With the 2009 hunting season drawing to a close, let's see some pictures of animals bagged. Be sure to include whether or not you used a milsurp in hunting. My season was very slow. Only made it out a time or two in rifle season, shot a small 4x4 whitetail before thanksgiving (no photo yet) out of desperation as it was the end of the season. It was a very slow year for everyone around here. I'm friends with the local taxidermist, and he showed me the largest deer he received this year, nothing to brag about there. The rut came very, very late this year. Coolest thing this season, my bro in law's neighbor found two dead whitetail with the antlers locked up, drowned in the river. I'll have to see if I can find the pic. So here's your chance to share your experience for the season.

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Be careful, the toes you step on today may be attached to the butt you have to kiss.
Lord, give me patience, because if You give me strength, I'm also gonna need bail money.

Took my Enfield No.4 out. Didn't see diddly squat for the first couple of days. Heard some bleating but saw nothing. Picked up some scents and a call from work and put them to use. A doe appeared within 5 minutes but I didn't have a permit so I let her go. Few hours later a buck and his lady friend turned up about 150 yards away in the field. I tried calling him in but he wasn't having any of it and started to wander off. Sod it, even though all I could see was his arse I thought I'd take my shot. I peeked through the irons and touched off a round, which naturally missed. Everything went to slow-motion as he took off, bounding up and down as he bolted for the woods. The No.4's action was slick as I popped off another 2 rounds at a running deer 180-200 yards away. I gave chase and tracked the git for as far as I could, but nothing. Havn't seen anything since

Same experience for a lot of people locally. Even some of the veteran hunters I know havn't even seen a deer the whole season.

Here's a pic of the deer that were locked up. I'll also throw in a pic of the bull my brother shot in the Bob Marshall Wilderness back in September.

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Be careful, the toes you step on today may be attached to the butt you have to kiss.
Lord, give me patience, because if You give me strength, I'm also gonna need bail money.

My first muley in WY last Oct
Ruger M77,3006 Nosler ballistic tip reload

This is my first successful hunt. I used a stock Romanian M1969 training rifle with Federal bulk 22 hollow points. One standing shot from 30 yards using the side of a tree as a support.

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"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they protect."

I can't believe you are bragging about such unethical actions. Around here such actions would geet YOUR ARSE kicked.

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Support Our Military.
United States Army (Retired)
SFC USA Infantry 1968 - 1991
"These are my credentials!"

+1 if someone did that while hunting with me or my uncles it would be their LAST hunt with us or on our property. plus they'd have a long sore walk home.

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THE ZOMBIES ARE LOOKING FOR BRAINS!! don't worry you're safe.
IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!!!
"so this is how liberty dies. to thunderous applause" queen amadala

Didn't realise I was bragging, sorry. I was describing another unsuccessful year hunting.

Unethical? You mean firing at it's arse? Or firing while it's running broadside? I was taught neither was unethical, but the former might get messy. Still, that's coming from a 65 year old veteran who had to do such things or his family went hungry that winter. Not ideal I know, but not like some of the s**t the slickers pull up here.

I hunt in the middle of 70 acres of private land with natural backstop all around and shooting downhill. A miss is hitting the dirt and nothing else, and usually drives the deer off for the season. I get the one chance all season and try to make it count.

We mean this:

May I be blunt?
You do not fire at the target unless and until you have confirmed the target is actually an eligible target, by seeing the whole deer
I'm not sorry if that sounds like hunter's safety 101. People in my state have been killed because some jackass thinking he was a hunter decided to take your course of action and what they thought was a deer was a person. I'm sure Maine isn't the only state that's had that happen.

And another problem was the fact that you took a shot that would not have been a first kill shot.
Assuming that you had properly and correctly identified the target as an eligible game animal, firing at the rear end is not only "not ideal" but also unacceptable. An ethical hunter doesn't take a shot that they realize would only wound, not kill. I had an opportunity to take a second shot at an animal that was running from me. I had already taken (and missed) a perfect broadside shot, and had cycled the bolt. By the time I had cycled the bolt, the deer was already running away from me, presenting me a target that was quartered away but the largest part was his rear end. I made the decision to pass up the shot because I knew that: A) I probably was not going to hit the target; and B) Even if I hit the target, I would only wound the animal. Never mind the wasted meat, which, as important as it was to preserve meat, it was more important that the animal be DEAD, not wounded. It's one thing to have to shoot an animal twice because the first shot that should have killed it, didn't. It's another thing entirely to wound the animal deliberately prior to taking the kill shot because "It's the best shot".

Of course, this is coming from someone who's hunting once, compared to someone who's been hunting much longer, so what does a slicker like me know, right?

steve c is right on target. unless it is a matter of life and death you never never never take a shot that has almost no chance of a kill and extremely high chance of a injured animal escaping to die a slow lingering death. unless you break the pelvic girdle the animal will most likely escape and die from massive infection from the perforated bowels and intestines. not a pretty or quick death. every year when we hunted we would find deer that some dang fool would butt shot or use too little gun on or try for a head shot. most having shown signs of taking days to die. my grandfather and most of the hunters i learned to hunt from would stand in line to beat my *ss if i tried something like that.

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THE ZOMBIES ARE LOOKING FOR BRAINS!! don't worry you're safe.
IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!!!
"so this is how liberty dies. to thunderous applause" queen amadala

Then I apologise and I will try and better educate myself for the future. Thank you gentlemen

FYI, I was 100% positive it was a buck, I had been watching it feed before shooting. I will take better care in future though with regard to shot placement.

It's hard to pass up any kind of shot, especially when that may be the only buck you'll see that trip and you get one weekend a year to hunt, but I'm slowly learning to only take the shots that I am confident that I can make. As a new hunter, I know what you're going through and I appreciate you learning from it.

Last week I passed up a rear shot on a squirrel- considering the size of a 22 slug relative to a squirrel it probably would have died but it would most likely suffer unnecessarily and I'd waste a lot of the meat. I was kicking myself for passing over it but about 10 minutes later right at the end of legal hunting hours I saw another squirrel on the side of a tree and got a clean shot off.

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"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they protect."

Pleased to hear your response. It shows maturity and I am sure you understand our points now. Good hunting. Bill aka Sarge.

_________________
Support Our Military.
United States Army (Retired)
SFC USA Infantry 1968 - 1991
"These are my credentials!"

thanks alex that's all we ask

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THE ZOMBIES ARE LOOKING FOR BRAINS!! don't worry you're safe.
IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!!!
"so this is how liberty dies. to thunderous applause" queen amadala

I'm also working on trying not to be such an arguementative p***k these days too, fyi