In any event as I type this, bow season in NYS opens up Oct 1st this year which is next Wednesday. I have come out of retirement and am working in the insurance business again doing mostly Final Expense Senior Life and Medicare Advantage Plans and Supplements. For that reason my bow season will likely be limited to weekends in October.
I wanted to jot down a few thoughts on gun season this year. Last year on opening day of gun I took a decent 8 point buck with the .308 Winchester using a 150 grain SST. You can read the article as to my thoughts on the SST load for whitetails. I harvested the buck on the spot and it is hard to argue with success. On the other hand if the buck had not expired where he stood the blood trail would have been dismal at best in dry leaves. I sighted in the Ruger .270 Win with 150 grain Winchester Power Points this year and the Savage Weather Warrior w/accu-trigger with 150 grain Win PP also. That being said, the upcoming season this year, I have my Marlin model 1895 45-70 set about 1.5 inches high at 75 yards and dead center with the Hornady 325 grain Lever Evolution loads which allows me a dead on chest hold out to 150 yards or so. I have wanted to take a whitetail for some time with the 45-70 and recently I thought to myself, "Dan, if you are serious about taking any whitetails with the 45-70, then you have to carry it with you and LEAVE the .308, .270 Win etc. at home."
Good advice, so I am going to listen to myself, carry the 45-70 with the Wild West Trigger installed and see if I can't make it happen. Where I hunt, 200 yard shots do exist, however I do not go looking for them. 80% of the deer I have killed have been under 100 yards with the remaining 20% under 150. With a 325 grain .45 caliber load, I do not need to worry about entrance and exit holes and visible blood trails either. If the 325 grain load is in the vitals I should not have to worry about a blood trail anyway.
I have always been a "Gun Nut" since I was around 7 years old and got my first Red Ryder lever action BB gun. I graduated to a break action .117 cal pellet rifle to a .22 LR, .22 Win Mag, .222 Sako etc. etc. I have always had a love for shooting, hunting and the outdoors and I pray I never lose the desire or the opportunity.
Here is an excerpt from last years deer post and a link:
http://gunsandoptics.blogspot.com/2013/10/deer-season-2013-nys.html
LAST YEAR'S THOUGHTS ON THE 150 GRAIN SST LOAD USED TO TAKE THE 8 POINT:
http://gunsandoptics.blogspot.com/search/label/Deer%20Bullets
EXCERPT from previous post:
Got by on about 4 hours sleep last night and got up to Tim's and on our stands on time. Tim took a nice 9 point buck before 8 AM. I looked for the elusive 11 point buck mentioned in the stories above today, however he remained elusive. I did manage to take a nice 8 point around 2:15 PM this afternoon down below Tim's pond. I had it in my head all week to hunt down below the pond today and it proves that hunches sometimes pay off. I saw a total of 10 deer today, most of which were does and a couple of smaller bucks.
Tim took his 9 point from his tree stand using his Ruger Model 77 .300 Win Mag with hand loads. I shot the 8 point with the Hornady 150 Grain SST load out of my Savage Weather Warrior .308 Win.
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