doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - Good eating Doe day after Thanksgiving

All the kids and my wife were still out cold with food hang over�s when I headed out into the dark, damp and foggy morning.

Most of the ground was still snow covered and the humidity was 90% plus. It was cold around 38 degrees and an intermittent light misty kind of rain filled the air. Mostly it was dark...very overcast no stars just black with limited visibility.

I would be hunting a neighbor property where I had put up a tree stand the week prior but had been unable to get to it due to some really bad snowy weather.

I took an unusual gun along largely because I had just cleaned my Kreighoff Drilling and didn�t want to drag it out into the wet and crappy weather. The gun is unusual for me because I only own 2 bolt action rifles and have never hunted with either.

This rife is something I built up for fun. It�s a Remington SPS 700 short action in a Modular Driven Technologies chassis. It has a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 scope attached with Leupold QD mounts. The caliber is odd too�It�s a 300 Blackout. Very accurate and suitable for deer out to maybe 200 yards but really the trajectory and energy figures say 150 yards is a much safer bet. The gun fires a 125 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet right at 2200 fps. I squeeze the bullet out with 18.2 grains of H110 over a Winchester small rifle primer. In my gun there are no signs of excessive pressure at the COAL I use and case life is maybe 4 to 5x. I almost forgot to mention the linear muzzle brake. It doesn�t blow sideways�just straight ahead so all the muzzle blast is directed away from me�which is what I like. It�s relatively quiet with very little recoil.

By the way my only other bolt gun is a near mint 1950 Mannlicher Schoenauer carbine in 6.5x54. I have yet to figure out a good scope & mount combination due to the split bridge receiver and my inability to spend �long dollar� on a scope mount that will work with a scope I�d like to use on it the rifle. It currently has a Leupold �Adjusto� mount on it that I hate. But that�s a project for another day.

I digress�back to the deer story.

So here comes the funny part (I�m gonna put a picture up at the end of this story to show you what caused my rifle to malfunction and how stupid I felt when I saw it clear as day with good light about an hour after I shot the doe).

I park the car load up the backpack and head down the trail. About 50 yards from the car I seat the magazine in the rifle and cycle the bolt. The bolt opens up just fine but when I run it forward it won�t close! I start fiddling with it still and still no cigar. The bolt literally stops when I push it forward about half way into battery. I really can�t see why because it�s really dark. I deploy my cell phone flashlight and hold the phone in my mouth while trying to see what the problem is. I can�t see anything in there? The magazine is fine nothing is stuck in the action. Having no luck; I trudge back to the car swearing and wishing I had brought a break open rifle. Now under the cars dome light which really is not much better than my flashlight I carefully examine the gun. Removing the magazine, then the bolt making sure there is nothing in the chamber or stuck in the action. I begin poking my fingers in and out of the action. I examine the bolt the ammo everything I can see and think of. For the life of me I can�t figure it out. After a half an hour of screwing with the gun I finally manage to get the bolt to go into battery but I am still at a loss for why it jammed. Now it�s starting to get light and I figure I�m not going to see any deer so I head out again with the goal or retrieving my tree stand and calling the morning a wash out. I also figure I have a single shot rifle now because I�m not sure it won�t jam after I cycle the bolt again!

I hit the trail again hiking in about 100 yards from the car and much to my surprise about 150 yards up the lane is a Doe standing in the middle of the trail looking right at me. Unfortunately it looks small and it�s facing me head on so I have no shot. I put the gun up and crank the mag up to 9x. Through the mist I see it�s a small doe clear as day�thank you Zeiss! Game time�I figure I�d see how close I can get before she bolts. I slowly move to the left of the trail right next to the trees and began to creep up on the little doe. It�s still pretty misty out with no walking noise, no scent and limited visibility yet she is still gazing in my direction no doubt unsure of what I am. I take 3 steps and stop�she puts her head down and I take 3 more. Now I notice a water trough about 20 yards up on the left side of the trail�if I can make it there I can drop down behind it and rest the gun on the top of the trough to observe the doe at 9x without the vibration I get offhand. I slowly stop-n-go without spooking her and make the water trough. Lucky for me it�s covered and there is a sheet of plywood with 4x4 on top. I go to one knee and rest the gun on the 4x4. All the deer can see now is my hat and my camo covered mug but she is still looking my way. I settle in and observer the doe. It�s compact and in my opinion too small to shoot so I watch it through the scope for a couple minutes and decide to wait till it moves along before I continue on to the stand.

Here comes the good part. The doe starts looking away from me and to her right. I�m still on the scope as she turns to face the woods. I�m thinking maybe she has a friend? Lucky me� I am correct! Walking out of the woods and onto the trail appears another doe. This one is a good size too. A head plus taller than the first and has a much bigger body. Unfortunately they are now both staring in my direction and facing me head on. With the little thirty caliber rifle I have no shot. I have to wait�after the longest 3 minutes they both begin to move off and the bigger one turns sideways just enough for me to drop the hammer on her. The gun is relatively quiet so I hear the whack of the bullet and see the doe bound off into the woods. I know it was a good hit as the gun was solid at 9x and I was holding for a double lung hit yet she was still at a bit of an angle.

As I walk the 125 paces to where the deer were standing I see blood in the snow just off the trail. This should be an easy track-n-find with only a couple hundred yard drag back to the car. I am correct at a mere 15 yards inside the woods I find my good sized eating doe DOA with a tiny hole about 3 inches below where I was aiming. The little .30 Nosler bullet completely penetrated the chest cavity taking out the near side lung and running a dime sized channel through the liver before exiting the aft side leaving a nickel sized exit hole. No fuss no muss and no meat damage�except that liver. Score that one a win.

I still have 1 Doe permit left plus my muzzle loader tag too. Maybe we drag out the crossbow and the smoke pole to clean up the reaming tags�we shall see.

And here was my gun jam problem:


Note the scope cover and how the 2 wings are situated. When it�s dark these thing are not apparent!

A total brain fart...How stupid am I?

Dave,
Just a couple notes. It's good to "blood" the new rifle, before turning to shooting paper. A "head on" shot, in the chest, is deadly. All three I took with that shot, fell in their tracks, and somehow, none got into the guts.
Waidmannsheil,
Mike

Congrats, Dave. Man, you must like to eat venison. I'm the only one who eats it in this house, and, not a deer hunter, so the thought of two or more deer in the freezer is sobering, to me. Venison pizza? Venison soup? Venison salad? Venison and eggs? I'd be at wits end trying to move it along!
Nice hunting story. I enjoyed it.


Best,
Ted

Ted...I do like venison but my freezer is full at 2. The doe was for my brother.

If I fill the other tags; I have a couple guys at work who have their orders in.

Mike...I was hesitant to take a head on chest shot with the small caliber rifle. If I were packing my 9.3x74R I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

Dave,
One of the three was with a 5.6x50R w/60gr partition, another was with 7.62x39 w/123gr win. bullet(close to your rifles caliber). The other was with a full caliber drilling, 8x57IRS w/196gr Norma bullet.

Ted,
Venison cubed steak fried lightly, then smothered in gravy with onion, bell pepper, celery, and a can of diced tomatoes(salt/pepper/bullion cubes/vinegar/etc) then covered and baked one hour at 295-300 deg., is very good and tender enough to eat w/o teeth. Even my mother-in-law likes it. Also venison chili is very good.
Mike

Wow...Based upon your calibers and and the success you had on 3 deer. I'd say I am underestimating my 300 Blackout.

Dave,
In Alabama, any centerfire caliber firing an expanding bullet, is legal. I don't know the NY requirements.
Mike

Same in my neck of the woods...centerfire for deer no rimfire.

We used to be shotguns only but they made rifle legal maybe 4-5 years ago. I like the big bore calibers because they knock them right down...when I land a hit with the 9.3 they just go down most I've ever seen is 2 steps after the hit and I suspect that was because they were shut off during forward motion.

Also, I like the break open guns much better for hunting because they are very quiet to load and reload. They don't rattle and in the safety's can be turned off quietly without a click. I am enamored with the Krieghoff combi-cocking system where the hammers are not even cocked till you push the safe like thumb actuated slider forward.

I do have a .223 but I wouldn't take it for deer. The 300 Blackout worked fine and I would no doubt improve that performance with my 6.5x54 Mannlicher or the 7x57R in a Merkel combo gun (then again dead is dead and there are not different degrees of deadness). However, my heart is in the 9.3mm's and I find my Drilling the most versatile. I like my Merkel double rifle but It's not as accurate as the Drilling.

I do have a 50 Alaskan Model 71 that I may screw with next season as I just bought some brass and 450 grain WFN gas checked bullets. Unfortunately the bolt peep will limit my effective range largely due to my eyes.

Great story Dave !

I have a 300 Blackout 10 inch barreled AR Rifle and it is a handy accurate compact rifle. About 90 percent of a 30-30 depending on bullet weight. Have you tried any heavier subsonic rounds ?

Ted any excess venison makes great chili, if you add some beef fat or suet.

I loosely follow Steve Bodio's receipe for chili, typically three kinds of meat-feedlot beef, elk and antelope are my favorite combination. Doesn't happen very often, however. Moose is good, too. Steve will tell you venison is inferior, but, I eat plenty of venison chili when friends have a successful year.
Steve says it is a sin against man and God to put the beans IN the chili, but, I figure I'll see all you guys in hell, anyway. I like the beans there.
Like I said, nobody else here will eat the dang deer, and it would be up to me to consume it all. WInter is long, but, not 2+ deer worth of long.

Best,
Ted

Nice score for the larder, Dave, regardless of who the lucky recipient is! The scope cap issue likely kept you from becoming too cold. Ha! We are all human; stuff happens; some are willing to admit being less than immaculate, mostly those of a better calibre.

Speaking of which, the .300 Blackout is used here quite a bit for taking feral hogs up to several hundred pounds w/good success. Night vision optics are popular for that use as well. Methinks you are underrating the cartridge's capability by a bit, but not the range it is most effectively used in.

Neat photograph!

Dave,
I'm a 9.3 man also, if you look back in your files at my email address, you will see it. I also took a truck load with 7x57R, and 8x57IRS, all with breakopen guns. With the 7x57R, I was able to take the weak Kitz, then strong Kitz, then Geiss. Not only do you have to be silent, but you have to drop each one in it's tracks. If one runs, they all run.
Ted, I not only put beans(pinto) in my Chili, but also tomatoes. You have to add extra cumin. I make it like I like it, I call it American Chili, not Texas or Mexican.
Mike

Subsonic loads suck in 300 Blackout, unless you get off on long blood trails. They can get the job done, but you have to shoot with the precision of a surgeon. If you want to go subsonic for any big game, go 458 SOCOM, with 300 gr. HP loads. IMO, of course.

SRH

There is a lot of truth in that Stan.

Some day soon I plan to put together a 458 SOCOM upper, that thumper is 90 percent of a 45-70 !

Congrats on harvesting the nice doe for the freezer. Excellent story and picture too. Loading some fresh venison in the freezer in November and all seems right with the world.

NB

Great deer story. Brings back memories about three disc ago. ): and a fat doe is not only good eating but population control that is sorely needed.

About 15 years ago I mentioned deer drives at Thanksgiving dinner to two cousins. After several hours of wine and memories of how effective they were one decided to set one up on one of my farms. He called every cousin and brother we could and ended up with a doe only afternoon hunt on opening day. My farm is a penusulia with three blocks of woods and 400 acres of fields in the middle. Each section of woods has a small creek or big ditch seperating it like three leaves on a clover.

First drive sent 30 plus deer out of one section of woods, the blockers in the fields killed nine. Second section of woods pushed over 50 deer out and the blockers killed 16. Then we were heading towards the third block of woods when one of the brighter cousins remarked gutting 24 deer was a lot of work. After five minutes discussion the hunt was ended and the work began. The sad thing is that the third block had all the missed deer from the first two drives in it and what ever deer had started there. I wished they had pushed that section as well to reduce the herd numbers. The farm was over run with deer that year.

We had a full freezer that year, in many homes. Several went crazy with deer jerky, deer sausage, dried deer meat. I even found a couple of those fellows made some very tasty stuff for me to try. Funny how the best tasting stuff came from fellows who won't share their recipes but will give you their special treats.

That's been long enough that maybe it's time to do it again. Deer drives were great family events when I was a boy. Maybe I'll try to make it a five year family reunion for hunters in my family. Every five year do one big family deer hunt and keep youngsters hunting like my Gradfathers did as a group effort instead of single hunters working alone.

Horses for courses. Our terrain here is totally different than Dave's and the calibers represented in our group were 6mm Rem,.260ai, 270Win, and 308....all with big glass, mostly 3x9 variable or larger. Shortest deer shot was 165 yards, longest ran to 425 or so.

Here's a typical setup for us. 215 yards to the ditch, 465 to the plum thicket in the far corner.

I can probably make the 215 with a good rest.

The 465? I am confident that I can scare them good by kicking up some dirt around them...;-)

Ted:

Venison is always good for what ails you. An excellent lean protein that may be an acquired taste for some (I actually grew up on it). The options here are endless for venison (I process my own animals): meatloaf, stir-fry, chili, steak & eggs, stroganoff, biscuits & gravy, salami, summer sausage, Italian sausage, tacos, & even venison stew. My favorite is elk, then mule deer, then whitetail, but all can be either good or bad depending on how they were killed and then how they are handled. Over-cooking is easy to do, which makes the meat dry and tough (there is no fat marbled into the meat like with beef). Under-cooking is always preferable here. Steaks and roasts are the most common fare on our table, with either a blue-cheese sauce or a cranberry/horseradish condiment to mix things up a bit and keep things moist. Baked potatoes, pasta and even red-wine risotto make for very good sides, and....a good red wine seems to be fairly complimentary to a venison meal as well (Pinot Noirs thru big Cabernets work just fine, but the bigger reds are my favorites, the Merlots, the Malbecs....!)

Lloyd,
For a guy who doesn't hunt deer, I've eaten my fair share of it. I understand what is edible on the deer, and what isn't. Helped drag and butcher some, but, mammals by firearms isn't my thing. To begin with, my Setter would be left home.
It simply gets tough to have any around in the freezer when the only one who eats it is me!!! I like all the things you mentioned, but, don't like preparing two complete dinners, to feed the non venison eaters.
I know you have a taste for wine, my inner heathen prefers beer. I picked up the French gun habit, but, skillfully avoided the $50 a bottle dinner wine habit the guys who built and sold me the guns have.
I'm OK with that. Beer, good.


Best,
Ted

Ted,
That reminds me of the man that fed his dog turnip greens; his buddy said " my dog won't eat turnip greens", to which he replied "mine wouldn't either, for the first three days". If you prepare something "normal", if made with beef, any adult should eat it as a matter of courtesy, if nothing else. If anyone refuses to eat it, maybe they would understand your point, if you refused to eat something they worked hard to prepare( and eat a sandwich instead).
Mike

Ted:

I seldom pay much more than $15 for a good jug of red (usually closer to $10). My inner-heathen comes from Appalachia, where nobody pays too-much for what they're drinking. A good, cold beer with my meal is something I fondly remember and miss.

Mike,
Rule here is, you have to try it, don't eat it if you don't like it.
Been down that road, and, where it concerns my Wife and Son, food, time away for hunting, fishing, bicycle trips across weekends, and other areas where we don't mesh 100%, I pick my battles very carefully.
Food, isn't worth it. I try to have a good stock of the things I like when they go to visit relatives in Colombia, which, is their thing, not mine. Outside of that, peace at the dinner table is a virtue, and I accommodate them, more often than not.
Today, I made pork and beans, not the vile stuff that comes in a can, but, cubes of pork shoulder, browned, and put up in the slow cooker, with onions, garlic, cilantro and black eyed peas. My wife will prepare a tomato and onion sauce that goes over it, after the pot has been on low for 6-7 hours. Crusty bread, and a pale ale will complete the very simple meal.
Everyone will be happy. At dinner, anyway.
I seldom shoot more than a brace of anything, and it isn't just because of some sort of respect for taking less than the limit allows. It is all I ever really need.

Lloyd, if wine was all I had, my taste would likely be more refined. I can drink too much beer for a 10 spot.
Accepting elk donations, for the time they are in South America this spring, by the way.

Best,
Ted

Elk, moose, deer, antelope, wild hog if female or very young, Canadian goose, wood duck, teal, or any duck eating corn or soybeans, quail, dove, squab, rabbit, tree rat, pheasant and wild turkey are all top fare to me. I would be lucky if my family would try or eat more than a taste of any of that except dove and quail. Lesser tasty to me, game when cooked, would include black bear, raccoon, brant, sea ducks, snake, marsh rabbit, gator, or beaver. Not interested in eating possum, crow, black birds or grackles. Wife and kids did not grow up with game as their main meat in any meal so they stick to the basics.

I like whitetail, I thought it was very good until I tasted moose.

Now it's just good.

I shot a moose here about 25 years ago (near Walden, CO) and it wasn't what I hoped it would be. This was a young cow that should have been excellent, but I found her to be rather chewy and somewhat flavorless. I much prefer the spectacular flavor and texture of elk, and since the State of Colorado only allows one moose per resident (at least they used to, last I checked) I now leave them alone.

Ted: My FIL loves elk, so I'll probably drag some along for grousemas meals next year.

Ted,
I lost the battle with my daughter, when she was young, mostly because her mother stepped into the middle. She would rather eat eye lids, lips, and a$$ holes (hot dogs)than good healthy meat. I pretty much lost it with the wife, concerning liver, heart, and kidneys; but she doesn't eat calf or chicken liver either. Your beans sound great, but you should be careful. I made a 16 quart pressure canner full of my chili, for the church's contribution to another church's "wild game" show. Now I have to do it every year, that much is an all day job, but it is a good cause. Down here we are not "tea totalers", but sweet tea is more popular than beer or wine, with our meals.
Mike

My latest photo of that big doe I shot two weeks ago.



Momma loves me. 36 lbs. each of burger and breakfast sausage plus four sections of backstrap. The tenderloins were fabulous.