Modern Gun Season Opens in North Carolina

Our modern gun season opens this Saturday here in the piedmont of North Carolina. I have been looking forward to this for months.

I have been blessed so far this deer season having taken a doe with my crossbow and a buck and doe with my CVA muzzle loading pistol. I have one more hunt scheduled for Friday morning with my CVA and then I will be trying to bloody my Ruger Blackhawk with a Ultradot 25 mounted on it.

At some stands I may take both guns because I feel better shooting over fifty yards with the CVA but I really want to take a deer with the Blackhawk.

I have taken mature bucks with bow, muzzleloader and rifle but only small bucks and does with my handguns. On my bucket list is to take a mature buck with one of my handguns before I retire from this earth. Maybe this will be the year. I hope everyone has a great season.

Good luck to you.

Good luck! My season also starts Saturday, and I'm still trying for my first handgun deer.

Your optic arrangement looks quite familiar to me. Good luck!

It should since you gave me the ideal. Thanks again.

I have two revolvers ready and sighted in to hunt with this year. My Ruger Blackhawk shown above and my Ruger Redhawk shown below.

The cover and time of day will determine which revolver I carry. I do not like tracking a deer in the dark so my evening gun will be the Redhawk in 44 mag.

I am anxious here in Cleveland county NC to hunt with my 460s&w barrel for my encore!! Good luck with the Blackhawk!

I only saw one deer this morning and it was before legal light. No shot today.

How's your Blackhawk/RedHawk hunting going? I got a doe here in Cleveland county with my new to me 460 barrel for my TC encore.

I have hunted with my Blackhawk one morning and one afternoon and my Redhawk one morning and did not see a deer any of the tree times.

I plan to take my Blackhawk again tomorrow.

I did hunt with my son on some of his club land Monday from a box stand that allow for only long shots. He made me promise to take my 30-06. This was a trophy only hunt. I killed a big six pointer with 20 inch main beams and a lot of mass. My son was in the box stand with me giving me the green light on the buck. He had hundreds of trail cam pictures of the buck but none during legal shooting light.

It happened very quickly and would not have been a shot I would have taken with my revolvers.

Since I had already killed a seven pointer and a doe with my CVA muzzleloader pistol I am without any more buck tags so I will be doe hunting the remainder of the year.

The big six was a real trophy and his weight was 178 pounds which is a large buck for Caldwell county.

Congratulations, sounds like you've had an awesome season so far!!

I have. One doe with my crossbow,a seven point and a doe with my CVA muzzleloader pistol and a trophy buck with my 30-06.

Now it I can just bloody my Blackhawk with a big doe.

My son has also had a good year with four does with his crossbow and a big eight with his muzzleloader rifle.

eric75. anymore luck with your 460?

Not yet, possibly in the morning or the first thing next week.

Very good year making memories!! I have 4 children so finding hunting time is hard sometimes. I did take my 5yo daughter with me the other evening but we did not see any deer.

Make all of those memories you can while you can.

My 36 year old son and I have made many in the last 30 years.

Good job guys. I have 4 kids as well. They love being out there. It's good for the soul!

RH glad your having a good season, congratulations

Awesome(RH),hope you and your son kill a few more deer up there in statesville. That RedHawk still needs some action. It's buck only here till the 26th. On the bright side I do still have 2 buck tags.

I am taking this Friday off and hope to take a doe with my Blackhawk and then my Redhawk will be next.

Went again this morning. Carried my CVA muzzleloader pistol for the long shots and my Blackhawk for the shorter shots.

I watched one small spike at twenty yards for fifteen minutes but did not take the shot. The buck was too small and I am out of buck tags anyway.

I need to get close to a mature doe.

Good luck to you Redhawk. I've been watching your posts with the new CVA. Looks pretty sweet.

Thanks thadf. Good luck to you too.

I am thinking about swapping out barrels and use my 7mm/ 08 with 3-9 TC scope for next week. I have taken deer well past 100yds with it in the past. I guess I can bring my 357 with me for up reel close shots. Don't look like I can get to the woods till Thursday though. I hope you get a shot at a fat old doe RH.

eric75, I plan to sit the same stand tomorrow morning that I sat in this morning. I hope to see a good doe and not one of the four large bucks we had trail camera photos of a couple of weeks ago.

About to head back out. Looking for a doe for my Blackhawk.

I did not see any deer this morning. It will be a few days before I can try again but I will.

I can't wait to get back into the woods and kill another handgun deer myself.

I hunted yesterday. I took my CVA OPTIMA V2 with a 2X scope and my Ruger Redhawk with a redot. A doe came fifteen minutes before the end of the hunting day.

I waited as long as I could to see if a bigger doe would step out but nothing else did. I was going to shoot her with my Redhawk but I could not see well for the glare so I shot her with my Optima. She dropped right there.

That is three deer taken with my Optima now. I am loving this gun more every day.

I can't wait to get an optima! Congrats, I should be able to hunt a little down here in the next few days. I plan on hunting my TC encore and 357 for up real close stuff. That's unless my 13yo daughter is with me then it's going to be her CVA 7/08 rifle. What kind of scope do yo have on your optima?

When I bought the Optima I did not know if I wanted to go with a red dot or a scope. I had red dots on a couple of revolvers but nothing with a scope. I bought a cheap Traditions 2X scope for $50 just to see how I liked it.

It has worked well for me but I wish I had a 3X or a variable for the longer shots.

No more deer yet, I Hunted the other morning and saw a small buck and a doe with 2 fawns. I may have had to take the small buck if he had given me a 357 range shot.

I hunted with my Blackhawk this morning but only saw two does going in before daylight. Going to try again in the morning but I am going to take my Redhawk for a change.

I hunted my son's ten acres outside of Elkin NC yesterday morning. I watched two deer for ten minutes. One was larger than the other. I thought one was a doe and the other a younger deer. Not having any buck tags left I was looking for a doe so I shot her at about 25 yards from my climbing tree stand with my 44 mag redhawk and Ultradot 30.

The deer jumped in the air and kicked both front and back legs and ran out of sight. After waiting about twenty minutes I got down and followed a heavy but longer than I like blood trail to her.

The her turned out to be a large bodied button buck with very small knots on his head. That was not what I wanted but the meat went to a friend who does not hunt but loves summer sausage. He took the deer after I cleaned it to the Amish to have all of it except the back straps made into summer sausage.

Awesome!! Great season for you!!

I made that mistake once. Ah, well, it'll be good eating.

Congrats!

Took my Blackhawk 357 mag this morning. Went to a spot I have not hunted in two years. Did not see anything. That seams to be the case when I take my Blackhawk.

I plan to try the same spot this Friday morning.

Went back to the same spot this morning. I was sitting in a folding chair that I use a lot hunting with my redhawk. Had a small six point and a spike broadside at 18 yards. Passed them both for a couple of reasons. They were too small and I am out of buck tags. It is does or nothing for me the remainder of the season.

My son had a ideal that we are going to try this morning. We are both going to take folding chairs to the same spot I hunted yesterday and sit together. He will shoot only a good buck since he has a tag left and I will shoot any doe that comes along.

We have done this before and sometimes we get lucky but we always have fun.

Also yesterday I was covered up with squirrels so I am taking my Mark II so he can shoot any squirrel that may come into range.

If he could kill a couple of squirrels with the Mark II or he could watch me kill a doe with my Redhawk it could set him on fire to handgun hunt. I have him a new Blackhawk 357 mag for Christmas.

Wish us luck.

Good luck Redhawk! Hopefully you can score, and gain a handgun convert in the process!

I have handgun hunted for many years and when my son started deer hunting he wanted to take one of my .45 handguns along,just in case. This year thru some trading with me and others he wound up with a 7-30 Waters. We spent the summer working up loads and having fun together. He took his deer this year with a handgun leaving the rifles behind. He may not ever be as dedicated to handguns as I am but the first step is the hardest and he has taken that.I am very proud of him for that. Get your son to take the first step and the rest is downhill.

We did not see any deer this morning but my son did make his first handgun kill. He shot a squirrel with my Mark II. It was a twenty yard head shot. He got a rush from it and I told him to just imagine what kind of a rush you get from taking a deer with a handgun.

Can some one help me move the image from the bragging board to this post? Thanks for the help.

That sounds like a good morning to me. Taking any game with a handgun is a challenge. I have taken squirrel and a crow with a handgun that I was awful prowd of.

Good shootin'

Thanks for the help s4s4u!

I've got that same wool coat. Just got it last year. I like it so far. Don't mean to de-rail the thread.

Cool "trophy". Nice shootin'

No problem. That is pretty impressive for iron sights. He may be a natural ;-)

No hunting this weekend. Too hot and too wet! I did get my new contender in 223 sighted in but by the weather forecast I do not think I will get to hunt again before the season ends. Maybe the weatherman is wrong.

I got to hunt this evening with my 13yo daughter. It felt like a spring afternoon not late deer season. Anyway, we saw no deer just an owl at dusk that landed in the tree next to us.

Even if you did not see any deer it was time well spent with your daughter.

Was going to take my new to me contender deer hunting this morning but am home with a stomach bug.

I know how you feel. Been down with one since yeaterday.

I hope you get well soon. Mine is gone now but it is back to work tomorrow.

Well the deer season here ends today. My son and I sat in the same blind this morning. He had a buck tag left and I had a couple of doe tags left.

We did not see any deer this morning but my son did kill another squirrel with my Mark II.

The last couple of weeks have been very slow with rainy and very warm weather but our season over all was very good with us taking six deer each with a trophy buck each also.

I did get to bloody my CVA OPTIMA V2 muzzle loading pistol taking a seven point and two does and my Redhawk 44 mag taking one deer.

I had no luck with my Blackhawk 357 mag but there is always next season.

I hope everyone had a productive and enjoyable season.

Redhawk - congrats again on a great season!

Plagued by high water and warm weather, my coastal NC hunting was limited this year. I did sit yesterday afternoon for the season finale, and after wading in and going over my knee boots only 2x, found myself perched in a ladder enjoying the last evening of the NC season. I was rewarded with a doe, 6 point and 8 point sighting right before dark, all well within range...the Trijicon was glowing brightly against the shoulder on all, but they'll be bigger next season.

SChunter, I am glad you finished the season with a good sit.