not a levergun but

[FLINT]

Got this buck the other morning. Last day of muzzleloader season. About 75 yards. In my area peak rut coincides with muzzleloader season so most of my bucks have been shot with my CVA optima. My load is 300 grain .452 XTP MAG in a black harvester crushrib sabot over 90 grains of blackhorn powder. Shoots 1750fps. Never had a deer run more than 40 yards. When I shot this one, I could only see smoke through the scope, but one second later I heard him crash into the woods and one second after that I heard a loud THUMP as he collapsed hard on the ground. Don't think I've ever heard one hit the ground so loud and hard before. He was angling towards me so the bullet went entered in front of the front shoulder and exited behind the opposite shoulder. These 300 gr. XTP MAGs seem to penetrate great, never had one fail to exit.

The buck weighed 152lbs dressed which should be about 190 lbs live weight.

It's rifle season now so hopefully I'll also have some luck with my leverguns. Our rifle season is only two weeks long which really sucks. Not a lot of time to hunt when you work full time.

IMG_20241115_065346765.jpg

[6pt-sika]

Nice ! You live in the valley I take it !

[horsesoldier03]

YEP, Kansas pretty much sucks too when it comes to firearms season. They think bowhunting is supposed to run for 4 months. We do get 10 days for Firearms and they do have a week of muzzleloader but it is during SEP when it is still hot and has mesquitos out. Yet they complain that we arnt bringing enough young hunters into the sport.

[6pt-sika]

In my county of VA which is east of the Blue Ridge we have the month of September for antlerless any legal weapon , then October for archery , then first two weeks of November for ML , then rest of November until first Saturday in January for gun season then after regular gun season we have an antlerless any weapon season until the end of March . So several counties in VA have a seven month season of which only one month is archery only .

[Lastmohecken]

In my county of VA which is east of the Blue Ridge we have the month of September for antlerless any legal weapon , then October for archery , then first two weeks of November for ML , then rest of November until first Saturday in January for gun season then after regular gun season we have an antlerless any weapon season until the end of March . So several counties in VA have a seven month season of which only one month is archery only .

Wow! what are the bag limits? You must have the longest gun season's in the nation.

[LeverGunner]

Very nice.

Gun season only lasts 2 weeks/3 weekends here. For my county/zone, it is 1 buck and unlimited does.

[FLINT]

yeah, I'm west of the blue ridge. Rockingham. our seasons are weird. month of archery, 2 weeks of muzzleloader, 2 weeks of rifle, then 2 weeks of archery and 2 weeks of muzzleloader.

so, most of my deer end up getting shot with the muzzleloader.

[TedH]

Great buck! Congratulations

[6pt-sika]

In my county of VA which is east of the Blue Ridge we have the month of September for antlerless any legal weapon , then October for archery , then first two weeks of November for ML , then rest of November until first Saturday in January for gun season then after regular gun season we have an antlerless any weapon season until the end of March . So several counties in VA have a seven month season of which only one month is archery only .

Wow! what are the bag limits? You must have the longest gun season's in the nation.

You can only kill three bucks for the entire year but as long as you buy bonus tags you can kill two per day for the entirety if you’re so inclined . Your initial big game tag has three antlerless tags three either tags and three turkey tags . After that you can buy bonus tags in blocks of six . Of the seven months there’s four weeks of archery and two weeks of ML so for roughly 5 1/2 months you can use pretty much whatever you choose .

[6pt-sika]

yeah, I'm west of the blue ridge. Rockingham. our seasons are weird. month of archery, 2 weeks of muzzleloader, 2 weeks of rifle, then 2 weeks of archery and 2 weeks of muzzleloader.

so, most of my deer end up getting shot with the muzzleloader.

I usually kill more deer during the two week ML than I do during the gun seasons . The late antlerless only season is kinda pointless as a good many of the bucks will be dropping their antlers then . I was over to Mount Crawford Veterans Day Monday at the Flying Rabbit shooting sporting clays .

[FLINT]

That's cool,

I've driven by the flying rabbit a million times, but have never gone. Maybe one day.

We are allowed two bucks over here but now we have to kill a doe before we can kill a second buck, so when I go out now I have to really hope I don't see a big buck before I can kill a doe.

[6pt-sika]

That's cool,

I've driven by the flying rabbit a million times, but have never gone. Maybe one day.

We are allowed two bucks over here but now we have to kill a doe before we can kill a second buck, so when I go out now I have to really hope I don't see a big buck before I can kill a doe.

You can eliminate that dilemma by shooting the first slick head you see .

[Eddie Southgate]

Got this buck the other morning. Last day of muzzleloader season. About 75 yards. In my area peak rut coincides with muzzleloader season so most of my bucks have been shot with my CVA optima. My load is 300 grain .452 XTP MAG in a black harvester crushrib sabot over 90 grains of blackhorn powder. Shoots 1750fps. Never had a deer run more than 40 yards. When I shot this one, I could only see smoke through the scope, but one second later I heard him crash into the woods and one second after that I heard a loud THUMP as he collapsed hard on the ground. Don't think I've ever heard one hit the ground so loud and hard before. He was angling towards me so the bullet went entered in front of the front shoulder and exited behind the opposite shoulder. These 300 gr. XTP MAGs seem to penetrate great, never had one fail to exit.

The buck weighed 152lbs dressed which should be about 190 lbs live weight.

It's rifle season now so hopefully I'll also have some luck with my leverguns. Our rifle season is only two weeks long which really sucks. Not a lot of time to hunt when you work full time.

IMG_20241115_065346765.jpg

I'd stage a revolt ! Alabama season opened today and runs till the 10th of February .

[JBowen]

Nice buck, Flint! Thanks for sharing.