This years deer hunting

[mnmarlin]

Took adventage of the early doe season in late October and shot a small doe with the .357 1894. It has a red dot sight on it this year, and I don't care for it. Next year I'll either go with some type of peep/ghost ring sight or a low power scope. The doe was moving forward at the first shot with the result that I hit her in the offside back leg. She took off running so I shot again, hitting her very high across the withers, just breaking the hide doing no real damage. She then turned and ran back towards me and started to spin in a circle about 30 yards away and I was able to get one into her heart lung area which was quickly fatal. Two weeks later was regular rifle season here in Minnesota, this time I took the heavy hardware, the .444 Marlin. 4 hours into Saturday's hunt another small doe came walking towards me, I let her go by. Very shortly a small buck followed her and stopped 20 yards from me, looking for her. Since the guys I hunt with want venison not horns, I decided to shoot. The deer was dead before it hit the ground. The .44 4 really smokes deer, no question. Of course the .357 would have been just effective at that range but I really like how the 265 grain Hornady bullets work on game - this one penetrated almost the full length of the deer (albeit a smaller deer). Great fun.

[JBowen]

MN-- Was that the gummy tipped 265 Hornady or the older original Flat Nose Soft Point in your .444?

JBowen

[mnmarlin]

JBowen it was the old school 265 flat point. I happened to be using the factory Hornady Superperformance load this year, which I've chrono'd at an honest 2400 fps out of my 22" barreled .444S. It speaks with authority on both ends! I've handloaded some too, at 2150 or so fps, and that works just as well, very much like the old Remington factory load of the 265 grain. The bullet seems to be very accurate.

[BenT]

Yes the 444 speaks with authority. It is a great cartridge for woods hunting. I like the 35 calibers for hunting but the 357 is at the low end of the scale for power and shot placement is crucial for a clean kill. I shot a deer with the 357 in a revolver and it doesn't get the penetration to kill cleanly. You need the extra velocity of the rifle. I can tell you that you got a warmer deer hunting season than Wisconsin is going have this next week.

[JBowen]

I have heard Hornady stopped making that bullet. I have an un-opened box of those that I bought for my BB444. but have not gotten around to loading for it.
Seems like whenever bullet manufactures have something that works well, they up and change,

Thanks,
JBowen

[BenT]

I also have a few boxes the 265 grains bullets. When they came out with the gummy tip bullets, Hornady went all in on those.
How far north in Minnesota are you hunting? Just wondering how the deer numbers are with the wolf population.

[wvfarrier]

I love hunting with my Winchester 92 in 357 mag. It wears a Trijicon rmr. Ive used it for black bear as well. My handloads reach 2100+ using a 158 grain XTP (which holds together at that speed). I use a Lil Gun but am .08 grains over Hodgens listed max. No pressure signs but accuracy drops off any faster.

[mnmarlin]

BenT only about half way - really west central - Otter Tail county. I heard one guy south of me saw wolves, more coyotes around here. Deer harvest was down quite a bit it seems, not sure why, seems like plenty of deer (my wife got one with her new Blazer, all that safety stuff and none of it designed to avoid a deer from running into the car LOL).