450Bushmaster.net

Bill, when you get a little older you'll come to realize that it's the memory of a good hunt that counts. Not the stories, not the trophy, but the ability to put yourself back in the moment in your mind. The stories and trophies are only tools to help take you back.

And don't feel to bad about not seeing bear. I spent years hunting bear and guiding bear hunters in northern Maine and know that the success rate for legally taking black bears without bait, snares or hounds is very very low, even in areas with plenty of bear population.

I had a successful Elk hunt in Colorado this year, but didn't take the .450. I flew out, limiting me to one rifle, and the old faithful .270 WBY won the draw as it's the rifle that my airline case is fitted to. At the end of the day it could have been either one as the shot was under 200 yards.

BD

I'm almost 50. I have never even seen a bear in the wild while hunting. Seen poop. No. Really. I've seen their poop while hunting. But that's it. And I'm kind of glad. For I have never been "BEAR" hunting. Gonna have to try it someday before I die. My greatest big game hunt has only been Mulies and Whitetail. One piece of advice. Take a Good disposable with flash or digital camera. Or if you're like me and are into the SLR 35mm scene, take a real good camera for leisure work and a digital pocket in a ziplock in you're back pack. MAKE YOUR MEMORIES. Once on film, you will have a teleporter back to those memories. Like me. If I ever forget what a rocky mountain bears' poop looks like, I have a picture to remind me.
I often took one of my good 35mm SLRs, (Minolta XG1), in the field with me in my back pack. Once set up, I would pull it out and just burn film. Man, I wished I had a digital back then.

Thanks again for all of your support. This is more than a blog, it's family.

Bill

I'm working on a hog hunt after thanksgiving. Just waiting on final approval and permission from the landowner. More to follow.

Our Gun Deer season doesn't open until the 15th. But today I scoped my personal weapon and got it ready. Four deer stepped out at the 175 yd Apple tree, while my buddy and I were in the Range Lab. He waited for a solution and then dropped the hammer on two of them lined up, while I watched through the scope. We concluded, he'd have gotten them both, if it was the legal season, so we had to be satisfied with the hammer strike, on an empty chamber. We're going to try to do exactly that (a two-fer), when the Opener finally gets here and we're going to try to record it, digitally..

..t

wildcatter wrote:Our Gun Deer season doesn't open until the 15th. But today I scoped my personal weapon and got it ready. Four deer stepped out at the 175 yd Apple tree, while my buddy and I were in the Range Lab. He waited for a solution and then dropped the hammer on two of them lined up, while I watched through the scope. We concluded, he'd have gotten them both, if it was the legal season, so we had to be satisfied with the hammer strike, on an empty chamber. We're going to try to do exactly that (a two-fer), when the Opener finally gets here and we're going to try to record it, digitally..

..t

I'd love to watch that!

wildcatter wrote:Our Gun Deer season doesn't open until the 15th. But today I scoped my personal weapon and got it ready. Four deer stepped out at the 175 yd Apple tree, while my buddy and I were in the Range Lab. He waited for a solution and then dropped the hammer on two of them lined up, while I watched through the scope. We concluded, he'd have gotten them both, if it was the legal season, so we had to be satisfied with the hammer strike, on an empty chamber. We're going to try to do exactly that (a two-fer), when the Opener finally gets here and we're going to try to record it, digitally..

..t

Yeah, that would be amazing to see. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago but only had one doe tag so couldn't shoot. Two deer, one behind the other with vital zones lined up just right. Something spooked them and they ran off so I didn't even get one of them though.

wildcatter wrote:Our Gun Deer season doesn't open until the 15th. But today I scoped my personal weapon and got it ready. Four deer stepped out at the 175 yd Apple tree, while my buddy and I were in the Range Lab. He waited for a solution and then dropped the hammer on two of them lined up, while I watched through the scope. We concluded, he'd have gotten them both, if it was the legal season, so we had to be satisfied with the hammer strike, on an empty chamber. We're going to try to do exactly that (a two-fer), when the Opener finally gets here and we're going to try to record it, digitally..

..t

You guys have too much fun.

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:

wildcatter wrote:Our Gun Deer season doesn't open until the 15th. But today I scoped my personal weapon and got it ready. Four deer stepped out at the 175 yd Apple tree, while my buddy and I were in the Range Lab. He waited for a solution and then dropped the hammer on two of them lined up, while I watched through the scope. We concluded, he'd have gotten them both, if it was the legal season, so we had to be satisfied with the hammer strike, on an empty chamber. We're going to try to do exactly that (a two-fer), when the Opener finally gets here and we're going to try to record it, digitally..

..t

You guys have too much fun.

We sure do! I get up, round the dogs up and take all four (three ankle bitters and a large black lab) of them to work with me. We see tons of deer and all manor of other critters, everyday. My target backer is a 8x8 foot plastic covered (you know, that plastic covering women use to cover picket-tables with. Using just one stick-on reference sticker, dead center on the backer, makes sure we hit something we can see through the spotting scope. I don't care where it hits the backer, I just don't want to lose the round, especially when some of this experimental stuff cost tons more than $50/per.) set of 4'x8' chunks of plywood, in a frame. Often the range command of "Cease Fire, Cease Fire, Cease Fire!", can be heard, awaiting the range to clear, from the deer walking in front of the targets. In fact, when this happens and I'm sighting on the stuck-on 1" florescent orange target spotter, the tops of the hearts, on standard sized deer, cross directly across my point of aim..

..t

Hi i am new to this sight i picked up me up a BM .450 about 8 months ago for hog hunting but i hadn't really messed with it until the last couple of weeks. And as it's turned out to be a real good shooter. I am shooting Hornady Factory loads 250grn FTX bullets sighted in at 100 yards.
I set out on opening morning just hoping to see a deer of any kind (first year on this lease hadn't seen any shooters) I just new i would see hogs as we are covered up in them here in East Texas Upsur Co. As i'm setting in my stand i start seeing doe after doe come thru still not expecting any decent bucks to come out. And then to my suprise this guy comes out of no where right into my shooting lane and in that instant a 100 things go thru my mind. As he takes a bite of corn i can tell he is not going to hang around and i'm not letting him walk. Then he puts his head down and take 2 steps but still not giving me the shot i want. So i take the shot i have and landed one high over his left sholder angled thur his body. He dropped there in his tracks never moved another inch.
I pulled the trigger on him at 85 yards the 250gr FTX Hornady round entered high in his sholder shatering bone that shot out that same sholder like glass then hit his spin shatering it into then smased 3 ribs but did not exit. (In the pic of him on my Samuria you can see the broken ribs bulging out). While at the same time took out both lugs, hart, and sent bone and bullet frags thur his stomach and other internals. I couldn't wait to remove what was left of the bullet but it didn't take me long to rethink that idea.(i did not recover the bullet) This bullet did major major damage he was very hard for me to clean and skin out!! But i knew when i pulled the trigger he was not going to be easy for me to clean (i don't have a weak stomach but i can only take so much) This is what i love about big bore rifles you don't always have to have a well placed shot you just have to make the connection. But it was an awsome opening day!! I was only in my stand 21/2 hours, i have only shot this rifle a total of 6 times, i harvested a buck on opening morning that i completly had not counted on and i'm sure i won the big buck contest we do every year at work! An awsome day and i'm glad i decided to take my work horse .450BM