Opening morning of 2006 deer season I watched a trail on top of the hill near the large pines. When I was cold and stiff and could sit no more I headed south and east through the scrub brush of what had once been a cow pasture to an area where I had seen sign for years but rarely encountered and never harvested deer.

I was carrying my Cetme with its Mossy-Oak camouflage stock and a five round magazine stuffed with 150 grain Speer semi-jacketed soft points over IMR4350. This load prints about six inch groups with open sites at 100 yards for me, so I thought it would be adequate for hunting in hilly, wooded terrain. I had sat watching a trail for about three hours and decided that I might have more luck walking around.

I’d walk for a few yards, stop a few minutes and walk a few more steps. Pausing once more I heard deer walking on the far side of a rocky ledge. This rocky ledge is shaped like a half buried football about 20 feet high, 30 yards wide, and 200 yards long. Because the ledge is solid rock, tree cover is sparse in the immediate area. So even though there are thick woods around the knob, I had about a hundred yards line of sight down the face of the ledge in both directions.

Although the ledge was between us, the deer were only about 30 yards away. They had been bedded on top of the ridge until I just got too close for their comfort. When I approached they slipped down the back side and that’s the movement I heard. They obviously knew I was there, but I couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see me. The rock face between us was far too steep for me to climb over before they could bound out of sight and it completely blocked my view of them. What to do now?

The deer and the ledge were to the east. It runs north/south and I had a clear view down the face in both directions. Abandoning any attempt at stealth I turned north and took a few noisy steps. As expected, I heard the deer head south. It actually occurred to me that I might panic them into a blunder so I ran directly toward the knob as if I was going to climb and follow them. I’ve found that deer rarely flee in a straight line for long and that held true this time as well. As they bounded away I turned south where I could see about 100 yards down the near side of the ledge and brought my rifle up to my shoulder. God was smiling on me because the deer followed the curve of the knob on their side. Had I actually followed them over the top, they would have simply circled the knob and been out of sight on this side as I came down the far side. Instead because I stayed put, they bounded into sight at the far end of the knob and stopped looking back waiting to see me blundering over the ridge.

Nesting the front post down in the V of the rear sight, I took aim at the chest of the deer most visible and fired. The small buck was standing facing me at a slight angle. At my shot, he spun 180 degrees, scrambled a bit and ran out of sight directly away as I fired again. I was a little surprised that he didn’t drop in place.

I topped off my magazine and went looking for him. Where he had stood I found blood and bits of shattered leg bone. I was pleased to have hit him, but with a leg wound I expected to have to track this deer until I could get another shot to put him down. I slowly followed the obvious blood trail and was pleasantly surprised to find the little buck down and breathing his last only about 150 yards from the point of impact.

I’m pleased with the load performance in that the bullet held plenty of power to break bone and keep going opening an exit wound over an inch in diameter and causing enough blood loss to prove quickly lethal. Shooting offhand with iron sights through some tree cover I suppose I can’t complain with the results of my shots, but I had aimed for the chest and hit this deer in the leg so I was initially disappointed in the accuracy.
Retracing the bullet’s path later I found the reason why. My shot had cut off a pencil sized sapling about 10 feet in front of the deer. After shearing through the sapling, the bullet’s path had shifted a few degrees left. This caused it to miss the deer’s chest and pass just outside his ribs until it hit the front of a hind leg just below the hip. The bullet broke the leg bone clean off just below the hip joint sending shards of bone through the hind quarter (and three feet beyond!). The exit wound was over an inch in diameter. The impact of this shot is what spun the deer around 180 degrees. I am surprised that it didn’t knock him off his feet completely.

Despite the intervening vegetation causing me to have not hit where I aimed, the first shot from the rifle at game proved lethal. My hurried second shot hit the flailing broken leg low as the deer ran away. So over all I can recommend the Cetme as a suitable hunting rifle for hilly wooded terrain where shots are relatively close and substantiate the cliché about how a 308 turns cover into concealment with lethal effect. I haven’t hunted with the Cetme again yet, but I have no doubt that I will, so watch for a follow up story in the fall.

Never been a fan of using military style rifles as either sporting arms or survival guns. Seems to have been the craze for quite some time. Popular thinking is that everyone needs a firearm like that because someday we will all be over run by zombies and killed, pillaged and so on. Who knows. Maybe they are right. I have gone a different route by purchasing bolt action sporting arms. My thoughts were if you are needing to hunt buy an accurate hunting rifle. I have purchased a couple of Marlin XL7 rifles all scoped and amazingly accurate. (I have spare scopes) Both in .270 Winchester. I have found the 130 grain bullets seem to kill the smaller deer better than the 30 caliber 150 grain. Just don't think there is enough meat involved to allow the 30 caliber bullet to open and do it's work. I have seen small deer well shot with a 150 grain out of a 30-06 run hundreds of yards, Deadly on bigger game though. In my way of thinking, humble as it is, revolves around being able to harvest game as far away as possible. Or as close. The .270 allows me to do that. Anything from antelope to moose can be downed. Have many friends who own the .308. Great round. Can you scope that gun? May make a huge difference. With my tired eyes a scope is a must for any distance. For close range defense I chose a Marlin 1894C in .357 magnum with a revolver in the same caliber. Put a fire sight on the front and a peep on the rear. I purchased a ton a spare critical parts for it so if society were to totally collapse I could repair it at home. Hope to buy another when income tax check rolls around. Got a bunch of reloading gear and components for everything. I'm a poor guy and everything I now have I got by putting a dollar away at a time. What I have spent on my guns is equal to what one would pay for a better quality AR or similar rifle. So between the two Marlin XL7 rifles and I hope soon two lever guns/revolvers and a couple of single shot 20 gauge shotguns I feel fairly prepared. I would also like to get a Marlin model 60 someday.. Everyone should own a .22. There is no one perfect survival/defense gun. So much depends on where you live. I'm fairly rural so I am comfy with what I have. I don't know much about the type of rifle you have. Seen pictures of one. Hope it works out for you..

Thanks for the reply

Nothing wrong with a good bolt action, I have done a lot of hunting with mine. I also too my moose last fall with my lever gun in 45-70. Sure works too.

Use what works for you and hunt safe

Mike

Toad does make some good points here. I would prefer a good accurate bolt action hunting rifle over a semi-auto military clone if I could choose only one type. Fortunately I have been able to get both.

I couldn't afford to go out and buy a good AR. Since they are modular in design, I decided to buy parts as I could afford to. It took almost a year to get everything together, but I got the job done. The total cost to build it on my own was less than $700 and it is built with quality, brand name parts and is a mil-spec rifle. The biggest reason I decided to go with an AR is not for zombies or such, but I do worry about groups of people trying to take what I have or posing a threat to those I care about. I would rather have the ammo capacity and rate of fire that an AR provides in this type of situation.

Toad also makes a good point here as well. I also reload all of my own ammo. It is much cheaper to reload your own and if you take some time to work up your loads to match your rifle, the accuracy will be much better than with factory ammo. Another plus is that reloading components that are packed properly are a little lighter and take up less room than loaded an packaged ammo.

Finally, I also agree that a person should have a variety of firearms that can be used in different situations. I also have a variety so different members of the family will have something they could comfortably use in an emergency.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Hunting with military weapons is "over kill" and no challenge for hunting wild animals. An example of this concept of hunting without a large caliber weapon is simple to demonstrate. Personally I prefer the old and trusty M14, 7.62 with a straight barrel but one morning I found myself setting under a tree on a mil res with an lr when I woke with the sun. I was looking into the big brown eyes of a 14 point buck. He was 6 ft in front of me grazing on prairie grasses that covered the hill I had climbed to overlooking a marsh. The question that flashed before me was: Is this rifle large enough to take-down a buck this size. I knew I could hit this big buck between the eyes at this distance but would I be able to drag the corpse down the hill to my truck in the marsh. I moved very slowly taking a grasp on the stock with my right hand on the barrel, ready to extent the lr to bore site with a hasty move. With my back up against the small oak tree I was perfectly comfortable but my knees were in my chest and holding me back from standing-up. The stock was too large to aim in time to take-down this large beast. At best I could only point in the desired direction and hope I didn't miss his massive skull. The only other time I've been this close to a large buck was when I was sleeping in an open field on a hill side overlooking LA. That time I woke with animals all around me as if they knew I wasn't hunting for game. This time is different. I'm here to shoot and if necessary carry the buck down to my truck and dress it where it lies. Sitting under this oak in the morning light with a brisk breeze flowing over the land was a sign a dusting of snow was sure for tonight. One minute had past since raising my head to see this beauty in the light of the dawn. One hand was on trigger and the other on the fore stock under the barrel. I raised the rifle inches up from between my knees and preventing sudden movements. Aiming with my right hand on the barrel and left fore finger on the trigger, I lifted the rifle to near level before hearing a clunking sound. I couldn't make-out this sound from anything around me in this oak forest. Nothing makes these sound naturally. Looking at the buck he was as mystified as me but stood his ground. I continued to point my barrel and sight-in his lovely head of antlers. I was thinking how wonderful his meat was going to be when I served it hot on my table during the cold days ahead. My finger was on the trigger and I knew the safety was off, because I never set the safety when I have a chambered shell. Ready, aim, fire! Wait, glancing over my left shoulder I saw a cj5 with two men in uniform. They didn't come to help me carry the game to the truck. I ran one way and the buck ran the other. I reached my truck in time to see the cj5 lose traction on the hill. My truck got stuck in the marsh when the granny gear was too low to get traction. Nothing was going though my head but how many years in Leavenworth I was prepared to serve. I was a private with a family to feed and the pay wasn't enough to make the rent payment.

I have never had a problem with commercial ammo in my CETME but have heard others have. They have enough accuracy to get the job done. The only thing that kept mine in the safe is the fact that I could carry two regular rifles a case of beer and a B-B-Q grill or for the same weight one CETME. It will work and be a workout at the same time.