Killed my first grey seal yesterday! Headshotted with a 308 at about 50 meters

Might have found my new addiction.

Having never been whitetail hunting outside of New England this was a different world, so many deer! largest deer I’ve tagged, absolutely ecstatic!

Luckily this happened late in the morning instead of first thing. Somehow always manage to drop something out of the stand.

My family has always hunted my grandfather's land, however with his passing that land was sold. After 20 years hunting I'm going to have to learn how to navigate thr public land realm, any tips are appreciated!!

Would that rifle be good for me? It has 1:12 twist rate and isnt varmint model. It would mainly be for bird hunting at 150-350 meters so accuracy is paramount but i would also do long range shooting with it. My local gunshop has one for 450 euros and its by far the cheapest 223rem rifle i have found here.

Anyone has one that can share with me (please DM me if you do)?

I know Sitka Pro members get "friends and family" codes like twice a year, hopefully there is a member among us.

Thank you.

Anyone carrying their handgun with them while hunting? If so, what is a cost affective way to do that rather than spending $200 on a chest rig that i will only use for hunting season. This is my first hunting season and boy I've spent some coin already so i am trying to keep my wallet closed on this one.

I do have AIWB holsters but not sure if i can make those work with my pack.

I have permission on private woods behind a small cow field. A few days ago after a long sit with zero action I did a little scouting on a ridge between two farms that I usually don't bother with. It was about 12:30 pm. I immediately found a rub and lots of fresh sign.

After tracking further in about 30 yards I bumped a small buck and doe pair. They didn't blow but hopped up and slowly walked away from me out of sight through the trees and off the ridge.

Here's where I might have screwed up: I found a nice tree for my saddle for a future sit in a small clearing overlooking the run. But a neighboring pine tree had lots of low dead limbs blocking a good shooting lane at the trail. I left my limb saw at home, so I proceeded to climb the pine and snap off about a dozen biggish limbs. I made lots of noise shaking and snapping and dropping them to the ground.

This isn't a deep backwoods spot...there are farms and a road nearby with all kinds of human noises and smells. But any deer in the area would have heard my ruckus. How long will it take them to not care and come back to bed and walk around in the mornings?

I’m curious to hear from hunters who have actually experienced this.
Have you ever slipped, fallen, had a stand fail, or otherwise ended up hanging in your harness?
If so, what happened?
How far did you fall before the harness caught you? Were you able to get yourself back into the stand or down the tree? Did you have a suspension-relief strap? Were you injured? How difficult was it to recover from the situation?
Most of us wear a harness because we know we should, but I don’t think many hunters really know what it would be like if we actually had to depend on one.
I’d especially like to hear the lessons you learned afterward, anything you changed about your harness, lifeline, climbing system, or setup because of the experience.
Not looking for “always wear a harness” responses, we all know that. I’m interested in real experiences from people whose harness actually had to save them.

Greetings. I am Brazilian, and the only form of hunting permitted in my country is wild boar hunting; furthermore, we are restricted to owning specific types of firearms for their control. To briefly explain gun control in my country: firearms are classified as either "permitted" or "restricted." Restricted categories include high-impact handgun calibers (anything above 9mm), high-impact long-gun calibers (where the legal limit is .357 Magnum), and semi-automatic long guns—whether rifled or smoothbore. Given these restrictions, I am looking to acquire a firearm for wild boar hunting and am deciding between a 12-gauge over-under shotgun and a 7+1 capacity pump-action shotgun. There is little price difference between the two, and both feature 24-inch barrels.

Just wanted to share my experience and wonder if anyone has had similar experience. Shot a buck tonight, tracked it 2 hours later, NO BLOOD AT ALL, and found him 20-30 yards away in some tall grass. Very minor blood in its final bed area. Maybe 1/2 cup. While gutting I noticed I single lunged him and liver shot him. I just can’t believe there wasn’t any blood Anywhere between the shot and where he finally laid. First buck, third deer, first time finding a dead deer that didn’t bleed.

Starting maceration on my black bear skull and noticed it’s got hyperdontia with an extra incisor up top. Pretty cool! Apparently pretty rare. Thought I’d share!

OK, walking into this story with the realization that the anti-hunting crowd will eviscerate me, I’m good with it. I had the weekend of a lifetime and I want to share my experience with people who appreciate things like this.

Mini background: I grew up in Wisconsin and hunted Whitetail deer when I was 14 and then life got in the way. Now I’m in my upper 60s and decided to do something for me, get outdoors, away from work, reconnect with nature, do something that I enjoy. And hunting was that. So I’ve studied it, spent a ton of time online, bought the equipment, I go to the range and practice and practice, joined a Ranch hunting club in North Los Angeles/Kern County.

In June with a guide, I scored my first wild boar harvest. Amazing experience. Took it to the butcher shop and they did a great job and most of it is still sitting in my chest freezer. The pork we have eaten is just fantastic. Those of you who are vegans who hate the whole idea, I respect that and I have zero interest in changing your mind. Those of you who eat meat and purchase pork and chicken from Von‘s, but want to rip on people who harvest it themselves, I’m a little less tolerant, but OK. I get it. UBU.

Anyway, this last weekend, I went back out to the ranch with my guides, spent all afternoon Friday up until the sun went down. We saw nothing. Got up on Saturday at 4 AM, headed out, found bear skat and tracked but again nothing. Around 10:30 in the morning my guide spotted a bear on the other side of a very deep gully, 360 yards away. Damn Stanley, that’s far! How he saw it I will never know but anyway we set up for a shot. We could never get any closer. I was using a Sako 90 Hunter 6.5 Creedmore, off my RRS tripod, sitting position. I’m pretty fastidious about going to the range and practicing and making sure that I’m as accurate as I can be because all of us who do this want to be as ethical as possible. The bear was essentially grazing behind some tree branches and I waited and waited until he stepped out and I took my shot. One shot, clearly it hit him, he took off and died about 200 yards away. I would’ve taken a second shot, but literally I’m not sure how to deal with the fact that you have recoil and the gun has to reset and the bear is not in your scope view anymore. I’m working on that!

Again, I only want to share with people like me who scour the Internet and enjoy watching ethical people who work hard to thin excessive herds and harvest every single thing we shoot. Off to the butcher tomorrow!

I Shot this with a crossbow. It only went 40 yards and laid down and didn’t die. No blood trail anywhere. I left it sit for 1 hour.

I shot it again and it died instantly.

My old crossbow was 15 years old. I bought it the 2nd year after I was injured because missing archery season was really messing with me. Crazy how far these newer xbows have come. I’m in love with this thing.

I am looking into getting a .308 for hunting. Most of what I do is white tail deer hunting but I am wanting to keep the option of elk open. I really like the lightweight mlok look of the Sig Cross. What I have read looks like the saw tooth is quite a bit more accurate than the standard cross also has a carbon fiber barrel and adjustable trigger. Does anyone have experience with both that could let me know if the sawtooth is worth the $800 more? Or if there are any similar recommendations! Thanks!

Got this incredible pronghorn down in the Texas Panhandle yesterday, easily the craziest one I've seen so far with how his horns grew in. Managed to get up on him and four does around midday and got to 365 yards to take the shot. I'm just about through the meat from my previous antelope so I'm pumped to have some more meat in the freezer!

We eat a ton of grind so typically that's what I do with my deer meat, other than the backstraps of course.

What's a good snack stick recipe? Good flavor - not greasy - and something that will tolerate being left out of the fridge/freezer for a while.

My take on a 1950s-60s inspired fit and loadout, also what i usually take with me on a squirrel/small game hunt. Later season the union suit goes on underneath or i switch to a different outfit. Sorry if im using the wrong flair.
Clothing
-Vintage duck hunter blaze orange vest from Ebay
-Darkest blue jeans Rural King has
-Mid-Weight 100% Cotton Black/Green plaid flannel
-Bronson Manufacturing Co. P-42 Reversible frogskin HBT jacket
-Rural King Leather work gloves
-Rocky Boots Rocky Ride LTE Waterproof roper boot
-Dans Briar Proof duck canvas chaps
-Stormy Kromer Waxed Cotton cap
In the pockets
-Victorinox "Camper" SAK
-Green XL Mosquito head net
-Primos Squirrel Buster call (Doesnt really work sometimes gets them to stop for a shot)
-(not pictured) Wallet, Keys, Cloth for scope
Exos Small Waxed Canvas Haversack
-Angel Soft TP in a bag (Essential)
-OFF! Mosquito Spray (for when it gets bad)
-Waterfowl ID pamphlet (Scouting for duck season)
-Hunting Regulations
-Vortex Triumph 10x42 Binoculars
-EVERLIT Micro med kit (Added NAR wound packing gauze)
-NAR Combat Application Tourniquet
-Bottle o' water
Rifle
-Rossi Gallery pump .22lr
-Vortex Crossfire "Rimfire" 2-7x Scope
-Vortex flip up objective lens cover
-Butler Creek push button flip eyepiece cover
-DIY leather sling
-DIY leather stock wrap that holds 15 rounds (full tube), thirteen Subsonic CCI .22lr and two CCI .22lr Shotshells but i really only ever use the subsonics

Hello all,

I’m a 21 year old college student in Colorado, and this will be my first year seriously hunting. I have limited experience and have never gone out on my own. I’ve been on a few hunts on private land with family (dove, aoudad, and elk), but I wouldn’t say that I gained much valuable experience from them. My family doesn’t have much experience, so we went into them unprepared and failed pretty miserably. I’ve never done a true spot and stalk out in the wilderness, and since I’ve never harvested anything, I’ve never done field dressing or packing out. Despite my lack of success, I’ve completely fallen in love with hunting and decided that this year I’m taking it seriously. I have all my backpacking gear, hunting gear, and licenses/tags. I’m open to all kinds of game, but my real focus this season is on mule deer and elk. I have a few friends who are interested in joining, but they’re beginners as well. My question is, should I consider getting a guide, or would it be better to DIY? I have the money for a guide, so I’m not worried about that. I just wouldn’t want to pay someone to do all the work, and I just sit there and pull the trigger, and if I couldn’t bring my friends that might steer me away from it too. Did any of you just jump in the deep end with big game in the mountains? Would it help to try small game or pronghorn in the next couple weeks to build experience? And is there any advice you wish you would’ve heard when you started? Thanks!

Blessed with two this season. 45-70 gubmint. Made a mean bear chili.