Light girlfriend load

[wilmsmeyer]

My girlfriend has been shooting with me all summer and has become a very good shot. She also shot 5 woodchucks with my .17 HMR and thought it was fun.

So....she went and took her hunter safety course and just got her Big game licence. Wow. Never had a woman in my life latch onto the sport. I am excited for her because her interest is genuine. It's not just to be with me but a desire to experience hunting.

We are in a shotgun only region. (Muzzleloaders can be used in the regular season) My idea is to set her up with with my easiest carrying ML which is a .54 cal Thunderhawk. Loaded light because she had neck surgery 2 years ago. I recently experimented with 200 XPB .451 Barnes bullets in my Savage. The experiment did not work. However, 70 gr FFFg and a .54/.45 MMP sabot is looking very very good as a light load in the Thunderhawk. 1st group at 50 yds was 1 inch. I'm guessing the speed at about 1300 fps. Basically the ballistics of a .44 mag.

Recoil is very light for a deer load. Performance inside 75 yds should be just fine I figure.

A new twist for me...a girlfriend that wants to hunt...and one that has been shooting all summer very well with various guns. She's sexy too. I now know how Ted Nugent feels.

LOOK OUT!

[mike3132]

That load will kill out to 100 yards with ease. If you ever decide to get rid of her, send her my way! Mike

[wilmsmeyer]

I'll add you to the list. ;D

[ozark]

I am happy for you Wilms. Sharing a sport like hunting with someone who cares and you care for is a real pleasure. If she scores you will be more thrilled than if you score yourself. And naturally she wants you to fully enjoy the hunt. I suppose that there are some people who don't need someone to share life with. Not me. Ben

[wilmsmeyer]

I agree with you on all points Ozark.

She shot the gun last week and had no problems. At 50 yds she put 3 shots in about 2 1/2 inches....leaning on the side of a building.

She loaded her own shots. This load is easy to push down a dirty BP barrel and that's a plus. Quick reloading and less things to carry and worry about in the feild.

Gonna be an interesting season....she's all lit up about it. And like Ozark said, I will be tickled to death when she scores.

[bubba]

Wilms

I mighta been scared to read the post titled:

HEAVY GIRLFRIEND Load..........

good luck to you(both) this year

[wilmsmeyer]

Bubba,

You still funny! When I have time I will post about her first weekend hunting. It involved a ton of deer, a few passed shots at mature does, an ice cold feet soaking, and a shot fired.

To add to your comment, it also involved me carrying her to the truck very concerned for the condition of her numb feet. So....she ain't that heavy! ;D ;D

[bubba]

that girl needs some boots ! look forward to the story.

[wilmsmeyer]

This past Saturday was the first day she could hunt. We settled on a spot that has a buddy treestand with a shooting rail. We also settled on what her expectations were so we would have less things to work out if deer approached. She decided on only shooting a buck. Hmmm. Ok. We established a 50 yd and 100 yd perimeter line with a range finder. Stand overlooked a 1 acre patch of corn left in the back of a field. We were there 10 minutes that afternoon when 8 deer poured into the feild on a dead run...obviously pushed from somewhere else. They all settled down for a break in range. No bucks. I whispered for her to try and settle crosshairs on a few for practice on sight aquisition. This is probably her biggest obsticle. She's a good shot but does not have the instincts we do when shouldering a gun and having the crosshairs almost where they need to be.

This continued the rest of the afternoon with al least 35 deer spotted. Only a few more deer came close. The one buck we saw was up in the woods chasing a doe around and then he bedded.

Sunday am, she insisted in sitting alone so I took her with me and dropped her off on the edge of a shallow gully. In the moonlit snow, I showed her where to sit and where to pay attention. Gave her my shooting stick and went to my stand 200 yds further up the gully. At 8:00 I saw 2 deer way down in the same gully. Looked like they were in her lap. Couldn't ID them. Was waiting for a "boom". Nothing. Eventually the 2 deer went thru the gully and appeared in the big feild to our rear which I could see from my stand. They had come very close to her and she practiced some more aiming on them. Good girl. Then me and the guys did 2 small pushes. The 1st drive is where I shot the buck I posted about on the Savage page.

That afternoon we went to the swamp to my friends permanent duck blind. It's in the back of a 5 acre corn field with the back edge left standing and woods on both sides. The blind is positioned in a low spot and my friend can flood the feild come duck season from a nice pond 150 yds away. He had started flooding the feild and the water was 2 feet deep by the blind. Hadn't thought about it much. When we got there all but the middle of the "puddle" was frozen up pretty good. We walked on the perimeter and when we got to the blind I broke through but did not go over my boots. She wanted to try to get in thinking she would be as lucky. She wasn't and got an icy cold foot soaking. In the blind, I took her footwear off quickly and when she was dry, I put a pair of dry socks on her and wrapped her feet in a spare fleece parka and zipped her feet all up into my backpack. The big problem would now be the eventual exit.

Just before dark, 5 deer came from the woods. She had decided to take a mature doe. We had made our perimeters again and when one of them finally came from some standing corn at exactly 100 yds she tried a shot. We had been whispering and planning the shot all along as these deer were milling around. She said she had a good restand was steady enough. I told her if she had doubts to hold off. She said "no" I can do this. Boom. All the deer took off and the deer she shot at looked hit. They all stopped 200 yds away and just stood around till dark. I thought about shooting the deer with my Savage but due to the angle towards a well traveled road I declined.

Now we go to leave and she had to put wet boots on and then go back into the water. NOT GOOD. I would have traded with her but her feet are way too small and we both didn't need a major problem. In the water we go. Immediately bad for her. Having a 500 yd walk to the truck I became very scared at what could happen as she was a little panicky. I got her to solid ground and took off my pack, dropped my gun and sprinted 500 yds to my truck and almost lost my wind. I roared across the field as far as I dared, almost to her. I had told her to take her boots off and wrap her feet in my jacket while I got the truck. I honestly did not care about the deer at this point.

Me and my friends' 2 boys went back down well after dark and sized up the scene. Nothing at the impact spot. after 100 yds a few drops of blood here and there. Where they had stood...nothing. Followed tracks into the woods and it didn't get better. One of the boys did not have school Monday so in the am he went back down. I had to work. He found 2-3 small puddles of drippy type blood and where she laid down a few times. Then he lost the track. We are assuming and hoping this deer was just grazed somewhere and not hurt too bad.

This Thursday I will shoot her gun and make sure it's OK and then try again this weekend. She has felt horrible all week and embarrassed about the foot thing. I will get her right back on the horse because she has loved getting the chance to learn to shoot and she loved the woods and things she saw. Sorry this was so long.