Getting ready for 2010 !

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  • Last Post 02 January 2011
6pt-sika posted this 09 June 2010

Well it's time !

Last couple years some of the local farmers have asked another fellow and myself to help them with Damage Control Permits for both deer and bear .

Typically the guys with orchards want us to start the last week of july and then the guys with corn etc are more mid august .

So with that being said this is an excellent way for me to “field test” quite a few guns and or bullets !

So at the moment I have no less then THIRTEEN 444 Marlin's set up with 16 different bullets ! A nice old Marlin in 45-70 set up with two bullets and a Marlin in 375 WIN set up with another bullet !

 

Of which all are cast !

 

Kinda got a hankering to shoot a bear with my newest 444 shooting my Mountain Molds 433-400GC bullet or maybe my 45-70 with the BRP 462-465GC bullet !

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6pt-sika posted this 09 June 2010

"Hunting season” for me the last couple years has started some time in july and runs all the way thru late january or mid february !

It gets a little old about mid November and I may take a week breather before going at it again for the rest of the season !

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6pt-sika posted this 13 June 2010

To be totally honest I would really like to blood all the 444's and the 45-70 during the DCP hunts and hunt with uhm regular guns during hunting season this year !

 

Be kinda nice to just have the Savage 10ML-II out for the ML seasons !

The Savage 220F out for the annual Blackwater NWR Sika trip .

And hunt whitetails during the regular seasons with my Mauser 6.5-06 and a couple Ruger #1B's in 25-06 , 280 and 264 WIN MAG !

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hunterspistol posted this 13 June 2010

   So, um, Craig, where is this blog of hunting stories?  The report on different bullet types is going to be extensive, that'd be deep reading too.

     I love hunting stories, I love non-fiction.

Ron

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hunterspistol posted this 13 June 2010

   :D    Okay, maybe that isn't fair, but.... 

     Have fun, enjoy.  And as Georgio taught me : In bocca la lupa!

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6pt-sika posted this 13 June 2010

hunterspistol wrote:    So, um, Craig, where is this blog of hunting stories?       I love non-fiction.

Ron

It isn't late july “yet” .

 

And to the best of knowledge I've never said anything that was related to FICTION .

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6pt-sika posted this 25 July 2010

Well we finally got our Damage Control Permits on friday !

 

We're allowed FIVE black bear this year and unlimited antlerless whitetails !

 

Went out yesterday afternoon around 4PM and the temp in town as we were going thru was 104 !

At 7PM where we were the temp reading on my watch said 103.7 . Needless to say we didn't see a bear or deer !

Gonna try her again monday !

 

I took a 444 Marlin loaded with a 207 GC bullet pushed with XMP5744 and a Ruger #1B loaded with a Hornady 129 SST . Next time the #1 stays home and will be replaced by another 444 with a 375 grain Mountain Molds bullet .

I have 2 stands set for myself and the longest shot on the one yesterday was a ranged 83 yards , my second stand maybe has a 70 yard shot . When I hung the stands in march you could see a bit further obviousely :cool:

 

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hunterspistol posted this 28 July 2010

   Sounds great, five black bear and antlerless will keep you busy.  If you get the chance, post a pic of the 444 gc round.  Yessir, it sure is hot.

 Ron

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Ranch Dog posted this 29 July 2010

We will need pictures too!

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6pt-sika posted this 30 July 2010

The bear have yet to show themselves !

And about the only deer I'm seeing are a decent 6 point in vlevet and what I think will be a nice 8 point also in velvet !

Also see a couple fawns running around buy mama deer is staying well hidden at the moment !

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6pt-sika posted this 03 August 2010

Well got my first damage control animal this year tonight at 20:00 !

Shot a 125 pound live weight female black bear ! This is the first black bear I've ever shot at in my 49 years !

She walked up to about 15 yards of my tree so I shot her in the head and that was that !

Used one of my 1974 Second Model rifles with a Weaver K2.5 60B on top and I was shooting my Mountain Molds 433-375GC WQ WW bullet pushed by 41 grains of H322 !

Took 3 pics that will follow on thursday (my old desktop here at home doesn't allow me to download pics and my laptop the modom is fried and we have dial up ) so I'll get them on at the shop thursday morning !

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hunterspistol posted this 04 August 2010

  Wow, congratulations!

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6pt-sika posted this 04 August 2010

hunterspistol wrote:   Wow, congratulations!

Thanks but be aware when you see the pics tommorrow this bear weighs about half of what I do !

So a 125 pound live weight bear ain't that large !

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6pt-sika posted this 05 August 2010

Okay here's the bear I got 2 days ago with the 1974 Second Model with a Weaver K2.5 on top shooting the Mountain Molds 433-375GC pushed with 41 grains of H322 ! I originally said the bear was shot at 15 yards , but I actually ranged it last night and it turned out to be more in the 9-10 yard range !

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hunterspistol posted this 06 August 2010

      That's a good black bear, even at 125, he's still got teeth and claws! You must have steady nerves, don't know if I'd want to get that close to them in the brush like that.   That's really good for levergun hunting too.

    Congrats,

    Ron

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6pt-sika posted this 06 August 2010

hunterspistol wrote:       That's a good black bear, even at 125, he's still got teeth and claws! You must have steady nerves, don't know if I'd want to get that close to them in the brush like that.   That's really good for levergun hunting too.

    Congrats,

    Ron

It isn't that bad I was 16 feet off the ground in a ladder stand with two fully loaded 444's .>

 

To be honest I thought she was a German Shepard at first . I kinda had remorse over shooting that bear after I pulled the trigger . But the guy that owns the place said “nonsense we have 5 permits and use them , just don't shoot any sow's with cubs ” !

There's another bear up there he has pics of recently that's in the 350-400 range !

I would really like him to come buy :cool:

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gunarea posted this 07 August 2010

Hey 6 pt

   Varmits is varmits. Excellent humane kill. Down here in central Florida, my pest eradication program includes much smaller and much less dangerous prey. Hunting in 100 degree weather with 99% relative humidity, is a challenge with problems not understood by most. Cleaning critters in the middle of swarming, biting insects is the chore that makes trigger pulling a carefully considered action.  My hat off to you.

    Now back to my air conditioned cave to reload some more ammo for this evenings sweat fest. Thanks for the pictures, we like pictures.

                                                                                                          Roy

Shoot often, Shoot well

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delmarskid1 posted this 10 August 2010

I like head shots! No guess work or blood trailing involved. People around here won't shoot a squirrel any where but the head but they wreck shoulder roasts on deer shooting them at same distances.

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6pt-sika posted this 24 October 2010

ABout two weeks ago I got 3 whitetail slicks one evening on my neighbors vineyard using his DCP's !

 

Had 3 of last years slicks walk up to about 20-40 yards . Was using a 444 with a Castboolits 434-207GC bullet . Shot the first doe at 19 yards in the neck and she dropped right there . Worked the action and caught the brass and stayed silent . In about 30-45 seconds a second one walked around a tree at 27 yards , shot her behind the shoulder and she was dead right there . The third one eased back around the tree the way she came and stopped to look back , shot her at 36 yards and she tipped maybe 20 yards and crashed in the brush .

Been kinda s slow year so far . I think the heat on july and august took all the wind out of my sails as I haven't hunted much at all even though I have more permits then ever this year .

 

Did the early ML season up on the Blackwater NWR in Cambridge MD this past friday . No luck with the Sika Deer , but there's still the shotgun season and I drew a very good location for that one !

Early ML season starts here next saturday so I suppose it's time to get in full swing again !

Sorry boys but there will be no more pics posted by me ! Had a little run in on another forum so I've deleted every picture I ever posted on any forum !

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gregg posted this 24 October 2010

Sorry to hear that. Still hope to learn much from your CB kills.;}

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6pt-sika posted this 24 October 2010

I failed to mention I was pushing the Castboolits 434-207GC with 50 grains of H322 and setting it off with a CCI200 primer . To be perfectly honest I wouldn't be afraid to use this light bullet in my old 1966 rifle out to 150 yards on deer . I have an old early 60 vintage Weaver K4 on top and it does very nicely .

 

You know I used to think the older outdoor writers were nuts when they said a 2.5x was great for woods , 4x for general work and a 6x on the plains . But after shooting a good many of the old Weavers in just those powers it isn't as difficult as I had originally imagined .

Now on a jacketed bullet rifle I have sighted in for 300 yard shots I still plan to use a 3-9 , 4.5-14 or something of that nature . But for my old lever rifles the old Weavers work just fine !

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6pt-sika posted this 16 November 2010

Well I ploughed a fat 1 1/2 year old 4 pointer the other day with one of my old 444's shooting the Lyman 429640HP “Devestator” bullet at about 30 yards !

 

I was shooting an air cooled wheelweight bullet pushed with 36 grains of XMP5744 . This was one of the loads I originally worked up before I started messing with H322 in the cast bullet rounds .

In the future I'll make this bullet water quenched and fire it up with H322 . Nothing wrong with the way it performed on the deer but a little more velocity isn't a bad thing !

That was my fifth animal this season with a cast bullet ! Three WT doe , a WT buck and a sow black bear !

I've been hunting the last couple days with Ruger #1B's in variouse calibers shooting jacketed bullets ! If I'm able to blood a few of them I'll go back to my cast bullet 444's before the end of the season !

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hunterspistol posted this 17 November 2010

     Sorry to hear about the run-in on another forum. Lost some good pictures to that.  Five animals shot with cast bullets is saying something.  Glad you had a season of it and it wasn't too awfully slow.

   Thanks,

     Ron

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6pt-sika posted this 18 November 2010

hunterspistol wrote:       Glad you had a season of it and it wasn't too awfully slow. 

   This time last year I had taken about a dozen deer !

At the moment my total is at 6 deer and the bear :shock:

I try to get about a dozen a year as I give them to variouse people to supplement their yearly meat supply .

 

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6pt-sika posted this 12 December 2010

Well my season has been good so far !

 

The one bear with a cast bullet during the DCP hunts !

Then 4 whitetails with cast bullets during DCP hunts .

Four more whitetails with jacketed bullets during the hunting season and a pair of Sika females with saboted shotgun slugs on the Blackwater !

I'm heading back to the Blackwater NWR friday for a one day saturday hunt with my Savage ML , so I'll see if I can get another Sika or maybe a decent whitetail !

And of course we still have until 1/1/11 to gun hunt here in Virginia ! As well as the possibility of a 2 day late gun season in southern Maryland for a couple more whitetail slicks !

I'm kinda happy to say none of the whitetails I killed this year were wallhangers ! Why am I happy to say that you may wonder ? If they aren't wallhangers then I don't have to debate spending $450 to have them mounted ;)

But then again with almost 3 weeks left to hunt one never knows I may accidently shoot a mountable specimen .>

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6pt-sika posted this 12 December 2010

Incidently I have a brand spanking new Remington 700CDL blued fluted 257 Weatherby on the way to me !

I should have this one by the end of this week !

I already have a Leupold Vari XIII 4.5-14AO sitting on the table along with Leupold bases and rings to set this one up ! Also have Hornady 117 grain SST's loaded to try in Weatherby brass !

While I realize this isn't a cast bullet rifle and I have no intention of shooting lead in this barrel . I just had to tell someone :D

With a little luck I'll have this one sighted in with a decent load accuracy wise and will be able to pound atleast one dinwitted deer before the season ends .>

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hunterspistol posted this 12 December 2010

     Sounds really nice.  Good Luck out there.

     Ron

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6pt-sika posted this 12 December 2010

My gunsmith buddy has a great aunt in Kerr County Texas that has about two square miles of game fenced pasture that has a sizable herd of Axis deer . She doesn't really do anything with them .

So perhaps I he can get her to let us come down and knock off some of them !

That'd be an excellent way for me to blood all the 444's that I've not killed with yet ! And test out some more cast bullets ;)

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6pt-sika posted this 12 December 2010

While not a rifle , I've been carrying a shotgun to my stands along with whatever rifle I was using .

I have a circa Pre 1897 W.C.Scott SxS hammerless damascu barreled shotgun I inherited from my maternal grandfather . And about 2 months ago I worked out a load in 2 7/8” shells with 12 of the 00 Buck pellets . Load patterns nicely at 25 yards and is decent enough to kill out to 50 at the longest .

Kinda like to pop one with that for my grandpop !

Also have about 50 rounds loaded with #8 shot for a late season dove hunt .>

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6pt-sika posted this 18 December 2010

While not exactly a cast bullet I popped a big old fat whitetail slick at 26 yards today with my grnadfathers old W.C.Scott 10 gauge and my handloaded 10 gauge 2 7/8” 12 pellet 00 Buck loads !

 

Used factory Hornady pellets with SR7625 and a CCI209 !

 

At the boom of the old gun the slick went flop !

This is the first deer this gun has probably taken and I am certain it's the only one thats been taken with it since about 1950-1955 when my grandfather got it !

On a lesser note this is my FIRST EVER deer with buckshot !

I realize thats no great feat , but out of 200+ deer in my lifetime this is the first with buckshot and it couldn't make me happier that I did it with my grandfathers old gun !

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hunterspistol posted this 19 December 2010

       No great feat?  Sounds like it is to me.  That's just awesome.  Damascus barrelled shotgun sounds nice, must be real sweet looking.  To take a deer with something like that from your own load development, that's an all-time favorite memory. 

     Ron

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6pt-sika posted this 19 December 2010

hunterspistol wrote:        No great feat?  Sounds like it is to me.  That's just awesome.  Damascus barrelled shotgun sounds nice, must be real sweet looking.  To take a deer with something like that from your own load development, that's an all-time favorite memory. 

     Ron

Thank you sir !

The only thing that would have made it any better for me would have been for my grandfather to still be here to have seen it .

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6pt-sika posted this 20 December 2010

Well I added another whitetail doe to the larder this afternoon on our property behind our home !

Shot a nice fat doe at 15:30 from about 33 yards with a 1963 vintage Mannlicher Schoenauer half stock rifle in 308 WIN ! Had a 1960's vintage Redfield 3-9 scope on top as well !

I'm sorry to say I wasn't shooting cast in this one but rather some twenty year old Sierra 150 grain Spitzers and pushing them with 47.5 grains of IMR4064 and a CCI200 primer .

Was pretty cool I watched 4 or 5 of them come up to me thru a thicket until I got a clear shot at the largest one . I'm also sorry to say I wasn't able to get a clear shot at any of the others !

But I've still got until January the first !

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6pt-sika posted this 02 January 2011

Well my season “oficially” ended yesterday !

My total for the year was ten whitetails , 2 Sika Deer and a black bear .

Of which only the bear and 4 of the whitetails were killed with cast bullets .

I had a possibility of hunting in Marylad for whitetail doe this coming friday and saturday , but I think I'll forget that idea .

And my friend with the aunt in Kerrville Texas says he doesn't have the time to go down this year before it starts getting hot down there . So the Axis trip is off !

Just as well !

I've hunted enough for one year :dude:

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