Beretta92FS
NES Member
It's a semi-custom Merkel 147EL side-by-side, it even has something that resembles a pheasant engraved on the left side (ducks on the right side). I love this gun.
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2017/18 Hunting Thread!!
- Thread starter Wrench75
- Start date
It's a semi-custom Merkel 147EL side-by-side, it even has something that resembles a pheasant engraved on the left side (ducks on the right side). I love this gun.
boilermaker
NES Member
Very, very nice double you have there!
HorizontalHunter
NES Member
45collector
NES Member
Very nice SxS. I have a few of them but nothing that fancy.
kengog
NES Member
It's a semi-custom Merkel 147EL side-by-side, it even has something that resembles a pheasant engraved on the left side (ducks on the right side). I love this gun.
A beauty for sure.
I couldn't find a season thread for this year yet so I'll kick it off. Season opened here on Fri. Yesterday was the first chance I had to go out. I got one! Not only the first dear of the season, it's the first dear of my life!!
I didn't start hunting until I moved down here just shy of 4 yrs ago. I didn't really do much more than scouting the first year. I'm entirely self/internet taught. I've have taken a bunch of small game since being here but no deer. After a series of missed opportunities and either getting busted by or spooking several deer I finally got it right this year. I've been watching/feeding the same group of deer in my yard for months now and was able to get on on my first day out this year.
I'll tell you this, dragging and quartering a deer in 80 deg. weather sucks HUGE ****ING DONKEY BALLS!! I was just pouring sweat the whole time. I got a clean through double lung shot on him and he only made it about 40 yds from the point of the shot. I know a lot of people, myself included, love to bitch about broad-heads being $30-60+ for a pack of 3. Well I can say with absolute certainty that the Allan brand 125Gr. broad-heads from wally world for $7 a 3 pack kill them just as dead. I used a 20 in. Barnett Headhunter Custom Carbon bolt with the 125 Allen BH. Total combined weight of 440 Gr. thrown by a Centerpoint Sniper 370 FPS crossbow.
I think I made out alright for my first go. Considering the heat it was all rush rush rush. It was about 45 min from finding it's corpse to skinned, stripped and packed in the cooler to age for a few days. The many many many, did I say many?, hours of watching skinning and processing vids payed off big time. I was able to strip the deer much faster than I expected. Quarters, back straps, neck, outer rib meat and tenderloins, all without having to open the gut cavity.
The cats in my yard are having a field day with the scraps and carcass.He was a little on the small side, which most deer down here are. I never hung him to get an official weight but it felt like he was somewhere in the 150-170 lb. range based on what the drag felt like. So, without further adieu, here's my first deer...
View attachment 207710
View attachment 207711
The wife was nice enough to come out and film the tear-down and hold a leg occasionally. Camera memory kept getting full so it is split across a few vids. Once I get it edited together and up on youtube I'll post it here.
Good luck this season and be safe!
![[party]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/021.gif "Party [party]")
Congrats!!! I just got my first deer last season. It feels great doesn't it. I went home and was hunting with my Dad.
Went turkey hunting for the first time last week. I didn't get anything but it was still fun. I took my youngest daughter out with me one afternoon. We did get a squirrel. She actually called it in playing around on the squirrel call and it answered back to her. Can't wait for Muzzle loader season.
Started my son off squirrel hunting. He's 16 now and STILL likes squirrel hunting with me.....although he's alot more competitive and more of a ball breaker these days! But that's a good thing.Went turkey hunting for the first time last week. I didn't get anything but it was still fun. I took my youngest daughter out with me one afternoon. We did get a squirrel. She actually called it in playing around on the squirrel call and it answered back to her. Can't wait for Muzzle loader season.
Tweed
NES Member
From backyard to freezer
Got this doe this morning behind my house. Double lung shot @20 yds. The tits/udder was filled with milk. First time I've seen that. There was a doe with a skipper around here a few weeks ago. No skipper with this one.
Got this doe this morning behind my house. Double lung shot @20 yds. The tits/udder was filled with milk. First time I've seen that. There was a doe with a skipper around here a few weeks ago. No skipper with this one.
Welp, I'm tagged out until rifle season starts! First buck with a bow, second deer on my land I just bought about a month ago. I've seen 10 deer there this year, 7 of which were today (6 does/skippers) then the buck was following them about 10 mins behind.
GM-GUY
NES Member
FiL & my Son with their wild hogs, two sowsMy sons first hunt, 70+ yds off sticks, double lung shot, 5 steps and down.
************ ON EDIT and on a keyboard and not a phone ****************
Home now, have the meat in the freezer. Perfectly drilled the near side 5th rib, both lungs (missed the heart by less than 1 ") and a baseball sized hole in the rib cage (3 ribs wide) on the far side - hide had a thumb sized hole. Did not make a sound after the shot - you can see the bullet track on the video I shot btw. Completely still by the time we walked the 70yds. Used a Ruger Gunsite Scout 18". Left Handed with Leupold VX-R with Firedot reticle shooting Nosler Trophy Grade 165gr Accubonds
My father-in law who is going to be 80 next year, has several medical issues so he was aiming for the head and bing'd his in the lower jaw - completely broken and flopping - made one more shot on the run and missed - rounded the pig up and pushed him back towards him in a new spot and he hammered him that time (resting against a tree that time) through the skull then down the spine. The pig reared back almost off his front feet it was hit so hard. Nervous system was gone (confirmed on cutup) but it was shivering it's snout and taking the odd breath - weird.
I did not bring a gun, and didn't shoot one. One pig worth of meat is enough to start with. I did video the trip and am going to make a DVD for my FiL - this was a bucket list trip for him. He had a blast, that fact his only blood grandson went along and got one too was icing on the cake.
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Started the morning out
My son's pig head is in the pot for his Biology Teacher (he asked for it) - after about 4 hours of simmering with a scoop of Oxyclean I got this.
Sitting in just water now, warming up to sit overnight and I'll get the last of it tomorrow - then Peroxide to whiten and Mop & Glow to seal.
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HUGE body on that deer, he only weighed in at 135 but he had a deep chest and a ton of fat on him. When I first saw him coming through the woods I thought it was the 8pt I had on camera.
They were moving today for sure. Must be the falling barometer from the upcoming storm. I saw 6 deer, a turkey and a fisher today. The 3 shooter bucks didn't give me an opportunity and I passed on a doe and two fawns. They hung around under my stand for 15+ minutes.
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Beretta92FS
NES Member
Amazing, lots of good action going on these days!
boilermaker
NES Member
Do you go out there often? Might need to pick your brain a bit, always wanted to try for wild pheasant.
Congrats. How many acres did you end up purchasing? Did you have any problems with trespassers?Welp, I'm tagged out until rifle season starts! First buck with a bow, second deer on my land I just bought about a month ago. I've seen 10 deer there this year, 7 of which were today (6 does/skippers) then the buck was following them about 10 mins behind.
38 acres, I've only seen 2 other people so far, both have hunted the area for years. I posted the land permission only and gave verbal permission to those two with written permission to follow. I told them as long as they steer clear of my stands we're cool. I don't want them wandering through my spots or setting up right next to my stand.
I'm curious to see how rifle season shapes up, the land is pretty close to the MA border, I plan to be over there a lot to keep an eye on things.
boilermaker
NES Member
You realize they dont need seatbelts anymore?
HorizontalHunter
NES Member
That's pretty insulting to those birds
