1olhunter

An individual membership is $1500 annually and a family membership is $1850 annually. That information as well as our rules and charter are all accessible on our website. A membership gets you access to all leased land. We use an online reservation system to reserve hunt areas and report harvest. One of our leases is already enrolled in the DMAP.

There is a new hunting club in Oklahoma City. I am a member of the Red Dirt Hunting Club based here in OKC. This fall will be our first hunting season and there is a lot of optimism within the group. We have already got under contract a 6,000 acre lease in the Frederick area, a 7,300 acre lease along the Cimarron River near Freedom, and over 2000 acres near Shattuck. We are evaluating a several other leases. We expect to have approximately 400 acres leased per membership come fall. If you are interested or know someone who is please let us know, we are currently still accepting members. You can check out our website at Red Dirt Hunting Club, under the “About Us” tab you can see our charter and rules. The thing I appreciate most about this club is the openness and visibility. Every member has a voice, a vote and gets to see where every penny of their money is going. Drop me an email at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Great post, I did the math for 21 feet (7 yards) elevation and the difference at 30 yards is .83 yards (2.49 feet). I don't know a situation in bowhunting where the ARC would make a real difference.

Because of the poor ballistics coefficient of muzzleloader bullets (compared to rifle bullets), I believe a maximum charge (150 grains) is necessary to have a sufficient velocity for a maximum trajectory. I have tested my TC Encore over my chronograph with 2 pellets (100 grains) of 777 and 3 pellets (150 grains) of 777. With 2 pellets my average velocity was 1650 fps and with 3 pellets the average velocity jumped to 2220 fps. Using the 245 grain Barnes Spitfire I can achieve consistent minute of angle groups with 100 or 150 grain of powder. I sight all my rifles in using a point blank range of +/- 3 inches from zero. With the velocity I get from 2 pellets I set my zero at 135 yards, the rifle is +3” at 85 yards and -3” at 157 yards. With three pellets of powder I get 570 fps velocity gain, this allows me to set zero at 172 yards. The rifle is then +3” at 120 yards and 3” low at 201 yards. I have gained 44 yards to my point blank range. I hunt in areas where a 200 yard or greater shot is not out of the question, I get a sense of confidence knowing that if the animal is within 200 yards all I have to do is hold steady on the center of the vitals and squeeze. The difference in bullet energy is also dramatic; from my encore the three pellet charge has the same energy at 150 yards as the 2 pellet charge does at the muzzle. With all this said, I believe a hunter first obligation is to be accurate; a well placed round with half the energy is always better than a gutshot with lots of energy. My advice is to find out what works for you and your gun and then use ballistics tables and practice to determine your maximum range.

qt The bullet on the left is a 245 grain Barnes Spitfire and the on on the right is a 250 grain Barnes Expander. I currently use the spitfire over 3 pellets of 777 (150 grains). I pulled the spitfire bullet from a 190 lb boar last November. The boar was quatering toward me when I shot. I hit him in the neck and there was a big exit wound on the offside chest about 4" long. I skinned this boar and found the bullet just under the hide at the end of the exit wound. The bullet cut him open but didn't exit just went down the hide and stopped. Bye the way the pig dropped right there.

I was drawn for a "once in a lifetime Oklahoma antelope tag" this year. I hunted near Boise City Oklahoma (panhandle) It was a fun (but short) hunt and I saw lots of game. I scouted all day the day before the season and saw three or four what I consider shooter bucks. Opening morning I went where I last saw this buck the evening before and sure enough he was still there. I snuck up to about 150 yards of him and 4 does but they were bedded down after about hour he got up and started chasing one of the does. He got out about 250 yards and presented a good shot. The hunt started at 7 and ended at 9. He measures 14" on both sides.

My encore does not shot the TC shockwave very good at all, a 6" group or worse. Go figure a TC gun that won't shoot a TC bullet. I have been hunting with the Barnes 245 grain spitfire with great results. The bullet shoots great out of the encore and the terminal performance is great. See attached picture, both of these bullets were recovered from pigs I shot. I have found pigs to be a good bullet testing medium.

After reading everyone’s opinion of how useless it is to use 150 grains I thought I would chime in with my 2 cents. I have tested my TC Encore over my chronograph with 2 pellets (100 grains) of 777 and 3 pellets (150 grains) of 777. With 2 pellets my average velocity was 1650 fps and with 3 pellets the average velocity jumped to 2220 fps, apparently my encore is actually burning the third pellet. Using the 245 grain Barnes Spitfire I can achieve consistent minute of angle groups with 100 or 150 grain of powder. I sight all my rifles in using a point blank range of +/- 3 inches from zero. With the velocity of I get from 2 pellets I set my zero at 135 yards, the rifle is +3” at 85 yards and -3” at 157 yards. With three pellets of powder I get 570 fps velocity gain, this allows me to set zero at 172 yards. The rifle is then +3” at 120 yards and 3” low at 201 yards. I have gained 44 yards to my point blank range. I hunt in areas where a 200 yard or greater shot is not out of the question, I get a sense of confidence knowing that if the animal is within 200 yards all I have to do is hold steady on the center of the vitals and squeeze. To further illustrate the difference in the powder charges, if I was to get an opportunity to shoot at a buck at 225 yards with my encore, with the 2 pellet powder charge I would have to compensate for a 22” bullet drop, whereas with the 3 pellet powder charge I would only have to compensate for a 6” bullet drop. The difference in bullet energy is also dramatic; from my encore the three pellet charge has the same energy at 150 yards as the 2 pellet charge does at the muzzle. With all this said, I believe a hunter first obligation is to be accurate; a well placed round with half the energy is always better than a gutshot with lots of energy. My advice is to find out what works for you and your gun.

Wow, I guess the antelope hunt is a once in a lifetime draw. Man the pressure is really on. I will be shooting the 270 tomorrow.

I hate to leave bfletch hanging as the only one to get drawn. I got drawn for an either sex antelope hunt in Cimmaron county in September. I have never hunted antelope before, but the hunting shows make it look fun. I was last drawn in 03 at Mcgee Creek. I killed a 124" 9 point there.

I was wondering if anyone uses shotguns for hunting pigs in thick cover. I have been successful in sneaking up within 20 yards of pigs on our lease in very thick cover. On several occasions the cover was so thick that a rifle shot was very difficult or impossible. I am planning on trying my Mossberg 835 using BB lead shot with a full or turkey full chock. I chose BB shot because the Oklahoma game laws state that is the biggest shot size permitted for hunting, regardless of game. Interested in knowing if anyone else has taken pigs with shotguns?

While deer hunting out of my treestand Saturday evening I heard several coyotes start howling right at dusk. One sounded very close so I took my predator call and squealed a couple times. Next thing I know I have a coyote running straight toward me, so I got my bow ready. He walked by at 18 yards and I shot him. Although I have killed several coyotes, he is the first predator I have called in and killed, and I did it with my bow (pretty cool). I hope to actually predator hunt some this year after bow season is over.

How long do you hang your deer? What is a good temperature range for hanging a deer? Does hanging a deer significantly increase the tenderness of the meat? I live in Oklahoma and usually I bone out my deer and have the meat on blocks of ice in an ice chest within hours of harvesting. I killed a buck on Saturday evening (December 2nd), after gutting him I put a bag of ice in his chest cavity to expedite the cooling process and hung him in the back yard. Saturday and Sunday night the temperature dropped to about 28 degrees and the daytime high was about 40 degrees. The bag of ice is still intact and the meat is very cold but not frozen. I have the carcass shaded by a tarp. The projected temperatures for the rest of the week are for lows in the upper 20s and highs in the low 40s. How long would you let the deer hang?

Re: muzzloading I shoot 150 grains of 777 (3 pellets) with a Barnes 245 grain expander bullet in my encore. I have chronographed this load at 2250 fps and my groups are about 1.5 inches at 100 yards. I have the encore sighted in 2 inches high at 100 yards which according to the ballistics tables zeroed at 160 yards and 3.7 inches low at 200 yards. Where I hunt there are clearcuts where a long shot is possible. I have killed a buck at 160 yards with this load and the bullet completely passed through and the buck only traveled 10 yards before expiring. I have nothing against shooting 100 grains of powder. There seems to be a big reduction in felt recoil when dropping down to 100 grains. But there is also a loss of 400-500 fps in velocity with the reduced load. Shooting a 100 grains of 777 with the 245 grain Barnes at 1750 fps means that I have to sight in 4 inches high at 100 yards for a 160 yard zero and the bullet will be nearly 7 inches low at 200 yards. I might suggest that if the recoil becomes a problem use a 100 grains of powder instead of 150 grains and limit your shots to 150 yards or less. I hope this helps, good luck.

Re: stack of ham Glenn, Michelle you’re unbelievable, that is a mess of pork. Keep posting, I really enjoy your pictures. What part of Texas do you hunt? This year I started hunting a lease down by the Marrietta Oklahoma that has a lot of pigs on it. Although I had killed a few pigs while deer hunting, I had never actually hunted pigs until this year. I have taken five this year and it is sure a lot of fun. Do you have any favorite pork recipes you would like to share? I have been grinding mine up and making breakfast sausage. My wife buys Cains Sausage Seasoning from a butcher, 8 oz is suppose to season 25 lbs of pork but I mix it with only 20 lbs. My family and friends seem to like it allot. Anyway keep up the good work and keep posting.

Re: GPS I have owned several of the Garmin GPS's including the 60C. I also use the Garmin mapsource Metroguide and Topo software. I travel a lot on my job and use the 60C to navigate to the different sites. It has a pretty good auto-routing funtion. I have a Garmin LegendC that I use for hunting, it is more compact, but does not have as much memory for map storage as the 60C. I have had 1 failure with the 60C, I sent the unit to Garmin and they replaced it.

I was wondering if anyone has chronograph an Encore with a pro hunter series barrel in either a 300 Win Mag or 7MM mag? What load did you use and what velocities did you get? Just curious to know the difference in the velocities from a 28 inch barrel compared to a 24 inch barrel.

Re: GPS topo software? GW The maptech software looks interesting. The website shows the cost at $100 for each state. Is it any cheaper in the stores?

Re: GPS topo software? For the Legend you can load a route on your GPS from the mapsource metroguide software and then have the GPS follow the route or backtrack the route. The new legend C (color screen) has the autorouting function. On these units you can select the waypoint GOTO function and then select to Follow Road or Off Road. If you select the Follow road the GPS software will determine the course and display it and warn you of upcoming turns. It is a really good feature if you travel a lot as I do. I have the GPS60C and the Legend C and both have the autorouting function. The original Legend does not have that autorouting capability.

Re: Barrel bedding? At the advice of a friend I recently bedded the Lug and chamber area of my 25 year old Ruger 270. I used the Miles Gilbert Bedrock epoxy bedding. There is pretty good directions in the box. The process was relatively simple and the bedding job looks good. I am waiting on a good day without much wind to go to the range and see if it makes a difference.

Re: kenitic energy The formula for mass is M=F/A Where: M = Mass, F = Force, A = Acceleration In order to determine the pounds mass of an arrow or bullet we first have to determine its weight in pounds. To do this, take its weight in grains and divide by 7000 (the number of grains in a pound). Example: 500 grain arrow its weights is 0.07143 lbs Now to determine the mass we divide its weight by the acceleration of gravity, which is 32.174 feet per second squared. Example: Mass of 500 grain arrow = 0.07143 / 32.174 Mass of 500 grain arrow= 0.00222 lbs mass To calculate the KE the formula is KE=.5 * Mass * Velocity Squared Assume the arrow is being shot at 250 fps KE = .5 * 0.00222 * 250 * 250 KE = 69.375 ft lbs of energy I hope you enjoyed the physics lesson.

Re: Climbing Sticks I bought the Ameristep 16' climbing sticks from Wal-Mart for $39 and they work very well. The climbing sticks with my treestand have a combined weight of nearly 40 lbs, which is a bit much for packing very far. The sticks are far easier to attach to a tree than the screw in steps. I have used mine a lot this year. I don't know about making my own, I would hate to think how much they would weight if made of steel.

Re: Long Trailing Job Because it was dark and I was in a hurry to get her skinned and boned out, I didn't look at at the heart and lungs. The broadhead broke ribs on entrance and exit. Entered about 3 inches behind the shoulder 2/3 up on the body. The arrow exited on about the third to last rib a couple inches above the white hair.

Saturday evening I filled my first tag for the year. I was high in the tree stand and the shot was only 14 yards. After the shot I watched the doe run nearly 100 yards across a wheat field. I saw blood where the arrow entered squarely in the chest. It looked like she was stumbling before she got into the woods. I thought no problem she only went a few yards into the woods and died. I waited 15 minutes before starting the search. I found a good blood trail where she entered the woods. When I did not find her immediately, I had to get my flashlight. I also retrieved and turned on my GPS track feature for I could backtrack if necessary. I starting tracking at 6 pm and found the doe at 8:30 pm. It was not a great blood trail be she bleed the whole way, only a couple or three times was there no blood for more 10 yards. When I looked at the GPS track later on my computer I figured out why it took so long to find her, she went 650 yards before piling up. It was to warm (80 degrees) to leave the track for the next day, and I saw the shot went squarely though the chest, so I stayed with it and finally found her. This is probably the longest tracking job I have ever done where I actually recovered the deer. The good thing is she ran to within 50 yards of the road before dying. The only thing I can figure is that I did not get the heart and probably only hit one lung.

Re: 70 or 80* and u put one down...?? I hunt in Oklahoma and usually it is to hot to hang a deer even into rifle season (Thanksgiving). I will generally check in my deer and buy 3 blocks of ice which fills the bottom of my 120 qt ice chest. Then I go back to camp/home and skin and bone out the deer and put all the meat in a wire basket on the blocks of ice. The wire basket will allow the blood to drain from the meat. I keep the water and blood drained from the ice chest and replenish the ice when necessary. I have keep venison on ice for up to 5 days before processing it. This has worked well for me for years.