The Illinois firearn season opened Friday morning with unseasonally high temperatures, fog and occassional drizzling rain. Saw only one medium sized buck right before sunset, moving through thick brush about 100 yds away. Saturday brought more of the same, although the rain quit about 1 hour after sunrise. About 9 am, I came down out of my stand and after taking a long slow look around, saw a good doe coming towards me. At 55 yds from me, I took a step around the tree I was standing by, to have an angle for a shot, and stepped on a stick. She instantly stopped & eyeballed me. I had a pretty much head on shot so I put the sights of my .58cal Renegade/GM percussion rifle right in the middle of her chest and the .575 ball, pushed by 120 grns of Swiss 1.5 FG, dropped her in her tracks. The ball hit exactly where I aimed and severed the jugular and angled toward the far shoulder, taking out the top of 1 lung and smashing the 1st 3 ribs, before exiting behind the far shoulder. I had a nice 1.5 yr old, 90 lb doe for the freezer.
Early that afternoon, I took my .54cal GPR, went to a different stand and had just sat down and taken a long careful look to the woods to my left. Seeing nothing, I turned to look right and immediately saw a good buck on a path that would take him behind my treestand. When he went behind a large oak, I stood and got turned around for the shot. He continued on the same course and when he stepped clear of the last bit of brush, about 65 yds away, I stopped him, with a single grunt, for an almost perfect broadside shot, with him standing slightly quartering toward me. The .535 ball, backed by 110 grns of Swiss Ffg anchored him right where he stood. Again, my shot was true and on entry, and he ball punched through the shoulder blade, above the shoulder, took out both lungs and smashed a rib on his other side when it passed through. I filled my remaining firearm tag with a very nice, 3.5 yr old buck. He had a smallish 7 pt rack, with medium height and spread, but weighed about 170 lbs.
Overall, a great day. With the warm weather causing the deer to be rather inactive, and the rain keeping the fair weather hunters home, so they weren't forcing more deer movement, I was a bit worried about my chances for success, but it worked out. I'll now have to wait for 2 weeks, when I have 2 tags for muzzleloader season.
Early that afternoon, I took my .54cal GPR, went to a different stand and had just sat down and taken a long careful look to the woods to my left. Seeing nothing, I turned to look right and immediately saw a good buck on a path that would take him behind my treestand. When he went behind a large oak, I stood and got turned around for the shot. He continued on the same course and when he stepped clear of the last bit of brush, about 65 yds away, I stopped him, with a single grunt, for an almost perfect broadside shot, with him standing slightly quartering toward me. The .535 ball, backed by 110 grns of Swiss Ffg anchored him right where he stood. Again, my shot was true and on entry, and he ball punched through the shoulder blade, above the shoulder, took out both lungs and smashed a rib on his other side when it passed through. I filled my remaining firearm tag with a very nice, 3.5 yr old buck. He had a smallish 7 pt rack, with medium height and spread, but weighed about 170 lbs.
Overall, a great day. With the warm weather causing the deer to be rather inactive, and the rain keeping the fair weather hunters home, so they weren't forcing more deer movement, I was a bit worried about my chances for success, but it worked out. I'll now have to wait for 2 weeks, when I have 2 tags for muzzleloader season.
The .58cal was new this year and I sorely wanted to hunt with it. I have always been an advocate of stout loads for hunting, as long as they were accurate. The thing about that GM barrel is that it will shoot just as well with 120 grns as it will with 70 grns, so I use 120 grns in case that big buck might be there over 100 yds out.
