2017 Season in Photos

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Ridgerunner7
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby Ridgerunner7 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 12:22 am

Well done my friend! You had an amazing year. Congrats and love the coat.


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Haus86
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby Haus86 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:32 am

Thank you for the motivation to finally kill some coyotes.
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johndeere506
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby johndeere506 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:15 am

jmaas07 wrote:Forgot to say thanks for the bullet information, I’ll be buying Barnes based on your post. I have the same muzzleloader as you and have used shockwaves. Last year I lost a buck, had nothing for blood. Neighbors found it in the winter in a tangle of autumn olives not far from where I shot it.

Even the small details in Joe's posts help. I've been using only Barnes for years now, they are flat out awesome. I had several issues with SSTs/Shockwaves also, very similar stories. I use the 250 Barnes/Harvester Red CR, but wasn't aware of the 195 gr and the 40/50 sabot. Cant wait to get some ordered and try them out!

Joe-Great job with the coat. That took some serious work and the result is pretty cool, and rare I bet.

As for the northwoods hunting, great decision on coming home when the kids are sick. Not all would do that. My kids are still young too, and they wont need help like this forever, but the bucks will still be there.
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby MN Slick » Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:35 am

Great season Joe, congrats!!!

Curious to hear what time frame your cams showed the best daylight mature buck movement? I'm becoming convinced the best movement days shift around 4-5 days from year to year so my standard 3-4 days in late Oct, go home for a few days then start my rut hunt about 11/5 has me missing some great movement in very early Nov some years. In North MO the best movement was end of October through about Nov 4th or 5th. Pretty slow from the 5th throught the 10th which I normally consider primetime even with the Red Moon days and cold weather.
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby PK_ » Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:59 am

As if you weren’t enough of an apex predator already... now you even dress as a wolf. 8-)


Which broadheads are you shooting?
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
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E72
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby E72 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:15 am

Great season Joe. Thanks for sharing .
Awesome coat .....it worked for the mountain men !
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby hunter10 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:31 pm

I sit down and pay attention any time you take the time to do a write up. Thank you
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby mauser06 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:07 pm

Great season!!! Congrats!!!

I love the coat!!
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<DK>
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby <DK> » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:08 am

Wow that was very interesting read, great write up. Congrats on helluva season!
JoeRE
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby JoeRE » Mon Jan 08, 2018 1:31 pm

Thanks everybody...good to see the kill zone light up this year. If I missed someone's post and didn't congratulate you on here I promise it wasn't intentional. Had to play catch up reading a couple times.

MN Slick wrote:Great season Joe, congrats!!!

Curious to hear what time frame your cams showed the best daylight mature buck movement? I'm becoming convinced the best movement days shift around 4-5 days from year to year so my standard 3-4 days in late Oct, go home for a few days then start my rut hunt about 11/5 has me missing some great movement in very early Nov some years. In North MO the best movement was end of October through about Nov 4th or 5th. Pretty slow from the 5th throught the 10th which I normally consider primetime even with the Red Moon days and cold weather.


This year was red hot from Oct 24/25-Nov 3. I saw that on my cams both in eastern Iowa and also on my cams in northern WI which was interesting to me. That early spike was exactly what I was expecting with the acorn lull, the cold weather finally setting in, and the full moon timing all together. That last 3-4 days in October was gold, I heard of a lot of big bucks getting shot then. Then wham daylight rutting movement seemed to decrease overall and get really patchy and the rest of the rut was a trickle rut. Frankly that decrease was a couple days earlier than I expected by the full moon. We had crappy pretty stagnant weather most of Oct. I haven't gotten thru quite all my camera data from the fall, but most of it. I also was kinda surprised I didn't see more of a second peak in rut activity after lockdown. Most of the month seemed to be a trickle rut. So it started out like I expected but didn't quite finish like I thought.


PK_ wrote:As if you weren’t enough of an apex predator already... now you even dress as a wolf. 8-)


Which broadheads are you shooting?


I shoot 150 gr 4 blade Mangus stingers....they do have aluminum ferrules that bend if you hit something really hard like a rock but their lifetime guarantee means I just them up and send them in for a new head. I like that I can remove the blades and get them extra sharp. I have a hard time getting one piece heads razor sharp. Pretty sure I have gotten a complete pass thru on every single critter I have shot with them, and most of the time they aren't very spooked when hit cuz they don't even feel it just hop hop hop then stop and fall over dead. I could see myself shooting something else at some point but right now they do the job for me.
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby mheichelbech » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:03 pm

I have always thought something like that jacket would be the best camo you could get. Amazing how well animal fire blends in when sitting still.
"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
MN Slick
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby MN Slick » Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:32 am

JoeRE wrote:Thanks everybody...good to see the kill zone light up this year. If I missed someone's post and didn't congratulate you on here I promise it wasn't intentional. Had to play catch up reading a couple times.

MN Slick wrote:Great season Joe, congrats!!!

Curious to hear what time frame your cams showed the best daylight mature buck movement? I'm becoming convinced the best movement days shift around 4-5 days from year to year so my standard 3-4 days in late Oct, go home for a few days then start my rut hunt about 11/5 has me missing some great movement in very early Nov some years. In North MO the best movement was end of October through about Nov 4th or 5th. Pretty slow from the 5th throught the 10th which I normally consider primetime even with the Red Moon days and cold weather.


This year was red hot from Oct 24/25-Nov 3. I saw that on my cams both in eastern Iowa and also on my cams in northern WI which was interesting to me. That early spike was exactly what I was expecting with the acorn lull, the cold weather finally setting in, and the full moon timing all together. That last 3-4 days in October was gold, I heard of a lot of big bucks getting shot then. Then wham daylight rutting movement seemed to decrease overall and get really patchy and the rest of the rut was a trickle rut. Frankly that decrease was a couple days earlier than I expected by the full moon. We had crappy pretty stagnant weather most of Oct. I haven't gotten thru quite all my camera data from the fall, but most of it. I also was kinda surprised I didn't see more of a second peak in rut activity after lockdown. Most of the month seemed to be a trickle rut. So it started out like I expected but didn't quite finish like I thought.


PK_ wrote:As if you weren’t enough of an apex predator already... now you even dress as a wolf. 8-)


Which broadheads are you shooting?


I shoot 150 gr 4 blade Mangus stingers....they do have aluminum ferrules that bend if you hit something really hard like a rock but their lifetime guarantee means I just them up and send them in for a new head. I like that I can remove the blades and get them extra sharp. I have a hard time getting one piece heads razor sharp. Pretty sure I have gotten a complete pass thru on every single critter I have shot with them, and most of the time they aren't very spooked when hit cuz they don't even feel it just hop hop hop then stop and fall over dead. I could see myself shooting something else at some point but right now they do the job for me.



Thanks Joe. Lines up close to what my cams and visual sightings showed. I think a lot of mature bucks were locked down from Nov 4 ish -Nov 10 ish. If not they sure weren't moving like the calender, weather, and moon guide predicted.
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby rutjunkie » Sat Jan 13, 2018 5:31 am

Joe sounds like i should be switching from sst loads. Might have to try some barnes out. Would you care to elaborate on how much powder and trajectory you are getting. Seems like i always learn something from your post :D
There is only so many Novembers in ones life, make the most of them.
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby rochester coops » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:40 am

I saw your coat in the other thread, and was going to ask you about it. That is awesome! Just wondering though if you think someone could just buy a fleece jacket and stitch the hides to the outside instead of making the entire coat? Also, on the bullets, are those the Barnes Spit-Fire MZ or the TMZ with the plastic tip? Really appreciate the detailed write ups you give us!
JoeRE
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Re: 2017 Season in Photos

Unread postby JoeRE » Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:32 am

rutjunkie wrote:Joe sounds like i should be switching from sst loads. Might have to try some barnes out. Would you care to elaborate on how much powder and trajectory you are getting. Seems like i always learn something from your post :D


rochester coops wrote:I saw your coat in the other thread, and was going to ask you about it. That is awesome! Just wondering though if you think someone could just buy a fleece jacket and stitch the hides to the outside instead of making the entire coat? Also, on the bullets, are those the Barnes Spit-Fire MZ or the TMZ with the plastic tip? Really appreciate the detailed write ups you give us!


Sure guys. I am shooting the 195 gr .400 Expander that has a B.C. of .17 I believe. I wish Barnes made the Spit Fire in .40 diameter, it would have a better B.C. But the expander is the only one made in the 195 gr .40 cal size I believe.

Some people freak out over shooting that "small" of a bullet at a deer, much less at long range, but to me that's still a big bullet and its a well made bullet too. And I am pushing it pretty darn fast. There is a big difference between lobbing 300 gr bullets at deer @ 1800 fps and what my gun is doing @ 2200 FPS muzzle velocity.

I have heard the rule suggested that you should have at least 1,000 foot pounds of KE at impact for a deer bullet. According to my balistics calculator I had 717 foot pounds of KE at 230 yards on this buck. Even this "small" 195 grain muzzleloader bullet, is still a big bullet, and its momentum (not so much KE) still can break shoulder bones at that range. My bullet penetrated through about 24" of soft deer tissue as he was quartering away, dead centered a rib and then cracked the off side shoulder blade which is where it lodged. It certainly doesn't drop deer on impact but very few muzzleloader shots do that with any load. I know it will get the job done.

Here's the stats on the load:

110 gr of Blackhorn - muzzle velocity of around 2200 fps, haven't shot through a crono but the trajectory fits that velocity which is published for that load.

100 yds +3"
200 yds -4.5"
300 yds -31"

I used to shoot 120 grains of blackhorn, and got a bit more velocity, but slightly worse accuracy....maybe 3/4" groups @ 100 yards instead of 1/2" if I was doing my part on a good day off sandbags obviously.

As you can see the bullet starts dropping like a rock beyond 200 yards. Nobody has any business shooting out that far w/o a ton of practice before hand and a ballistic reticle is just about mandatory. I have slowly worked out to taking shots on deer at longer ranges over the past 10 years.

By the way, yea I was seriously considering buying a jacket liner and stitching the coyote fur shell to it. I decided not to just because to get a good fit, I would have had to take the jacket liner apart and use that as a pattern for the fur, then stitch everything back together, which was as much work as doing it all from scratch. I wanted them to fit together well not be missmatched. The fleece liner I put together using a sewing machine so that didn't take very long.


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