Double Deer 45/70 !!!

[GeorgiaDave]

Good eavening from Georgia,

    This afternoon was a good one ! I finally got the opportunity to take an animal with my new 45/70 Handi and was actually able to pull ANOTHER double. I have shot 2 deer in the same hunt 5 times prior to today but this one was special since it was the first successful hunt with a brand new rifle.

   I worked hanging iron until 3:30 today which left just enough time to get home, grab the 45/70 from out of the gun safe and make it to the stand with about an hour to hunt. I did not even change clothes since I was planning to climb about 45 feet up a pine tree looking over a green field which is about an acre and a half. About 5:30, two deer entered the field from a well worn trail and fed to within 40 feet from my tree. Since I had yet to take a deer this year, and they were both legal does, I chose to take advantage of the opportunity. The first one to get it took the 300 gr. HP down through the lung and out the bottom of the chest, made a high kick and took off into the woods. The other made the fatal mistake of sticking around trying to figure out what the huge thunderboom was that made her buddy run. Well it does not take me long to reload these old "push button" rifles, so I jacked the old one out shoved a new one in, yanked the hammer back, and got a good aim . The second one took the slug at a pretty sharp and steep angle entering high in the back of the lungs and stopping in the bottom of the front offside shoulder. The result was an awesome inside sommersault which ended up leaving the deer with all 4 feet pointing straight up before rolling sideways.

   Upon climbing back down, I picked up the blood trail which I believe Stevie Wonder could have followed. A short 40 yard effort and the deer was found piled up in a honeysuckle thicket. This was how it should be. I did retrieve the slug from the second deer shot and will be weighing it as soon as I take my metal detector and find the other one. The one found in the shoulder was rolled back nicely and held together well. The jacket was peeled back a bit but still was attached.It does not appear to have lost much weight and I am very pleased with the "on game performance" of these over the counter Winchesters.

   Last year I used my .308 Ultra to take two deer in the same hunt while watching a pond that was being heavily used. That rifle got a memorable induction as well . I passed on probably 30 deer or more while waiting on a nice buck. Then like they often do, a nice fat 8 point materialized like magic
and received a hot lead injection from a 165 gr. Hornady SST hand loaded hot. Man, you just HAVE to love a good Handi "push button" rifle.

   I guess the actions this afternoon can be used to prove two things.

   1. A 45/70 is adequate to dispatch whitetail deer.
   2. one does not have to have a huge magnum, or multi repeating firearm to harvest multiple deer in the same hunt.

    All this being said, I am still waiting on the chance to take two deer with the same shot. Well maybe tomorrow afternoon.
God Bless.

 Dave

[hardertr]

    All this being said, I am still waiting on the chance to take two deer with the same shot. Well maybe tomorrow afternoon.
od Bless.

Not very responsible...and will more than likely lead to a wounded deer.

[McLernon]

How many deer are you allowed in a season and what is your season please?

McLernon

[lik2hunt]

Nice going Dave! The double is more than possible with a well placed shot and the right.......uh perfect.....set-up from the deer. Still waiting on that one myself. Wish we had a multiple limit on the same gender here in OK. But we are only allowed one of each gender during each gun season, MZ and rifle. We are allowed two of each gender during our archery season though. Wouldn't that be a shot to brag about?

[mt3030]

....will more than likely lead to a wounded deer.

Not necessarily! In a late 1994 season I had a shot at a whitetail doe at approx 95 yards from a tree stand on the Milk River. She was standing on a little rise, and I did not see the other does behind her. Handloaded 350 gr went thru the rib cage of the first doe and broke the neck of one behind her. Luckly we each had two tags for that late hunt. The 45-70 will do it!

[ONE HOLE 4570]

45-70 will take any NA game with the right bullet & shot placement. I never have recovered a 45-70 bullet usualy a complete pass through but I havent tried to take one end to end

[carp]

In Georgia we are allowed 12 deer and the season ends Jan. 1 in the Northern zone and Jan. 15 in the Southern zone. Some areas around the metro areas go to Jan. 31 with bow.

[NONYA]

when did they start giving out 2 wt doe tags for any area in MT?

[mt3030]

In the early to mid '90 there were several LATE hunts where multiple white tail doe tags were avaliable. The one I refered to earlier was on the Milk River, ran from Nov 29 til Dec 31st. This last year you could buy up to 10 SURPLUS doe tags in several different areas. I took 5 whites and three mules, just by going to the areas where they were offered. Just check with FWP.

[NONYA]

i remember when you could buy several md surplus tags up there,but the A tag was antlered deer wt/md and one wt doe tag.There are areas now where u can buy as many md surplus tags as you can afford but i have never seen one for wt,i think its about time for them in a few areas down here,they are taking over the mule deer range.

[mt3030]

....they are taking over the mule deer range.

You are correct. The white population explosion has impacted the mule range. There were up to 10 white surplus tags available for the Hobson area this year. If not enough were harvested, should be more available next year. Watch for it. My hunting partner and I each took 5 each out that way and then took surplus mules out in the 700 area.
A truck load of mulies. Is this a great hobby or what?

[NONYA]

We are on that damn 2 year session now so nothing will change this year but im going to see to it that there is a proposal on the books next year to allow some surplus wt doe tags in two different areas i hunt.I filled 13 deer tags this year,1 wt doe,1 md buck ,and 11 md surplus doe tags in two seperate areas.We went out the last weekend and filled 15tags between the three of us,that was a truck load!I talked to a warden last year about it and he told me they have never allowed more than 1 wt doe tag in any of the areas around here and its time to start,the ranchers i know cant get enough people to come out and shoot wt,they can see them taking over and they arnt happy about it as they manage thier md herds very closley.

[Awf Hand]

I'm not a deer hunter, but I do have to say GREAT POST.  Fall is my busiest time of year, so, no hunting for Awf.

A disturbing trend in my part of West Central WI is for people from "the big city" to buy large chunks of land at outrageous prices (1.3m for 300 acres recently) to be used only for the 9 day deer season.  They go out and bag their ONE buck and jaw about it the rest of the year like they climbed Mt. Everest or something.

The deer population in some of these areas is out of control and there is no public land and no place for a non-land owner to hunt.  Deer vs. car crashes are way up, and that is bad.  They talk about longer seasons, but could anybody guess how that would help.

It's nice to see deer stacked up in the back of the truck like that. 
Blast as many as you can with one shot or 10, BUT, I gotta say 45' up in a tree is pretty darned high!!!

[Lazermule]

....will more than likely lead to a wounded deer.

Not necessarily! In a late 1994 season I had a shot at a whitetail doe at approx 95 yards from a tree stand on the Milk River. She was standing on a little rise, and I did not see the other does behind her. Handloaded 350 gr went thru the rib cage of the first doe and broke the neck of one behind her. Luckly we each had two tags for that late hunt. The 45-70 will do it!

About 10 years ago, I was out hunting when I spotted a nice doe feeding about 200 yards ahead.  I pulled up my 7mm Rem mag, placed the crosshairs on her heart/lung region and released the thunder on her.  It was a bang flop as most other kills with that old trusty rifle, but there was something different to that bang and flop than others, and being 200 yards away I couldn't tell what it was. 

When I got up to the kill site, I saw that I indeed had 2 dead nice mature does laying there.  The second doe must have been almost perfectly shadowing the first, because they both took it through the heart / lung area.  The 2nd deer show to have the most devastating wound channel as the bullet was already expanded on the first animal before hitting it.  The 2nd deer was a pass through and the exit wound was the size of a softball. Both were 120 lb does and I was in the woods a good 1/4 mile so the drag out was quite a chore.

Definitely something to remember.

[dpe.ahoy]

I filled 6 mule deer b-tags this year and my a-tag was a nice young mulie buck on  my birthday .  Had one other b-tag but it was in an area I never made it to.  Some areas are really getting over-run with White tail for sure.  DP

[BBF]

 ALRIGHT  ALLREADY, Season is done for this year, one deer limit. I am going to sulk for at least a week, snif, grumble, snif !


I presume all of those extra tags are only available to Resident Hunters.

[Default]

Lazer ,

   My first 7 mag was also my first lefty bolt action ...Took my first deer with it at 240+ yards and the (winnie Power point 150) round 5" in made a grape fruit size hole then went on another 12" to 14" passing through 5 ribs along the way and ending in the winter fat just past the 5th rib ...Yes she was coming right in to me .. Point is i have no doubt on a 7 mags ability to multi kill...So i would think a 45 Gov to be more then up to the challenge with the right load.... In my nosler reloading manuel they like to add little tales of the cartridge ... The one for the Hot loaded 45 Gov data took it hot loaded to africa after Cape buffalo and took the broad side on a good bull the round passed through and hit and Downed a shadowing cow behind the target bull , So yeah i dont think its even a question of can it  ...

   Dave good shooting and congrats ,

     Default

[Jimbo47]

January 2007 ???Where are all these old threads coming from?

Sure a lot of dust in here!

[quickdtoo]

Thank Lazermule for digging this one up, it's truly from the graveyard, mt3030 died last year, bless his soul! 

Tim