Firearms - Hunting/Target thread

[|iR|Focalor]

I live in CANADA EH!!! Sooo people like me shady characters can get a Gun but why do that when you get one Illegally much more effective at preventing yourself from ever being in a cage depending what you need it for if it is 100% all the fucking time use for what ever protection,intimidation,pistol whipping etc etc than you can get it registered but you better fucking sleep with that shit unloaded and JAMMED all the fucking way into your anus with like internal hooks that will make a sharp pain from a small cut in the Anus causing you to wake the fuck up attacking who ever is trying to STEAL your Gun and use it to frame your asss for Murder.

Why would you be worried about anyone framing you for murder when you've already publicly admitted that you obtained an illegal firearm? A felony is still a felony.

[Sgt. Dick]

I like Thomas 

[|iR|Focalor]

My favorite time of the year is here again.

Deer season opened in Georgia last week. Bows only from September 14th until October 11th. Then the Primitive weapons week from October 12th until the 18th, which is bows and muzzleloaders. Then it gets serious with Rifle season from October 19th until New Years Day.

I didn't bag jack shit last year. And I promised myself after last year was a bust that I'd make damn sure that this year I'd be well prepared, but that didn't happen. Been so preoccupied with other shit that it kinda crept up on me while I was sitting here oblivious. Was hoping to be out in the woods on the very first morning of it, but... nope.

So gonna get started early this week at least getting set up for the season in a few areas. In the past, I've only hunted on the property right behind my house. Gonna broaden my area a bit this year and have some more options. I've got another piece of property a short ways up the road from my neighborhood that I'm gonna hunt, and maybe one or two other areas that I think will be good spots to watch. I'm not entirely sure about the legality of these other spots, but I've seen signs of other people scouting the same area in the past for shed antlers before the season started. Good signs. As in... the dude wasn't around, but his truck was parked there and there were several sets of smaller shed antlers in the bed of his truck, so obviously he'd been scouting way back up in there. That was probably 5 years ago, and maybe the same guy hunts the area still, but unless someone tells me NOT TO, I'm gonna give it a go. It's a spot right off the highway beside a bridge, and if one gives a shit enough to do it, you can wander probably several miles along that stream either trying to spot-n-stalk or just set up some lures and a blind or a stand and wait for them to come to you. Once you get up in there off the highway and the few houses that line it, there's just miles and miles of untouched woods prime for deer to roam. Plan is to find a nice place with not a whole lot of bushes and shit, some hills on either side of me, and find a nice tree in the middle to sit in with some scent lures hanging around and maybe keep a spot or two in view of it stocked with corn or something to entice daily visits. If fucking corns gonna do the trick though, I guess at my house is probably gonna be the hottest spot. Got half a field of corn I didn't even harvest ON PURPOSE. I've seen a few tracks in the dirt around there, but haven't gotten eyes on any deer all summer though.

Probably gonna be lots of effort, but I'm not really looking forward to looking at the same old trees I've been staring at all last year without jack shit wandering though. So even if all the extra running around and time doesn't net anything, at least it'll be a little less boring.

Honestly, reason why it's crept up on me has probably been the weather. It's still very warm, usually into the 80's, so huntings gonna be shit until the leaves start really turning in a few weeks... if it EVER decides to fucking cool off and act like Fall is anywhere near. Man, I hope it's fucking BALLS COLD this winter. Mild as shit winter last year made the insect population INSANE this summer. Also made the hunting pure SHIT last year. I'm ready for a fucking deep freeze already! Kill this fucking biblical plague of insects for next summer and get these damn deer up and on the move so I can bag a few.

[[BTF] Reflex]

Best of luck to ya.

One of these years I'll have to give it a go.  I have several friends who have offered to take me in the past, maybe this will be the year.
Love venison.  Sucks you have to use shotguns in Ohio.

I would love to just hunt in my back yard.  The dog chases deer out of the yard several times a day.  Usually 2-5 doe, but I have video of her chasing a buck over the fence, he didn't quite make it all the way (uphill jump on that side) and scraped his belly enough to send a snowfall of fur across the yard.   I laugh when I watch it, but the Mrs. thinks it's cruel.  Worry about starting a garden here in the spring with as many that come thru.

Thought about getting one with a bow, but with my luck I'd have to chase him across the neighborhood and have to explain things to a cop that would show up while I'm tossing him in my trunk.   

Maybe something like a bear trap?

[|iR|Focalor]

Haha! I dunno, but I don't think "trapping" deer is legal is legal in your state. We've all seen those huge jagged steel jawed bear traps in cartoons and movies, but I don't think those are legal to use on bears in a lot of states either. According to the regulations book for Georgia, only "fur-bearing animals" are legal to trap, and that only includes: mink, otter, raccoon, fox, opossum, muskrat, skunk, bobcat, and weasel.

Are you sure that you HAVE to use a shotgun for hunting deer in Ohio? Ok... in the middle of typing this, just looked up the Ohio regulations. It appears as though you're correct, it doesn't mention rifles for the "Allowable Hunting Equipment", but it does say handguns with a 5 inch minimum barrel length, straight walled cartridges, and 357 caliber or larger. That's messed up. Ohio and Illinois are states famous for their big monster trophy whitetail bucks. I've seen lots of hunting shows shooting episodes in Ohio and I thought I'd seen a few using rifles, but I guess they were all probably using bows.

Ohio DNR looks like a total CUNT about their hunting regs. Shotguns must be 10ga or smaller (no 12ga??? WTF!?!?!), must be one ball or one rifled slug per barrel (so no 00 or 000 buckshot, but I guess they allow side-by-sides/over-unders with slugs, WOW THANKS), and shotguns cannot hold more than 3 shells. So that pretty much rules out most pump shotguns you'll have. Got your standard Mossberg 500 that holds 6 shells? Got a Remington 870 (who doesn't?)? Yeah, leave that shit at home. WTF!?! So they pretty much force you to use a break-barrel shotgun. Let's face it, probably one shot is all you're gonna get anyway even if you DID have a 6 shot automatic. I don't really see the point of restricting it to single shots and 10ga, but I guess they got their reasons... whatever the hell THOSE are.

If I were you and wanted to use a GUN, I guess I'd just go and buy a muzzleloader. The muzzleloaders they make these days are actually pretty much like a regular rifle anyway. It doesn't have to be some 100 foot long flintlock Hawken style frontiersman piece of antiquated crap that you gotta rest on someone's shoulder to hold the muzzle steady when you shoot it. Those things look cool hanging on the wall, but they're not too easy to find anymore, expensive as FUCK, and the barrel length can make it a bitch to hold steady for a precision shot.

edit:

Did a little research here and apparently the modern Hawken versions aren't quite as long or expensive as I thought. Barrel to butt, they're pretty close to a full length shotgun, maybe a tad longer, but only by an inch or two. They're also not too badly priced in comparison to a really good rifle. I thought they'd probably be priced in the 1500 to 2500 dollar range, but I saw one on Midway for about 800. Apparently you can choose from percussion cap or flintlock variety, which is pretty cool if you wanna go all early 1800's for your hunt. Don't see too many people making them other than ThompsonCenter and Traditions.

Did see this:
http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/guns-for-sale-pedersoli.asp?l=en

[Whirlingdervish]

With regards to magazine size in shotgun hunting, we're limitted in bird shooting to 3 rounds fitting in the gun as well, but they make plugs that allow you to shorten up your internal magazine. I'd assume the same goes for deer.

I can use my 870 mag, I just have to shove a little plastic thing in there so it only holds 2 in the mag and one in the chamber.

Usually the fish and game guys drop by my spot on opening day and that's all they check out here as long as you aren't already stumbling drunk a few hours after dawn.


As I recall from my family in Illinois you can use 20ga or 12ga shotguns to take deer but you're better off modifying it heavily to have any chance of hitting cleanly with it. My uncle still has the one that my dad and his brothers used for deer and it has a long rifled barrel, with custom cut stock for a good cheek weld and a short range scope.

[|iR|Focalor]

Well the Ohio regs didn't mention anything about tube plugs, but then again it didn't exactly specify that break-barrels were the only approved shotguns either. So who knows. I still wouldn't feel too good about using slugs though, I'd rather use 000 buck in a 12 gauge. 6 to 9 wounds bleeding out is always better than just one slightly bigger one in my opinion.

Been out the past two mornings setting out wick scents and such. Found what I think is gonna be an excellent spot by the river outside of town. I had to make shitloads of noise clearing out a path with a machete and a bow saw so I could get back to it in the wee hours before the sun comes up without tripping over shit, but I eventually came on a pretty clear marshy area where I saw several tracks and a pretty defined path cutting across the stream and up over the hill on the other side. Got my roommates OlMan stand up in a tree and probably gonna haul a ground blind in and out on the days I might want one so nobody else will steal it if they come back there. It was actually rather cool this morning and wished I had've brought my bow along just in case, but I didn't see anything anyway.

[Krlll Mule]

My favorite time of the year is here again.

Deer season opened in Georgia last week. Bows only from September 14th until October 11th. Then the Primitive weapons week from October 12th until the 18th, which is bows and muzzleloaders. Then it gets serious with Rifle season from October 19th until New Years Day.

I didn't bag jack shit last year. And I promised myself after last year was a bust that I'd make damn sure that this year I'd be well prepared, but that didn't happen. Been so preoccupied with other shit that it kinda crept up on me while I was sitting here oblivious. Was hoping to be out in the woods on the very first morning of it, but... nope.

So gonna get started early this week at least getting set up for the season in a few areas. In the past, I've only hunted on the property right behind my house. Gonna broaden my area a bit this year and have some more options. I've got another piece of property a short ways up the road from my neighborhood that I'm gonna hunt, and maybe one or two other areas that I think will be good spots to watch. I'm not entirely sure about the legality of these other spots, but I've seen signs of other people scouting the same area in the past for shed antlers before the season started. Good signs. As in... the dude wasn't around, but his truck was parked there and there were several sets of smaller shed antlers in the bed of his truck, so obviously he'd been scouting way back up in there. That was probably 5 years ago, and maybe the same guy hunts the area still, but unless someone tells me NOT TO, I'm gonna give it a go. It's a spot right off the highway beside a bridge, and if one gives a shit enough to do it, you can wander probably several miles along that stream either trying to spot-n-stalk or just set up some lures and a blind or a stand and wait for them to come to you. Once you get up in there off the highway and the few houses that line it, there's just miles and miles of untouched woods prime for deer to roam. Plan is to find a nice place with not a whole lot of bushes and shit, some hills on either side of me, and find a nice tree in the middle to sit in with some scent lures hanging around and maybe keep a spot or two in view of it stocked with corn or something to entice daily visits. If fucking corns gonna do the trick though, I guess at my house is probably gonna be the hottest spot. Got half a field of corn I didn't even harvest ON PURPOSE. I've seen a few tracks in the dirt around there, but haven't gotten eyes on any deer all summer though.

Probably gonna be lots of effort, but I'm not really looking forward to looking at the same old trees I've been staring at all last year without jack shit wandering though. So even if all the extra running around and time doesn't net anything, at least it'll be a little less boring.

Honestly, reason why it's crept up on me has probably been the weather. It's still very warm, usually into the 80's, so huntings gonna be shit until the leaves start really turning in a few weeks... if it EVER decides to fucking cool off and act like Fall is anywhere near. Man, I hope it's fucking BALLS COLD this winter. Mild as shit winter last year made the insect population INSANE this summer. Also made the hunting pure SHIT last year. I'm ready for a fucking deep freeze already! Kill this fucking biblical plague of insects for next summer and get these damn deer up and on the move so I can bag a few.

I read somewhere on the interweb that the old Farmers Almanac predicted a "bitterly cold" winter. Don't know if it's true. Only time will tell.

The MS legislature passed a law allowing crossbows for everyone (not just handicapped or 65+) effective this year. Hmmm, houses or cows or whatever too near to safely use a rifle.....that sounds interesting. Especially since deer ate all my garden plot soybeans and I see them all over my yard. It's amazing what critters have shown up since I put my guard dog down. Man, I miss that dog.

I'm strictly meat hunting and won't take a shot greater than 30 yrds, if that. They also must be facing me broadside (pun intended) if I take a shot. Venison is good and good for you. I wish I could get at least 2 or 3, but I need number one first. 

[|iR|Focalor]

I read somewhere on the interweb that the old Farmers Almanac predicted a "bitterly cold" winter. Don't know if it's true. Only time will tell.

We read the same shit apparently. Dunno what method of divination they use, tea leaves, runes, goats blood, who knows. But they're usually pretty accurate. I know last winter was about as barely cool as an early spring day for most of it. I don't recall it dipping into the freezing or even NEAR freezing temps during the day last winter for more than a day or two. Seems like I remember it mostly sticking to the high 40's to low 50's all damn winter long. It was nice not having to heat the house so much, but it seemed to make deer hunting a complete pain in the ass late in the season for most people around here.

And since last year was so mild, I guess it didn't freeze and kill a lot of the insect population. I've been going through Sevin insecticide this summer like it's my job to keep them in business. Hell, a few weeks ago I was out cutting the grass in the front yard and all the sudden I noticed that my little skinny oak tree was FUCKIN' ALIVE! Had THOUSANDS of big fat black caterpillar worms all over it. So I stood out there for about 10 minutes with my spray jug aiming the wand up into it and hosing it down and then watched as it rained back down into my fucking eyeballs .

Weird thing is... I've had caterpillars making one or two little webby nests in that oak tree before, but not enough to make me give a shit about spraying it with Sevin. Usually it's one of my crepe myrtle trees getting tons of japanese beetles on it. Those things are usually japanese beetle magnets when they start to flower and I end up having to set out bag traps around them. But I didn't see the first japanese beetle ANYWHERE in the yard all summer. It's just EVERYTHING ELSE that went crazy and reproduced like wildfire.

Late this summer out in the back, it got REALLY annoying to mow the pasture. It was fucking BIBLICAL! 900billion little bugs of all kinds CONSTANTLY flying around, all up in my nose and mouth and ears, landing on my head and neck, making me literally have to have one hand free AT ALL TIMES to just keep swatting shit at every single moment. Meanwhile I'm pissed as hell at my crappy push mower that ain't got enough balls to it anymore to cut through the grass without stalling out 5million times AND the fact that I'm basically taking a bath in bugs. So I'm cussing like a sailor at my mower and swatting all around like a crazy person hallucinating that bats are attacking him, and I guess my neighbors surely had to have looked out their window at some point and witnessed that shit... like they NEEDED further confirmation that I'm a fucking lunatic anyway. 

But now that I've got a nice John Deere riding mower, I'm a much happier camper. Hell, I'm almost SAD that the summer is coming to an end. I actually enjoy getting to mow the yard now. Also got me a big blue Ford farm tractor for FREE. Old man that I rent some farm land from had an old one from the 80's that he drove into a culvert and broke the front end all to hell. I jumped right the fuck outta my underwear at it when he said he'd give it to me. These things cost more than most peoples cars!

Anyway. After a horrendous summer of insects like this one... BRING ON THE FUCKIN' DEEP FREEZE, I - AM - READY!!!!!

[Krlll Mule]

If you post a pic of a bug I might be able to tell you what it is/isn't. My forte is aquatic, larval insects, but I know my terrestrials too. No brag, just fact. 

Then again, often only the dichotomous keys will get you to the right critter.  I love seeing interesting insects people find. Send me pictures!  Stump the chump.

Now back to real business... what broadheads work quickly? I'm leaning toward the Muzzy fixed head. But I have never even fired a shot at a deer with an arrow. Well, in this case, using a crossbow would imply using a bolt.   

P.S. Sounds like you got a super deal with that John Deere. It will probably outlast you.

[|iR|Focalor]

If you post a pic of a bug I might be able to tell you what it is/isn't. My forte is aquatic, larval insects, but I know my terrestrials too. No brag, just fact. 

Then again, often only the dichotomous keys will get you to the right critter.  I love seeing interesting insects people find. Send me pictures!  Stump the chump.

Now back to real business... what broadheads work quickly? I'm leaning toward the Muzzy fixed head. But I have never even fired a shot at a deer with an arrow. Well, in this case, using a crossbow would imply using a bolt.   

P.S. Sounds like you got a super deal with that John Deere. It will probably outlast you.

I know most of my insects, at least the ones I'm gonna see around here. What was on my oak tree was actually a mixture of mostly tent caterpillars, some kinda hornworm moth that look a little like tent caterpillars (not sure exactly the name of it), and I think maybe a few bagworms too, but not very many of them, only saw maybe 2 or 3 with those weird shells on them that look like dead evergreen tips. They're all deader than hell now though, no way to get a pic of em.

As far as broadheads, the only thing I can tell you is probably cutting diameter is gonna equate to "working quicker". I'm not sure of what the real difference is between fixed blades and the mechanical heads that deploy on impact. If they have any more range or accuracy, it's probably negligible. It's just individual preference I guess. You'd have to read online somewhere from an actual "expert" about stuff like that. I've practiced up enough to become a pretty accurate shot on anything within 100-150 feet, but I'm still a mere amateur and there's a whole bunch I don't know. I've been using a couple sets of Rage 2-blade 100 grain heads since last season. They've got a 2 inch cutting radius, which is pretty large. You can find em slightly wider, but I think 1.5 inch is about the average sized head most people tend to use. I have no idea what the performance difference is between 2 and 3 blade heads, these are just what the guy at the store recommended so I said, "Sure." But one thing I can tell you is that the closer you are to the target, the quicker it's gonna drop. If you're close enough to have enough energy on it, the arrow will pass clean through the deer and out the other side, which is GREAT, because then it's bleeding out faster. But no matter what head or bow or crossbow you use, there is NO substitute for just making an accurate shot. If you can manage to hit the lungs, you're doing it just like you're supposed to, but if you can get good enough to lace one through the heart, it'll crash MUCH quicker.

Hopefully the John Deere will last forever. I started off looking at those zero-turn ExMark mowers like a buddy of mine has for his landscaping business, but they wanted 4 grand or more for those things. About shit my teeth out, had no idea they ran that high. So I settled for a basic riding tractor style instead. Still ended up costing me 2 grand after I got the bagger accessories. Their slogan "Nothing runs like a Deere" ain't bullshit at all. They last forever unless you abuse the shit out of them. Neighborhoods having a garage sale thing this weekend. Hopefully I can unload my old Honda push mower on someone as well as my grandpas old Snapper riding mower. I almost feel guilty trying to sell that one though. It was my grandpas and I know it was his pride and joy until he died in 88 or 89, so there's that. Plus, when I called to get an estimate on getting it back into running shape, they quoted me about 1 grand on it. I only paid 1500 for that new John Deere. So even if I ask 50 bucks for it, whoever buys it is still gonna get royally hosed even if they do all the work themselves. But I really need to get it outta here, it's taking up way too much room in the basement having two riding mowers and two push mowers down there now.

[Krlll Mule]

I will not take a shot unless it is a clean, close shot. I have a feeling I'm going to watch several deer walk by without me taking a shot.  *If words describing what is involved in hunting and eating a wild animal disgusts or sickens you STOP READING NOW! *
I have no experience in skinning or dissecting venison. I have a DVD  and plenty of experienced friends. I plan to eat squirrel and rabbit this winter.  I don't shoot something unless I plan to eat it, out of respect for the creature and the desire to be a good steward of resources around me. Biologically, deer, squirrels, and rabbits need a population thinning periodically or disease and genetic problems will do what we should have done: put the antibiotic/hormone free protein to good use...

Talking to seasoned deer hunters, they agree with you |iR|Focalor....entrance and exit wounds through the lungs is quick. That's what I'm aiming for (pun intended).

[|iR|Focalor]

Hehe, yeah, the skinning and butchering is not for the squeamish. My roommates been using a bow saw to cut the head off usually, but I think we're gonna make it a little quicker and easier and go with a chainsaw this year if we get any. Because who DOESN'T want to pretend they're Richard Kuklinski and cut a head off with a chainsaw?

[|iR|Focalor]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/elks-sparring-photographer-caught-tape-152350689--abc-news-lifestyle.html?vp=1

Dude was lucky it was an extremely young buck. An older one that would've taken the idea to spar on him probably would've thrashed his ass to ribbons.

[Sgt. Dick]

Sometimes stupid works out when you are also lucky.