Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 2021-2022 Savage kill page

Didn't know whether to add this to the 2020-2021 thread or start new. ?? Anyway, I started new.

Lots of bears and some really great hunts this year chasing a pig of a bear. Lost track of how many I counted but had a good year. Missed getting the butterball I had chased around earlier but I'm super happy to fill my tag. Next weekend is opening wknd of deer rifle so it was time to get it done. Was in a hurry to get off the mountain so this is all I got for photos. Took a few days to outsmart him. He had my number the first three times, busting me when the wind swirled. He changed his patterns due to my being all over him but I was able to sort it out and set up for a 25 yard encounter. Today I got some elevation where the wind was more steady and he walked right into me. Little 358 got scoped with some good glass and got it done. Two Barnes to the boiler room 2" apart, both went all the way through. He had a broken tooth that abscessed this summer and he should have been 100 pounds heavier for his frame. It was healed up pretty well but he had been suffering by the looks of it. And yet, they just keep going. Tough suckers.

Lot of blood sweat and blisters to a bear in this country.

The 358 was just too short for my eyes to use iron sights with so I bought a Weaver 1.5-4.5 with a 30mm tube, duplex with a red dot center here in the classifieds and that made a real screamer out of the carbine. Here it is ready to roll.






Here's the bear that didn't get away.




2021 is off to a good start. Blacktail deer are up next. Good luck to all this fall!

Nice! Looking forward to reading about your black tail exploits this year too.

Lee

Well played, you.

Way to go!!!

Blacktail lives matter.

Way to go, I like a 358 too.

Not around here they don't! LOL

The bear meat here is outstanding due to the amount of seeds and acorns available here I assume. Some areas here are 80% bear food as far as the eye can see. September is magic time for bear hunting in this country. Gets harder after that.

Nice job!

Persistent is a word that comes to mind. Congrats!

Congrats Roy!!

Glad you tagged out!

Way to go!

Someone asked for the story on gunners bowhunting black bear thread, so I typed it up.



The area I hunt has acorns that grow on bushes low to the ground rather than trees and are ripe in September. Each year it's a big deal waiting for those suckers to get ripe, lots of trips up in the mountains just picking berries, watching sign, and waiting for September magic time. The bears do the same, stomping through every week or so as the time approaches, and if you spend enough time scouting you begin to pattern particular bears. All of a sudden it arrives and within two weeks there are tracks everywhere but the bears hide during most of the daylight hours.

It's still hot so hunting near water isn't a bad idea. If they're near water they move from 5pm to 6pm pretty reliably going to water first then off to feed. It gets dark about 7:30 so that gives you some decent time to hunt every evening. Morning hunts is ambush between feeding areas and their beds. First you have to find their beds, trails, water, and feed, and put the pattern all together along with times and wind direction. Alot of things have to line up. I found a really good bear and waited at his bed for him one morning and missed him at 45 yards as he came bombing in behind me. I was watching forward of course. I was completely unnerved by his size and how dominant he came stomping in. He shook me up!

I tried again a week later and took my wife along, waiting at the same bed with no bear that morning. About 11 am we moved upslope and moved over 400 yards. I called using a combination woodpecker and deer fawn bleat. About 5 minutes later I see him sidehilling from the right up to us, right from where we just came from, circling downwind to get our scent. I got two shots at 60 and 80 yards. I did get a little blood this time and after trailing him for a half mile decided he was just clipped high on the back and was going to be just fine. I was really upset with myself for missing this guy two times and drawing blood. I almost punched my tag right there but my wife convinced me we needed the great meat and that bear wasn't fatally hit so keep going. If I had hit it hard I would have tagged and been done but she was right, we do love the meat. I caught the same bear on trail camera a week later so she was right.

I added a scope to my 358 carbine that had been open sighted and sighted it in on the way up the mountain one day. I had the load for it so it only took 6 shots to zero. This was a good combination and it shot hole for hole at 70 yards. I just wasn't able to focus on a 16" barreled carbine with iron sights and my eyes. As much as I wanted to hunt with an open sighted little carbine, I just couldn't shoot well enough.

I decided to leave the big bear alone for another week and hunt a long tall bear we had seen only the back half of. His tracks appeared bigger than all but the big one we had been hunting so we named him #2 and went after him. My neighbor got a bear tag and went with me and we watched a stretch of road on opposing corners where the bear had been crossing. He came up near me but caught my scent. This was the 2nd time he had come up to the edge of the brush along the road and busted me. We saw one bear in front of the truck that night on the way out that ran right up the road in front of the truck. Bill was thrilled, it was the first time he'd ever seen a bear in the wild. He couldn't quit talking about it.

I'd been having a lot of leg and foot pain from a pinched nerve in my back that put me down for a couple hours a day. That and bone on bone on my left knee and I was limited to about two miles a day walking in the mountains. I decided to quit acting like I was still 20 and outsmart this bear as close to where he crossed the two track road as possible to ensure I could get him out of the steep canyon country.

I would make a big aggressive hunt in the morning hiking, glassing, and calling and by mid day the left knee was really angry so I'd go for a ride on the quad for a couple hours to check sign and scout deer sign for this weekends blacktail opener. Always looking at bear slides and road crossings for timing and size of bears. About 4 pm I'd head back for the evening hunt. The road had enough slope I could shut off the machine and coast it in pretty quietly close to where I wanted to set up. That saved wear and tear on the sore knee. I had to be very quiet because this bear was bedding just a 100 yards or less below the road in a nasty salal thicket.

I didn't want to go down in there because the wind swirled and visibility was low. I am confident he would have come to a call but hunting alone I prefer not to get a bear in my lap without backup. If visibility had been 30 yards I would have tried it, but this bear needed to be left alone in his thicket and caught when he went out for the evening. I wasn't 100% sure he had water down there but I suspected he did and that would mean he'd cross the two track road about 6 oclock, after going to water and stretching, waking up from his nap.

He busted me one more time with the damned swirling wind. The next time I went up to hunt him he had started crossing at a real brushy piece of road 40 or 50 yards around the corner from where he had been crossing earlier. This told me that even though he knew I was hunting him, he didn't want to leave the area, and he still needed to cross that road to go to food. So I rode the quad about 3 miles around a ridge and found his track down in the bottom of the next canyon over. I glassed around and found some good acorn bushes on the opposing slope, which was about a mile from where he was bedding. Knowing they like to be in the food by 7pm at the latest, I figured I could catch this guy on top of the ridge, above the road I had been sitting, before he dove into the canyon where he was feeding, hopefully in good daylight with enough time left to process him before dark.

I headed back to his bedding area and coasted the quad down the mountain, stopping shorter this time to save on the noise. Loading up the pack and making sure I had a good flashlight, I hiked uphill to the ridgeline then south until I found his trail coming up from below. I was about 150 yards above the road where he had busted me three times in a row. Since he had moved over to the brushy ravine to cross the road, I left his trail and moved over about 40 yards so I could see the ravine real well. It was 4:30 pm.

My mind was alert and I was 80% hopeful I could catch him, but you always have doubts, that's why they call it hunting and not killing. Missing that big dude twice was heavy on my mind, working on my confidence as I sat there and waited. Would I miss again with the new scope setup? It was a tack driver with a scope on it, but you always wonder.

Right at 6pm with no warning, no bluejays squawking, no squirrels scolding, no twigs snapping, I see him coming up the hill on my left, right up the ravine. He had done exactly what I'd hoped and crossed at the brushy spot again and come straight up the hill about 60 yards over from his regular trail. I guess he hadn't heard me coast down in on him and he thought he was all alone. He was just off to my left about 25 yards broadside and moving along sniffing the ground and acting like his food was running away and he was going after it.

This was the first full look I'd had at him. He was a long legged bear and a long bear, but not heavy for his size, if that makes sense. I hesitated and was trying to decide whether to shoot or let this one go when all the work and effort of figuring him out came flooding back in. Deer season opened up next weekend so then my attention would be divided, making it harder to dedicate the time to figure out a bear. Also, I have friends, usually new hunters or people with alot less experience, that I like to help with their tags and having a deer and bear tag unfilled would take away from that, which is one of my big joys each fall. I didn't have a lot of time to ponder the meaning of life, so my instincts just kind of took over and I fired once at his chest. He jumped forward and began to run but by then I had racked the lever and shot again. He made it about 5 yards in all and went down. He let out that gawd awful death moan, twice no less, and laid still.

I sat there trying to get that sound out of my head and making sure he was really done. It really bothers me when they wail like that. They have such a tremendous will to live and are so strong they die hard. Like I said before, if I didn't love bear meat I'd photograph them instead.

When I cleaned him I discovered he had a broken canine tooth that was dark gray, and a healing abscess that broke through the skin on his lower jaw. He was nearly healed but had been suffering for most of the summer and I believe had not been able to put on the weight he should have. If he had not been handicapped by the injury I think he would have been 75 or 100 pounds heavier for his size. His meat was perfect and no odor or sign of anything off other than the scab on his jaw. I finished cutting him up today and it was some of the most beautiful dark red meat I've ever processed. It should be wonderful eating.

Since I was in a hurry to get done before dark and get him off the ridge I only took one photo in the waning light. Here's the little 358 carbine I hunted with irons until it got new glass I picked up here in the classifieds. I load it with 180 grain Barnes ttsx and TAC powder. A real shooter and it shoots flames and bullets! LOL

*same two photos as above deleted

Now I'm craving bear brats.

Just got in from opening weekend of blacktail deer hunting. I took the neighbor kid along who had a bear tag, and I had a deer tag. Can you predict who saw what? LOL He was using a certain powder coated 99 in 358. He enjoys hunting with a Savage lever gun.

Opening weekend I was in the same canyon that I saw the good 4x4 and smaller buck in a couple weeks ago. Camped at the closest spot I could find, rode two miles in on the mountain bike in the dark got there at daylight. Glassed for an hour or so, wind coming downhill when all of a sudden I smell bear! I turned around looked uphill half expecting him to be coming down the bank on top of me! Nothing close but after a few minutes I spot a big black bear at about 125 yards. I
'm not bear hunting but Robert is. Of course he's not with me. So it goes.

I watched the bear off and on for an hour or so and he was moving real slow going around hoovering up all the acorns that had fallen off the bushes onto the ground. He was a great bear, I estimated him at between 350-400 pounds. Around here that's a good one. No deer to be found so I decided I'd sidehill over to the next ridge and look into the next canyon from some rockpiles I could see from where I was. The wind was blowing downhill so I just boogied across the mountain under the bear keeping an eye on him so he didn't bust me. With any luck I'd be able to bring Robert back Saturday evening and have a shot at that bear. As I sidehilled over to the next ridge I kept glancing back at the bear. When I was partway across I looked back and had a good view of the hillside that had been above me. I was surprised there were actually two bears moving along parallel to each other about 25 yards apart. The range was less than 300 yards. I recognized one as the black one but when I looked at the other something was different about it. I set the rifle against a tree and took out my binoculars. By now I was in the morning sun as it crept onto the hillside so I moved really slow.

When I saw the second bear my jaw literally dropped. It looked brownish red with a lighter red blanket over it's shoulders, and it was much larger than the black one! I thought the black one was good, but this bear looked like a grizzly next to him! What a magnificent bear. And here I sat with a rifle and no tag. I watched them both feed along together for another half hour or so until the red one disappeared onto a bench on the relatively open hillside. I figured he would bed there for the day, or that was my guess. The black one kept feeding but I really needed to get on with my deer hunt so I left them and finished scrambling over to the next ridge. This canyon was more rugged with rock slides and outcroppings interspersed with various sized trees and some cover. I glassed this one intently looking for the 4x4 I knew lived here somewhere. No luck.

After another hour or so I had circled down the canyon and back up to the tangled two track road without event. When I returned to camp Robert followed a few minutes later. A plan was hatched for the evening hunt for those two behemeths. Hopes were high as neither bear seemed interested in leaving their enclave. The day passed very slowly and the sun seemed to hang in the sky F O R E V E R. Finally after several hours of going over gear, washing up. napping, and eating all the snacks we could find we headed out about 5pm. We were in place at 6 and I spotted a doe pretty quickly at 400 yards. While I was looking for anyone else that might be with her the big black bear appeared about 50 yards behind her. Her attention was split between us and the bear. The bear was angling slightly uphill and was on a track to pass just a few yards above her and towards us. As we watched and wondered what drama was about to unfold we noticed a second deer, a good buck, standing where she had been. She had moved over and a really nice 4x4, probably THE 4x4 I was after, was standing there, watching that bear approach them. The bear had no clue the deer were there since the wind was blowing downhill and he was above them.

I had promised myself I would pass on a deer if it meant a better chance for Robert to fill his bear tag, and DAMMIT TO HELL, that promise came back to haunt me almost before the ink dried on it. Here was a great blacktail at 400 yards broadside, the one I came for, and a bear about 15 yards above him. If we'd have had two long range rifles it would have been a countdown 1,2,3,boom/boom! Roberts bear and my deer all at once, but alas, we had one long range rifle and one short range 358, plus an inexperienced shooter. The thought had occurred to me to let Robert shoot the bear first then while the deer was trying to figure out what was going on, shoot him second with the same rifle, other shooter of course. It was just too much for Robert to process as it turns out. We watched the bear slowly feed his way towards us for a half hour or more but it was pushing late evening. I wasn't comfortable with Robert shooting the bear at 300 plus yards so we just watched.

In the meantime, I kept going back to the deer that was still there at 400 yards, standing broadside in the open, watching the bear. I could not have asked for a better shot.

The bear closed to inside 250 yards and it was beginning to get dark. When he hit 200 yards Robert made the decision to shoot. By the time he got ready we couldn't find the bear. It had slipped into a crack in the hillside above us where it all began Saturday morning. As darkness closed we decided to sneak out and come back in the morning. I could still see the deer in the scope just fine but there was that pesky promise, so it was not to be.

This morning the alarm went off at 5am. We lit a fire, had a quick bite, triple checked our gear and headed out, this time on the atv's. We were able to ride the uphill section of the approach w/o danger of being seen or heard then we parked the machines and walked the remainder. Not enough people pay attention to the noise and even the headlights as they approach an area to hunt. Slamming car doors or lights flashing are no bueno with me. Total darkness and silence are essential. I've been watching bears that hear a car on a gravel road from 2 miles away and they run for the timber as soon as they hear it. If you want to hunt undisturbed animals you just can't let them know there's a human within 100 miles. That's why we camp there even though we're only 20 miles from home. No truck coming up the mountain at 5 am to scare everything off.

When we arrived before daylight again, we got settled in, with Robert taking up a spot about 20' behind me. We started glassing and it wasn't long before we spotted our first bear. Unfortunately, he had busted "us" and was making his way sidehill at 250 yards for the next canyon over. Robert couldn't decide what to do so he did nothing. A few minutes later another bear follows the same pattern, running like he got a whiff of a big bear he wanted to nothing to do with. The wind seemed right for us blowing straight downhill but they had sniffed something. He was bigger than the first and definitely a shooter bear but smaller than the big black from the day before. Same range, same conversation, Robert couldn't commit, and the bear walked. Two bears in 10 minutes at 250 yards, no shots fired.

We glassed some more but apparently there was no other bear. We tried calling to be sure, and to flush any deer that might be hiding in the canyon with no luck. The rest of the morning hunt we sidehilled our way back towards camp 1 1/2 miles away trying to flush a buck or bear. Only three does and sore feet for our effort. There were bear tracks here and there, all fresh. We arrived back at camp, loaded up and came home. I dropped an SD card from the trail camera so I'm headed back up there to get it. We have a bear on it coming out of the creek bottom once a week. Now if we could figure out where he is the other 6 days at a time we'd be set. LOL

Just got back from retrieving the SD I had dropped. Hiked back out to the canyon and made it just in time to see the big black bear approaching a small ravine where all the action seems centered in this canyon. I haven't been in there but I'd bet $1000 there's a bathtub sized pool those bears lay in and drink from. After he emerged from the ravine he headed uphill to the small bench on the hillside where the red bear had disappeared the day before. Robert and I had sat on that very bench for an hour this morning waiting for one of the big bears to come in, to no avail, and now there he is, 6:15 pm, full daylight, and no one is there to welcome him. *sigh*

No buck tonight anywhere in the canyon. I will return for him. Wish I still had a bear tag.

It wouldn't be called hunting if it wasn't like your experiences.

Saw three great bears and a few does today. Completely circled a mountain, got rained on and sat in the fog for hours. No buck.

There were three bucks in the yard when I got home including a big 4x4 with eye guards.

doe antelope, zip, switch barrel 99G with the 250-3000 barrel, one. Ruined my one shot kill string. It took two shots.
Unfortunately I took photos with my stupid piece of junk cell phone and I can't get it to transfer the pics. Took a pic of the piece of junk cell phone with the 35 MM. I'll take the 35 mm with me next time.
Dave Harper, my cousin in law, got a buck Monday with his Model 77, 243. Can't post a pic since he didn't use a Savage.


I tried to rotate the pic twice but it didn't take apparently.

The neighbor and I went back to the spot I've seen bears at 6 times in a row now. We spent the night, had a big ol campfire, drank a little whiskey, and fell asleep about 10:30. Woke up late so we hustled to make it 2 miles out the canyon by daylight. Immediately spot this bear in the pre-dawn light, straining to make him out at 550 yards. As it got light he was headed for the next canyon over, hoovering acorns off the ground as he ambled along real slow.

Robert made an amazing 45 minute, 500 yard stalk up the mountain to cut him off. I was able to watch through the binoculars as they were on a collision course. Finally Robert spots the bear at 55 yards, feeding completely unaware. One well placed shot with the 284 and it was over. Robert let out a burst of pent up anxiety and whooped real loud. I chuckled to myself as he celebrated up there on the hillside. As all that's going on I spot movement on the hillside between us. Damn if the big red bear I spotted a week or so ago isn't walking across the hillside broadside at 200 yards. He stopped and looked down the hill towards my position several times. And there I sat w/o a bear tag. Again. LOL

It took us 6 hours to get that bear back to camp and in the creek to cool. Robert is so tickled he's been beside himself talking about it all day. That makes me happy. I love hunting timber pigs and sharing it with such an enthusiastic person. The .284 was flawless as always. The packs were about 90 pounds each. I kept getting stuck like a turtle on his back when I sat down to rest. Damn I'm not 25 anymore. I didn't feel too bad, Robert did a lot of grunting back there too. LOL

Most excellent FB and David!

Got a high school buddy coming in this weekend for 3-4 days of blacktail and bear hunting. He's never gotten a blacktail. It should be a fun hunt!

Are you gonna put him on 'Big Red'??

Great writeup.

We'll sure try.

Robert just called and the taxidermist looked at the teeth and said this bear is at least 15 years old. Wow. Didn't see that coming.

Got a second bear tag. Forgot Oregon offered them. Don't want to shoot another bear too bad but it's an excuse to carry a gun in December.

Just got back early from the deer hunt.

Took the 99 in 284 for long range, which is most everything here, and the powdercoated 358 everyone loves because we were expecting rain beginning Sunday. My friend and I set up camp Friday which consisted of Todd sleeping in his truck with a canopy and I set up in a cargo trailer I converted to a one man hunting setup complete with a woodstove and cooking table. We stretched a tarp across camp knowing the rains were coming Sunday and built the fire ring just outside the covered area so we could enjoy the fire rain or shine. All the firewood was stowed under the tarp and ready for whatever. After setting up we were able to orient him to the area before dark and talk about a hunt plan for Saturday.

Saturday morning before daylight we rode quads to within a mile of where we wanted to hunt and walked the remaining mile or so to get in quietly by daylight. We glassed for an hour or so with no luck. This was the first time in here that hadn't produced either a buck a bear or both, sometimes more than one bear from one position glassing. That's hunting.

We headed the 500 yards over to the next ridge to glass the next canyon over. When we got there Todd sat down and started in on the upper area while I went 200 yards down the ridgeline and glassed the lower canyon to watch for a buck coming up from the bottoms to bed for the day in the rocks. There was a really good 4x4 and a small forked horn traveling this drainage so we were hopeful. Todd said he just wanted meat he didn't care how big or small the buck was.

After a half hour I hear a deer blowing, up above somewhere. I turned around and got situated over the pack with the binoculars. It was uphill about 490 yards to the top. I was scouring for that sassy doe that was blowing at us when I spotted what looked like a big forked horn cresting a ridge into the next canyon. The range was fine for a shot at about 450 but I didn't have time to drop the bino's and set the rifle up before he topped out and disappeared into the rock slides and avalanche shoots of the north side.

Todd didn't shoot but I guessed he was moving along uphill and had kicked the buck out, so I went downhill to leave him to it. After dropping down the canyon some more and glassing all the new area I could, I side-hilled around the ridge and hiked back up to the trail where we started, making a big loop down into the lower canyon. The area had a lot of granite rock 12-24" in diameter making walking on these steep mountainsides a little difficult. My fear was having a rock roll out from under me, sending me down and landing on the rifle so I carried the rifle away from the mountain in case I took a spill.

Still no shots from Todd so I guessed the big forky had given him the slip. He was carrying his faithful Browning 300 magnum and I had personally seen him pile up a great whitetail near Libby, Montana at over 500 yards so I know anything he could see he could shoot.

I sat down to glass and eat some snacks when I got back up to the trail and finally spotted Todd on the ridge line right where we had separated. He hadn't moved. After a bit he started working his way back down and we met up about 11 am. He hadn't seen or heard the buck. We hiked back to camp to eat lunch and hatch a plan for finding this big forky Saturday afternoon and hopefully get Todd a shot at him.

After lunch we rode the quads a few miles around the mountain to see if we could approach the area where I'd seen the buck from the west. The plan was to approach the north slopes from the ridgeline above him and hopefully spot him from above bedded on the uphill side of a big tree or rockpile. Where we topped out on the ridge was still a mile from the bucks location but the wind was wrong, so we backed out and rode 2/3 of the way back and pulled off at a saddle where I knew had lots of bear and deer activity. The wind was blowing dead east so we unloaded and headed straight west out the ridgeline with the wind in our face. Todd took the north side of the ridge that had the most deer activity and I was just over the top on the dry side of the mountain. We agreed to walk the mile or so along the ridgetop about 50 yards apart and see what we could flush. As we approached the big firs where the buck had crested the ridge and disappeared earlier we'd meet back up and make a plan based on what it looked like when we got there. Most people would probably think "WTF, all this effort for a forked horn?" We didn't care, we were having a great time.

Somewhere along the way across the ridgetops Todd decided to sit down and do some glassing. By now it's about 3 pm. I lost track of him completely and by 4:30 I had waited 45 minutes for him to catch up but no Todd. I couldn't find him with binoculars so I went ahead alone down to the spot where the buck had crossed the ridgeline at 9:30 that morning. Pushing 5 o'clock I peek over a log into the next canyon and glassed around looking for the deer. Up to now I'd been concealed from view behind that log but because I couldn't find the buck after a few minutes I decided to skyline myself and take my chances that he'd spook and give me a running shot somewhere down that avalanche slide at between 100 and 150 yards. I stood up and moved 20 yards downhill and started glassing downhill for him again, taking apart every tree, bush, and rockpile I could trying to find the buck. That nasty sucker was in there somewhere but darned if I could find him.

As I'm standing there now in full view trying to decide how far I want to go down this canyon for a big forked horn I happened to look to my left uphill and he's laying in his bed watching me, sky lined as pretty as a picture at 110 yards, real steep uphill. We made eye contact and he stands up. I can see he's got a great frame with real smooth horns. Recognizing him as the buck I'd seen earlier I already knew he was super interesting and a real pretty buck so I let him have 145 grains of Speer love sent directly from Mr. Savage to his midsection. He piled up in his bed. Because of some minor thrashing about I could tell it was a nervous system hit, but he was done.

I hiked up the steep ridgeline and headed about 100 yards west to where he lay. Todd came along just as I was sewing him shut for the drag out. He agreed to go the mile and a half back to the quad and drive around to the road below where I would hopefully be waiting. I made good time dragging him straight downhill off the mountain to the road a half mile below where Todd found me a few minutes later.

The 145 grain Speer BTSP bullet had entered the left ribcage and exited high on the right, severing the backbone. Only a spoonful of backstrap was lost but the spine was cut in half. Still not sure how that happened. This bullet tends to come apart when it hits bone so I'm pretty sure fragments went everywhere because the exit hole was about 2" on the right side.

I came home the next morning and processed him rather than hang him in camp because we were camped right on a bear trail in a heavily used swamp and we didn't want any midnight visitors. Todd hunted Sunday morning with no luck. We were able to hunt around a bit in the evening but again no luck. We came home this morning and I gave Todd some frozen bear meat from this year and half the deer meat.

Rory will be interested to know that one of the four books I bought from him went to Todd so he can develop his interest in 99's. He has one, a bubbaed 300 EG with a replaced buttstock. He's impressed with the 284 and 358 both and plans to start looking for Savages that need new homes. I'm sure he'll find the book very helpful in understanding what he's looking at. I'll put up a better photo when my wife gets home but for now here's what a good blacktail forked horn looks like. 18 1/2" wide.










Fantastic camping, great weather, good rough mountain country and venison for the freezer. I love the fall hunting.






The 284 gets a few more bumps every season and less bluing on the bottom. Makes you appreciate the 100 year old rifles in the collection that have 100% bluing and no stock marks! You realize how hard it is to keep them that nice.

My friend John got a great blacktail yesterday with a 99 in 300 Savage and sent me the photo. He got him at 60' after two shots through dense manzanita. The bullets deflected on the brush and led to a bit of a circus but he got it done and got a nice buck in the end.

I thought I was the only one that hunted deer with a Stihl, mine has a 36" on it, what's yours?

That's a monster blacktail! Wow.

Do game wardens frown on you hunting over your deer kill to fill a bear tag? Seems it'd make things easier.

And I hope Todd enjoys the book! You need to lay out about half a dozen of your 99's and invite him over and let him try to age and identify the models using the book.. once he does a few with you, he'll be good to go on his own in a gun show.

You're bragging.




























It's working, I'm jealous.

Congratulations on a successful hunt and thanks for the write up!

Lee

Fireball2,

Good write up and buck!

I haven’t seen a buck worth shooting yet.... passed on a spike and his forked horn buddy yesterday.
Actually the fork was interesting.... he has the fork on his right side, the left is a long smooth spike with an eye guard that sticks out in the location and configuration of an elk and then there’s a bunch of spikes sticking out around the base.... he’s nothing now, but maybe in a couple of years all that junk might turn into something cool and unusual.

I’ve wondered about the Speer 145. Seems like a goodun for my 7-08.
I ran the Speer 130 sp in a .284 model 88 on two bucks. It was soft and while it killed well, it made a mess doing so. Slowing them down couldn’t hurt much.

I didn’t pack the EG today... weather was chit and I spent the first hour just sitting in my pickup at a crossing waiting for a break in the rain. Then took the ss/synthetic Kimber for a walk....the kind where you stop every hundred yards or so to peal off the 2” black sticky laminates that your boots have acquired.

The best is yet to come and I’m in no hurry.

Again, congrats on the buck n bear......did you buy an elk tag? Your on a roll.....

[img]https://imgur.com/a/35fCLY1[/img]

Great 2021 Wyoming general elk hunt with my lovely eagle-eyed wife. Couldn't have asked for a better day. Nice clean one shot kill at around 100 yds with my grandpa's 1949 99 Savage EG and my homebrewed LVR loads. Worked like a champ, she took one step and dropped. Good Luck guys!

hmmm once again this technology thing got me - why is my pic looking like just a text link? any help appreciated

Very nice! Lots of great steaks for the freezer and great memories!

congratulations. That's a nice one. I haven't been out for elk yet, but hope to soon.

Congratulations, Lightfoot!

Nice looking elk.
I got one on Thursday, but was carrying my Kimber instead of the EG...so no kill pics for me...
I hope you were able to get an atv up to her. It took me 5 hours to get mine all back to the pickup!

Very cool! Congrats.

Nice, Congrats! Enjoy the meat!

Good job Mike!

I just posted the pic for the OP!

I haven't hunted since leaving Texas. (sadly...)

My friend came down to hunt the last two days of blacktail season Thurs/Fri. Having already filled my tag I figured I'd be the designated guide, caller, and meat packer. We hunted Thursday up high and found some deer and bear but it was a monsoon with torrential rain and 40 mph winds. It was fun the first few hours then we buggered off the mountain for lower country. In the afternoon we beat feet into a spot I had a big buck pinned down last season. We hunted up to a hilltop where he beds and wouldn't you know it I kicked him out of a rockpile right after we separated. Of course I have no deer tag and Todd was 150 yards downhill. .

Today we went to a lower area then hiked 1 mile up to another honey hole I've killed a few bucks in. We rattled in a button buck which Todd passed. Saw another forked horn on our way up the mountain, again, Todd and I a few yards apart and guess who runs into the buck bedded on a ridgeline? Yep. No tag.

Nearing the top when we jump three does that head around the ridge to the west. Knowing this area is thick with bucks I suspected there'd be one there and sure enough, but he dove into a brush choked canyon to the east. We separate again Todd goes low, I go high. The idea is I would sprint to the 200 yards to the top, get above him, and try to flush him downhill to Todd for a shot. Poked around for a while with no shots heard. Since so much brushy canyon is visible from here I decide to sit down and rattle and call to see if I can make something move that Todd might be able to see on the far hillside. Guess who has a PERFECT 4x4 blacktail sneak in behind him to 45 yards? Yep, the guy with no tag. Beautiful, perfect textbook 4x4 blacktail buck, just gorgeous coloration and a real nice deer. *sigh

I thrash around in the brush for another two hours trying to flush something out that Todd can see but finally with my glasses in a constant state of fogging up from fog and sweat I decide to head the mile back down to the rig. By now Todd's been gone 3 hours and I have no idea if I'm even beating the right brush for him.

On the way up the mountain we'd seen that there had been two different bears working this ridgeline this morning. Even though it was raining the tracks were screaming fresh. Guess who runs into a bear at 25' on the way down the mountain? Yeah, me, the guy carrying a bear tag, a 22 magnum pistol, and no rifle. Since I was the designated guide and had not seen a bear here before, I elected to go with just a sidearm. Maybe if I hadn't been an idiot and had carried a sidearm big enough to actually use on something I could have filled the bear tag. But noooooo, I had a 22 magnum.

Holy cow. Saw one more buck right before dark, looked like a 3x3. Todd came back to the truck right at dark and had passed a 2x3 buck on this his last day because it was late and was one canyon over, 300+ yards. As I waited for Todd to arrive I watched a button buck feed 50 yards from the truck until dark. Todd was too tired to even want to fill his tag when he got back. We loaded up and came home to steak and baked potatoes off the smoker. Thanks wifey!

Another blacktail season over, unless the neighbor needs me to do some rattling for him in his late archery season. Still got time to chase bears but work limiting my ability to get loose.

Congratulations!!

Finally got one this morning. About daylight about 50 came running across the ranch. Couldn't get close enough for a shot before they went into no-no land. Dave and Ralph had gone ahead. They called to say there was a large herd over near where Dave got his bull. They came and got me in the truck. We drove over to about 3/4's of a mile from the herd. They milled around, started to go one way, then the other, some lay down, some were feeding. After quite a while we decided to move towards them. Some came up on a ridge about 250 yards away. I shot and mine dropped. Dave shot and missed. Ralph was leaning over the hood of Dave's truck and shot the ram hood ornament. I think my elk will taste better than Ralph's ram.
I hit my elk in the left shoulder, bullet went through the heart with a little entry hole and a large exit hole. The bullet didn't come out the other side. The elk is hanging in the shop. I'll go look for the bullet, pull the ivories and the tenderloins as soon as I find out if I got the 29 Ford cabriolet in Vermont.
Can't post pics, files are too big. These pics don't lend themselves to being reduced in size.
The load I used was 150 g Nosler partition and 43 grains of RL15.
Going after a buffalo on Pearl Harbor day with this rifle. Will use 180 Nosler partitions. Got to work up the load yet.
Cropped the pics. The elk pic would be better if you could see all of her.

entry wound on heart

exit wound on heart

I messed up. should have posted this on the kill post. Don't know how to move it there.

Well played, David!!

Yes sir, a job well done!! Congrats.

Gotta love it. Good job!

Nicely done.

Shame you ruined that heart.

Frying up some deer heart and onions even as I type this...

Very nice! I knew a guy who was checking zero on his rifle by shooting across the box of his pickup, took 2 shots before he realized he was shooting his truck.

Lee

polecat, it takes all kinds. When I told my wife about Ralph shooting the hood ornament she said she didn't want me hunting with Ralph anymore. I guess she thinks he'll shoot me. I rested across the corner of the bed of Dave's truck. It worked.

Nice! Beautiful cow!

Dave should be proud of his first "RAM"....but your right. That cow will be much better eating!

Great hunt. All kinds of memories including the inedible ones are fun! Congrats.

Honestly, who hasn't shot at least one truck while roadhunting? It's a rite of passage.

Nice!!

Murderer!

LOL

Great David!

...picture of the Ram and rifle??

Congrats David!!

Will be some good eating at that house. Enjoy, Great job, And you know not everyone get a kill every time. But sounds like a good time was had by all.

I've been chuckling since I read that yesterday about him shooting the hood ornament! Did the bullet over-penetrate?

I shot a groove in my bedroom windowsill when shooting at a crow in the backyard with my first .22. Mortified, I filled it with wood putty (with all the attendant skill of a 12 year old) in the vain hope that my old man wouldn't see it. Being a varnished piece of wood, it stuck out like a sore thumb. I think my Mom ratted me out as it only took a day or so for Dad to accost me about it. To my surprise his only concern was if I got the crow or not. (I didn't.)

Congrads on the Elk, you should get what's left of the Ram and wrap it up for a Christmas gift for him!

Haven’t shot my truck, but did shoot the pipe rack on my company truck while rabbit hunting one night. It put a nice neat hole in that 1 1/2 pipe. Congrats and good eating. There are a few Elk on the place I hunt. I don’t think there is a season on them. I’ve never had the urge to shoot one, but it is exciting to see one.

Congratulations, well done, good luck with the bison

The ram is still attached to the truck. Just a little worse for wear. I'll try to get a pic when Dave isn't looking. He doesn't want me to photograph it or say anything about it. It was Dave's truck, Ralph shot the ram. So far I haven't shot any trucks. i had to go to the doc today. When i checked in with Dave he said Ralph shot at a few more too far away(?). At least they are down where we can shoot them.

Congrats David! Just the thought of backstrap makes my mouth water.

Great weekend in WV. My cousin got a 3 point on opening day, yesterday, and I got a spike this morning. Started off Saturday, working on the cabin and plinking. Sunday we did some stand checking and setting up surprises for my cousins crew. His guys stop in at my place before going to theirs, to sight in. More on that in the Savage forum. Monday, I wasn't feeling 100% and only stayed in my stand till 11:30 then went back to camp with the chills and a rough stomach. Hadn't seen anything on my property since we got there on Saturday, so a nap sounded like a good idea to me. Started feeling better in time to go to my cousins for dinner. Couple hours of BS'ing and back to my place. A couple of my guys like sipping Whiskey after a long day, so I bought them a $100 bottle of Wellers Special Reserve, and let them try and teach me the fine art of Whiskey sipping. They liked the Weller's. Me, "through the lips and over the gums" is my idea of sipping! Got up at 4:30. Fried potatoes and onions, scrapple and eggs, then back on stand. It was chilly, in the 20's, pretty stiff wind. Thought it was going to be a repeat of Monday, About 7:50 I set my rifle in the corner of my tree stand, and backed up two little steps and sat down. As soon as my but hit the seat a doe came running up and stopped right in front of me and started munching grass. She looked right at me, then went back to munching. I'm thinking Busted, and can't reach my rifle. Then she looked behind her, and took off into the woods. I'm thinking she has a boy friend behind her and grabbed my 250 and sat back down. He came sniffing along behind her and never stopped. When he cleared the big Cedar in front of me, I made the incredible 25 yard shot to the neck and dropped him.

he looked for love in the wrong place

Good job! Steaks in the freezer!

Way to go Joe! Pretty nippy back there.

Thanks guys. Typical weather for this area. Couple days in the 20's and back to shorts today. I think I've only seen it break zero a few times in my life. I can handle 20's OK. If it gets in the teens, I get cold. An old Norwegian saying, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes". All I own is shorts and T shirts.

Went to my cousin's for Thanksgiving. That gave me an opportunity to sneak pics of the ram. My wife said she mentioned the ram shot to Dave and he said David wasn't supposed to tell anyone about it. She said I won't tell anyone. I'm in trouble if this gets back to Pinedale. Heh, heh.
enjoy


He shot it with a sporterized Argentine Mauser. Not something that belongs in this post. He would question why I wanted a pic of it anyway.
They only have till Tuesday to fill their cow licenses.

From this afternoon with 99C .22-250 Fusion 55gr

nice buck and rifle.

cow buffalo zilch, Savage model 99EG 308 buffalo gun one.
Got a buffalo yesterday. Shot it at about 40 yards just behind the horn on the left side of the head. Bang, flop. The mess on the right side of her head is the exit hole. The load was 180 grain Nosler partition, 40.5 grains of RL15 and a Fed 210 primer.

Oh, very nice! You have room in the freezer for that? I think I can squeeze some in if you need somewhere to store it.

we'll find room somehow

Nice job David. Congrats.

Today my son scored on a nice Texas 8 point with a 99EG in 250. Bullet was an 87gr Sierra with VN 150. Clean pass thru at 100 yards. Ran 30 yards and dumped. We hunted with Oldgunsmith at his ranch. As always, we had an excellent time!

Way to go! Congrats to you and your son!

Lee

Awesome! Great job.

Very Nice! Thanks for sharing the pictures! Venison for Christmas!

Tell your son Congrads Jeff! Nice Buck!

I was going back to make sure I didn't miss any pics, and thought about this. Two weeks ago it was nasty windy, wind gust up to 50, in the 20's and 30's. Last 3-4 days it's been T-shirts, shorts and Krocs. My buddy John, got an 8 point, 3 on one side and 5 on the other and a pretty 9 point, missing one tine. Both shotgun County.

Jeff, tell you son nice job. He's setting the bar high for us geezers!

Had some Luck myself this evening! Went and sat in a ladder stand, small swamp, place I look after, late doe season, last minute I grabb my 1917 savage 22Hp, same box of rem.70 grain solf points! I do have a stith scope set up. About a 25 yrd. Shot to the neck. And it was over! Hope for a picture tomorrow! As it was dark, shot at last light with snow on the ground.

Congrats John!

I was taking a last look around, before I climbed down and I see a deers hind quarter s a big beech tree was between us, it took a couple of steps, after the shot I looked at my phone, still had 3 minutes of shooting time left.

Are you in the late doe area? I thought firearm was over.

Congrats to your son Jeff. Nice buck and a very cool rifle. You are raising those boys right.

Yes late doe season on private land only. Hole northern lower this year! Dnr seems to want all the does killed off. Could take 12 does per person. One for me, and the buck I got in bow will keep us in meat., I still have another tag, but think season is done.

Congrats to your son, Jeff. It's good to see Oldgunsmith again too.

Saddlering - well played!

Joe - who are you kidding? You wear t-shirts, shorts, and Crocs all winter long! One of these days we'll find you frozen stiff in a snowbank.

Tag soup for me this year. Season started out well enough, does but no bucks. Then I caught a tenacious head cold which put the kibosh to any further adventures. Each year it's something it seems, can't seem to catch a break.