Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Just a couple of months to deer season

November 15th here in Michigan. Are you boys starting to think about deer season? Where do you hunt and what rifle do you carry into the field?.

Yip, it'll be here quick... but I can't think about that right now...

Do you know where that pic was taken Jeff?

No, it was shared by a buddy of mine because he noticed the EG, but i think he just came across it on the internet. I sure would like to hear the details of that hunt!!

The majority of my buck hunting here in PA will be done with a camera this year.

Do my eyes deceive me, or is he wearing a buckskin jacket? If so, I hope he changed out of his buffalo plaid before the pic was taken!

Jed used to know all about the Hunter and Buck, Iv for gotten!

First, so as not to hijack the thread, I would say that I really never know what gun I am taking until the night or morning before the hunt.

Second, I've been thinking about 2019 deer season since the last day of 2018 deer season. Bow season already open in SE Pa, soon to be open here in Va. I usually hunt in Pa, Va, and WV every year. Some years in western states as well. When I was a younger man I used to hunt almost every year in Canada as well, but I fear those days are behind me as mountain hunting and riding horses, buzzing around in tiny airplanes and sleeping on the ground are a younger man's endeavor.

Funny I spend way, way, way more time bowhunting every year than gun hunting. I own one bow. I don't even know how many rifle I own. Bow hunting is a great challenge, but rifles are so much more interesting than bows.

Getting back to the picture, I though Jeff might know where that picture was taken because of our common ancestry in Upstate NY. However, I'm thinking that pic was taken in the late 40's, maybe early to mid 50's in a western state like MT or ID. Just a WAG really based on the snow, the man's dress and his scoped what looks to me to be a post war EG.

Another example of a man that had the means to buy a 30-06, but chose the 300 Savage instead?

Waaaaay too early to predict which rifle I'll carry. I have a .30-30 G coming that has a lot of good juju (I think), and it and my 1918 M250-3000 will certainly get to play backup, or first chair depending on how I feel when I get up that morning. I got a new-ish Ruger #1 6.5x55 that beckons mightily, and just this evening I bought a 1929-vintage M1903 Springfield NRA Sporter** (.30-06!!) that spent its 90 year life on Kodiak Island killing grizzlies- talk about some real juju. Maryland and Pennsylvania whitetails will be a cake walk for it! The beastie is in very nice original condition. I'll probably load it down to .300-level to take it easy on the local deer.

I wish sometimes I had one of my Dad's go-to rifles to trot out one frosty morning. But, I already passed them down to my nephews, his grandsons- a fact I kinda think I may have jumped the gun on. Oh well.

Too many guns, so little time....




**Forgotten factoid: Springfield Armory was in the business of building sporting rifles for a few years in the mid-20's to early-30's. The idea was born from the public's need for a top shelf commercial bolt gun, of which nobody was building except for custom rifles. The M1903 Service Rifle was the basis for it, with pistol grip stock, Lyman 48 sight, and best of all a "star gauged" barrel which had passed stringent dimensional inspections. They always maintained a reputation for being wonderfully accurate, and as ruggedly reliable as the Service Rifle. The guns are pretty rare- they cost a lot of money, and were sold only to NRA members. Production stopped after only a very few thousand, when the Winchester M54 and Remington M30 bolt guns started filling the need for a quality factory bolt gun. Hemingway had one that he subsequently shipped off to Griffin&Howe for further customizing. (And Hemingway certainly had the means to buy a boat load of .300's but chose the mighty .30-06 instead. )

Addendum: I'm taking delivery of a Winchester M54 in .22 K-Hornet (rechambered by Lysle Kilbourn himself), with Lyman Targetspot scope, that I might dial in to punch a gnat's eye at 100 yards and take it with me to Pennsylvania (where it's legal to use such things for deer). I'm not above jelly-braining a deer for a positively dead-right-there approach.

We hunt in two weeks. Raining here now so it should be un-f'n-believable out on the ridges come opening day. I am jacked! Probably hunt the 284 out in the long country.

We hunt in two weeks. Raining here now so it should be amazing out on the ridges come opening day. Unfortunately, I have a customer that wants me to enlarge a pond that day! Nothing to do between now and then to speak of though!

Probably hunt the 284 out in the long country.

What will you use in the 'short' country?

Don't be like that. It makes your butt look big.

Yes, to the original question;

I've got several places to go, from 1/2 mile paddle off my back yard, walk from my B.I.L.'s yard, 40 mile drive to southern Adks.
- October 19 starts the season with my Savage Mzldr (legitimate 150yd rifle with smokeless powder, Parker pills and scope), norther tier NY
- October 26, Northern tier rifle starts, with my 99 x 270 Redding (..have I told you about my 270 Redding!!)
- November 2, crossbow off my back yard (with a crazy reverse bow from the Great Enabler)
- November 16, rifle Southern tier, and a few extra days off work around Thanksgiving.

I have tags for four (4!!) deer across all the disciplines, including two doe permits, so there's no excuses for me to be eating beef next year!

Well could be getting warmed up on knocking down the herd with our crop damage permits, but the fellow with the farm, misplaced them. The 303 F gets opening day in WV, the K with Noske scope gets the 2nd deer in WV. The Ruger #3 in 25-35, that I got from 7-57Steve, gets MD opener.

Good luck to all our members venturing out to fill the freezer in the coming days. I really live for this time of year. Gets my blood pumping. I always plan a full range day to get my fix on shooting, BSing with the guys, and just being outside in the cool fall weather. I picked up a 99 E last year in .243 to give to my grand daughter as her first deer rifle. Still playing with factory loads on that, and so far it really seems to like the Federal Fusion stuff, but I'll buy a couple others to try just to make sure what's most accurate out of it. I'll carry that rifle for deer here in Minnesota's gun season. 'Want to "bleed" it before I pass it down to my son for his little girl. He'll carry my .300 EG this fall. Nothing I'd like to see more than for him to take a deer with my 300. My old Mauser, a veteran of World War II and decades of deer seasons will make the trip. If I fill a tag with the 99, I'll switch off and hunt with it.

Probly that 250 BB I got from Roy, that rifle shoots lights out, with the 87 grain core locks! but iv not Bloodied it yet!

Joe- what??!! They lost the crop damage permits? "Gee, sorry officer, I don't have a permit. My dog ate it along with my homework last night." Why don't they just open their property to general hunting instead of having a couple guys do it all in a bacchanalia of blood sport? It also would be an ideal venue for a bunch of young newbies to get their feet wet in a controlled environment. I often wonder too just how many "crop damage" permits are issued in our state due to political payback, back room deals, trumped up need, and outright bribery.

I'm not sure how I feel about treating deer like a commodity instead of a noble game animal.

I'm happy just shooting one scraggly deer per year. Truth be told, I'm just as happy when I don't. I can't work up the enthusiasm for it like I did when younger. Doesn't stop me from going out, but the glass of whiskey and fine cigar tastes just as good at the end of the day while listening to all the other tales of prowess.

The buck was shot by Fred Goodwin in Maine, 1949.