Thread: Poor Man's AR

These black semi-automatic AR's in .223 seem to be popular for hunting nowadays and I've noticed threads on here about what ranges they are good for etc. So it made me keen to haul out my el-cheapo version of a AR .223 for a hunt.

Yesterday I was up country working so it wasn't hard to drive from PNth to a hunting spot.
It was a nice evening following a little bit of rain and almost straight after getting to a lookout I spotted deer. 2 velvet stags were resting up on a little clearing. It took about 20 minutes to stalk to 80 yards of them in a swirling wind but when I crested a little rise for the shot they had disappeared.

So that meant a steep 40 minute climb to the next glassing spot.
I know the area pretty well and know where to look and soon enough spotted a lone deer on a Punga face a few hundred yards away. It looked like a hind but I stalked in closer in case it had a friend. At closer inspection I could make out velvet spikes. "Unlucky you", I thought to my self. The deer was partly obscured, and then disappeared. So I waited. 5 minutes later it reappeared in amongst the Punga's and presented its shoulder for a shot. 224 yards with a bi-pod, my pack under the butt and Swarvoski 3-9 wound up isn't a difficult shot, but I still took my time. When the deer was slightly quartered to me I held in line with the from leg and squeezed the excellently crisp (but cheap) trigger.

There was no sound of a hit, and no reaction from the deer apart from it instantly scarpering. I sat there for several minutes watching and glassing and there was no movement - sometimes you can see trees moving or flashes of a deer if its falling or wounded. Nothing. So Tilly and waited another 5 m minutes before crossing the gully and looking for it.

There wasn't a breath of wind, and it was hot. Not very good conditions for the dog to find it in. I kept her in and quietly stalked to where it had been when I fired. Not a sign and apart from sniffing the ground Tilly wasn't very interested. So I sidled the face with her at heel, and there down below me I could see the deer hooked up on some trees. She still wasn't interested so I sent her off to "find", and she shot off in the opposite direction. I could hear her back tracking as I wandered down to the deer and when I was about 10 yards from it she came rushing past and claimed it as her own. She had obviously back tracked and picked up the scent, and then followed it back down to where it was. The deer had travelled about 25 yards from where I had shot it

There was neat little .223 hole where I had aimed high-ish on the shoulder and the 69 grain Sierra Tipped Matchking had penetrated right through and exited out through behind the opposite shoulder. Good performance for a little bullet.

The deer was in a great position for a bone out job which made it easy and it was only 7.00pm so I had plenty of time. Its so much better when when there is plenty of time and you are not fighting nettles in some shitty wet gully.

I saw another deer carrying this one out but I had a good load so I let it be. it was 10pm when I got back to my vehicle and to top off a wonderful evening 2 deer jumped the fence off the road on my way out to the tar seal.

It was 1.15 am when I hopped into bed and announced to my wife "I got one". "That's nice" she said automatically in her sleep.







And oh, here's my poor man's AR...a shitty old lightweight Savage .223 ...