Deer Season 2026

Sabre said:

Is it two bucks with any weapon?

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Yes sir, two bucks only.

My apologies, I meant to type "my little piece of dirt" not diet. That's what happens with I type without my glasses.

First deer of the season - 174lbs on the hoof, 15¾" inside spread, probably 3½ years old but might even be 2½.

Heart shot w/under barrel, 150 grain Accubond loaded by Federal Premium in a nickel casing. He went maybe 25 yards.

One thing Africa did for me was to solidify in my mind that the heart shot is the best all around approach to hunting. Prior to Africa, I was searching for the best DRT (dead right there) shot but lost a deer with a high shoulder shot right at dark. Since I hunt in the woods without a lot of time between trees to shoot, I think I'm sold on the heart shot.



The buck showed up the night before I shot him and got in front of a trail camera. I didn't see it until I pulled the card after the hunt. I have a shot cam but it was early and under a heavy canopy so the video is very grainy.

Rubberhead said:

First deer of the season - 174lbs on the hoof, 15¾" inside spread, probably 3½ years old but might even be 2½.

Heart shot w/under barrel, 150 grain Accubond loaded by Federal Premium in a nickel casing. He went maybe 25 yards.

One thing Africa did for me was to solidify in my mind that the heart shot is the best all around approach to hunting. Prior to Africa, I was searching for the best DRT (dead right there) shot but lost a deer with a high shoulder shot right at dark. Since I hunt in the woods without a lot of time between trees to shoot, I think I'm sold on the heart shot.

The buck showed up the night before I shot him and got in front of a trail camera. I didn't see it until I pulled the card after the hunt. I have a shot cam but it was early and under a heavy canopy so the video is very grainy.

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Nice!
Tell us more about the over under.

Datchew said:

Nice!
Tell us more about the over under.

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Thanks for asking. I've had the hots for a Browning Continental since they first appeared in the Browning Catalogs back in the early 1980's. This is an O/U with interchangeable .30-06 and 20 gauge M/F barrels. It came in two grades, neither one of which I could afford. They only made a handful of them and most were bought by collectors. I looked on-and-off over the years but the price stayed just ahead of what my pragmatic ego and SIWK (single income with kids) ego could afford. Then, I lost a deer to a fumbled follow-up shot. I got more serious.

The Continental just didn't make sense, though. The 20 gauge barrels are choked M/F and were made before steel shot. Besides, they were redundant since I have a really well-loved 20 gauge bird gun, a SxS with IC/M barrels. Then I stumbled into this Browning Express. It's a Superpose with .30-06 barrels and the previous owner had it rigged with a 1.5x Leupold scope and swivel studs. I really don't think he ever shot it. It still had the Browning factory rust-preventative on it.

So, I'm getting long winded. But, I got the gun in April of 2020. I've killed, now, 13 whitetail bucks, a black coyote and 4 African species with it. I absolutely adore it. I've said it before but it doesn't just shoot where I'm aiming. It shoots where I'm thinking.

I've kept a Deer and Double Rifle (shout-out to Mark Sullivan) thread on AH here ->

At this point, I don't think it had saved me from losing an animal I've shot but it has made it a lot easier to find at least three whitetail bucks and a warthog. It's in the link above, but I think it also got me a deer that I wouldn't have gotten with any other action - lever, bolt, pump or single shot.

I don't remember if I've ever said it so succinctly but one of the biggest reasons I gave myself of getting a deer double is that there are a lot of days when I bird hunt in the morning (always with a top-lever double) then sit for a deer in the evening. It's too much to ask this aging brain to remember to thumb open a gun all morning then still be sharp enough to remember to work a bolt in the heat of battle later that same day. The deer double solves that problem.

PARA45 said:

Yes sir, two bucks only.

My apologies, I meant to type "my little piece of dirt" not diet. That's what happens with I type without my glasses.

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"My little piece of dirt that will fuel my diet."

There; fixed it for you.

Had to cover about 5 miles of public land, backtracking single tracks and the like, before I found any real signs or indications of actual routes. Narrowed it down a bit near the end of the day. A couple hundred yards of nice scrapes.

Rubberhead said:

First deer of the season - 174lbs on the hoof, 15¾" inside spread, probably 3½ years old but might even be 2½.

Heart shot w/under barrel, 150 grain Accubond loaded by Federal Premium in a nickel casing. He went maybe 25 yards.

One thing Africa did for me was to solidify in my mind that the heart shot is the best all around approach to hunting. Prior to Africa, I was searching for the best DRT (dead right there) shot but lost a deer with a high shoulder shot right at dark. Since I hunt in the woods without a lot of time between trees to shoot, I think I'm sold on the heart shot.

The buck showed up the night before I shot him and got in front of a trail camera. I didn't see it until I pulled the card after the hunt. I have a shot cam but it was early and under a heavy canopy so the video is very grainy.

Click to expand...

It's interesting how everyone has different preferences and results. I hate heart shots. I've had more tracking from clean heart shots (hit heart and nothing else- including ribs) than any other type of good kill shot. The longest I've had to wait for a deer to die, dropped on the spot from a heart shot but kicked for several minutes before expiring. Since it was heart shot, a lung follow up wouldn't have done much and being a buck, I didn't want to shoot it in the head, so I had to just stand there feeling bad. I try to avoid heart shots at all costs now. To be fair I have had to shoot a couple a second time after a high shoulder shot, but they always drop from it and can't go anywhere, so that is my preference.

Tundra Tiger said:

"My little piece of dirt that will fuel my diet."

There; fixed it for you.

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Thank you TT, you are a wise man.

I was looking forward to our archery opener on the 15th but since Thursday afternoon we’ve had around 6” of rain and I’m afraid that my little bow plot may have drowned. When it stops raining I’ll get out there and take a look at it.

I started the season off in Oregon for Columbian Whitetail, a little known sub-specie in the Pacific Northwest. There are only 60 tags issued each year. I was fortunate to purchase a landowner tag from my Outfitter Taylor Thorp. I hunted Blacktail with him several years ago.

Season opened Saturday morning, and there was lots of fog. I got surprised by this buck at 45 yards and when I raised my rifle, he ran and I never got a shot.

I ended up shooting him Sunday evening at 381 yards. A very unique non-typical that Taylor is estimating at 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 years old.

Our season in Texas opened this past weekend. My first client out on opening morning took a fabulous Texas Gulf Coast Prairie low fence buck!