Took a little trip

[Diver43]

The wife and I, packed up a rental truck, out our little dog in the back seat and headed west

Met and old friend and had what turned out to be an amazing trip, shooting, hunting deer and hogs.
Friday evening I was introduced to.shooting in the pitch dark of night with a thermal scope off if a tripod with a very high end .243 rifle.
The next morning was time for deer. Just like my friend said, the desired deer showed up right on time. The shot was only 75 yards, which resulted my poop being a little low, but not so low that it wasn't effective. The deer stumbled and disappeared in the brush. We were both concerned with lack of a blood trail, but his staggering run was fairly easy to follow. Just under 30 yards away my friend found him. This was my first deer in quite a few years.

[Diver43]

The wife and I, packed up a rental truck, out our little dog in the back seat and headed west

Met and old friend and had what turned out to be an amazing trip, shooting, hunting deer and hogs.
Friday evening I was introduced to.shooting in the pitch dark of night with a thermal scope off if a tripod with a very high end .243 rifle.
The next morning was time for deer. Just like my friend said, the desired deer showed up right on time. The shot was only 75 yards, which resulted my poop being a little low, but not so low that it wasn't effective. The deer stumbled and disappeared in the brush. We were both concerned with lack of a blood trail, but his staggering run was fairly easy to follow. Just under 30 yards away my friend found him. This was my first deer in quite a few years. Our friend Z is the real deal. A true gentleman that I am proud to call friend.

[Diver43]

L

[Freezer]

Oh, heck! That's a nice buck! I'm jealous! My first deer in nine years after my relocation was a button buck. No major complaint, it is tender and tastes great! Congrats on a great hunt!

[Diver43]

Not only did I get a very nice deer, but we also shot Hogs.
Out in huge farm fields, so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. There were night vision goggles, BUT, I was unable to wear them as they didn't fit my head. Had to hold them to see which made it near impossible to walk across these huge fields while carrying a heavy tripod mounted rifle Z, his farmer friend and I chased them from one field to another. We ended up with a few for the cooler and the rest fellow under the farmers eradication plan, which was just put a bullet in them. Great learning experience for this old guy and more fun than I should be allowed to have.
If you ever get the opportunity to hunt with Z, do whatever you need to make it happen. He honestly knows what he is doing, gets the job done for the farmer and makes it fun.

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[Rugerfan]

Sounds like fun!!

His cull bucks are trophies around here.

[GrapeApe]

He wasn't doing all the hunting when I went out there, but he was a gracious host, along with TimC, who I did go hunting with

[Chiro1989]

Night vision fits, you just need to push down harder

Fun is an understatement, hope you got to eat some heart and testicular matter, gutting pigs in your underwear is oddly fun too

What did the pig on your right weigh?

[Diver43]

Night vision fits, you just need to push down harder

Fun is an understatement, hope you got to eat some heart and testicular matter, gutting pigs in your underwear is oddly fun too

What did the pig on your right weigh?

No idea what it weighed. While we were out for pork, the main reason for the farmer was eradication. They are very detrimental to his bottom line

[Zee]

Diver arrived Friday afternoon. Gave him a tour of the ranch and confirmed zero on his rifle. Quick lesson on running my rifle and thermal from a standing tripod and we went after pigs with my farmer friend.
We saw about 20-30 pigs in various places but they were either in the wrong field or too fast for us. Decided to try varmint calling and some raccoons came to the call. In the process a big boar came out. We made a stalk and Diver took him with my .243 at about 130 yards.

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About a 190-200lb boar!
We called it quits after driving around a bit because we had to get up early to hunt deer.

[Chiro1989]

Diver. Did you get your rifle broken in?

[Diver43]

Diver. Did you get your rifle broken in?


Not sure if why, but having issues posting a picture. The new Bergara has taken a nice heavy 8 point

[Chiro1989]

[Zee]

We got up early Saturday morning after about 3 hours sleep and went after a buck. I’d had him on camera at a particular feeder/water trough so a good idea where to find him.
In the blind an hour before sunrise. Several does showed up before sunrise and then, in the twilight, we saw the buck coming in. Still too dark for a confident shot, we waited as he wandered in and out of the brush. Feeder was about 75 yards away, I mentioned his round would hit 1.5-2” lower than POA. The feeder went off and the buck approached.
A little excitement involved, Diver made the shot and I saw the hit. Broke the on side shoulder a little low but he was hit hard. Running into the brush, we gave him about 20 min and snuck up to the POI.
Got a little concerned with no blood but we were able to follow his tracks. A little casting around in the brush, I saw where he hooked a left and he was expired 10 yards further. Only about 30 yards total.
An 8 year old Warrior went to a good man. Makes me happy.

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[bullsi1911]

That sounds like a hell of a trip, and a great deer as well.

Congrats!

[CPJ 2.0]

Awesome dude.

Night stuff is fun as fudge, no?

One thing I found to be unbelievable was how fast Z’s little legs can carry him. It’s quite the spectacle watching him move at night.

[Zee]

Awesome dude.

Night stuff is fun as fudge, no?

One thing I found to be unbelievable was how fast Z’s little legs can carry him. It’s quite the spectacle watching him move at night.

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[Zee]

Saturday night, we met up with my farmer friend and went after pigs again. This time in a different place and there were a lot of pigs in the field when we got there.
Stalked up on a herd from about 600 yards and had to change directions a couple times to keep the wind in our favor. Once we got up on them, we did a synchronized shot and ended up hitting 4 out of that herd.

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The rest ran off but then a big boar came out and we put a stalk on him. But, right when we were about to shoot, he got wise or something and took off.

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[Zee]

We looked across the field and saw another herd come out so we got the wind in our favor and stalked up on them as well. Dover and I got in position and make a synchronized shot to take two out of that herd.

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Diver was running my thermal and I was running NV on my AR with 62gr Speer GD bullets. Dont let anyone tell you the .223 is too light for deer/pigs. I dropped 4 that night with it.
Overall, we had a great time. Pigs were everywhere and we just could t get them all. We took 4 back to the barn with us and left the rest.

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[Zee]

Diver is a great dude. Welcome back any time.

[Zee]

On Sunday, we chilled. Worked on some of the meat and I caped out Diver’s buck for a Euro Mount.

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[Zee]

Diver and his wife blessed me with some sweet items!

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[Zee]

Monday, Diver helped me with some errands/chores and then we went to my place and played with guns and stuff. After that, we hit the range for some long range shooting.
My understanding is that Diver had never shot 700 yards before. And he’d definitely not pushed his Bergara that far.
I guessed at his dope and SWAG’d the wind call……..and the man did this with his first shot!!

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Not bad at all! We made some corrections and he did THIS on his third shot!

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Played around a little more and I broke out my .338 Lapua. Fired one round and hit steel at 700! Made a correction and he did THIS with his second!!

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Don’t let the grey hair fool ya!! The boy can shoot!
I tended to a few things and then went to their place where they cooked me a wonderful dinner. Said our farewells and departed.
I’ve known the man since the early 2000s when I joined the FS Forum that later became G&A and now here. This was the first time I’d ever met him in person. Damn fine experience and man. His bride is even nicer than him!
I had a good time. Glad they came and hope they come back in the future.

[Diver43]

Wow, Thank You Z. Finally made it home, we drove straight through. Wifey drove way more than half way.

Those 44 mag bullets were hand crafted by our friend Fishheadgib.

Before hitting the shower and bed, I have to say Thank You Brother Z. This guys holds such a wealth of knowledge and is not afraid to share it. He made me a better shooter in minutes. No lie, the simplest part of trigger pull did it.
The list of things I could say about him is endless, but I will say he is a Great Guy and I am proud to call him friend.

[jkp]

Looks like an awesome trip!