Well, Finally Went Deer Hunting

I finally went deer hunting again.

Got two deer with my 1896 unmodified Swedish Mauser - one doe at about 90 yards, one buck accross my pond in the woods at 165 yards. Both iron sights, neck shots, dropped them in their place (broke the buck's neck).

Will post more later.

P.S. - harvested six deer off the farm this year between me and friends. We want to take about 15 to reduce population, which is going crazy.

AWESOME! But now I'm hungry for venison sausage!

I'm gonna have some made up.

I'm a bit dissapointed no one else has been as exited about the drop shots at long ranges with open sights. Praise me!

Ask, and you shall receive.

Dude, you rock!!

165 yards is good. But were you trying for a neck shot or just happened to hit the neck?

I was trying for the neck. Doesn't spoil anything and kills em right away.

You are trying for a deer's neck at 165 yards?
Wow, I guess hunting today is a little different than when I last went.
We always went for the heart/lung area no matter what -
unless shooting at night with a .22 and spotlight (which I never did).

Why are you now getting onto me for instantly killing the deer? When I say they dropped, I mean they DROPPED. No pain at all.

Not doubting you there. Snap that spine and they do a JFK on your ass!

True, heart/lung shots take a while for the deer to expire.
They run off further than I probably would!

When I was a kid my friends dumb-ass brother went hunting with a
.223 (the bare legal minimum) and shot a deer from pretty damn close...it did not end well, many hours and miles of tracking later.

I hate that.

6.5x55mm Swedish is a very flat shooting round (moreso than a .270). I was gonna build a sporterized rifled around an 03A3 that I have (stock is busted, barrel is pitted) and use that... but dang, that 6.5x55mm causes some serious damage.

Yah. Kid I knew in high school kept gleefully telling me stories of how he kept wounding deer and had to track them for hours, with their guts dangling or some such shit. This guy was a mental case. It kinda worried me after high school when he joined the town ambulance corps!

Im not about to attack you here, the green rooms not the place and to be honest I've worked flat out 11 hour day today so I can't be arsed, but.......

Without coming accross to much of the bleeding heart liberal and environmentalist which I am, I would like to understand the rationale for hunting. (Note I said understand, not get into an arguament today about differing viewpoints).

If it is purely as a form of pest control as numbers have got too big then I have absolutley no problem with it at all. However I can't fathom the 'sport' hunting aspect.

Big game hunting and primate hunting has been banned in most countries for quite a while now partly due to the cruelty aspect but admitedly more to do with serious depletion of numbers to such an extent that extinction is a very real possibility. Obviously deer are not subjected to the same pressures on their survival so it can be argued that there is not the same need to ban the hunting. Again, i can follow that and whilst not condone it, at least see the logic.

But, and heres my question. What exactly does sport hunting do for you, on an emotionally/fullfilling level? The whole taking the life of a fit and healthy animal, for what? Personal enjoyment? Wouldn't you get the same enjoyment from getting a big fancy camera, going out hunting these animals and shooting a spectacular action shot of the beast?

*Again, apostle and other hunters Im not wanting to have an arguament and im not about to launch attacks on any opinions you post on this. I just want to understand the logic.

*And i don't want any shite about hunting for food. Of course I would agree with that if it was needed.

I don't have to eat the food to survive. I will tell you this though - I'm planning recipes right now and I will enjoy eating it. I also enjoy giving it to friends.

Deer have very few natural predators left. There numbers are higher than they ever were before the whiteman came.

To be honest with you, killing the deer is the part I least enjoy. I kind of stared at the last one I took for a while because I had to drag it so far. I am harvesting something we have too much of though, and the hunt IS a thrill.

I don't know if you'll ever be able to understand, without doing it, the thrill of the hunt.

P.S. - even the Germans allow deer hunting.

Wouldn't you get the same feel with the stalk, getting close in etc then pulling the trigger on the camera??

You don't have to justify eating venison to me. I enjoy it!

No, it wouldn't be the same feeling. I'm a photographer as well. I get great satisfaction from taking care of my 500 acres.

Thats different though, that would be the pest control aspect which I dont have a problem with, but wouldnt have anything to do with the thrill of the hunt

Yeah, actually it does have to do with the thrill of the hunt for me.

Before we go any further, let me ask if you're a land owner?

Unfortunatley not.

OK. My family owns a 500 acre farm. I'm very proud of the farm. I want it to produce trophy bucks. We have too many deer. When I harvest them, I actually feel good about limiting the number of deer we have, because while I'm researching how to provide better food to them right now through forest management, the land just can't support 60 healthy, strong deer.

I agree with all of that as you will see in my original post. Keeping numbers at a sustainable level and or pest control is all fine in my book, it is the sport hunting aspect I dont understand.

A lot of people think golf is easy, and pointless. They don't understand the sport.

Hunting is challenging. Deer have an acute sense of smell. You have to stalk them, you have to out think them. You have to know their patterns. One night I didn't see anything. You know why? Because the way the wind was blowing spooked them with my scent - I heard them blowing in the distance, indicating that. When I had two hunts with nothing, I had to go back and look for recent signs. I then picked my spot, and waited.

Heathens! It is the one of the hardest sports to master around, and the best one.

Harking back to my point, couldnt all this be done with a camera rather than a rifle??

We had ten deer in the back yard last night. The neighbor left apples out for them and they just came wandering in. I stood about 20 feet from them watching.

I'm not going to go in circles about this with you. I already have explained about the overpopulation issue. If you're going to keep switching topics and not allow for the solutions to the "understanding" you supposedly seek, then there's no need for me to answer your questions. I've answered that question at least once.

I know golf isn't easy, but it IS pointless.

I addressed the over population issue in my first post. You haven't given any answer to the sport hunt question apart from fall back on over population/ pest control.

Yes, I have.

You don't like my answer or don't understand it. I suppose there is a chance you didn't read it also.

No, i do like that answer. As i said already. But none of that explains sport hunting outside pest control.

Try this then,

Leaving aside the pest control issues which I have agreed with you on countless times tonight already, what part of your above quote could not be accomplished with a camera rather than rifle??