who guides on the weekends at a local place south of DFW.  Everyone know what an Eland is?  Largest African antelope species.  Think Moose, but bigger, faster, and stronger.  This fella' below is roughly 3k lbs of walking food disposal.  He's eating them out of house and home.  At this point they need him gone.  Price is dropped all the way down to $6500 with room to negotiate lower.  

And that's the problem.  That price is a steal, but now you have maybe 1,800lbs of meat +/- that I don't have the room to keep.  That's roughly three mature elks in the freezer at the same time.  I want to so bad.....