7MM Remington Mag

[Tonyencore]

[align=justify]I hadn't had much luck during bow season seeing deer so I was less that confident when I decided to go hunting on Nov. 19th.  Not seeing deer got me thinking, why do I keep hunting the areas that aren't producing?  Why not go where no other hunters hunt?  [/align][align=justify]I got up early that Sunday morning, about 4:45, and walked out on the porch hoping it was too windy, raining or dense fog had covered the area so I could have a reason to go back to bed.  Much to my dismay, the weather was perfect, 35 degrees with a light wind from the west, just what I needed to hunt my spot.  I still whined and moaned that I wasn't going to see anything anyway.  I laid back down and fought with myself for an hour.  I got back up and got my stuff together.  Grabbed my treestand and the 7 Mag, gave my wife a kiss, then made the half mile trek to my spot.  I wanted to hunt with my muzzleloader, but this was the first year in Indiana that I could hunt with my rifle so I gave her a morning hunt.  It was already light outside.  I was determined to hunt a spot no other hunter had so I hunted the steep hillside of ridge. It was so steep, in fact, that I had a heck of a time going down it to set up.  I found a tree and could only go up about 12 feet before the limbs of the surrounding trees swallowed up my shooting lanes.  At about 8:00 I saw my first deer.  A small buck that was cruising for does.  Wind was in my face and the set up was near perfect until 8:30.  The wind decided to do a 180 and take my scent into the thick stuff.  I contemplated moving my stand, then a doe showed up.  She came out of the thick stuff and caught a whiff of me right away.  She didn't blow, stomp or hesitate.  She bolted out of there like a scalded dog.  Now I really wanted to move.  I didn't see a scenario where I would get a shot at a buck.  Five minutes later, I saw antlers right where the doe came out.  Nervous doesn't begin to explain what I was feeling.  He was a good buck, one that I wanted badly and he was directly downwind.  I told myself to get ready and take the first decent shot that presented itself.  He was at 90 yards and coming up toward me.  He cleared some saplings and I knew he was going to bolt at any second.  It was an extremely steep shot as I steadied the 7. I put the dot under his throat patch and let the big dog eat!  He went down like a bag of hammers, sliding 20 yards down the hill without as much as a twitch.  I took my time getting down.  I wanted to enjoy this as much as possible.  I strolled down to him, thanked The Good Lord for my blessings and sat there for about 10 minutes reliving the whole hunt in my mind.  I climbed the hill to get cell service, made a couple calls, and I had family members on the way.  It was an awesome day.[/align]

 

[MattRaymond]

Wow, what a great buck. Gotta love a 7mag. I have an older Belgium Browning BAR in 7mag. Shoots flat and hits HARD. Nice job!

 

[Tonyencore]

Hey, thanks Matt.  I am a muzzleloader guy at heart, but I've never dropped a deer with the authority that the 7mm Mag did!!  It wasn't a high shoulder/spine type shot.  It was down through the neck into the lungs.  Instant death.  The 7mm Remington Mag is no joke.  I almost bought a BAR before I purchased my Remington 700.  Those BAR's are super nice.

 

[patocazador]

Great deer, Tony! Non-typical 12 points don't show up every day. Beautiful rack on him.

The 7 mag is a good cartridge but too much wallop for my shoulder. I gave my 7 mag to my brother and he traded it for a .30-06. Most any centerfire above .243 will put down a deer right now so I wimped out with a .25-06 for a centerfire.

 

[Tonyencore]

Thanks Bob.  I feel very fortunate to  have harvested that buck.  I agree with you on the recoil.  Probably too much gun for whitetail.  I bought it primarily as an elk gun and haven't gotten to hunt with it til this year.  I have a Hawke Frontier 2.5-15x50 sitting on top of it.  It is set up nice and is extremely accurate, but I didn't care for it that much in the deer woods. I'll probably stick with my Accura MR or my 45-70 Marlin Guide Gun.

 

[exMember]

Cripes!! That thing is a monster! Congrats on the harvest! That will be one to remember and stare at on the wall! :Red tup:

 

[Tonyencore]

Thanks Jon.  It was an awesome feeling seeing him coming through the woods. I feel like I won the lottery with the amount of hunters surrounding my land.

 

[mark1945]

The 7mm Mags are one of my favorites,I have 2 both Rugers a <a href='/tags/1' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #1'>#1</a> and a Model 77 w/tang safety and a muzzlebrake that I got used . Dont think I would have ever had a brake installed, but its a dream to shoot recoil is probably 2/3rds less then my <a href='/tags/1' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #1'>#1</a> with same ammo. Makes it fun to shoot .

 

[Tonyencore]

I shoot my 7 Mag all the time. It has recoil, but it’s no more than a muzzleloader shooting 100 grains of Blackhorn and a 250 grain bullet. I guess hunting with a muzzleloader for so many years made hunting with my rifle feel a little unnatural, but there was no denying the effectiveness.

 

[Buck Conner1]

You should try the 6.5 Creedmore these manufacturers are pushing, talk about a flat shooting round that equals a 308 and much milder recoil. We have been hitting 12 inch steel plates at 800 yards almost every shot.

 

[Marty1]

Great story and AWESOME atypical Tony :!: Congrats  :Red tup:

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p.s.  Just goes to show you that you can't score unless you simple get out there and hunt.  The extra effort you made to hunt hard terrain certainly paid off.   I did exactly that this past Tuesday but only carried myself out of the woods :lol:   The hardest part of hunting is the mind-set to deal with the weather, hike with gear, set-up and accept the fact that you may not see a darn thing all day.    I also believe that if you "put your time in" you will be rewarded handsomely...just like you did.

 

[RonRC]

Wow! That is quite a buck!

I used a 7 mm Rem Mag to take down a Blue Wildebeest while working in South Africa. He went down right where he stood. The meat went to the local informal settlement.
Ron

 

[strong eagle]

ive worked with native americans for over 30 years as a registered nurse. they all hunt and the only two cal. they mostly use is the 7mm mag and the 22/250. my son got a coyote at a true 500 yards first shot with his 7mm mag at 500 yards. over kill, so my wife and i got him a 22/250 and the varmints are in trouble around here with out over kill now. nothing better than a 7mm mag. or a 22/250. 270 runs third.

 

[Muley Hunter]

My best friend is 100% Lakota. He hunts with a bow and arrows he made himself. My kind of hunter. Sneak in close until you can smell their breath.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Great story, great Buck!!  Congrats!!

 

[strong eagle]

bear claw, when i worked with the french cree on the n.dak canada border i had a friend who could track a buck for as long as it took to get him, sometimes 3 days. he could tell by the tracks the size of him then go after him. they taught me how to hunt on snow shoes. we went places you could never go without snow shoes. one time i was the only white guy with a group of 12 natives. better never miss a shot as they with their good sense of humor will never let you live it down. we kicked up a grandaddy moose and he was huge and we all looked for a tree to climb. i have good memories of hunting with them.

 

[Muley Hunter]

They're good people. Very loyal friends and will do anything to help you. They really admire braveness above all else. If I ever showed any weakness he'd probably disappear from my life.

My dad taught me and my brother to still hunt as young kids. I've worked hard at perfecting the method. Tracking is a big part of it. My friends name is Tall Soldier after his grandfather who fought in the Battle of Big Horn. We hunt together and exchange our methods. We have both learned from each other.

 I give him the bear hides I get. He makes drums out of them. He says bear hide makes the best drums. He lives in a teepee and has a spare. I've spent a night in the spare teepee. They're pretty comfortable.

 

[strong eagle]

bear claw i could tell you stories after stories. ive had as patients or they were apart of the family of many actors in dances with wolves and the last of the mohicans (sp) and other movies. i am one of the few left in this world who knows where afraid of his horse was buried. a old patient of mine showed me that spot about 1/2 mile from her house. i know what families on the rez who are decended from custer and buffalo bill and their misstresses. i know how crazy horse really died and not how the gov. said he did. i have took hikes in his last strong hold where their are rifle pits still their from when he was ready for attack from the blue coats. i also know he was at least half white if not all white and he was raised as a captive baby. the natives used to call him the albino with curly hair. he had very little if any native blood. he was not killed by a soldier but a native over a women. his direct decendants live in hot springs s.dak. the father son and doctors and want nothing to do with the tribe. that is their business, ive worked with the son and he is a fine dr. also among the sioux the name white bull is very highly rated. white bull killed custer in hand to hand combat. he lived to about 110 years old. died when i was young. one of his great grand sons wife had twins when i was on duty. i think the whole tribe showed up to view the two twin sons. it was quite a event. they were in a long line just to look at them. yellow bird is the name of the family that decends from custer, and steele is the name of the family that decends from buffalo bill. my favorite names from the sioux rez is kills crow indian. they are decended from a strong famous warrior who fought the crow a lot. to see who i had as patients and close friends go to you tube and look up gerald one feather and nellie two bulls. they have gone to God now but were my patients for years. the little cubby native boy who was seen on a horse just out side of the sioux camp is now a huge police man on the rez.from dances with wolves. come visit me and i will show you all these things. gerald one feather gave my son a pair of legging that was worn in the buffalo hunting part of dances with wolves. i used take my son with me to visit my patients on the rez. he is 18 now but when he was little his hair was as white as snow and the natives loved to rub his head. i have since done the 23 and me dna thing and found out im about 10 percent native american. thats where i get my connection with them. ive always felt more comfortable around them than totaly white people. sorry thats the way i am. ive never ever been about money and too many white people are. im about life, God and living. it is humbling to live on the rez and wake up at day break and see native neighbors out side of their homes praying to the living one true God as a morning part of their lifel it was always so easy to talk to natives about God, they never ever thought i was wierd as some white people do. come visit me next summer and i will take you to all the places of history and tell you stories that only a few know about. oh yes, this is history. their were 4 sioux warriors who fought against custer with 4 year college degrees in math. they just came back from the east with college degrees and joined the fight against custer. they were a lot smarter than he was. also chief joseph had a couple of warriors with 4 year college degrees on his side also. oh another thing, red cloud is not respected by the sioux. he was a white appointed chief, never certified by the tribe. never ever accepted by the tribe. afraid of his horse is the one elected by the tribe after crazy horse. enough for today. thanks for listening. strong eagle. i was given that name by tribal menbers and the real name is suda womblie. it means hard eagle as their is no word for strong in sioux, hard is the closest thing to it. so my name is really hard eagle. sioux word for the day. slu slu da, it means one who is so slippery that no one can ever hang on to him. doesnt that ring true for all of the guys and gals in washington who claim to serve us. again, strong eagle.

 

[Muley Hunter]

I'll ask Soldier if he knows you. He was born and brought up in So Dakota. He still goes back there a few times of the year to visit and help out. He was also in a bunch of movies as an extra. He has the real classic look. He's also a big guy and stands out. He's about 6'4" and 260lbs. About 70 years old but still strong as a bull.

Maybe you've run across him?