Posted By: REDHAWK1954
I finally scored with my 30 30 contender - 12/21/2017 2:11 PM
I have been trying all gun season to get a good shot at a mature doe or a trophy buck. I was starting to think that it was not going to happen with my 30 30 contender pistol that I was hunting with for the first time this season.
I had seen 14 bucks but nothing that would be considered a legal buck in the club that we do most of our serious deer hunting in and I have not been able to buy a good shot at a mature doe.
Tuesday I decided to do a little meat hunting on a small piece of land my son owns. I had helped him put up a buddy stand on it last summer and he had killed a 133 pound doe there during bow season. I had not hunted it but he continued to see deer most of the times he hunted it but no shooter bucks.
I decided to make a day of it and climbed into the stand just as the sun was breaking the horizon. I had placed two sandwiches and two bottles of water in my backpack.
I saw nothing but squirrels including two very large fox squirrels all morning. Later that afternoon the two fox squirrels came back and entertained my for a couple more hours.
There was just a few minutes left of legal shooting light when I heard a shot from just across the road to my left. I had expected the deer to show up from my right and spent most of my time looking that way with a quick glance to my left from time to time.
I was hunting a strip of woods between two pastures. The woods were open enough to give me shots that could be over a hundred yards long in spots.
The rails on the buddy stand were too low to give me a good prop for my contender so I had been experimenting with using the walking stick I had been using to get into the woods with all season due to some foot problems to steady it for the longer shots.
I had found out that on the short to midrange shots I could just stand it up at my feet and place the contender on my hand on top of the waking stick which gave a steady hold. This would not work for the longer shots.
After playing with this ideal I found that if I put the rubber end of the walking stick against my waist and angled it away from me I could slide my left hand up and down it to get the elevation I needed and then place the forearm of the contender in my left hand. Having large hands helps me be able to hold the cane and the forearm of the contender at the same time. If I pulled my elbows into my chest and belly I had a rock steady hold for the longer shots.
Now back to hunting, a couple of minutes after hearing the shot from across the road I caught movement from up the ridge from my left. I turned around and grabbed the walking stick with my left hand, placed it against my waist, placed the forearm of my contender into my left hand, pulled my elbows into my chest and belly and found the deer in the scope.
By the time I had done this the deer had stopped behind a tree with just his head and neck showing at about 80 yards. Then he moved forward just a step and gave me a shot. I placed the cross hairs just behind his right shoulder and touched the trigger.
At the shot he took off loping down the ridge and then over it and out of sight. I quickly reloaded, got my stuff together and climbed down the tree. I was starting to have doubts about if I had made a good shot because the deer did not act like he was hit hard when he ran off. I wanted to get to where he had been standing at the shot to see if I could find blood before I started to loose light.
As I got to the tree my son called to see what was going on. I found good blood just three feet from where he was standing when I took the shot. I told him I was starting to track the deer but needed a better light because my battery was getting weak.
I started tracking the deer which would have not been any problem in good light but I was loosing light fast. To make a long story short I found the deer before my son could get there with a light and we got the deer out and cleaned it at his house.
The one thing that bothered me some was that when I found the deer it turned out to be a big button buck instead of the doe I thought I was shooting. We try not to shoot button bucks but it happens sometimes.
In the end I was proud of the shot I made and how the bullet performed. I was shooting Hornady's 160 gr Leverevolution factory load. It gave full penetration with two exit wounds both about the size of a haft dollar about a half inch apart.
It put plenty of blood on the ground to track the deer with and it ran 100 to 125 yards half of the distance being down hill. I feel good about this gun and ammo comb for my deer hunting. I had the gun sighted in about one inch high a fifty yards and the bullet struck the deer very close to where I had the cross hairs when I pulled the trigger.
It was late when we got the deer cleaned so we did not take any pictures to show here. The deer was not a trophy but it will help to feed a family we know who is having a tough time just buying groceries after paying the bills.
It has been the slowest season I have had in years but both deer I have killed this season have been with handguns and I have seen a lot of bucks but all young.
Our season ends on New Years day so I do have a couple of hunts left to make if the Good Lord sees fit to leave me here that long.
Merry Christmas everyone.
I had seen 14 bucks but nothing that would be considered a legal buck in the club that we do most of our serious deer hunting in and I have not been able to buy a good shot at a mature doe.
Tuesday I decided to do a little meat hunting on a small piece of land my son owns. I had helped him put up a buddy stand on it last summer and he had killed a 133 pound doe there during bow season. I had not hunted it but he continued to see deer most of the times he hunted it but no shooter bucks.
I decided to make a day of it and climbed into the stand just as the sun was breaking the horizon. I had placed two sandwiches and two bottles of water in my backpack.
I saw nothing but squirrels including two very large fox squirrels all morning. Later that afternoon the two fox squirrels came back and entertained my for a couple more hours.
There was just a few minutes left of legal shooting light when I heard a shot from just across the road to my left. I had expected the deer to show up from my right and spent most of my time looking that way with a quick glance to my left from time to time.
I was hunting a strip of woods between two pastures. The woods were open enough to give me shots that could be over a hundred yards long in spots.
The rails on the buddy stand were too low to give me a good prop for my contender so I had been experimenting with using the walking stick I had been using to get into the woods with all season due to some foot problems to steady it for the longer shots.
I had found out that on the short to midrange shots I could just stand it up at my feet and place the contender on my hand on top of the waking stick which gave a steady hold. This would not work for the longer shots.
After playing with this ideal I found that if I put the rubber end of the walking stick against my waist and angled it away from me I could slide my left hand up and down it to get the elevation I needed and then place the forearm of the contender in my left hand. Having large hands helps me be able to hold the cane and the forearm of the contender at the same time. If I pulled my elbows into my chest and belly I had a rock steady hold for the longer shots.
Now back to hunting, a couple of minutes after hearing the shot from across the road I caught movement from up the ridge from my left. I turned around and grabbed the walking stick with my left hand, placed it against my waist, placed the forearm of my contender into my left hand, pulled my elbows into my chest and belly and found the deer in the scope.
By the time I had done this the deer had stopped behind a tree with just his head and neck showing at about 80 yards. Then he moved forward just a step and gave me a shot. I placed the cross hairs just behind his right shoulder and touched the trigger.
At the shot he took off loping down the ridge and then over it and out of sight. I quickly reloaded, got my stuff together and climbed down the tree. I was starting to have doubts about if I had made a good shot because the deer did not act like he was hit hard when he ran off. I wanted to get to where he had been standing at the shot to see if I could find blood before I started to loose light.
As I got to the tree my son called to see what was going on. I found good blood just three feet from where he was standing when I took the shot. I told him I was starting to track the deer but needed a better light because my battery was getting weak.
I started tracking the deer which would have not been any problem in good light but I was loosing light fast. To make a long story short I found the deer before my son could get there with a light and we got the deer out and cleaned it at his house.
The one thing that bothered me some was that when I found the deer it turned out to be a big button buck instead of the doe I thought I was shooting. We try not to shoot button bucks but it happens sometimes.
In the end I was proud of the shot I made and how the bullet performed. I was shooting Hornady's 160 gr Leverevolution factory load. It gave full penetration with two exit wounds both about the size of a haft dollar about a half inch apart.
It put plenty of blood on the ground to track the deer with and it ran 100 to 125 yards half of the distance being down hill. I feel good about this gun and ammo comb for my deer hunting. I had the gun sighted in about one inch high a fifty yards and the bullet struck the deer very close to where I had the cross hairs when I pulled the trigger.
It was late when we got the deer cleaned so we did not take any pictures to show here. The deer was not a trophy but it will help to feed a family we know who is having a tough time just buying groceries after paying the bills.
It has been the slowest season I have had in years but both deer I have killed this season have been with handguns and I have seen a lot of bucks but all young.
Our season ends on New Years day so I do have a couple of hunts left to make if the Good Lord sees fit to leave me here that long.
Merry Christmas everyone.
