Posted on 11/05/2012 5:07:52 AM PST by marktwain
Early this morning, just as the sun was coming up, I was sitting on a pair of buckets with Tyler Kee in his brand new deer blind when a beautiful love-struck buck wandered into our field following a doe that had run through a few seconds earlier. And as I lined up my scope for what would be the fourth headshot on wildlife in a row, the biggest thing that was running through my mind was “I might be about to make history…”
The state of Texas has always made hunting with silencers illegal for game animals. Something about poaching being harder to detect for the game wardens. Anyway, this year they changed the rules, and for the first time silencers would be legal to use on deer and other such “game” animals. The older generation isn’t very happy about the change, but its now 100% legal starting this hunting season.
A hunting season which, by the way, opened for modern rifles this morning.
Considering the number of people that actually own a can (small), and then the subset that hunts (even smaller) and the subset of that subset that was out this morning for the opening shots of the season (infinitesimal) its a good chance that my 7:45 AM shot may have been the quietest kill ever made in the state. Which, quite frankly, is pretty cool. Add on the fact that it was a 300 AAC Blackout rifle and it gets even better.
or those interested, here’s a quick rundown of the equipment:
* AR-15 in 300 AAC Blackout
* AAC 762-SDN-6 Silencer
* Millet DMS Scope
* PNW Arms Hunting Ammo (110gr Ballistic Tip)
You would need a class 3 firearms license to do any effective goose culling around here. Even then you would run out of ammo long before you ran out of geese.
Are you sure that’s a deer ? I thought everything in Texas was BIGGER !!!!
I think you just bagged the largest Jackalope in Texas with a silencer Bud ,,,, That’s a small deer by Maryland standards .
You hit the nail on the head. It seems he was more interested in being the first silenced kill and making history than with with what he was shooting and how he was doing it. Definitely not typical.
On a side note, I have been to some ranches here in TX that put out feeders and it is like trying to shoot a deer at Mardi Gras...not really a sport. More like a circus. I mostly stick to birds these days for this reason.
,,,,, Looks more like a Texas Jackalope ,,,, Too small to be a deer .
Depending on what County you were in, might not want to show photo. The buck looks to be just barely or not quite meeting the BS 13” rule.
Having hunted for many years, not sure what advantage “silencer” gives. If we need to start hunting “anti-American progressives and Come-yets”, silencers will be good.
2 hours ago had one at least that big tip-toeing around me sniffin the Tink’s 69. Couldn’t get him to look up “ears in alert position” to estimate the damn 13” rule without “alert” instantly turning into “alarm”.
Personally I am close to despising those who put out feed for the wild game animals .
It smacks of cheating ;putting out food is a first step to domesticating stray dogs and cats and why should deer react any differently?
I have no problem at all with those hunters harvesting deer and other wild animals for food nor for landowners reducing the population of unwanted wolves,coyotes,bears, or any other animal that is actually destructive or a real danger.
My area has plentiful deer who ruin gardens and cause car crashes daily;also we have coyotes killing our pets and no doubt some livestock of the few farmers still trying to survive. .(I’m pretty certain coyotes ran my cow to death before being scared off-happened a couple years ago.The DNR zealously protects the predators ,so i guess DNR officers are Democrats!)
I hope Kentuckians pass the admendment of their state constitution to protect hunting.
I can shoot all the deer legally from my back window. I don't even have to go outside, just raise the window and "bang". Now if I could just get the wife to go and cut them up.
Chances are most folks would get away with harvesting a AR deer if they process it at home but is it really worth a minimum of 500 bucks or more for one 2.5 year old on the off chance a GW might decided to check you if you happen to run into one? Let the little guy go IMO and maybe next year he would be even better for you or someone else. Personally I wish their weren’t AR because I go for the meat but there are guys out there who want the trophy buck and AR in Texas seem to be working. Now if it was a spike, shoot his mutant ass all day long, their good eating. I recommend, right before you shoot, whistle and that will get a deer to stop moving and will get his ears up, but you got to be quick and decide if you’re going to shoot or not.
You may have just publicly confessed to a crime. You might consider having your post pulled.
I frequent a Texas hunting forum and heard a guy got fined $500.00 and had his buck taken by a GW because it had a 12-3/4” spread on the main beam when AR minimum 13” spread or one unbranched antler. So if a GW wants to ruin your day, they will over a measly 1/2 inch.
Sorry, meant 1/4”!
You CAN make your own silencer, you just have to applied for, and received, a $200 NFA tax stamp. Tell them what the serial number and markings will be, the size, etc., and when you get the stamp you’re good to go, start building it.
There’s many, many people in the US who have legally built their own silencers.
Ed
Thanks for the Whitetail tips, have only been hunting em for 50 years.
Aside from the antler hunters, I do not see any herd benefit to the 13 inch horsedoo. Not sure the college boyz have published any hard data yet.
Spikes, of course. They’l always be spikes.
Agreed and also agreed with the post to which you originally replied. Just because he could take the head shot does not mean it's a good idea. It does seem he was primarily interested in claiming he was the first to take a deer with that equipmnt on his rig.
All true, but I worry that the poster might not know all that. I’d wager that 99% of all DIY silencers did not comply with the unfortunate law.
Full power 115-125 grain ammunition matches the ballistics of the 7.62x39mm AK, and eclipses 5.56mm with much higher-mass projectiles for a more dramatic effect on the target. Or choose subsonic cartridges for optimal use with a sound suppressor - 220 grain Sierra OTM (open-tip match) bullets vastly outperforms a 9mm MP5-SD in penetration and long range accuracy.
It protects your hearing. I have lost quite a bit of mine. How about you?
I would particularily appreciate a silencer, as I would like to be able to use what hearing I have left to listen for game.
Not so much hearing loss as the “extra” non-stop ringing tinnitus. Hunting rifle shooting probably much less damaging than too many years of jet engines, power plants, hot rodding, hot hand loaded 44 mags and 60’s Rock and Roll.
Silencer is akin to mucho gaggets on a cell phone. Not essential, but cool and braggable.
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