2024 grip and grin

RPN

RPN

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Minuteman
Nov 26, 2013
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New Zealand
#1
We don't have a hunting season as such in NZ - its on 365 days a year, so I'll start a 2024 thread with some of this year's deer.
Not much grin in the photos, I'm usually hunting alone


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#3
I've known a few kiwis in my time. One back in my college days in the early 80s.

I became intrigued with it in Heinlein's novel, "Friday." The main character had no place to call home until she made friends in NZ.

But I really came to appreciate the land and the hunting you can do there from watching Rogee Productions on YouTube. The main guy is shooting a .300 WSM and, IIRC, a Zero Tech scope. In a lot of the land, especially the public land, you just cannot get close enough to put salt on the tail and catch a deer or sheep. Anywhere 200 to, I think, 600 yards. And his second guy also has a rifle. They both shoot at the same time to ensure the animal is down.

Awesome harvests. I wish I could be there just see the land and these animals.
 
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#4
Rogee is using a March on one rifle (300 wsm), and I think a Leupold on the 308.
He does drop some pretty average shots though - sometimes I wonder how he figures his wind calls but he is getting out plenty so good on him.
There are a hell of a lot more deer shot inside 50m than past 400, but the up close stuff doesn't lend itself to youtube very well when you are doing the shooting and the filming yourself so I guess there is a skewed view put out on the webs of what goes on.
If you can find it, Greg Duley on NZ Hunter Adventures is probably the best thing out there, he really does it well.
Edit to add I've just looked on YouTube and Greg isn't there - it is on TVNZ on demand aand I'm not sure if uou can see that outside NZ. Another really good guy is Keeping it wild - he is a professional trapper and outstanding in the bush. I think he is made of steel, he's got inhuman endurance.
Come on over, it's not hard and the people are mostly friendly - all you have to do is sit in a plane for 11 hours and remember to drive on the other side of the road.
 
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#5
RPN said:
Rogee is using a March on one rifle (300 wsm), and I think a Leupold on the 308.
He does drop some pretty average shots though - sometimes I wonder how he figures his wind calls but he is getting out plenty so good on him.
There are a hell of a lot more deer shot inside 50m than past 400, but the up close stuff doesn't lend itself to youtube very well when you are doing the shooting and the filming yourself so I guess there is a skewed view put out on the webs of what goes on.
If you can find it, Greg Duley on NZ Hunter Adventures is probably the best thing out there, he really does it well.
Edit to add I've just looked on YouTube and Greg isn't there - it is on TVNZ on demand aand I'm not sure if uou can see that outside NZ. Another really good guy is Keeping it wild - he is a professional trapper and outstanding in the bush. I think he is made of steel, he's got inhuman endurance.
Come on over, it's not hard and the people are mostly friendly - all you have to do is sit in a plane for 11 hours and remember to drive on the other side of the road.
Click to expand...
I will have to check that.

And other hunters I personally know have never shot past 300 yards on a game animal. Longest was 220 yards at an Aoudad Sheep.

One long shot he did make was a money bet on hitting a balloon at 850 yards with his AR-15. First and only shot.
 
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#6
Nice work. I put most of my early 2024 kills in my 2023 g&g thread since it was the 23 season. Looking forward to seeing what guys come home with is always fun. I should draw a couple decent tags this year. Fingers crossed. I did manage to get my first eastern a couple weeks ago down in Bama. Skunked on hogs tho, which is rare.
IMG_7298.jpeg
 
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#7
First time ever turkey hunting. My area is absolutely teeming with thunder chickens, so I decided to give it a shot this year. I had him on the ground with a 10 yard shot inside the first hour, and it all went down 65 yards from my garage;
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Hunting by myrself, I didn’t get a legitimate grip & grin photo. This is the best I can do.
He’s an old bastard, those spurs are ~1.5” long.
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Taking my brother-in-law out this weekend to get him a shot as well.
 
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#8
I have been meaning to go Eastern Spring Turkey hunting but have not been. I have the shottie and ammo, I just end up having to get other stuff done. And then we get all the rainy weather which is going to keep them hidden, for the most part. I can be tough and hang out in the rain but that doesn't mean the quarry is going to be as foolish as I am or will be.
 
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#11
Cool. They are delicious. Let me know if you need any recipes. The legs/wings crocked and made into carnitas/tacos are awesome. Breasts are great brined and smoked or done as turkey tenders/nuggets. You can do the whole bird but Ive found the wild ones are better broken down.

We have merriams here at home in CO. Their tips are almost white.
 
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#12
I made one of the breasts into nuggets tonight, pan fried on the grill in cast iron with my own “breading” (wife is gluten free, which means I have to DIY pretty much everything). It was awesome, especially adding some parmesan ranch dressing.
I’ve been perusing Pinterest most of the afternoon and also found some carnitas recipes for the leg(s). Excited to give it a try.

I think Easterns are the only subspecies of turkey in IL.
 
#13
Nice. Be careful you'll end up getting into hunting the bastards all over to collect the delicious morsels. I just wish they were the size of deer so that the quantity of meat made it make more sense for the effort. They are crazy little dinosaurs they way there are tho.


Definitely an eastern. The one I killed above has pretty typical coloring for eastern with the beige bars at the tips.
 
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#14
zeroz said:
Nice. Be careful you'll end up getting into hunting the bastards all over to collect the delicious morsels. I just wish they were the size of deer so that the quantity of meat made it make more sense for the effort. They are crazy little dinosaurs they way there are tho.


Definitely an eastern. The one I killed above has pretty typical coloring for eastern with the beige bars at the tips.
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Takes the patience of Job to pluck.
 
#15
Ronws said:
Takes the patience of Job to pluck.
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F that. Maybe around the breast so I can have skin on smoked breast but other than that not worth the effort in my opinion, which aint worth much. I'll pluck a grouse all day long but you can have a turkey as far as plucking a whole bird for a substandard product compared to parted out skinless dishes it can provide. The sum of its part are worth more than the bird as a whole.
 
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#16
zeroz said:
F that. Maybe around the breast so I can have skin on smoked breast but other than that not worth the effort in my opinion, which aint worth much. I'll pluck a grouse all day long but you can have a turkey as far as plucking a whole bird for a substandard product compared to parted out skinless dishes it can provide. The sum of its part are worth more than the bird as a whole.
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Here you go.

 
#26
RPN said:
View attachment 8445038

Went for a pheasant hunt on the weekend and the farmer asked me to thin the turkeys out a little. Forgive the photo, it was getting dark and the phone was struggling.

Came back with a more suitable gun later on and did a better job. Turkeys are a pest here, and not rated at all as a game bird.

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Where are you located? Turkey not a game bird?
 
#32
@zeroz

Sometimes, ya just gotta secure the meat!
Nice work.

Can we get a pic of the upper end of his Right side? Looks pretty wild!



I head out the 24th for archery, cow tag.
Then mid oct for first rifle - got an either sex tag, and bear.

If I get a cow via archery, will work more for antlers.
If not, freezer full is key.
 
#33
zeroz said:
Freezer fillin season has begun. I have been dogging a herd with a huge 6x6. finally gave in and put a hole in this guy yesterday afternoon after a real heartbreaker stalk yesterday morning.

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That guy had been either hittin’ the gym or pounding back the beers, can’t tell. YUGE



I’m not a big game hunter, though, so maybe my viewpoint is off.
 
#34
Yeah. He has a little crown thing going on the right side. Has character even if he is a young runt compared to the 340-350 (+???) I was stalking in the morning. We arent going to starve to death and part of me wanted to keep at it, but when I bumbled into this guy it felt like a gift I shouldn't pass on. He's in that im not a big bull but im not a little 4 pt either stage. Big bodied bastard for sure. Im really hoping I can get the old lady onto that giant but she's known to shoot the first thing she sees. She has muzzle bull and buck tags starting Saturday. I would be tickled to death if she busted his ass. I had a few nice 6x6's I could have shot if I had a muzzle/rifle. Was in muzzle range of elk everyday. Archery is stupid sometimes.
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#39
zeroz said:
You drive like an old man or you ARE an old man????
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I'd say I would get points for both. I know the comment was not directed at me but I am old and I am not going to faster than 80 mph. And in some places where I got a fat and juicy ticket, I stick to the speed limit and relish in the angst I am causing.

Age and treachery win over youth and skill.
:p
 
#43
I started hunting with my recurve last year for archery. I have been very fortunate in the past to be able to stick quite a few elk with my compound bow and was wanting something a little different. I am committed to the recurve, and of course had some dead to rights if I would have had my compound with me. My effective range with my recurve honestly is about 15-20 yards max. It's quite the exercise in discipline to let em walk at 30-40 yards. Regardless, I have enjoyed it immensely and it has meshed nicely with my more about "the goin than the gettin" attitude that has become more prevalent as I get older. Hopefully be able to post up a pic one day with the stickbow.
 
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#44
Watched him for a couple hours trying to close the gap. Got within 100yds but had a really bad angle and with the rolling hill. So we had to back out and try to come in from above. We were able to close the gap from 570yds to about 462yds. Just as she was getting ready to shoot he laid down behind a stump and we could only see his antlers. After about 15-20min of whistling and making noise he wouldn't stand up. So my wife decided to shoot the stump next to his head and hopefully he would stand up and stay still long enough to get a shot at him. Worked just as planned. She shot the stump, he stood up and my wife drill him in the head. 462yds. 6mm creedmoor. All in all it was almost 3 hours from first seeing him to finally shooting.
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#47
Tis’ the season again ! ( muzzle loader )
Spotted this guy while chasing a big whitetail. He had an arrow sticking out of his neck and it looked like a bad flesh wound.
After a long stalk I was able to put my tag on him.
Don’t know if he could have survived the arrow or not. It didn’t look like it hit anything vital, but was at least a week old and pretty ugly.
Regardless, he will be great in my freezer and on my wall 👍
 

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#48
Punched my first tag of 2024. I've not had a buck shrink on me from 27 yards before, but he did. 😄

More than likely, I got a bit too excited with the new season jitters and tried to add 20" to him. Either way, he did me a favor of running from the woods and into a pasture to die. I lost him on the run, and then couldn't find him in the open pasture at first. Blood trail wasn't great as I buried the NAP Killzone into his offside shoulder. It was otherwise a great hit, went through both lungs and clipped the top/rear of the heart from a slight quartering away.

I started to worry when I couldn't find him out in the open. That would mean he'd have ran at least an additional 100 yards into the thickest of brush here at the ranch. Since he went out into the pasture, I couldn't hear him running/crash from my stand either.

Stood on my pond berm to get a better vantage point, and found him right below me at the water's edge. Went about 60-65 yards total.

Was thrilled that I didn't have to try to track this buck in the dark through that brush. I shot him about 50 minutes before sunset, and started my search 30 minutes later after I walked back to the house. My first ever doe here I shot during rifle season in the evening (many years ago), lost her in that same brush patch, and finally found her by luck early next morning only 15 yards in.

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I have one stud that cruises through the ranch regularly this year (so far). I was hoping that it was this guy, but when I got up on him I realized that it wasn't even close.

Rookie mistake...my old ass got way too excited when I saw antlers. 😄 I've done that with a rifle several times, just not with a crossbow before.
 
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#49
diggler1833 said:
Punched my first tag of 2024. I've not had a buck shrink on me from 27 yards before, but he did. 😄

More than likely, I got a bit too excited with the new season jitters and tried to add 20" to him. Either way, he did me a favor of running from the woods and into a pasture to die. I lost him on the run, and then couldn't find him in the open pasture at first. Blood trail wasn't great as I buried the NAP Killzone into his offside shoulder. It was otherwise a great hit, went through both lungs and clipped the top/rear of the heart from a slight quartering away.

I started to worry when I couldn't find him out in the open. That would mean he'd have ran at least an additional 100 yards into the thickest of brush here at the ranch. Since he went out into the pasture, I couldn't hear him running/crash from my stand either.

Stood on my pond berm to get a better vantage point, and found him right below me at the water's edge. Went about 60-65 yards total.

Was thrilled that I didn't have to try to track this buck in the dark through that brush. I shot him about 50 minutes before sunset, and started my search 30 minutes later after I walked back to the house. My first ever doe here I shot during rifle season in the evening (many years ago), lost her in that same brush patch, and finally found her by luck early next morning only 15 yards in.

View attachment 8516737
View attachment 8516736


I have one stud that cruises through the ranch regularly this year (so far). I was hoping that it was this guy, but when I got up on him I realized that it wasn't even close.

Rookie mistake...my old ass got way too excited when I saw antlers. 😄 I've done that with a rifle several times, just not with a crossbow before.
Click to expand...
There are some angles that make a buck look way bigger than they are. For example, judging a buck from behind makes them look huge. In fact, the pic of the buck on the ranger makes him look bigger than the full frontal shot. But, he’ll eat regardless. Congrats.
 
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#50
hlee said:
There are some angles that make a buck look way bigger than they are. For example, judging a buck from behind makes them look huge. In fact, the pic of the buck on the ranger makes him look bigger than the full frontal shot. But, he’ll eat regardless. Congrats.
Click to expand...

Yep, I could sit 5 feet behind him and make him look like a giant in the photos.

For sure though he'll be good eating. Got him about a month before the rut kicks off.
 
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