Completed the cycle for deer hunting today

[Kuyong_Chuin]

In baseball a player hits for the cycle when hit hits a single, a double, a triple, and a homerun all in the same game. Well the game is deer hunting and even though it was not the same day, or even the same year it is in my mind the same game. I finally completed my hit for the cycle today. I can now say I have hunted and killed a deer with a bow, a muzzleloader, a rifle, and for the homerun a pistol. At 4:05 p.m. today my brother came in from the dentist and told me there was a deer out back so I slipped my camp pants, boots and jacket on and slipped out the front door. I made my way around back and kept the tool shed between me and the deer. I looked around the shed and it was still there but wanted to get closer so back out of view again. I got up to the shed and was going to use the side of the building for a brace but when I looked back to where the deer was he was not there. I started listening and heard him walking to the right so I turned to go to the right and froze where I stood. The deer was standing about 25 yards from me looking at me from behind some brush. It walked parallel to me watching me just as I watched him. As soon as he turned his head and walked into the clear I pulled the hammer back on my Ruger, took aim and pulled the trigger that was now about 30 yards from me. He ran about another 20 yards to the bottom of the hollow and laid down. My nephew ran out of the house and started to run down to the deer till I stopped him. The deer got back up when he did that but did not go far. He made it able 15 feet and fell head first back to the ground. I waited a few minutes to make sure it wasn't going anywhere then walked over to get my deer. I was hoping to recover the bullet but it went clean through the deer including the far shoulder. I was using 40 cal S&W Magtech Guardian Gold Hollow Points in 155 grain out of a Ruger P944. Okay to the question of the day how many of you have had a successful hunting using all of the following weapons? A bow, muzzleloader, rifle and a handgun.

 

[downunderhunter]

Nice one mate. Have you posted how you got your muzzleloader deer? I'd be keen to hear about that hunt. Cheers.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

Nice one mate. Have you posted how you got your muzzleloader deer? I'd be keen to hear about that hunt. Cheers.

No I have not but I can post my first muzzleloader hunt, though it was not much of a hunt, it was more like luck.

I lived in the Missouri boothill at the time but I hunted here at my Grandparents house here in Tennessee. This is back when Basspro had only one store at the time. I ordered me a Hawken Hunter 50 cal muzzleloader and had it shipped to the house here in Tennessee. I had a 3 day weekend and came over here after work. It was too late to shoot the rifle that evening so Friday morning we were going to get up and go shoot it then head for the stands.
We loaded up the rifles minus the caps and put them in the truck ready for Friday morning. I was mostly dress in that I had my boots, pants and a t-shirt on we my Dad sent me out to the truck out back to get something he forgot. I opened the door of the truck and looked up and the garden area which was now growled up with weed was full of deer including a nice 6 point buck standing there. I took out my rifle put on a cap and took aim at the buck that was about 75 yards away. He was standing broadside with the weeds coming up to his mid shoulder. It was cold outside in the low 30's F and here I was with just a t-shirt on my upper body. When I shot between the white cloud of smoke and my glasses starting to fog up I did not see what happened to my deer. I did see fleeting whitetail everywhere. I went back inside the house and Dad ask if I hit him and I told him I didn't know. By now he was dresses and he went outside to see if there was any sign of me hitting the deer with my new gun. I put a shirt, hat and jacket on and started outside when I saw Dad heading back to the house. I ask did he see any sign. He said "The deer is laying right where you shot it, go down there and cut it's throat." I when down to where the deer was and saw just low lucky the shot was. The rifle was shooting way high and had hit the top of the deer and broke it's spine paralyzing the hind quarters. But the front worked fine. Every time I would work my way around to the back of the deer to cut it's throat it would wheel around and throw those hooves and antlers at me. I went back in the house and got the 44 black powder revolver and went back to the deer. Dad had it loaded up with a 200 grain ball and 24 grains of fff. I aimed at the head and pulled the trigger. The ball hit the head of the deer but didn't kill it. The load was too light even from a few feet away to go through the skull. So I shot again this time aiming for the eye socket since I was not mounting anything but the antlers anyway. That did the trick. It also told Dad to redo the loads on his pistol. Out went the balls and in went a modern JHP bullet. He also stepped up the powder to 35 grains the max the gun would hold safely with that bullet. It did the trick, he jumped a deer later that week that was so close and he was in a thicket that was too hard to get a rifle up to get a shot off so he pulled his bp revolver and shot it less than 10 feet away. The deer took one leap and went down for the count.

I got lucky with my bow hunt too that I missed with the first shot because someone had messed with my sight pins on my bow and it was shooting 3 feet to the left. The 4 point buck was standing in a field only 20 yards from me the first shot that I missed. He ran about 10 yards and stopped and gave me a broadside shot. I corrected for how far the pin was off and let another arrow fly. The arrow passed through the deer and stuck in the ground. The deer ran the the other 15 yards or so into the woods then another 30 in the woods and dropped. It was a perfect double lung and heart shot. So far I have been able to kill 4 deer within 100 yards of my house. It could of been much more but before I became disabled I actually went out into the woods and in a stand to hunt. Now I try to stay close by and I can not climb a stand any more. Hope you enjoyed a few of my stories of my first successful hunts with a muzzleloader, bow, and pistol. I have more that including one hunt from the roof top with a 6.5 Carcano Calvary carbine.

 

[hq]

Okay to the question of the day how many of you have had a successful hunting using all of the following weapons? A bow, muzzleloader, rifle and a handgun.

Lucky you. Here's where we stand with whitetail:

Bow - banned
Muzzleloader - banned
Handgun - banned

Hunting with a rifle isn't bad, though; 130-day season from late September to the end of January, nighttime hunting is legal (the use of artificial light or night vision isn't) and the whitetail population is nothing short of phenomenal this year. I'd love to get a chance to hunt deer with my bow or handguns, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

 

[courtgreene]

HQ, how is access over there in Finland? Do you have to be a land owner? Are there public game lands? Are things run by clubs? Or, is there something y'all do that I haven't even conceived?
While bow hunting is fun, even if I'm terrible at it, I'd rather have a longer rifle season like y'all do. Here, there's no reason a bow hunter can't hunt during rifle season with a bow. So, why have specific bow seasons at all?
kuyong_chuin : good job. you snuck up REALLY close to a deer. That's not easy to do.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

HQ, how is access over there in Finland? Do you have to be a land owner? Are there public game lands? Are things run by clubs? Or, is there something y'all do that I haven't even conceived?
While bow hunting is fun, even if I'm terrible at it, I'd rather have a longer rifle season like y'all do. Here, there's no reason a bow hunter can't hunt during rifle season with a bow. So, why have specific bow seasons at all?
kuyong_chuin : good job. you snuck up REALLY close to a deer. That's not easy to do.

I know it is not easy to do but I have gotten even closer to them before but I was in field with no leaves to go crunch, there was a gully to walk in so if I stood all the way up the level ground was chest high, I was wearing moccasins so that made it even quieter, and the deer was laying down at the time. I was to meet up with my Dad and Granddad were they were building a new stand. It was about a 1/4 mile or so from the house so I was walking it across country. They were up on the ridge setting up the stand in the tree line over looking the field.
I saw the glimpse of the deer as it laid down but at the time it was too far and it laid down too quick to make out the sex of the deer. The gully ran right up and past were it laid down so I used it for cover. There was a huge stump right were it laid down so I could see the back half of the deer but not the head and I was not 6 feet away by then. There was no way to get out of that gully to work myself around the stump without spooking the deer. The wind was in my face and I had my 30/30 Winchester that I used to own at the time. I eased the hammer back and reached out with one hand and poked the deer in the ribs with the end of the barrel. If it was a Buck I was going to pull the trigger if not let it go. This entire time Dad and Granddad was watching me from the ridge and wondering how in the world I got that close to the deer and why I was stalking a doe. They could see from where they stood what it was it was but because of the stump I couldn't. That deer let out a sound I have never heard before or since when I poked it in the ribs and I don't think I'll ever get that close to a live deer again that is not in a petting zoo.

P.S. If you want to learn to walk quietly get you a set of action ears or other amplified head phones and turn them off to start with and try walking to were you can not hear yourself walk. Then turn on the headphones and see just how loud you are. When you can walk without making a sound with those things on and having the wind in your face they will not be able to hear or smell you. Then all you have to do is make sure they don't see you. Keeping something between you and them helps but try to make it so you can see them and not you.

 

[hq]

HQ, how is access over there in Finland? Do you have to be a land owner? Are there public game lands? Are things run by clubs? Or, is there something y'all do that I haven't even conceived?

The majority of hunting is run by clubs that rent land from owners. Small game permits for public land are common, big game permits (up to moose and bear) not very. Hunting is tied to ownership of land and it's defined as a right so anything up to roe deer is fair game during appropriate seasons. Moose and whitetail require a separate license, an equivalent of a tag, and you'll need about 1250/2500 acres (owned or rented) to apply for that.

Some clubs arrange semi-commercial hunts and that's how I mainly hunt. A few hundred dollars per downed deer, dressed, vacuum-packed, frozen and delivered to a butcher's near your home isn't a bad deal at all. I own some land myself, but that's a far cry from 1000+ acres required for whitetail license so I'll just hunt roe deer, waterfowl, grouse and pheasants there. They're also bow-legal while whitetail isn't.

I still love the challenge of handgun hunting, but it means that I'll have to travel to the US or Africa for that. Reading threads like this is fascinating, I love reading good stories while (impatiently) waiting for my next hunting trip overseas...

 

[wally247]

Rifle-done
Bow-done
Shotgun-done
Muzzleloader-done
Handgun-still trying

 

[Patocazador]

Did all 5 in one year twice but not all in the same state. However, I've been hunting for over 50 years. I never even thought about it being for a "cycle" .. just using what the law allowed for a particular season.

 

[wyohome]

Shotgun, ML, rifle, handgun, 1957 Corvette.

 

[Patocazador]

Shotgun, ML, rifle, handgun, 1957 Corvette.

I hate to see that last one on the list. It's the best looking Vette in its history to my eyes.

 

[wyohome]

I was young and had no collision insurance.

 

[sixgunner455]

Muzzleloader and handgun. Trying again with centerfire rifle this year.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

Rifle-done
Bow-done
Shotgun-done
Muzzleloader-done
Handgun-still trying

I left out shotgun because to me using a rifled slug in a rifled barrel is about like using a carbine rifle. But I have killed deer with a shotgun with a slug here in Tennessee and Buckshot in South Carolina.

I think my big game hunting is now over till something is done about my back. About didn't get the deer hung up and cleaned and have been in more pain every since then. While cleaning the deer I was able to find the path of the 40 S&W bullet. It went through a rib bone on the near side through the lungs and out the far side left front shoulder. I had missed the heart but just barely, it nicked an artery connected to the heart. Not bad for a "Short & Weak" bullet.