Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 2020 Dead Deer Thread

Got a few this year. Season started with a Mule Deer hunt (my first, not my last), had a blast, took this nice 4x3 after a winter storm. Prior to that all I saw was forkies. I got lucky in that after doing a lot of post-holing through the mountains all morning, I kept seeing deer below me. So I decided around noon to start making it down to the truck. About 100 yds from the truck I start seeing does and there he was, about a 40 yard shot in the timber. It was an easy downhill drag in the snow to quarter and load him in the Taco. M70 270 Win.



As soon as I got back to TN, it was the youth season so took my daughter out Sunday. We saw an absolute monster for our area but too far for her to shoot (her first year deer hunting). Then muzzleloader season opened and I passed up several bucks waiting for the big one, which is not my style as Im usually happy with any decent buck. I saw him once after legal shooting light. He looked like an Elk standing next to the other deer in our hay field. Two days later they killed him on a neighboring property. So with the wait now over, it was time to shoot a buck. Shot this 6-pt (17" wide) that evening. 115 yd shot with TC Impact. Switched from 240 XTP to 270 Gold Dot or Deep Curl, whatever they call it now. I switched because the 240 XTP seemed to open up a bit much and really make a mess. The 270 GD punched through (double lung) but found only pin drops of blood the whole way until he was piled up about 85 yards from where I shot him. It was a little unnerving, but want to see how the 270's do at more common MZ ranges (40 yds) before I start seeking another bullet.



Saving the best for last, our rifle season opened Saturday. My daughter hunted hard every morning an evening, kept coming up empty handed as they were either running does or too far. Monday afternoon her luck changed and she killed her first deer. He was standing in the woods moving along slowly, she had to pick a spot through the trees and smoked him a 243 factory load. 11-pts you can hang a ring on. Rifle is a campfire special and some might recognize it. Its a product of the Walmart closeout thread, Weatherby vanguard. I took the 1' pad off and installed the thinest I could find to shorten LOP. John Boy on here did the teal w/black spiderweb paint job, very well done BTW. Lastly, Redneck cut and crowned the barrel from 24 to 21.5". It was her Christmas present last year.



Lots of tags left, but Im tired of butchering deer. Ready for winter (snow) rabbits.