Well the .45-70 BC has been blooded. 8)

[tacklebury]

I took down a button buck here in the early antlerless deer season.  Picked up another license today and hope to go back out tomorrow. 



It is actually larger than it seems here.  It weighed about 100 lbs and I got 60 pounds of usable meat. 

Shot with a 325 gr. Hornady Interlock and 46.7 gr. Reloader7.  He took a 1/2 a step, but I blew up his spine and 4 ribs, so that's part of why he went down so hard.  We'll see how the .45 Colt BC does tomorrow or the New Model Blackhawk. 

[bikerbeans]

TB,

Nice job, backstraps for dinner!  Hope you get #2 with the colt.  Only thing I have bloodied with my BC is my forehead.

BB

[tacklebury]

lol thanks.    I was just going to use the CR colt/blackhawk combo, but decided it was only fair that the one I've had longer get to shoot something real. 

[petemi]

Yooooah.  Dude.....you're here in Michigan?  I can't even get a regular season doe tag and you're blowing bambi away already and going back for another.  Not that it matters much.  I own and manage 120 acres for deer and small game.  DNR doesn't tell me what I can or need to take......my freezer does.

Pete

[quickdtoo]

Congrats, I'm envious!! 

Tim

[nicholst55]

Congratulations!  I hope to use my BC .45-70 to harvest a deer once I return to the States.  My problem is that I'm diabetic and have lost much of the feeling in my legs.  Sitting on a frozen hillside waiting for deer isn't nearly as much fun as it used to be, and a lot more hazardous for me now, to boot.  I need to hunt where/when it's warmer than I used to.

[PHATINJUN]

Tacklebury no need to explain ground shrinkage here .Those are the tastyest Kurt

[spikehorn]

It still has spots, that means it's tender. congrats and good luck on your next outing. Counting the days until Oct. 16th.

[Spanky]

What the heck did you shoot a fawn for? There's plenty of mature does around if you're just meat hunting.



Spanky

[bikerbeans]

Spanky,

The early deer season is for population control, DNR just wants to reduce the numbers.  We have the same problem in Ohio, too many folks wait on a big rack and let the small/anterless walk by.  Forces the regulators to manipulate the seasons and bag limits to get people to shoot something beside a big bruiser.  Me personally, I will shoot any deer that is in season and I have a tag for it.  If everyone only shoots large bucks then the harvest would be very low and the deer population would skyrocket.  More deer, same size food supply equals small deer.  Then most the harvesting would be done with the front bumper of a soccer mom's SUV.

BB

[Spanky]

If it's just for population control it's still better to take a doe. I ain't trying to condemn anyone for taking a fawn... it just isn't my thing.
Taking a breeding doe out of the herd will do more to control the population than taking a buck fawn.



Spanky

[yukondog]

Unless taken, that buck fawn will still breed.

[wreckhog]

If it's just for population control it's still better to take a doe. I ain't trying to condemn anyone for taking a fawn... it just isn't my thing.
Taking a breeding doe out of the herd will do more to control the population than taking a buck fawn.



Spanky

My club does some variation of Hunters for the Hungry. We combine depredation tags. In early summer, club members dropped 2 or 3 that field dressed out around 20lbs each. We actually voted and decided not to shoot anymore like that because deer of any size were costing us $70 at the butcher for processing and storage until pick up. Comments were along the line of, we could just buy filet mignon and donate it.....lol.

[tacklebury]

If it's just for population control it's still better to take a doe. I ain't trying to condemn anyone for taking a fawn... it just isn't my thing.
Taking a breeding doe out of the herd will do more to control the population than taking a buck fawn.
Spanky

It's cool if you feel that way Spanky, but just so you understand completely, this is a deer we have seen a lot.  It's not a fawn, it is just hanging on to a few spots.  It actually had 1" nubbins and he's over 1-1/2 years old.  I get a little taken aback by seeing spots still also, but I assure you, he was barely 4" smaller than a full size doe.  I did go back and try for the doe the last couple days, but she's wiley.  Today I got a running head shot only and missed, but I only took it because it was in a safe direction and there was a fresh plowed moist hill field in the back ground, so it was safe.  I figured it was all or nothing, because I don't do "texas heart shots".  You just end up with a lot of tainted meat that way. 

Thanks all for the comments. 

[ihookem]

When da freezer's empty ya shoot wat comes by der hay! Right petemi.

[AtlLaw]

Shoot, 60 lbs dressed is what an average doe runs down here!  I try to put one a lot smaller then that in the freezer each year; 5 or 6 months old.  I'd say you're off to a good start for the season!   

[pvtschultz]

I only shoot yearling/fawn does, and let the mature does go.  There have been several studies that have shown that mature does are very likely to stay in their home range and usually have twins in the spring, whereas fawn does are likely to seek new real estate and only bear one fawn for the first couple years.  This leaves the highly reproductive does on the farm to make more bucks but also keeps meat in the freezer (the tenderest I might add).  The opposite is true for bucks though, we only shoot the most mature bucks and let the others get older.  This way you have the best of both worlds; a steady supply of fawns each spring and mature bucks to throw up on the wall.  The trickiest part is not shooting knubbers. I was guilty of that last year, but I at least took it with a 45-70 Handi. 

Just this man's opinion.