Hunting
- Thread starter James
- Start date
going to be a nice weekend..
smoking an 8lb kobe beef brisket all day on Saturday.. then having some friends over to the house to eat red meat, smoke cigars, and watch the UFC fight that night...
then headed for the woods all day on Sunday to try and bag a doe (will take what I can get.. but doe are much better for eating)...
will be taking one of my .243's with me (your favorite boom stick caliber)..
smoking an 8lb kobe beef brisket all day on Saturday.. then having some friends over to the house to eat red meat, smoke cigars, and watch the UFC fight that night...
then headed for the woods all day on Sunday to try and bag a doe (will take what I can get.. but doe are much better for eating)...
will be taking one of my .243's with me (your favorite boom stick caliber)..
Not nearly as big here as Colorado mulies..
All we have in TN are white tail (and a very small population of elk)... A small white tail buck here will come in around 125lbs.. the really big ones will barely break 200lbs..
compared to the 250-300lb mulies Ive seen running around central colorao.. our deer look more like large dogs on stilts...
doe are much smaller.. Im going to guess the average doe around here barely breaks 100lbs.. (on the hoof... field dressed she will be substantially smaller..)...
I dont think I've mentioned it before... But...
I've got the coolest wife on the planet....
She bagged a beautiful whitetail doe this morning... Probably 2 years old...
It's fresh venison at the mdwest house for Christmas dinner!
All this.. And she supports my smoking habit too...
I've got the coolest wife on the planet....
She bagged a beautiful whitetail doe this morning... Probably 2 years old...
It's fresh venison at the mdwest house for Christmas dinner!
All this.. And she supports my smoking habit too...
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BeerAdvocate
BeerHunter
I am looking at getting a .243. Thinking about Ruger American or Savage Axis. Does anyone have any experience or opinions on either one?
I know that both companies make fine weapons BA, however I personally haven't been around either in a .243, when mdwest gets on and sees this I'm sure he can give you some solid advice as he is very knowledgeable on the subject. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Sounds like you have a keeper for sure Dave!
Sounds like you have a keeper for sure Dave!
I looked hard at the savage axis for my wife last year when she started talking about going deer hunting... I didnt want to drop a ton of money into a rifle and optics for her if it wasnt something she was really going to take to... but I also wanted to get her something accurate, reliable, etc.. and quality enough to last her for a while before stepping her up to something a little more high end (I for the most part hunt with winchester 70's, rem 700's, and I have hand built a couple of single shots that I like to play around with...)..
I looked at the Savage Axis, the Mossy ATR, and remmington 770... all rifles were available for between $300-$400 as "packages" with cheap optics, mounts, rings, etc..
the 770 got thrown out of consideration almost right away... honestly its made very sloppy.. just feels cheap... the action on the one I played with was loose.. etc..
I found the axis and the ATR to be on pretty equal ground..
I liked the stock on the axis quite a bit better... but liked the fact that I could get some pretty cool options on the ATR like a fluted bbl, adjustable trigger, etc.. for the same money that I would pay for a basic axis...
I found that the scope, rings, mounts, etc.. on both rifles were absolute crap...
so.. at the end of the day, I went with a basic youth sized ATR in .243 (not a package).. that I picked up on sale at buds gun shop online for $279 I think.. I then picked up a decent little pentax optic.. some decent millet rings and bases... a cool pink camo sling... threw it all together last year on her birthday.. and took her to the range a couple of times last year to let her get used to it.. I think all in Ive got about $425 in it.. she took it hunting last season and this one..
she got her first doe with it this season.... dropped it like a rock... at about 30 yards...
she can hold about 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards with remington green box ammo (the cheap stuff)...
it has turned out to be a great little gun...
Ill probably step her up to a .308 next year (she wants to go for some bigger game than TN deer).. and MIGHT stick with the youth ATR platform.. although right now I am thinking Ill probably step her up to a rem 700...
I should say, I saw NOTHING wrong with the axis... all the reviews I have read say its a good little gun.. and the one I played with I thought was very nice.. the action was tight.. the factory stock was decent.. savage makes reliable firearms that are reasonably accurate, etc..etc..etc..
the ATR reviews I found were all over the map.. some people liked them.. some didnt, etc.. but I thought it was decent for an entry level hunting rifle.. and buying it as a basic rifle (no optic, etc..) it was a bit cheaper than the axis (I think I got it about $50 cheaper than I could find the axis).. which was money I put toward the optic..
just my .02...
I looked at the Savage Axis, the Mossy ATR, and remmington 770... all rifles were available for between $300-$400 as "packages" with cheap optics, mounts, rings, etc..
the 770 got thrown out of consideration almost right away... honestly its made very sloppy.. just feels cheap... the action on the one I played with was loose.. etc..
I found the axis and the ATR to be on pretty equal ground..
I liked the stock on the axis quite a bit better... but liked the fact that I could get some pretty cool options on the ATR like a fluted bbl, adjustable trigger, etc.. for the same money that I would pay for a basic axis...
I found that the scope, rings, mounts, etc.. on both rifles were absolute crap...
so.. at the end of the day, I went with a basic youth sized ATR in .243 (not a package).. that I picked up on sale at buds gun shop online for $279 I think.. I then picked up a decent little pentax optic.. some decent millet rings and bases... a cool pink camo sling... threw it all together last year on her birthday.. and took her to the range a couple of times last year to let her get used to it.. I think all in Ive got about $425 in it.. she took it hunting last season and this one..
she got her first doe with it this season.... dropped it like a rock... at about 30 yards...
she can hold about 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards with remington green box ammo (the cheap stuff)...
it has turned out to be a great little gun...
Ill probably step her up to a .308 next year (she wants to go for some bigger game than TN deer).. and MIGHT stick with the youth ATR platform.. although right now I am thinking Ill probably step her up to a rem 700...
I should say, I saw NOTHING wrong with the axis... all the reviews I have read say its a good little gun.. and the one I played with I thought was very nice.. the action was tight.. the factory stock was decent.. savage makes reliable firearms that are reasonably accurate, etc..etc..etc..
the ATR reviews I found were all over the map.. some people liked them.. some didnt, etc.. but I thought it was decent for an entry level hunting rifle.. and buying it as a basic rifle (no optic, etc..) it was a bit cheaper than the axis (I think I got it about $50 cheaper than I could find the axis).. which was money I put toward the optic..
just my .02...
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BeerAdvocate
BeerHunter
Great info Thanks! I have been reading a ton of info on different hunting rifles and just when I decide on one, I change my mind.
BeerAdvocate
BeerHunter
Proud owner of a new Remington 700!
Reviving and old thread to say:
My wife just launched a blog (in the last 48 hours) and a couple of social media sites related to a womans perspective on hunting (she's been a pretty avid hunter, been into wildlife conservation, etc.. her entire life, and just really got into deer and hog hunting about 4 years ago).. Not sure if anyone here would be interested.. but she could use some help getting started.. and will be doing some gear give aways/contests, etc in the near future to try and promote the site.. She's already got a couple of sponsorships in the works as well (she's not looking for this to be a "business" per se.. so much as she is just looking to get a message out as best as she can).. If any of you that are interested would like/follow/share/etc.. and help her get things going, it would be appreciated..
https://www.instagram.com/huntress_in_heels/
https://twitter.com/huntress_in_h
https://www.facebook.com/huntressinheels
http://huntressinheels.com/
My wife just launched a blog (in the last 48 hours) and a couple of social media sites related to a womans perspective on hunting (she's been a pretty avid hunter, been into wildlife conservation, etc.. her entire life, and just really got into deer and hog hunting about 4 years ago).. Not sure if anyone here would be interested.. but she could use some help getting started.. and will be doing some gear give aways/contests, etc in the near future to try and promote the site.. She's already got a couple of sponsorships in the works as well (she's not looking for this to be a "business" per se.. so much as she is just looking to get a message out as best as she can).. If any of you that are interested would like/follow/share/etc.. and help her get things going, it would be appreciated..
https://www.instagram.com/huntress_in_heels/
https://twitter.com/huntress_in_h
https://www.facebook.com/huntressinheels
http://huntressinheels.com/
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- Joined
- Nov 21, 2016
- Messages
- 769
Did this ever kick off? Also I heard you were out of HTX
Too funny.. re-read this thread today...
She stepped up to a .308.. and took much larger game than TN deer (she took it with her to South Africa this year and took a 600+ lb kudu, a blue wildebeest (about 400 lbs), a large gemsbok (about 400 lbs), a blesbok (150 lbs), and big zebra stallion (roughly 700lbs)...
Now she wants something bigger.. so we're stepping her up to a .35 whelen.. she'll use it on bear, moose, mountain lion, and potentially bison and nilgai over the next couple of years..
and she is planning on going after cape buffalo for her 50'th birthday (3 1/2 years away).. she'll use my .375 H&H for that..
Pretty significant change from that little .243 she was shooting at whitetail and TX hogs back in 2011 lol..
Just realized I missed this when it was posted earlier this year..
Never did kick off.... I've made an offer to several BOTL members to go hunt elk/mulies at our place in Southern CO... but no one has taken me up on it yet..
Im out of DFW.. not HTX.. but I spend a lot of time in South and South West TX hunting (the place I normally go for hogs is about an hour west of Houston.. and the place we chase auodad, deer, etc.. is about an hour west of San Antonio..
We're looking at some property in East TX now though that might be prime for deer and turkey next year (we wouldnt move on it fast enough to get it ready for this season.. it would be 2018 at the earliest we would hunt there)..