Mitch Rapp
Well-Known Member
Hey guys! First of all thanks again, the rifle is phenomenal and shoots great. I started a separate thread where I have posted groups and such. There is a link in this thread, maybe a couple pages back. I have shot it out to 600 yards so far, killing targets, sadly my hunting season didn't go as good as my target shooting.
Our hunting season was odd, it stayed warm to almost hot all the way up until rifle season, the week before opening day was the week we had the super moon and here in Oklahoma it was clear skies at night and warm, it seems like the deer were moving at night more than anything. I had a couple of spots picked out, both with perfect setups for long range shots. One spot, on public land where me and some buddies hunted was watching a right of way clearing where you could no exaggeration shoot out to nearly a mile. The spot I had my eyes on was a creek bottom about 400 yards down slope from me. Not sure if I can post the picture from my phone, if not I will post it later on here. Well, from there the only deer I ever saw stayed back in the woods and I never had what I would have called an ethical shot. They stayed in the trees, never crossing into or walking the easement like the tracks show they have often. WhIle on the public land, I saw 5-7 deer, which was more than the others with me, most saw none, or only one.
The private land I get to hunt has a ton of long range opportunities, but this year I went with an area watching a hillside 3-400 yards off where my Dad and the guy who owns the land had seen a "12 to 14 point buck" cross almost every day. There is a little draw, I could set up on one side, back to the sun, watching the other side. Dad has been cutting firewood there and had seen the deer several times, the other man had seen the deer also in the mornings several times. I was very excited about the prospect to say the least. By this time the cold snap had the deer rutting, so it was looking like a perfect setup. Well....it was but I screwed it up. Saw several doe and could have shot them, but was waiting for Mr. "12-14" and sure enough he showed up.... a doe came through running like her hair was on fire and only about 80 yards away, down the hill from me rather than on the far side. I pulled the gun off the tripod, and dialed the scope down to 4x in time to see him come out hot on her tail, I waited till he was out in the clearing and let out a bleat to stop him but he didn't stop. I rushed a shot at him before he got to the far side of the clearing, but it was a clean miss. I spent almost an hour looking for any sign that I may have hit him, haven't left a wounded animal yet and know it happens, but wanted to make sure so I crisscrossed the whole area just making sure. Had planned to get another day hunting that field, everyone tells me that when they are hot on a doe like that they don't notice much of anything and that he would be back, had some vacation saved just for going back there, but the day we had planned to go back my wife got sick, so I stayed home.
That's a long way to say I wasn't able to kill anything this year, but I wanted yall to know I tried! Have a hog hunt planned for January or February, so hopefully that works out better.
Our hunting season was odd, it stayed warm to almost hot all the way up until rifle season, the week before opening day was the week we had the super moon and here in Oklahoma it was clear skies at night and warm, it seems like the deer were moving at night more than anything. I had a couple of spots picked out, both with perfect setups for long range shots. One spot, on public land where me and some buddies hunted was watching a right of way clearing where you could no exaggeration shoot out to nearly a mile. The spot I had my eyes on was a creek bottom about 400 yards down slope from me. Not sure if I can post the picture from my phone, if not I will post it later on here. Well, from there the only deer I ever saw stayed back in the woods and I never had what I would have called an ethical shot. They stayed in the trees, never crossing into or walking the easement like the tracks show they have often. WhIle on the public land, I saw 5-7 deer, which was more than the others with me, most saw none, or only one.
The private land I get to hunt has a ton of long range opportunities, but this year I went with an area watching a hillside 3-400 yards off where my Dad and the guy who owns the land had seen a "12 to 14 point buck" cross almost every day. There is a little draw, I could set up on one side, back to the sun, watching the other side. Dad has been cutting firewood there and had seen the deer several times, the other man had seen the deer also in the mornings several times. I was very excited about the prospect to say the least. By this time the cold snap had the deer rutting, so it was looking like a perfect setup. Well....it was but I screwed it up. Saw several doe and could have shot them, but was waiting for Mr. "12-14" and sure enough he showed up.... a doe came through running like her hair was on fire and only about 80 yards away, down the hill from me rather than on the far side. I pulled the gun off the tripod, and dialed the scope down to 4x in time to see him come out hot on her tail, I waited till he was out in the clearing and let out a bleat to stop him but he didn't stop. I rushed a shot at him before he got to the far side of the clearing, but it was a clean miss. I spent almost an hour looking for any sign that I may have hit him, haven't left a wounded animal yet and know it happens, but wanted to make sure so I crisscrossed the whole area just making sure. Had planned to get another day hunting that field, everyone tells me that when they are hot on a doe like that they don't notice much of anything and that he would be back, had some vacation saved just for going back there, but the day we had planned to go back my wife got sick, so I stayed home.
That's a long way to say I wasn't able to kill anything this year, but I wanted yall to know I tried! Have a hog hunt planned for January or February, so hopefully that works out better.
