BLH

Congrats to both Aaron and lilmisswtnhunt. Also, great work on the signature. Hunted all day Sat. and saw a bunch of does and two young bucks. Hopefully the luck will change with the colder temps coming this week.

I hunted all day Saturday and this evening. I have seen a bunch of does and 3 decent bucks but nothing worth shooting this early.

Trail cameras are the trick for patterning a particular deer. Set a few cameras on hot trails leading to and from bedding areas should be a good start. Before you can start "scouting" a specific deer, you have to figure out which deer you want to hunt in particular.

Yea. Congrats. I just had a wild hair and went out and bought a new muzzleloader this afternoon after work. The Mrs. finally consented. Got a CVA Optima Pro. Time to spend some time on the range the next few days and get it ready for Saturday's muzzleloading opener.

Sounds like a good idea bghunter. Thanks for everyone's suggestions and comments.

Have you had a recent, prolonged cold snap with overcast skies? If I remember correctly from a lot of Botany classes in college, a lot of mast plants (ie white oaks) are climate oriented. They may start to drop some of their acorns a little early because with early colder temps. comes a decrease in chemical activity in the plant triggering the drop. Weather fools them into "thinking" it's later in the season than it really is.

The reason I was thinking it may be a little better is there are tons of crop fields (mostly corn and soybean) in and around our lease and very few white oaks. The few that we have aren't producing much, if any mast this year. In normal mast production years for these trees, deer seem to attract to them pretty heavy as a supplement to their usual diet of agricultural crops. Do you think deer may find the rage a suitable alternative to real acorns in the absence of the usual mast? If so, do you think I should concentrate the use of the rage to a few select stands to possibly increase the attraction and activity?

Here in NC it is legal to bait and I usually do bait at 10-12 of my stands. I usually throw corn as bait, but I was wondering if anyone has or does use the acorn rage product? Our lease is primarily pines and crop fields. We have 1 or 2 mature oaks on 2000 acres. Thought of trying it. What do you think?

Between work and honey-do's, finding time to get on here is slim. But it will change as soon as hunting season hits full swing. I figure if I get the Mrs. happy now, I may have a little more leeway with free time later. haha.

Our buck to doe ratio is probably around 1:15. We have too many hunters who would rather kill 4 and 6 pointers than kill our over-populated does.

Doe: 100% Small buck: 100% Trophy: 20%

Got my vote. Let's make it official.

Sorry guys. Been out of town and away from my computer for a week. Definitely excited to be on a team with you all. And, Realtree Rangers sounds great to me.

BLH 23 Sept. 12 - Jan. 1

I used to shoot a .20 guage fixed modified and killed birds with it. The modified barrel will definitely limit your distance so I would go with a #6 shot to increase the number of pellets. Like turkeygirl said, patterning the gun is a must when a modified barrel/choke is used.

I have killed numerous deer with a .243 using the core-lokts; like everyone else said, shot placement is the key with smaller calibers. However, black bear are a different story. I wouldn't attempt a shot at a bear with no less than a solid .30 caliber. Bear have very tough hides and quite a bit of fat just under the hide, even in the spring. IMO a .243 will not penetrate very effectively on a bear even with a great shot placement. Most of my bear hunting is done with a 12 guage slug or my .45-70.

I didn't have a camera with me. However one of my friends had his and took a few pics...I will post them as soon as he emails them to me. Should be in the next day or two.

Thanks for the input guys. I used the improved today with the remington rifled slugs and they did just fine taking down a 300 lb black bear.

Hi guys. Have a quick question: What choke should be used for smooth bore slugs? I have a 12 ga. 870 that will be used for close range hunting in a shotgun-only refuge and really need the info on this. Thanks for any help. - Brandon

great gun...I have the .40 and I love it..kinda like it better than my glock...but it's all a matter of personal opinion.

I'm looking to buy a new revolver for deer and bear hunting and was curious about the ballistics and knockdown power of the .454 casull as compared to the .44 Mag? Also, how does the recoil of the .454 compare? Thanks for any info.

I hunt about 2 hours east of Greensboro in Greenville, NC. If you are interested in coming out here I could put on a stand or two or you could join us in a dog hunt. PM if your interested.

Re: Pick your 3 rifle set.....caliber and gun Savage .17 for animals from squirrels to coyotes. Browning A-Bolt in .270 win for animals from coyotes to elk and bear. and a .375 H&H for everything bigger

Re: Team 15 Hey ya'll, my name is Brandon. It's glad to hear from all of you guys. Looks like we have a great team... I vote for team Drop-tine, but anything ya'll come up with is fine

Anyone have any favorite ways to cook doves? Any and all recipes would help.