🏹 Let’s Talk Hunting – Share Your Stories, Preparation & Tips! 🌲

3Wliners · Mar 31, 2025

Whether you’re deep into hunting season, gearing up for your next adventure, or simply reminiscing about past hunts, this thread is for you! Hunting is more than just a sport—it’s about skill, patience, tradition, and the thrill of the outdoors.

So, let’s hear it—What’s your hunting story?

Share your experiences, photos, or plans below!

What’s your most memorable hunting trip?

How do you prepare for a successful hunt? Any gear recommendations or tips?

What’s on your hunting bucket list for the future?

Even if you’re not hunting right now, we’d love to hear about your preparation process, favorite memories, or what you’re looking forward to. Whether it's the solitude of the woods, the camaraderie of a group hunt, or the challenge itself—share it with us!

Looking forward to your stories and tips. Happy hunting, everyone!

Fatbob Frank · Mar 31, 2025

This is a repost of a story I did for another forum:

350 Legend- A Hunter's Perspective
The Man- I've been deer hunting in North East Iowa for 35 years.
As many of you may know Iowa is a shotgun only state up until a few years ago when they started allowing rifles using straight-walled ammo over .357 dia.
For an Iowa boy who started hunting with a 12ga shooting 1oz rifled slugs then 12ga Sabots out of a scoped, rifled slug gun and finally a rifled 20ga this was exciting news!

I bought a .450 Bushmaster but didn't get to harvest a deer with it.
( I'm not a meat hunter anymore, but just looking for a trophy buck.)

The Legend-
The year the 350 Legend came out my cousin and I decided to try them for ourselves.
We were very impressed with the accuracy and how soft shooting they were.
(The .450 isn't very fun to shoot and the only ammo for it is expensive hunting ammo anyway)
One of the smartest things Winchester did when developing the round was design a 145gn FMJ target round as well as a couple hunting options. This round is fun to shoot!
Recoils less than my 7.62x39 IMO.
We were pretty stoked to use them during Iowa's gun season.

The Hunt-
We went up to my other cousin's farm early opening day.
We typically have a party of 6-8 but this year it was just myself,my cousin Kirk, my other cousin Logan and his father.
A bit of a disadvantage cause the rough-hilly area we hunt requires posting shooters at likely points and driving deer to them.
Because we were somewhat short handed(and had 9 tags to fill) Logan and my uncle who are meat hunters and all about stocking their freezer informed me to "get off my high horse and put some deer down".
So I resigned myself to taking a doe or two to contribute to the task, while still watching for a bruiser.
I shot and missed a decent 7 pointer. A table buck we call them- big bodied, but not a huge rack. It busted out about 150 yards in front of me running hard.
I hesitated at first cause I'm used to slug throwers and it would have been a waste of shells to even try to hit him at that range.
But then I remembered I had a rifle and took aim and fired. I shot 3 times at him but missed all 3. (Fortunately he ran to Kirk who put him down.)
Afterwards I realized that I was probably over leading him cause these 350s were moving nearly twice as fast as a slug.
Later,standing on post, I saw Kirk kick up a decent doe and pulled up on her as she ran flat-out across field. Frankly, she was so far away I probably should have let her go, but I kept thinking "9 tags to fill" so I shot.
My first shot hit her in mid leap and I watched in amazement as she did a summersault.
It was at least a 250 yard shot! (Kirk said closer to 280)
A standing offhand shot at a running deer! (With a just a 4x scope.)
That is the farthest shot I've ever taken. Not just at an animal, but ever.
(our range has a steel gong at 150 yards and that's about the longest I get to use.)
Followed quickly by my second longest shot.
I walked about 20-30 yards towards it when I saw she was on her front legs trying to pull herself to the treeline a few yards away.
I hate to see an animal in distress like that, so I went down on one knee and put a second right through the heart!

Now I know some of you rifle hunters ( especially you magnum guys) are probably laughing at a measly 250 yard shot, but to an Iowa shotgunner that's a previously unheard of range.
I was the talk of the deercamp that night!

The Conclusion-I ended up taking a second doe that day and Logan (who was trying a 350 Legend for the first time as well) took a doe and this nice 11pointer.

We harvested 6 in all opening day and got the other 3 tagged by 9:30 Sun morning.
The general consensus between the 3 of us is the 350 Legend rocks!
Only my uncle isn't in love with the cartridge but it's probably more about the AR platform we are using than the bullet itself.
Plus he refuses to give up his scoped 870 and Remington Accutips."If it ain't broke" he says.
Still, the 350 will require some getting used to.
Ranging, hold over, how far to lead a walking deer, how far to lead a running deer-these are all skills I've developed over years of practice and now will need practice to relearn them again, but thanks to the 350 Legend I'm looking forward to it....

Oh, and I got my bruiser....

Fatbob Frank · Mar 31, 2025

One more thing- None of the deer we shot including a couple big bucks seemed to show any expansion in the wound cavity.
Entrance and exit holes looked the same. As if we were using FMJs.
We were all 3 shooting Winchester 180gn PowerPoints.
The box says suitable for deer, hogs and bear. This was probably a mistake on our part.
Hogs and bear are thick skinned animals and penetration is your friend.
Whitetails, even big Iowa ones are thin skinned animals.
Rounds just passed right through.
I have ordered a couple boxes of Winchester's 150gn Deer Season XPs.
These are designed for whitetails.
The poly tip is supposed to improve B.C. as well as aid expansion.

I was talking to a neighbor who was hunting with a different group.
I told him about my new 350 Legend rifle and he said a guy in his group was using a Ruger American in 350 Legend and it was devastating on the doe he shot.
He hit her in the neck and she crumpled in her tracks.
Said it left a massive exit wound.(something none of us had seen in our kills)
He was using the Winchester Deer Season XPs.

Upgraded to a Trijicon 3-9X Accupoint...

Fatbob Frank · Mar 31, 2025

This fall my cousin Logan's son Axle was on his first ever hunt during the Iowa youth season.
He was using a Ruger American bolt-action in 350 Legend...
He shot this guy on his last day...

Not bad for a second grader...