I did the same thing, burned my 3 points so three of us could hunt. Doubt I'll be able to repeat the trick four years from now, the way things are going.
Yeah, I'm 3/3 on getting these to shoot from 30-06 rifles and they shoot flat and kill awesome. They do tend to lose petals in shoulders so trim carefully.
Edit: loading to book OAL and at moderate velocity, about 3100 FPS.
Use block ice beneath the meat. Jugs are best, because they stay full with ice cold water for a long time. No need to drain, which is a waste of cold. I also use a barrier between the ice and the meat - last year I just used tin foil because it's what I had on hand.
One other point: if you...
Awesome feat! Congrats! Cactus quills are part of the game haha.
I've killed a few with a rifle and it's not always easy, but it sounds way easier than that! Next year I'm going to go a week early and bring the bow -- and save a couple days at the end for rifle hunting, just in case.
Agree here. All this discussion is basically moot on whitetails at 200 yards and under. If you just want dead deer, and don't care about lead, there's no reason to handload 30-06 as any of the $15-20/box off the shelf stuff works fine.
However, I've moved to using nonlead for all my hunting...
Thought I'd update this post -- been using the "river camo" Kinetic jacket since fall 2018, and have killed four WY antelope, a spring MN turkey, and one whitetail (with a bow) while wearing it. It matches the October WY sage prarie and the spring MN and MI woods perfectly. It's quiet and just...
I'll repeat what's been said above -- the 130gr TTSX is a great .30-06 bullet for antelope. Shoots flat and doesn't ruin meat. Double lung is ideal but even if you hit the shoulder you're not blowing it up.
Huge congrats! I know all too well that struggle. I have a feeling that now you've "cracked the code" a bit, you'll have a change in luck. That first bird you call in and kill will feel even better.
In MN we get one tag, and a seven day season. I'm still pretty new -- my first bird was called in by a buddy, and I haven't scored since then -- so not being able to travel to my known areas meant I had to start from scratch on public land closer to home. But after five days of screw-ups, close...