I have used Hornady, Sierra and Speer bullets, I consider all to be good bullets. I am currently reloading the Hornady 139gr spire point for my 7X57. I have been able to retrieve a couple of the bullets that I used to kill deer and the Hornady performed the best. The Sierra 120gr was good also and the Speer 130 gr kinda blew apart but got the job done. The Hornady bullet was a perfect mushroom which was shot into the neck of a deer that was looking right at me. The bullet traveled thru the neck and spine, and half way down the length of the backstrap, nice penetration and great weight retention. The Speer was found in three pieces. The Speer was shot thru a deer that was quartering away breaking 3 ribs and lodging against the inside of the opposite shoulder.  The weight retention was not great and the penetration was ok but you have to take into account that the bullet hit 3 ribs. I was never able to recover any of the Sierra bullets because I only used them for 1 year and did a lot to head shooting and rabbit shooting with them. All of the deer that I shot with the Sierras went straight to the ground except for one doe that I did shoot in the chest and she only went 20 yards. Take it for what its worth Ike, I would go with the Hornady 180 because of the weight retention and penetration especially for bear. Don't want to become dinner. Let us know how the  bear hunt goes.

My buddies and I hunt the Davy Crockett National Forest between Crockett and Lufkin. We are going to hunt the Big Slough Wilderness area some this year, nice and swampy and hard to get around. The area looks good. We also hunt the State land within the DCFN, there are some really big bucks in the forest just takes a lot of work to get them. There aint no sitting in a box blind with a feeder, we hunt the trails and a couple of areas where the deer are heading out of the forest onto private property that have nice food plots. Two years ago I was hunting a scrape in a very well traveled area. I doctored the scrape with some doe in heat just before I climbed up into a tree. While waiting for daylight I had a deer come from a creek behind me walk directly under my stand. I don't know if it was a buck or a doe but it went to the scrape and started freshening it up. Then at about 8:00 I had a large 140 class buck coming accross a ridge about 100 yds away and down a trail that would lead him to the scrape directly in front of my stand. My brother was up on the ridge about 150 yards from me. Well he had a 50 yard shot and took it and missed. The buck did not run so I pulled out the grunt and blew on it a couple of times. The buck started to trot towards me so I got ready to make the shot. I'm not sure what happened next but he got a little spooked and then just turned and walked directly away. Oh the heart break of bow hunting. He may still be in the honey hole, I will find out this year.

I personally try to stay away from the pipelines, they are the eaziest access and will attract many hunters. Try to find places that are travel corridors for the deer, usually really thick and the brush is taller than you. Now, get in your climber and go 25 to 30 feet up and you can see down into the brush. I shot my best buck at 50 yards, I was just 70 yards from the road and 1/2 mile from the hunter camp on opening day of the 98 rifle season. I was in a natural travel corridor and he was chasing a doe. This area lead from the camp to some thick brush. I could see hunters in trucks going up and down the road that ran parallel to the corridor. My buddy shot a Pope and Young just 2 weeks earlier about 400 yards down the corridor from my stand.

I just read the story about your elk hunt, what a great experience that must have been. I am really sorry that you were not able to recover your elk. I know that feeling to some extent, I shot a doe that I did not recover last year and I was heartbroken over that. I can imagine your heart ache Danny but I am glad to see that it did not kill your spirit for the hunt. I hope you kill an elk twice as big on your next trip. Here are a couple of things that may help with the shooting at night.

http://www.cabelas.com/information/Archery/Peep-Sights-and-Accessories0004479/Redhawk--Peep0004479414547a.html

http://www.twilightpinlight.com/

Well we had a great time on bow opener. Although we did not kill any deer we did see some and had a great time with my friends sons who were on their first hunt where they were shooting instead of watching. The weather was kind of tough opening day. The morning hunt was just cool enough to keep you from sweating in the stand but the rest of the day, including the evening hunt was too hot for my blood. My brother saw 5 does Saturday morning with nothing but a spotted fawn offering a shot that he did not take. My friend Jim kind of got turned around in the dense forest in the predawn and climbed the wrong tree.  At 7:45 two 4 pt bucks came out and were feeding under an oak tree. He stood and took a shot and the arrow deflected off of a limb missing the buck by 10 yards. If he had not climbed the wrong tree he would have had an open shot, so goes bow hunting. I saw a ton of squrrils and crows but no deer.  My other friend with his sons did not see anything either. Saturday evening Jim saw a doe that was just out of bow range. My brother, Donny and sons and I saw nothing. Sunday morning was much cooler but the deer did not cooperate. None of us saw anything on Sunday. All in all we still had a great time on the hunt and we know that the hunting in the forest only gets better later in bow season.

Did anyone else have luck opener?