Post by Doc Barranti on Nov 2, 2009 23:28:35 GMT -5
For the second year in a row I traveled to SW Montana for some very exciting handgun hunting. A non-resident can buy doe tags over the counter for $75, I think you can purchase up to 5 tags at this price. Last year I took 2 doe's with my 41 Bisley, this year it would be my 4 5/8" Lipsey's 44 special. This little gem is a shooter, if you don't have one just be patient, Ruger has announced that they will be a regular catalog item.
My friend Carmello, owner of the local Mexican resturant invited me to join him & his brothers Carlos & Alehondro for this 2nd trip north & just like last year we had a lot of fun hunting together.
Unlike last year the weather was nice, almost too nice, instead of a constant cold rain & 40 degree weather it was in the high 50's, calm & sunny. As usual getting our tags & license was finished in a flash, we were anxious to get started. Even though we had left Idaho at 4am I was wide awake & ready to get after those darting, leaping, dodging little rascals, I love hunting them because they are so much different than muleys. Its almost like jump shooting quail when you are hunting river bottoms from the ground in heavy cover.
The afternoon of the first day I had them drop me off, I planned to walk a mile or so west of them & then slowly work my way in their direction, hoping that someone would catch them sneaking back away from the pressure, they have a habit of moving off & then circling back rather than just taking off like a muley.
The river bottom was full of huge cottonwood trees, some of them probably dating back to when Lewis & Clark traveled this exact same river in the 1800's. The grass was 5 feet tall in many places & there were little pockets of water everywhere out as far as 2-3 hundred yards from the river, this made it very difficult to get around, I was constanly wading the shallow pools, trying to be quiet & hopefully catch a doe making her escape. The hard part was trying to see anything, the heavy brush cover & tall grass made it almost impossible to see more than a few yards, it was a whitetail paradise. After a half hour or so I knew I had to get elevated somehow to have any chance of seeing one of the many deer that inhabited the river bottom. A local guy told us there were hundreds of deer here but they were very hard to hunt, I was wishing I had a tree stand just to get above the tall grass where I had a better view. Looking back to the south. I spotted 2 huge cottonwood trees that had fallen & were laying so that they were 8-10 feet off the ground on one end, doing my best high wire act I walked up one of the trees & carefully set down, straddling the 20" tree trunk. I was in the open a little more than I wanted but didn't have much choice so decided to stay a while & see if one of the others might move some deer in my direction. After 20 minutes or so I could see one of them in his bright orange (required) headed my way, constandly turning back because of the water running in all directions. Shortly he spotted me, waved & moved on past me going west, 5 minutes passed & I noticed 2 doe's sneaking around him, before I could draw my 44 they were in the brush, I could see them but they were over 100 yds away, no chance for a shot. After a couple of minutes I eased down the tree....walking up a sloped tree is much easier than walking down, I had to be very careful, I didn't want to slip & fall because everything below me had thorns on it.
I knew in the tall grass I had no chance of slipping up on the 2 deer, it was just too noisy, I eased over & stepped down into 3-4 inches of water, it was much quieter, pulled the neat little blackhawk & started closing the distance to where I last seen the doe's. Normally I cock my gun when I get in close, slip my left thumb between the frame & hammer & keep both hands on the gun, because of the slippery rocks I didn't want to take a chance falling with a cocked gun in my hands so I just carried it in my right hand, hammer down.
After 10 minutes I was very close to where I had lasted spotted the deer in the heavy cover, suddenly one of them jumped up & charged through the heavy grass, she was mowing it down like a bull rhino but because she was so close I could see her pretty good, I took 2 fast shots, probably 2 seconds apart as she flew past broadside at 25 yds, she gained a little elevation facing straight away & I took another shot as she disappeared, the total time was only 5-6 seconds, like I said earlier, with these things its like jump shooting quail, nothing happening & then all of a sudden everything is like a whirlwind. I walked up the little incline where she had been standing & I couldn't see her, tall grass, dead trees laying everywhere & the water. I eased through the water & started parting the 5' tall grass, after 5 minutes I almost stepped on her, she had covered maybe 25 yds, thats only 3-4 seconds & she was down & out, the little 44 flattop had been broken in properly, 2 of the 3 shots had hit her, one through the front part of the front shoulders & the other one right behind the front shoulders through the lungs, I think shot #3 was a clean miss as she faced directly away from me. Skeeter would be proud, his long time "skeeter" load had once again proven itself. Using Elmers grand old 250 gr cast slug & 7.5 grs of Unique both shots had passed completely through, this load from my shortie is going between 900 & 950 fps, not a magnum, not a cannon....just effecient!
I had been lucky, because of the tall grass she wasn't running flat out, it gave me just enough time to get the party started, I love parties, especially when it comes to hunting with a good sixgun.
First photo is me, my very special little 44 special & my Montana whitetail. You can see one of the exit holes just behind the shoulder, I shot her from the other side, the other shot is covered by the stem of grass.
They sneaked this picture in, don't know if I'm saying Boise State is #1 or if this is my first deer with the 44 special flattop.
This is "tres hermanos" 3 brothers, Carmello, Alehondro & Carlos. These guys love to hunt.
The local guy that hunted with us could shoot a buck, he used an old 250-3000 Savage, I had to dress up the photo with my Lipsey's 44 special!
Some time I hope to hunt whitetail bucks along these same river bottoms, its pretty SPECIAL.
Saturday evening I had the pleasure of hooking up with local resident & handgun nut Frank V., also joing us was our very own Short Barrel, the talented gun from Montana that recently took a nice bear & a bull moose, using sixguns, we had a great visit talking about rifles..........NOT! it was a fun evening shared with 2 new friends. Now for elk! Come on boys!
Dick
My friend Carmello, owner of the local Mexican resturant invited me to join him & his brothers Carlos & Alehondro for this 2nd trip north & just like last year we had a lot of fun hunting together.
Unlike last year the weather was nice, almost too nice, instead of a constant cold rain & 40 degree weather it was in the high 50's, calm & sunny. As usual getting our tags & license was finished in a flash, we were anxious to get started. Even though we had left Idaho at 4am I was wide awake & ready to get after those darting, leaping, dodging little rascals, I love hunting them because they are so much different than muleys. Its almost like jump shooting quail when you are hunting river bottoms from the ground in heavy cover.
The afternoon of the first day I had them drop me off, I planned to walk a mile or so west of them & then slowly work my way in their direction, hoping that someone would catch them sneaking back away from the pressure, they have a habit of moving off & then circling back rather than just taking off like a muley.
The river bottom was full of huge cottonwood trees, some of them probably dating back to when Lewis & Clark traveled this exact same river in the 1800's. The grass was 5 feet tall in many places & there were little pockets of water everywhere out as far as 2-3 hundred yards from the river, this made it very difficult to get around, I was constanly wading the shallow pools, trying to be quiet & hopefully catch a doe making her escape. The hard part was trying to see anything, the heavy brush cover & tall grass made it almost impossible to see more than a few yards, it was a whitetail paradise. After a half hour or so I knew I had to get elevated somehow to have any chance of seeing one of the many deer that inhabited the river bottom. A local guy told us there were hundreds of deer here but they were very hard to hunt, I was wishing I had a tree stand just to get above the tall grass where I had a better view. Looking back to the south. I spotted 2 huge cottonwood trees that had fallen & were laying so that they were 8-10 feet off the ground on one end, doing my best high wire act I walked up one of the trees & carefully set down, straddling the 20" tree trunk. I was in the open a little more than I wanted but didn't have much choice so decided to stay a while & see if one of the others might move some deer in my direction. After 20 minutes or so I could see one of them in his bright orange (required) headed my way, constandly turning back because of the water running in all directions. Shortly he spotted me, waved & moved on past me going west, 5 minutes passed & I noticed 2 doe's sneaking around him, before I could draw my 44 they were in the brush, I could see them but they were over 100 yds away, no chance for a shot. After a couple of minutes I eased down the tree....walking up a sloped tree is much easier than walking down, I had to be very careful, I didn't want to slip & fall because everything below me had thorns on it.
I knew in the tall grass I had no chance of slipping up on the 2 deer, it was just too noisy, I eased over & stepped down into 3-4 inches of water, it was much quieter, pulled the neat little blackhawk & started closing the distance to where I last seen the doe's. Normally I cock my gun when I get in close, slip my left thumb between the frame & hammer & keep both hands on the gun, because of the slippery rocks I didn't want to take a chance falling with a cocked gun in my hands so I just carried it in my right hand, hammer down.
After 10 minutes I was very close to where I had lasted spotted the deer in the heavy cover, suddenly one of them jumped up & charged through the heavy grass, she was mowing it down like a bull rhino but because she was so close I could see her pretty good, I took 2 fast shots, probably 2 seconds apart as she flew past broadside at 25 yds, she gained a little elevation facing straight away & I took another shot as she disappeared, the total time was only 5-6 seconds, like I said earlier, with these things its like jump shooting quail, nothing happening & then all of a sudden everything is like a whirlwind. I walked up the little incline where she had been standing & I couldn't see her, tall grass, dead trees laying everywhere & the water. I eased through the water & started parting the 5' tall grass, after 5 minutes I almost stepped on her, she had covered maybe 25 yds, thats only 3-4 seconds & she was down & out, the little 44 flattop had been broken in properly, 2 of the 3 shots had hit her, one through the front part of the front shoulders & the other one right behind the front shoulders through the lungs, I think shot #3 was a clean miss as she faced directly away from me. Skeeter would be proud, his long time "skeeter" load had once again proven itself. Using Elmers grand old 250 gr cast slug & 7.5 grs of Unique both shots had passed completely through, this load from my shortie is going between 900 & 950 fps, not a magnum, not a cannon....just effecient!
I had been lucky, because of the tall grass she wasn't running flat out, it gave me just enough time to get the party started, I love parties, especially when it comes to hunting with a good sixgun.
First photo is me, my very special little 44 special & my Montana whitetail. You can see one of the exit holes just behind the shoulder, I shot her from the other side, the other shot is covered by the stem of grass.
They sneaked this picture in, don't know if I'm saying Boise State is #1 or if this is my first deer with the 44 special flattop.
This is "tres hermanos" 3 brothers, Carmello, Alehondro & Carlos. These guys love to hunt.
The local guy that hunted with us could shoot a buck, he used an old 250-3000 Savage, I had to dress up the photo with my Lipsey's 44 special!
Some time I hope to hunt whitetail bucks along these same river bottoms, its pretty SPECIAL.
Saturday evening I had the pleasure of hooking up with local resident & handgun nut Frank V., also joing us was our very own Short Barrel, the talented gun from Montana that recently took a nice bear & a bull moose, using sixguns, we had a great visit talking about rifles..........NOT! it was a fun evening shared with 2 new friends. Now for elk! Come on boys!
Dick
