I took a long trip to rifle hunt the rut in NE and SD and it just couldn’t have gone a lot better. First I was to be at Gobble N Grunt Outfitters in NE, and I was able to take a very heavy horned old 10 pointer on the first morning as he pushed a doe behind my treestand at 35 yards. My plan was to take the first mature deer I saw and then hunt for a really big one on my second tag.

That didn’t take long as on my second afternoon just sitting on an open hill watching a creek bottom, I had a run in with a huge buck. He pushed a doe through an opening, but never gave me a quality shot. Then 15 minutes before dark, he showed back up. He raked a tree, moved a doe around, etc., but he never gave me an open shot. Then his doe moved into a cut corn field headed for standing corn, and he followed. I didn’t have anything but a frontal shot, and I took it with my .300 Win TC at about 275 yards. He crumbled on the spot.

When I got to him, I was pleasantly surprised as he was a typical 6×6 with a few cheaters. I thought he was a big 10 when I shot. The buck ended up being one the guys at GnG had lots of trail cams of, and they had just named him “Stud”. That is was. The big old NE buck grew 180″ of antler.

Next I drove 4 hours north to hunt with Dakota Trophy Hunt and Tom Trask in SD. The first 3 days we saw and turned down several really nice mature bucks, but I hated to end things quickly, and I knew they had some really good deer. The fourth and final day dawned clear and cold at minus 13 degrees without windchill. It was miserably cold. We saw a great 10 pointer but couldn’t get a shot, and late morning we got in on a nice mature buck tending a doe in a cedar thicket. I was able to drop him in his tracks at about 100 yards, and my SD tag was filled. He was a great old buck with a  very cool 8″+ brow tine.

In 6 hunting days we took 3 great bucks on camera, and possibly my best buck ever. It was a great trip, no doubt.

Hunt Hard…Tim H.

Due to scheduling, I have been behind on whitetail hunting this year, but that is about to change. This weekend marks the gun openers for many states including SD, NE, KY, etc. I am headed out to open NE’s season on Nov. 12, then straight up to SD. I only have 8 1/2 days for 3 tags. Then it is home for a few days around Thanksgiving when I will take my boys hunting a few times in KY. I will be in OH on Monday the 28th for their opener, and then on Dec. 3, I will either be in UT for a wintering ground archery elk hunt or to ND for a cold weather whitetail bow hunt. SO for the next month, I will be hitting it hard trying to rack up some quality footage.

We went out over the past two days and did a lot of shooting at the range getting all the guns tuned up and ready. My boys shot their .243 Encore and my ICON in .30TC. They shot well and both decided they liked the .30TC best. It has a nice trigger, and they shot it very well. Drew shot a 1.75″ group at 100 yards, and I figured that wasn’t bad for an 11 year-old.

I got my muzzleloader back on track after a long trip home from Africa, and my new TC .300 Win. shot like a dream. I shot it quite a bit just to get used to it, and I had numerous groups in the 1″ range. The two groups below are from that gun shooting Winchester 180 grain Accubonds. That is my favorite all around load.

I haven’t had the best fall so far, but between now and early January, I have 6 tags left to fill, so hopefully I can make up some ground. Will check in soon. Hunt Hard…Tim H.

We have just updated my website with a facelift, and I plan to do hunt reports, news, and general interest here in the blog section. Check back often for the latest…

Tim H.