Anyone have a Lucky rifle? Hunting Does

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dand883

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For the past few years i have been lucky enough to get a nuisance/agriculture tag from a local farmer. This lets lets us take a doe off their land on top of our normal deer license, whish here in NB is 1 buck only unless you get an anterless tag in the lottery draw.

This year i had enough vacation and banked time to take a good chunk of the season off, so i figured i would try and get the doe early, then spend the rest of the season during the better weeks looking for a buck. Usually on this farm there's multiple groups of 6-8 that visit the fields from different directions so i figured it would be easy.
The first few days roll around and the daytime temps are showing 18 degrees plus and very misty/humid and there's nothing moving, no deer, not really even much for squirrels and such either, just way too hot for this time of the year. Once the weather clears up i assume the temps are going to drop like they normally do after a storm, but no, we get a couple of 20 plus days in a row. There's a bit more deer movement, but it's very first thing in the morning and nothing during the heat of the day. What deer i do see are before shooting light or not in an area i can hunt in.

The exception to this is 3 different forked antler spikes that i keep seeing off and on, but they're not allowed for the nuisance tag, so all i can do is watch them and wait for something else to show up and a couple of mornings there were some does in one particular area of the field near where i park, but away from my blind and over a little crest of a hill, so they normally see/hear me before i see them so i haven't had a good chance at them.
Through all of this i have been carrying a .270 win i got on the EE last year. For this area it's big wide open field and potentially longer shots, so i figured the .270 with the BDC reticle bushnell i put on it would do the trick.

So after a week and a half in to the season it's finally started cooling down to normal temps for this year, so i am thinking my luck could be changing and on a whim i grabbed my 7mm-08 yesterday morning.

I try and get to the field right around daybreak or slightly before so i can see what is at the far end of the field where i normally hunt so i'm not bumping deer on my walk in. I get there when it is still a bit dark, wait for the sun to come up and scan the field. seeing nothing i pack up my gear and start walking to the corner i hunt in.
As i am half way across the field i thought i caught a bit of movement behind me. I Grab my binoculars and at first don't see anything, but after a few seconds a head pops up into view. I am in the middle of the field in the open so i try and crouch down and sneak back behind a stack of cattle panels that is in the field. The closest doe saw me getting behind the panels, so she's looking in my direction so i slowly try and get in a position to get a shot off, range her at 117 yards and take one last breath to calm myself down and just as i am deciding to pull the trigger she turns and runs off and 7 or 8 others that i didn't see take off running for the trees and are long gone.
At this i curse my luck, grab my stuff and head back to my blind in the corner of the field. I get in the blind, sit down and try and get settled in and happen to look back at where i just was and i see two does back out in the field even closer to where i was just standing. Cursing my luck again i grab my rifle and head down the field.
The whole field is slight rolls in different directions so i am able to get below enough so they can't see me and as i get closer there some hay bales i am able to put between us and get back within about 80-90 yards where i am able to edge around the hay and wait for her to turn and get off a quartering to shot. She runs maybe 30-40 yards and piles up. Cleaning her out the heart was mush, so i don't get the normal celebratory meal, but i'll take it for a short tracking job.

I know it likely has more to do with the day/temps, but any time i am using a different rifle and switch to something 08, either .308 or 7mm-08 i always seems to have things swing in my favor. As much as i'm not a superstitious person most of the time it always seems to work out for me. Anyone else have a lucky rifle or other thing they do that seems to line up with success?
 
I believe a new rifle is usually lucky so with this in mind (and being superstitious) I normally purchase at least one new hunting rifle each year.

This year I bought a Fierce CT Rival in 7 SAUM, and a Kimber Montana 8400 in 300 WinMag, I'm really trying to hard to not buy anymore this year :)
 
I thought I had a lucky chair. Turns out I was just sitting in a good spot, as I took a deer there from s different chair last weekend. Lol
 
I think it's a lucky truck

I too the toyota hunting on 4 day trips and got nothing

Now I have gone twice with the ford super duty and got an animal on both trips

Oh and I'm running a tikka 25-06 for deer :)
 
Hard to prove, but have done the same thing from time to time and had good results, with various rifles.
My lh Sako in 7MM STW has produced a lot of game for the freezer over the years, so could be considered lucky.

While there may be some luck in hunting, such as being in the right place at the right time, in most instances, it is a variety of circumstances that come together to produce positive results:
Knowing your target species and all of its habits;
Knowing the terrain that you are hunting;
Knowing when to hunt the environmental conditions for that place (weather, wind, moon phase, etc.); and
Carrying the right rifle/cartridge/scope combination that will work for your target species in the chosen location, and being able to make your shot count.
All this equates to hunting knowledge and skill.
 
My "lucky" rifle is the one I have in my hands when out in the hunting areas.
I have had the good fortune to live in game-rich areas, which have made so
many of my hunts successful.
It has been suggested on a few occasions that I have a horseshoe stuck up
you know where. :) Dave.
 
woodchopper said:
I think it's a lucky truck

I too the toyota hunting on 4 day trips and got nothing

Now I have gone twice with the ford super duty and got an animal on both trips

Oh and I'm running a tikka 25-06 for deer :)
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I used to road hunt a lot with my dad because he was in a wheelchair. We drove his ford Windstar places unimaginable and I shot 9 deer that way lol. I've drove and walked the same places and have never seen a deer.
 
RightWingIndian said:
I used to road hunt a lot with my dad because he was in a wheelchair. We drove his ford Windstar places unimaginable and I shot 9 deer that way lol. I've drove and walked the same places and have never seen a deer.
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My dad and a bunch of the guys he hunted with would often see more deer driving the back roads than anywhere else, but when i would drive the same roads i would never see a thing. I thought they were all just BSing me but the deer in the freezer over the years didn't lie
 
Lucky rifle, I would say no. Lucky sweater maybe, I’ve been wearing the same wool sweater for every deer I’ve taken. Coincidence maybe, I also have a hunting ritual I’ve been doing for years but it just motivates me to hunt harder as the season progresses.
 
Dad's old Model 70 always makes burger. I literally could have spent zero dollars on rifles and still loaded my freezer. I took a CVA Scout out on day 1 of my fall bear hunt, a Sig Cross on day 2, and the Model 70 on day 3. I shot my bear just after supper time on day 3 (saw lots the first two days but no shooters) and had it caped out, quartered and bagged, and back on the highway before nightfall.

Just the way she goes.
 
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