AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: Osprey on October 22, 2021, 09:04:07 PM
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Early muzzleloader season here in Maryland this weekend, having some success on the sika! Killed the first stag off my new home place, pretty sure he's the one that's been messing with me the last week of bowhunting, bugling just up the branch from me morning and evening but not showing himself. Today he bugled between me and the road - with me between him and his bedding area. I knew he slipped up then! 50 yard shot, plenty of daylight, all on high ground for a change. First stag I haven't had to get wet and muddy out in the marshes to bring home. Normally have to kayak to the places I hunt, nice to have a 5 minute walk out the door on dry ground and sit in an old growth beech tree. ;D ;D
(https://i.ibb.co/SXkn9rM/DSC00636.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kgL8W1w)
(https://i.ibb.co/9NxrTRV/DSC00631.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MszCVqG)
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Well done. His bugling days are over & you have meat in the freezer!
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Good job Osprey, nice daggers and nice gun. :)
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I have to say the .58 is probably overkill for sika, but it's nice when they drop in a pile on the spot! ;)
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Looks like a miniature Sambar to me. Nice. Well done.
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Just finished watching Meateater episodes on Sika Deer and then logged in and saw this. Awesome hunt congratulations that is a hunt I would love to do some day.
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Congratulations on a successful hunt. Good eating ahead.
By the by, how is that .66 caliber rifle coming along?
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Afraid to build that .66 at the rate it'll use powder with Goex closing. :o
Don't get me started on Meateater. This area has gone completely nuts the last few years with everybody suddenly coming down to hunt sika. 10-12 trucks at every public parking lot this weekend. Guys in every other tree blowing calls that sound like badly tuned kazoos. Prices for land and leases have gone thru the roof. Between shows like that, Youtube and Facebook it's a zoo. Same with snakehead fishing all summer now around here. Too much pressure and spotlight on a good thing.
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Hate to hear that has happened leases in my area are unobtainable. One of the new realty brokers claims every cornfield with a tree line attached is a buck haven. Has caused problems with guys buying acreage and assuming they can put stands in trees overlooking the field and realizing the trees are on the other side of the fence. Explain the snakehead fishing to me are they good to eat?
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Nice Stag..that taught him that staying up too late was bad for him LOL. Enjoy seeing a successful hunt picture.
george
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Beautiful animal, I don't think I have ever seen one before. What did it weigh?
Tim
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Tim he field dressed 100lbs on the scale, pretty good size body for a sika. I've got lots of ag land around me, so they eat well all year in my locale. Biggest I've shot was 125 gutted, but I've seen really pretty, mature stags only go 60lbs. Hinds (doe) average 45, but I've seen a few go 80lbs dressed. Generally, sika on or near uplands get bigger bodies, those that live their whole life out on the salt marshes run smaller bodied. But you can never be sure, wide range
The snakeheads? Great tasting fish, incredible fight, fun to fish for, ugly and slimy as sin, invasive and the DNR encourages you to kill every one you catch. Only been here for 20 years or so and have taken over all the smaller, brackish waters around the Chesapeake. Go to Youtube and search for Maryland or Blackwater Snakehead fishing, you'll find tons of info and vids and advice. But again, every little bridge, ditch and pipe culvert around here now has folks shoulder to shoulder fishing any warm day from March to November.
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Oh, and as a bonus, sika taste wayyyy better than whitetail. Mmmm. ;D ;D ;D
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Congratulations on a very nice stag. Nice looking rifle too.
Percy
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Thanks for the info on the snakeheads Ill look that up.
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Beauty - love the Sika bulls
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Congrats! And very well done pictures.