Deer season!

[Mattrhorn]

Well, in Most of CA, deer season opens in a few weeks. Anyone as excited as I am? What do you shoot for these critters? I am a .270 guy with an open sight 30-30 lever for pigs and quick shots.

 

[mark]

I guess I'm not as excited as you are, deer hunting in my neck of the woods starts in the fall. Late October for black powder and November for rifle/pistol.  .54 cal BP rifle, .54 cal BP Pistol, .45/70 lever, .44 mag revolver.

Hunting deer in the summer?,,,I guess you've got to hurry to get it hung in a walk-in cooler or cut it up quick.

 

[Anonymous]

Your mule deer must cycle the rut sooner than white tails around here.  I'm guessing our most advanced are still rubbing off the velvet.  Our hunting is black powder followed by shotgun for most areas.  I think there are limited areas that do allow limited caliber breach loaders.  Indiana has a number of state game preserves in our area but a lot of deer hunters rent farms for hunting or go in on a bit of woodlands with friends.

We have a lot more deer these days than when I was a kid.  There are a number of controlled hunts in state parks and such to control population with the attendant protesters.  

I've never been a game hunter but waterfowl guy.   My joy was working birds over decoys with a call in hand.  In the past, I'd be thinking about starting to work the dog a bit to get ready.  I would love to shortly be helping get blinds ready on a club I belong to back then near where the Yellow River flowed into the Kankakee.  

I had pictures of relatives back when the Grand Kankakee Marsh was the premier waterfowl location with even British royalty arriving in the fall.  There were a number of hunting clubs for the wealthy that remain in the area.  Ducks were shipped in barrels by the market hunters of the day.  It was all drained and made into farmlands around the turn of the last century.  It was a land ripoff early on but they finally got it drained and farmed.

Now it is all mostly memories.  

 

[deepbass9]

Waiting here, fur sure....October's the start where I hunt. Strictly a archery guy. Got a trip coming up at the end of August, but after that's done it's time to focus.

I have one (going one two) bum shoulders, and while I can still shoot my vertical bow I've got an Excalibur crossbow that I purchased two years back and have yet to harvest with. That changes this year. I always seem to get one early on, so this year I'm starting with the x-bow. Love my tree saddle...can't wait to hang and hunt. Just being in the tree, a part of the scene but (hopefully) unnoticed gets me cranked.

I kill for the meat, not the thrill, so no hooting and hollaring here...just a guy that feels ever so lucky when the stars align and the shot window opens. I butcher myself, so gutting to cooking, it's all makes me happy to have the wee bit of control over my food source that this modern life offers. Happy hunting to those that choose!

 

[Mattrhorn]

Y'all have big deer and normal seasons. Here in the country of California things just ain't right. We hunt in 85-105 degree temperatures at about 3000 foot elevation. Got a special private place with about 20,000 acres. Right now it is dry as my ashtray. Got some big hogs but we have black tail deer and 150 pounds dressed is a monster. No mulies, no white tail, no hybrids. We do shoot 'em, gut 'me and hang them quick. Got a screen room and we can hang them for about 30 hours when it is really hot. After that we gotta drive down the hill and chill them or quarter them and cooler them for the weekend or remainder or the hunting trip. Saturday is the opener and there are some decent bucks poking their heads out. Lots of does that have not kicked off their fawns quite yet and the early rut won't start until September...just about the end of the season here.

I am looking forward to pigs and bucks and some rabbits in between.