I did the same thing, burned my 3 points so three of us could hunt. Doubt I'll be able to repeat the trick four years from now, the way things are going.
Yeah, I'm 3/3 on getting these to shoot from 30-06 rifles and they shoot flat and kill awesome. They do tend to lose petals in shoulders so trim carefully.
Edit: loading to book OAL and at moderate velocity, about 3100 FPS.
Use block ice beneath the meat. Jugs are best, because they stay full with ice cold water for a long time. No need to drain, which is a waste of cold. I also use a barrier between the ice and the meat - last year I just used tin foil because it's what I had on hand.
One other point: if you...
Awesome feat! Congrats! Cactus quills are part of the game haha.
I've killed a few with a rifle and it's not always easy, but it sounds way easier than that! Next year I'm going to go a week early and bring the bow -- and save a couple days at the end for rifle hunting, just in case.
Agree here. All this discussion is basically moot on whitetails at 200 yards and under. If you just want dead deer, and don't care about lead, there's no reason to handload 30-06 as any of the $15-20/box off the shelf stuff works fine.
However, I've moved to using nonlead for all my hunting...
Thought I'd update this post -- been using the "river camo" Kinetic jacket since fall 2018, and have killed four WY antelope, a spring MN turkey, and one whitetail (with a bow) while wearing it. It matches the October WY sage prarie and the spring MN and MI woods perfectly. It's quiet and just...
I'll repeat what's been said above -- the 130gr TTSX is a great .30-06 bullet for antelope. Shoots flat and doesn't ruin meat. Double lung is ideal but even if you hit the shoulder you're not blowing it up.
Huge congrats! I know all too well that struggle. I have a feeling that now you've "cracked the code" a bit, you'll have a change in luck. That first bird you call in and kill will feel even better.
In MN we get one tag, and a seven day season. I'm still pretty new -- my first bird was called in by a buddy, and I haven't scored since then -- so not being able to travel to my known areas meant I had to start from scratch on public land closer to home. But after five days of screw-ups, close...
You guys must have been out there just after us. We hunted first week of October and had snow when we got there and we got out just as the big storm blew in. Probably passed us on the highway in SD, ha. Glad you had success! Nice bucks and some serious rifles too.
My only hope this year was to shoot a bigger buck than the one I shot last year. I'm still inept at field-judging, but this guy had the classic heart-shape, had just chased off a smaller buck, and presented a great shot on BLM land so I went for it. Glad I did -- we hunted does for three more...
I've not noticed a difference between having the meat in game bags or not in game bags while in the cooler. Any meat touching ice/water will get a little discolored whether in the bags or not. A barrier of plastic or tin foil can help with that, but make sure everything is cold before you add...
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I don't really mind the factory stock (I stuffed the hollow part with plastic grocery bags and it sounds better), but I would like a better recoil lug setup, pillars, and a bigger palmswell.
Thanks, but it's actually an older T3 and I'll be keeping the stock...
Looking for one of these to try out: https://www.stockysstocks.com/stock-finder/tikka/t3/bell-carlson-tikka-t3-lite-hunter-stock-with-full-length-aluminum-block.html
Some wear/use is no problem. Prefer tan w/black web but open to any color. Except maybe pink...
Thanks for checking.