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Hunting & Fishing 2023 Grip and Grins thread

Pretty good day in the woods today. 6.5 at 238yds made quick work of it. Had to do a grip and grin for the thread.

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Gotta add a few more to the kitty. Settled on this 2.5 YO 8 point in Indiana since time was wearing thin. Saw some real shiner bucks but the chess game I was playing kept them just out of bow range. I had let this guy walk at least once but I think twice over the 4 day hunt. Shot him at 19 yards. He spooked 20 steps back left the way he came, got dizzy, walked 5 steps back towards me and tipped over. I absolutely love watching them tip over dead from the tree right in front of me. I knew the shot was great but still hate watching them disappear out of sight when I shoot them with a bow, or anything really.

Also let a bunch of little bucks walk in AL but shot a doe and one small 50lb hog (no pics of either) after blowing it on a sounder with a couple nice 120 lb sows in it. I got greedy and was trying to line them up for a double, meanwhile they winded me and beat feet.
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Smokeless muzzleloader shot a good sized cow elk this morning at 340(ish) yards. I got a range than she moved up hill while I was dialing. One shot and she fell over before the echo was done. Same 300gr fury bullet at 2650fps as the deer and antelope earlier in the year. Tagged out for the year.
 

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I suppose if it looked real bad you could paint it white. I cant imagine it would look great, and certainly not have the sheen of real bone. If I had one that wouldn't whiten I would probably just have the old lady do some of her artsy stuff with it. She has done some pretty cool ones with hers. I had her do one for a fishing buddy of mine who got married last year. I shot a 2x3 whitetail (for '23) and I told her I wanted a brown trout theme with a color scale that goes with their house deco. Turned out sweet.View attachment 8255724
was the color choice for the celebration of pride month?😂
 
was the color choice for the celebration of pride month?😂
Sounds like the protected class may be living rent free in your head if that's all you see when you look at that paint job. If that was the plan she blew it and missed some colors. Can't be leaving anything out when it comes to the "all inclusive" you know. My buddies house has a lot of bright colored deco. I wanted it to match that for his wife but have a brown trout theme. She nailed it.
 
I suppose if it looked real bad you could paint it white. I cant imagine it would look great, and certainly not have the sheen of real bone. If I had one that wouldn't whiten I would probably just have the old lady do some of her artsy stuff with it. She has done some pretty cool ones with hers. I had her do one for a fishing buddy of mine who got married last year. I shot a 2x3 whitetail (for '23) and I told her I wanted a brown trout theme with a color scale that goes with their house deco. Turned out sweet.View attachment 8255724
Boy did she nail the color scheme for Brown Trout! That looks better than some of the “professional”/commercial stuff I see locally at the fishing shops.
 
Boy did she nail the color scheme for Brown Trout! That looks better than some of the “professional”/commercial stuff I see locally at the fishing shops.
Its a cool blend for sure. We catch enough of them and she has a goddamn art degree so she ought to be able to come up with something cool. Of course she went on and got her nursing degree after that so she could make money but, I digress. She's good and a hell of a cello player too; put her through college. I keep telling her she should sell some of the heads she's done and we can kill more.
 
There’s not much of a story to this one. I went out the morning before a storm and this guy walked out just before sunrise. 60 yards with my 308, 168SMK…

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@Ronws If you are really sneaky, you can get a selfie…
Being sneaky is good. Reminds me of the sniper school scene in "Clear and Present Danger."

"The sniper approached the instructor by being a sneaky bastard, Sergeant-Major!"
 
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Opening morning of Michigan Rifle deer season (Nov 15, 23). 172g Speer Impact out of my Alpine Supreme Mauser 98 clone in 30-06, Nightforce SHV. Its a decent buck for my area of Central Michigan. I had preseason pics of better bucks, but I only have 80 acres, so I need to take what opportunities I get before they jump the fence off my property.
 

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Finished off the season strong in south alabama. Dumped a 10point, a few does and some hogs. Passed on some bucks I probably should have killed. Came back and made all the sausage and burger for the year. A shade over 300lbs. Had my nephew down for a couple days and he got his first deer which was awesome. Then the old lady came down for a few days and dumped her first whitey, a 2 1/2 YO 7 pt. She got skunked on hogs, which is what she wanted to kill but they were full nocturnal by then. Us common folk can’t be trusted to kill hogs in bama at night during deer season.
 
Yeah.

We are headed for pigs in a month. Off from deer season specifically so we can run thermal and hunt hard 2200-0100 or so.
And back up for sun up over a couple fields. Apparently they graze a lot then in the spring.

The lady got big eyes and said “I get a nap during the day, right???”
🤣🤣🤣
Guess she naps while I cut stuff up. 🤣


Really nice buck you got there.
Euro him too?
 
He is a pretty nice deer for down there. I swear they are Key deer or something that far south. They just dont get big bodies or horns. 100 lb does and 160 pound bucks are "huge". Couple of the locals in the lease were quietly pissy that the CO boy got a 10 point. Apparently there have only been 3 killed on that lease the 17 years they have had it. And yes, I euro'd him, pretty much do everything. Cant stomach the cost of a "real" mount not to mention I like euros.
 
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I hear you. In CO we are likely to have a cat hunting ban on the ballot in Nov. The way its worded will open it up to ban hunting in general down the road. After the wolf fiasco last year Im afraid this ballot box biology will be the norm now. What a joke.
 
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Kitty hunting ban till a bunch of mtn hippies are getting their dogs all eaten.

Then they call cat hunters.

🤣🤣


CO is beyond screwed up.
Hunting and anything gun related.
So many low to zero information voters.


When I started dating my fiance and had to open her eyes. Lifelong conservative voter, still not aware…..
Like a lot of women, news stresses her out and makes her worry, so she doesnt pay very close Attention……
Smart lady (with bad judgement in men clearly😆) that just gets overwhelmed with the constant car jacking, robbery, stabbing, shooting cycle here in Denver.
I do too.
But pay attention and carry daily.
Awareness, training, and preparedness are key.
 
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