The Next Best Season

[C.O.B.]

Truth be told if I could only hunt one type of game it would be upland birds. I enjoy the dog work, grouse guns, the uplands themselves and the camaraderie that goes along with all of it. I have just enjoyed a full month of grouse hunting in the Upper Peninsula and while I've had better seasons I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
It was somewhat bittersweet as Daisy stayed home at the urging of Audrey. She is getting up there and doesn't hear well (my fault just ask Audrey) and she has some bad arthritis. The heat this year would have killed her as most days were 70+. I had loan of a wonderful setter who was just a sweet boy who was well tempered, handled like a dream but couldn't point his food bowl I did witness one of the finest pieces of dog work I have seen in a long time from my friends setter Clara. Determination won out and the first bird for the Purdey light game gun fell thanks to her convictions.

Bird season is mostly past us now and firearm deer season is only a week away. Preparation of the blind is complete as is the R&D of some rifle loads. Final testing is needed for the reduced load for the 375 H&H and a M70 7MM carbine the others are sighted in and ready for their turn in the blind. It will be the first deer season for the 375 and the 7MM both pre64 M70's. As there is a shortage of black maned Lion and 100lb Jumbos in central Michigan I have developed a load for this using a 200gr pistol bullet at about 1700 FPS. My 280 has more recoil than this and the load will put 3 shots into a quarter at 100 yards. It will make for a dandy rifle for the doe season.

First up is the 275 Rigby, the Ruger #1 7-08 and then a 257 Roberts. While I can enjoy the fine engraving and richly figured wood of a Parker, Fox or English best in the uplands I can also enjoy the beauty of a fine custom built rifle or ponder the background of the pre64 M70 in the corner of the deer blind. I do some of my best thinking and sleeping in a deer blind .

So even though there is no dog involved no hunting partner to work the point with there is the solitude of a predawn morning, the sounds of the world awaking around me. There will be Woodies and Mallards coming into the pond and squirrels scampering up and down the oak tress. The anticipation of a big buck coming my way by the sounds of rustling leaves but usually it's just a squirrel...but you never know.

At the end of the day as the sun sets behind the hardwoods the world slips into the peacefulness of dusk and I slip as quietly as possible back to the truck. Another great day in the great outdoors. Deer season is 14 days of the next best season there is.

[Brett Hoop]

C.O.B.

The Queen of the Medium bores works great on deer. Bonus being you can eat right up to the hole. Having been up there and over there several times, there still is nothing like a whitetail buck of proper age.

[C.O.B.]

Brett I have a rifle for everything from Red squirrels to elephant but then again I'm not right in the head

One of my favorite rifles is a custom 257 Roberts built on a 1909 Argentine Mauser action. Next up is the 275 Rigby (7X57) then a 7MM-08.

As to eating right up to the hole I once shot a doe at 40 yards facing me with a 416 Taylor using a Barnes 300gr X bullet. It went through the deer lengthwise and I tossed out nothing. I have torn them up worse with a 270.

[Dean Romig]

Velocity has a lot to do with tissue damage. Faster = more damage.





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[C.O.B.]

Yes it does Dean. people these days seem to think you need a 180gr bullet at 3000FPS to kill a deer. With a 200 gr bullet at 1800 FPS you can still kill the deer and you can eat it to.

[Bill Zachow]

I always used factory loads in my Winchester 70, 375 HH. Shot over 30 deer with it on our farm in central NY. Ranges varied between 60 yards and 350 yards. Never had a problem with too much meat destruction. What I really liked was the fact that the deer died in their tracks. No trailing required. By the way, it was made in 1949 and carries a lyman 6 power all american scope. Great gun.

[C.O.B.]

Pre64 M70's are my Parkers of the rifle world. I have a Super grade 300 H&H I'm playing with currently. I might have it ready for the late doe season.

[Cold Spring]

My experiences with 375's are different. While much younger I became enamored with the 375 and used a Browning Safari and a pre-64 M70 extensively on deer with various factory loads, and they always ran off unless the shoulder joint was busted up or with similar major skeletal damage. All were found totally dead, sometimes close by and at other times far away. Usually they showed no immediate sign of a hit. One buck I well remember was shot with a 270 grain Power Point on snow, and after tracking across a thick huckleberry swamp loaded with other deer tracks and finally seeing ONE DROP of blood, I found the buck piled up against a tree, stone dead. It was tough sorting thru all the tracks and I'd almost convinced myself it was a miss, as the buck was running when I fired.

If I were using a 375 again for deer in woodlands I'd be loading a pistol bullet as Rich has written about. I'd rather have the animal drop quickly than to minimize meat damage. Again, this is just a personal commentary based on shots with the caliber and period factory loads on whitetails in PA, NY and on Anticosti Island.

Yup Rich, the pre-64 Winchester 70's are the Parkers and Foxes of sporting rifles. So are Model 71's. Classic 1903 Springfield sporters are pretty cool too.

[Harold Pickens]

Rich, I feel exactly the way you do. My bird season--THE REAL SEASON- is now over until next year. We used to be able to hunt grouse here until the end of February, but with the tanking of the Appalachian grouse population, I must be content chasing released ringnecks with the dogs. Dont get me wrong, that is fun, but it ain't grouse hunting. That is why I hunt so long and hard during my 2 weeks in the UP.
I just could never get into bow hunting for deer, but my friend Terry, that you met loves it. He is out at my farm right now, and has texted me several pictures of the bucks cruising by. We have pictures of several 150 class bucks on the trail cameras, and Terry will hold out for one of the big boys. Yes, I will get out with a crossbow this weekend, but sitting in a treestand just does not excite me- I'll have the dogs out after pheasants first.
I do take a couple of days off for deer gun season. We have just recently been allowed to use straight walled rifle cartridges in Ohio, and Terry shoots a 375 Win. I will use my Fully rifled 20 ga single shot(scoped). It is deadly out to 150 yds and devastating on deer--yeah, it is 1800 fps, shooting a 260 gr hollow pt pistol bullet (Winchester Supreme Gold Sabots). It will outshoot my 12 ga slug gun, and I don't feel compromised with a single shot.
They certainly have got some early snows in the UP, I left Sat in a freakin' white out, and drove thru snow clear thro Grayling. Have you ever tried late season-December, grouse hunting in the UP? Would be interesting, and probably totally dependent on the amount of snowfall to be able to get back in the covers.

[C.O.B.]

Frank I just happen to have a deluxe M71. I bought all the stuff to load for it just haven't gotten around to it yet. To many rifles not enough time.

Harold I have thought of doing an early Dec grouse hunt in fact Eric and I have discussed it. It wouldn't take much to open the place up for a long weekend. I'll keep an eye out on weather conditions.