FSU_Seminole

Re: how good are you at long shots? [ QUOTE ] ok in one of my stands the deer move at the bottem of this hill and its about 200 to 215 yds from right where they move and i saw a shooter buck this evning at 215 yds and Im just not that confident with my gun heres my setup Ruger .270 Bushnell banner 3-9X40 Winchester balistic tip silvertip shells at about 50 yds i can hit a can or pop bottle.........but how much diference is it between 50 yds and 215 yds how much is my bullet going to drop or rise or what ever any addvise is appeciated [/ QUOTE ] Strutt here's the link you need before you go out. http://www.winchester.com/products/catal...FdpbmNoZXN0ZXI= I have all my rifles sighted between 1 to 2.5 inches high at 100 yards. My Rem 700 30.06 is 2.5 high at 100 yards & its dead center out to 225 yards. I have a Browning 7mm that drives tacks at 1.8 inches high at 100 yards. You have plenty of power & magnification with your scope. A 270 130 grain Winchester BT, all you need to do is sight your scope in at 1.4 inches high at 100 yards. You'll be dead on at 200 yards. If you see that buck again at 215 yards just wait for the perfect broadside shot if it presents itselt, center & squeeze the trigger. You'll be dead on, trust me. The Winchester ballistic silver tips are good rounds for long range shooting & a lot of guys here use them in bean fields. Ironically, they aren't good for shooting at the close range of 50 yards. They'll kill a deer at that range but I've shot 2 deer right behind the shoulder less than 100 yards with some Winchester BS in my 7mm and they both ran a couple of hundred yards. All that velocity the bullets went clean through them, hit some vitals but they didn't didn't have time to mushroom properly.

Re: Rut signs Yes I've found a few & I made a mock scrape last Saturday went to check on it the following Wednesday & an oak tree about 10 yards down from it was all torn up & rubbed pretty hard. Seems like I ticked off one of the big boys in the area. The best sign for the rut though is watching does in fields at a food source. If they come into fields at dusk & you see immature bucks harrassing them & chasing them then you know things are about to explode.

Re: Primo\'s Bleat Can The can does work. I haven't called in a B & C giant but when I use it I see does & small bucks. I have the original can & the great big can for calling across bean fields. For those of you who've used it & not seen anything try this. In the winter during the post rut use some doe in heat & then try it. Remember do it during your post rut.

Re: Morning or afternoon? During the first part of the season when its warm afternoons are a lot better for me than mornings because I hunt food sources. When temperates drop in the 50s or below & the rut kicks I see alot of bucks in open fields & trails in the mornings well after sun up. But when the rut is over & winter kicks in, afternoons over a corn field or food plot are the best. That's how its worked out for me thus far.

Re: What do you do While on Stand That really all depends on what time of year it is. If its the early and very late parts of the season I may read a book or a hunting magazine because I'm basically hunting food sources and I expect to see deer right at sunset. If its late October here or the first couple of weeks of November I'm on my Ps & Qs. You never know when you'll see something.

Re: Why do you hunt? I hunt to get away and enjoy myself in the outdoors. I enjoy the relaxtion. But I won't sit here and type a lie. I hunt to test my skills against mature bucks. When October and November roll around I'm an anxiety adrenaline junkie. It's like I'm a drug addict looking for a high because you just never know when that buck of a lifetime is going to step out. He could step out in Sept or December but something in me really clicks in those 2 months. Even if I don't kill a mature buck its still fun going through the wait.

Re: Yes or No? No!!!!! And for those people that voted yes, don't even think about setting up near a corn, bean, or wheat field planted by some farmer. Don't set up on the field and don't put a stand on any trail leading to it!!!!!! Matter of fact don't even hunt the bedding areas near these places because from what some are saying anything planted in a field is considered "bait". So I guess you'd also be unethical for hunting on or near a food source not naturally grown by nature itself.

Re: Scouting.. I've already set up a few stands and I'm really looking and scouting trails right now. I pretty much scout from Jan-Aug because I try to feed my heard year round so I'm always in or near the woods. Right now is probably the best time to scout as it gets hotter the less I scout. The weather is cool, no snakes. and ticks, plus all the vegetation hasn't grown up yet. You can easily spot old rubs, licking branches, old scrapes, and trails still being used. Deer usually use those same trails during the fall.

Re: No business hunting You guys know what the problem is? It's a combination of 2 things going on with deer hunting right now. Problem 1 is the the crazy phenomenon with magnums now. I was in a hardware store here in August a few weeks before rifle season started in my county. It was a guy that came in and he was getting a scope put on this beautiful Browning medallion he had just bought. I was so in love with the wood on the gun I didn't notice the muzzle at first. When I did I noticed the muzzle was HUGE. It was a 300 Win magnum. I asked him was he going to hunt mule deer or Elk out west and he said no, he just hunts down here. There is NO REASON on God's green earth why a person should be shooting at deer in South Carolina or the southeast with a 300 magnum. I do hunt out west and I shot a deer with my 7mm here, a perfect shot behind the shoulder and the deer ran 150 yards because he was so close and the bullet carried so much velocity that it didn't mushroom properly. So I don't use anything down here unless it's and 06 or 270. Either calibur is JUST AS DEADLY as the magnums for whitetails. It's a free country and we can do what we want, but the 300s the 7mm Ultra Mags are ridiculous. These caliburs are just way too heavy and they kick the devil out of people so they flinch before they pull the trigger on a deer. But for some reason many hunters believe that if a deer is standing at 150 yards or 200 yards you'll be able to hit him easier with 300 than you would a .270 or 30.06. So you have these guys out there on stand without a good rest firing these big heavy calibur guns and they're missing all over the place. They're letting pride get the best of them, instead of using a 270, 280, 308 or and 06, something they can control they want to shoot the magnums. The second problem is those same guys that run out and buy a new magnum right before the season starts are the ones that never practice shooting throughout the year. I'll admit I don't go to the rifle range between November and May, but I do start firing a few shots every other weekend starting in June until the season starts Sept 1 here.

Re: Neck shots wtnhunt it's funny you made this thread recently. I took a very handsome buck this past Saturday morning. I shot him with a 7mm magnum right behind the shoulder. I mean a perfect shot! The shot couldn't have been placed better right behind the shoulder. I waited a few minutes and climbed down out of my stand and I found his blood trail in the field where he was standing. I thought he ran maybe 25-50 yards in the woods. I was totally wrong. The freakin deer ran 125 yards DOWN HILL in a creek bottom and dropped right at the creek edge. I mean in some of the thickest stuff imaginable. I had to drag him back uphill in all that thick stuff. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I've always shot my deer right above the shoulder. I've never had them run more than 25 yards when doing this. Most drop in their tracks. But because this was a new rifle and load I was shooting I figured I'd try that behind the shoulder shot. Never again will I shoot a deer behind the shoulder if he's standing broadside. Either neck or high in the shoulder.