I owe a big thanks to the people on here who have answered my many questions and helped me out so much over the past year. Wulfman, Rickster, UMCpumpgun, TBury, and especially NambuJim and Tom Hemphill. As you may know I bought a Model 14 25 Rem for my son last year and have had a lot of questions.
Yesterday everything came together!
I decided to take Ollie's little Remington Model 14 25 Remington out for a walk in the woods yesterday. I started out in a wooden ladder stand at 6:45 AM. At 8:30 I had a little spike walking around my stand and it stopped broadside in front of me about 15 yards away. I had no intention of shooting it but I put a bead on it just for fun until it walked away. At 11:00 there was a west wind blowing 6 mph and I started walking west on an East-West trail just inside the woods and paralleling a clear cut. It was perfect. I had gone about 100 yards when I saw a deer moving through the woods towards the clearcut at 11:50 AM. It was about 65 yards away and there was no clear shot. It stopped with its head behind a tree, so I decided to put a stalk on it. I scooted up to the next tree and kept on doing that every time it got behind some trees. It was just walking around in circles. I had narrowed the gap by about 20 yards. Suddenly it got on the trail I was on and started walking STRAIGHT towards me. It was on a string headed my direction. Luckily I was behind a little tree and already had my gun raised and was floating a bead on its chest. I didn't want to shoot it head on and was hoping it would turn. Finally it quartered away just slightly to go around a tree and I put the bead between the sternum and the clavicle and squeezed one off. It bucked up its front hooves, spun around and went down. The 117 g bullet entered at that little crease between the clavicle and sternum and exited behind the last rib on the other side. Perfect. It was a 37 yard shot.
A 97 year old gun with iron sights, hand loaded ammo in original vintage brass, and a stalk and kill from the ground made this one of the funnest hunts I have ever had.. It was awesome! Thank you all!
Got one with the 25 Remington!
Re: Got one with the 25 Remington!
Congratulations!
Glad to hear that. Thanks for retelling the story.
Den
Glad to hear that. Thanks for retelling the story.
Den
Re: Got one with the 25 Remington!
Hey thats great. I sure would like to know how you stalk to within 20yds of a deer. I can only get to within 200yds of a deer by holding still. And you are 97 years old???!!! Is that a typo? I'll be lucky to be stalking anything at 97. At any rate, your story just goes to show that a hunter with the right skills doesn't need anything bigger than a 25 Rem to bring home venison.
Re: Got one with the 25 Remington!
Rickster,
97 years old is young for people in my family. My grandfather just died a year ago and that's when I inherited my model 14s. He was the chief of the Choctaw tribe and is the one who taught me my stalking skills. Twenty yards is actually a long shot for me. I usually wait until I can put my hands around the deer's throat. I took the "long" shot the other day because my bare feet were getting cold, stalking in 16 degree weather and all. My circulation is not what is used to be, you know. As i mentioned before, the 25 Rem is my 11 year old son's gun. The son I had when I was, let's see... 86 years old.
I'm joking of course. I think you misread my post. I closed the gap by 20 yards. It was a 37 yard shot. The gun is 97 years old - not me.
In all seriousness though, I cannot even see a deer 200 yards away here. If you can only get 200 yards from a deer I'm guessing you live out west. It's pretty thick woods here. I'd say my average rifle shot is under 50 yards and I have bow shots that are 12 - 22 yards.
Thanks for the kind words though.
Happy New Year!
Carl
97 years old is young for people in my family. My grandfather just died a year ago and that's when I inherited my model 14s. He was the chief of the Choctaw tribe and is the one who taught me my stalking skills. Twenty yards is actually a long shot for me. I usually wait until I can put my hands around the deer's throat. I took the "long" shot the other day because my bare feet were getting cold, stalking in 16 degree weather and all. My circulation is not what is used to be, you know. As i mentioned before, the 25 Rem is my 11 year old son's gun. The son I had when I was, let's see... 86 years old.
I'm joking of course. I think you misread my post. I closed the gap by 20 yards. It was a 37 yard shot. The gun is 97 years old - not me.
In all seriousness though, I cannot even see a deer 200 yards away here. If you can only get 200 yards from a deer I'm guessing you live out west. It's pretty thick woods here. I'd say my average rifle shot is under 50 yards and I have bow shots that are 12 - 22 yards.
Thanks for the kind words though.
Happy New Year!
Carl
Re: Got one with the 25 Remington!
Wow. Looks like I read your post a bit too fast. Don’t have time to do much forum posting these days, but did want to respond to your post.
The terrain at my place is a mixture of fields, hills and timber. The deer bed under cover, move along the edges of timber and feed in the fields. I have had my best luck getting them about an hour before sunset as they come out into secluded areas to feed. The tricky part is that the deer can sleep on a wooded hillside that gives them an excellent vantage point. They know where I am from the time I drive onto the property. So I either fake them out by making them think I am somewhere I am not, or take them at long range. Usually I get a 75 to 100yd shot. This year was 250yd.
The terrain at my place is a mixture of fields, hills and timber. The deer bed under cover, move along the edges of timber and feed in the fields. I have had my best luck getting them about an hour before sunset as they come out into secluded areas to feed. The tricky part is that the deer can sleep on a wooded hillside that gives them an excellent vantage point. They know where I am from the time I drive onto the property. So I either fake them out by making them think I am somewhere I am not, or take them at long range. Usually I get a 75 to 100yd shot. This year was 250yd.