The temps went from a chilly 8 degrees on Monday, to 50 yesterday and still in the 40's today with rain, rain, RAIN and a cold front coming this evening. So I figured the deer would be moving...and they certainly were!!

I got on stand...errr...aahhh...treehouse...before light and only saw squirrels until 8AM. Here's the treehouse about 6 yrs ago...it's since been drastically improved. Treehouse

At that time I saw deer flash through my right side shooting lane, I grabbed the XP 300 Savage and plopped it on the sandbags. The deer crossed the creek and went into the upper field. It stopped at 160yds, quartering to me and the .300 is zeroed at 100yds. With the raining falling so heavy, I wanted to drop it on the spot so I held toward the top of the onside shoulder and let'er rip. The handloaded 150gr Rem PSP (pushed by 43.5gr Varget) entered the onside shoulder, destroyed the spine and exited just behind the offside shoulder. Needless to say, the deer dropped immediately. Turns out it was a button buck....all I saw in the scope was deer jerky!



So I left the stand, drug the deer to the woods, gutted him there and took him to the car. I then called wifey to bring the truck and climbed back into the stand. Two minutes after this happened, another doe walked in on me and stopped at 30yds. Having another doe tag and one already at the car, I pulled the Hunter .45LC from the pack and...well...



The 340gr Penn entered and broke the onside shoulder then exited center lung on the offside. She spun and made a wobbly 50yd dash to the creek, dove in and died.

As she ran I could see the gaping wound and did not bother firing another round.

So...now I'm tagged out and get to dog for others on Thursday and Friday.

Man that sounds fun.I have been hunting hard and haven't seen a deer.Even the does here have become nocturnal.CONGRADULATIONS!!!

Did someone say JERKY?? Great shooting Dan.

Dan, I believe Uncle Ted (Nugent), has a saying that goes something like "Wack'em and Stack'em"...I think you defined that just perfect...congrats....KRal

WTG, Dan. Thats a great outing!

Thanks guys. Until this AM I had not had a decent shot at a baldy all season...but could have had three bucks other than the one I took on the first day, December 1.

These two guns had not taken any deer yet...so I really wanted to try either of them on a doe...never guessed I'd have blooded both within 15 minutes. I REALLY like the XP-100 .300 Savage...I can see it being my other "go to" gun...the first is the .338JDJ#2.

Dan, I know exactly how you feel. Were I'm hunting, it's required to kill a certain amount of does before you can kill a buck cause, buck to doe ratio is very skewed...I can't even kill a doe!!!! but, seasons not over yet...KRal

This is not usually the case though...I've gone several years in a row at time w/o seeing a legal buck. In my area they must have at least 3pts on one side. The quality of bucks is improving since the state wie point restriction it seems.

Dan, how does your 45LC SBHH shoot, compared to you 44 SBHH, accuracy wise?

cool dan. thats a lot of stuff goin down in a short time! hmmm....whoda thunk the 300sav xp would become a second go to. i'll be dang.
i think we need a "whats yer go to" thread....lol

ok....before anyone starts it(i always like working ahead)....
mine are the 35rem rimmed, 30-30AI, and 7mm-08.

well....mostly that is. this year i had "go to the house" syndrom going a lil.

Same, same.

Both are stoked to the gills w/ powder and launching HEAVY Penn cast...320's in th .44 and 340's in the .45LC. Both wear Weaver glass, 2X and 4X respectively. The .44 had an action job by a now out of business local smith so it is more pleasureable to hunt with. The .45LC is box stock and it seemed like I was pulling the trigger f-o-r-e-v-e-r when I had it trained on that doe.

I've never shot them on paper at 100yds, only 50yds since that is where I zero revolvers. They will both plug a cylinder full into 1.5"...which is good'nuff for my revolver hunting areas.

Where is the portable generator and sattelite dish? Every good tree house should have the comforts of home.

Nice shooting on the deer.

Nice shooting Dan!!!!!!!!!!

Dan,

Nice work! I've got 2 virgin pistols that I've been trying to bloody all season on a big nanny, and have been "cursed" by little bucks, Lilleputian does, and brown other than a mature doe!

Congrats on the double, with 2 different virgin pistols!

As quick as it happened, I thought the button was larger than he was...so I was disappointed when I got to him. The other...not much excuse there...knew she was small when I pulled the trigger.

Heat is from a portable propane heater (20# tank behind the truck bench seat). Also made a rack for over the front of the heater to toast sandwiches or warm anything else, dry gloves, etc. The worst part about this hunting season was on the afternoon of day one...after taking my buck I joined dad for the afternoon. He had a pack of "Soft Batch" chocolate cookies...was laid some on the rack to warm them up. They got so toasty warm and soft that I heaved one in my mouth...and burned my tongue!! Life is rough...

Awesome!! I'll be in your neck of teh woods on saturday. I'm coming out Friday afternoon to hunt with Greg.

Very nice, every deer taken with a handgun is a trophy in my book.

Good shootin. Freezer's full !!!

Lars

Congrtas on the great harvest Dan!!!

I knew you would like that 300 Savage, the 250 Savage is a great cartridge also.


And I feel real sorry about your tounge....... NOT!!

Nice going Dan. It sure is fun baptizing a new shootin iron. All my current hunting pistols have been redeemed. Does that mean I have to buy more?

Where you gonna be "doggin" on saturday? So far I've totally struck out this year. SGL 67 has not been good to me,but thats where I'll be on Saturday. BTW Congrats on great shootin'. Ive always wanted a Rem.700 in 300 savage. How's the recoil in a handgun?

It's whippy...the front really likes to stand up when fired. I'd like a slightly heavier barrel but I'm not going to complain since it was cheap ($75 for the barrel and installation), looks nice and shoots well for not really doing any load development. I researched several manuals and just settled on trying Varget and new bag of 150gr Rem PSP bullets. My goal with the first loading was to just get it zeroed...they all grouped into less than 1" so I loaded more and quit!



Most certainly!!! And do so ASAP!! Had I known that you were in such a predicament, I would have shipped a few Contender barrels your way...there are about 8 or so in the safe that have never seen the woods!! The .300 Savage was assembled three weeks before hunting season...they don't get much newer than that.

Nice shooting Dan B. Congrates and let me know if you need my mailing address so you can send me some jerky. Beings that I didn't even see a deer during hunting season this year, I am forced in to begging. LOL



rupe

Good job Dan sounds like you had a blast

meat for the freezer

Concrats

WTG Dan. I knew you were gonna get to try out both of those new Handguns.

Funny you should mention Jerky. Last summer I did a couple trigger jobs for the Insurance Man in town. He offered to pay me and I told him I didn't want anything and that he'd do me a favor someday. Well he told me that if I filled my deer tags he'd make me some jerky this fall.

After I filled my second tag I called him and said I needed to take him up on his offer. He said sure enough, a batch he does is 16 pounds. He said to cut up the Deer and he'd grind it. I said I have a grinder so I ground the 16 pounds from the hind quarters, ground it coarse and gave it to John.

Well last Saturday night John delivered my jerky. John does not use a dehydrator or oven but rather built his own smoker just to make Jerky. I don't kknow what his recipe is, but do know his jerky is fantastic.

You talking about jerky got me to tasting John's jerky and now I am really sad. Sad that I am out of Deer Tags.

Congrats Dan, ya done good !

Larry

Dan
Glad you have had such a great season.