It would be a gross understatement to say that today was an interesting deer hunt!
I stayed up all night, and readied myself to travel at 2:30. By 3:00 a.m., I was on the road, for the 3 hour trip to the family farm. My brother leases his land to some local farmers who were unable to harvest the corn due to all of the rain. Let me tell you, that fact seriously reduced the shooting distances. We sight-in at 300 yards, and shots range from 300 to 525 yards. I took my range-finder, and the farthest shot I could take was 225 yards. Talk about your piece of cake, especially with a Weatherby Mark V, in .300 Win Mag, and a 6-24 scope!!!
Well, I arrived to the family farm around 5:55 a.m. and visited with my older brother until about 7:15. We walked out the prescribed areas where folks would set, and spooked several deer in the process. When I arrived to my spot, I readied myself, and waited for deer season open around 7:37 am. By about 7:45 a.m., the region sounded like a war zone. I have never heard so many shots, and from all directions. I watched about 10 does run the edge of the neighbor’s land (about 400 yards out), and enter the pine trees. Low and behold, a deer exits from the neighbor’s land, about 400 yards out…but I don’t have approval to hunt there…all I can do is watch it--but I’m watching it run directly to me. I placed the crosshairs on a buck that was coming full-tilt, straight at me like a freight train…did I mention he was going to run my butt down?!
When the buck was at about 300 yards, I turned the scope to 24X to get a good look-see. It was a buck alright, but mattered little because I had two licenses, one for buck, and one for antlerless. Let me assure you, looking at a freight train deer at 24X is even worse, and it was making a dead-on b-line for me. I lowered the power back to 6X and thought to myself…stay low…draw it in…stay calm…keep the crosshairs dead-center. As the deer got to about 100 yards, I removed the safety and kept the crosshairs dead-center. As the buck crossed the property line, about 75 yards out, it still was coming straight at me. I touched off the first round…kabooom…thud! I expected the deer as if hit by a majic bullet to instantly fold over dead, as they all did when I used a .300 Wea. Magnum.
Well, that didn’t happen! It kept coming full-tilt, and I’m in a panic! I rack round two, and kabooooom…thud…a second solid hit, it shuddered ever so slightly, but keeps going full-out for me. Now, I’m thinking, I’m a dead man…this deer doesn’t see me, but hears shooting. I stand to move over and the deer sees me. It is now less than 30 yards away and going like a possessed beast. Fortunately it saw me and angled left of me about 10 to 15ish feet! Still way too close! I rack round 3 as fast as I can, and didn’t even have time to shoulder the rifle. I was literally forced to point-shoot…kabooom…waccccccckkkkk! The buck was running full-speed and literally folded in mid-air…it’s front, left leg pulled full-up, head-down, antlers into the dirt and went @$$-over-tea kettle for about 15 feet. It impacted with such force that it sheered it antlers, and rolled and skidded for about 15 feet.
What struck me odd was that it took 3 very well-placed shots to drop the monster. The first shot severed the heart. The second shot went through the mid and rear of the lungs. Neither shot ever solidly phased the beast! The third shot was literally a non-sighted shot, by that I mean quite literally point shooting with my rifle. Good cripe I have never seen anything like it in my nearly 40 years of hunting.
I walked the about 12 to 15 feet to the left where the beast lay kicking, still trying to escape, and pondered drawing my CCW for a head-shot. Fortunately, it only kicked for about 5 seconds, and by the time I got to it, it was fully dead. I literally had to retrieve the left antler before I could count the points. It wasn’t the best rack I have ever taken, and certainly not the largest antlers, but it had a great body, with lots of meat! Can’t eat antlers! As I type, the deer is being processed and will literally be in our freezer by 10:30 tonight. The butcher keeps a same-day turn around.
Oddly enough, as I was gutting my deer, a nice 8-point buck came running through with a doe, or a very small spike. While I still had the doe permit, I thought it selfish to take a second deer when my brother was sitting less than 50 yards north of me, and the deer heading his way. I hollered to him, “Joe! 6:00! Buck!” Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a clear shot, and by then they were out of my view. So, anyhow, my cousin shot a 10-point with his rifle, and a 4-point with his .44 Mag revolver. I got a 7-point, and my brother could not quite get the angle on an 8-point…this all within a 10 minute period on opening day. I have never seen so many bucks in a single day. What a great hunt. Edit to add, just got a call from my father. My brother just harvested a big-bodied 3-point. Man, 4 bucks in a single day!
Be safe all, and I hope your hunts are as-successful-as ours was today.
Edit to add: I just came back from the butcher and getting the deer. It netted 60 pounds of boneless meat, and 5 pounds were taken out for making Jalipeno sausage. So in total, 65 pounds of boneless meat. Now I need to go back tomorrow to harvest a doe.
Doc2005
I stayed up all night, and readied myself to travel at 2:30. By 3:00 a.m., I was on the road, for the 3 hour trip to the family farm. My brother leases his land to some local farmers who were unable to harvest the corn due to all of the rain. Let me tell you, that fact seriously reduced the shooting distances. We sight-in at 300 yards, and shots range from 300 to 525 yards. I took my range-finder, and the farthest shot I could take was 225 yards. Talk about your piece of cake, especially with a Weatherby Mark V, in .300 Win Mag, and a 6-24 scope!!!
Well, I arrived to the family farm around 5:55 a.m. and visited with my older brother until about 7:15. We walked out the prescribed areas where folks would set, and spooked several deer in the process. When I arrived to my spot, I readied myself, and waited for deer season open around 7:37 am. By about 7:45 a.m., the region sounded like a war zone. I have never heard so many shots, and from all directions. I watched about 10 does run the edge of the neighbor’s land (about 400 yards out), and enter the pine trees. Low and behold, a deer exits from the neighbor’s land, about 400 yards out…but I don’t have approval to hunt there…all I can do is watch it--but I’m watching it run directly to me. I placed the crosshairs on a buck that was coming full-tilt, straight at me like a freight train…did I mention he was going to run my butt down?!
When the buck was at about 300 yards, I turned the scope to 24X to get a good look-see. It was a buck alright, but mattered little because I had two licenses, one for buck, and one for antlerless. Let me assure you, looking at a freight train deer at 24X is even worse, and it was making a dead-on b-line for me. I lowered the power back to 6X and thought to myself…stay low…draw it in…stay calm…keep the crosshairs dead-center. As the deer got to about 100 yards, I removed the safety and kept the crosshairs dead-center. As the buck crossed the property line, about 75 yards out, it still was coming straight at me. I touched off the first round…kabooom…thud! I expected the deer as if hit by a majic bullet to instantly fold over dead, as they all did when I used a .300 Wea. Magnum.
Well, that didn’t happen! It kept coming full-tilt, and I’m in a panic! I rack round two, and kabooooom…thud…a second solid hit, it shuddered ever so slightly, but keeps going full-out for me. Now, I’m thinking, I’m a dead man…this deer doesn’t see me, but hears shooting. I stand to move over and the deer sees me. It is now less than 30 yards away and going like a possessed beast. Fortunately it saw me and angled left of me about 10 to 15ish feet! Still way too close! I rack round 3 as fast as I can, and didn’t even have time to shoulder the rifle. I was literally forced to point-shoot…kabooom…waccccccckkkkk! The buck was running full-speed and literally folded in mid-air…it’s front, left leg pulled full-up, head-down, antlers into the dirt and went @$$-over-tea kettle for about 15 feet. It impacted with such force that it sheered it antlers, and rolled and skidded for about 15 feet.
What struck me odd was that it took 3 very well-placed shots to drop the monster. The first shot severed the heart. The second shot went through the mid and rear of the lungs. Neither shot ever solidly phased the beast! The third shot was literally a non-sighted shot, by that I mean quite literally point shooting with my rifle. Good cripe I have never seen anything like it in my nearly 40 years of hunting.
I walked the about 12 to 15 feet to the left where the beast lay kicking, still trying to escape, and pondered drawing my CCW for a head-shot. Fortunately, it only kicked for about 5 seconds, and by the time I got to it, it was fully dead. I literally had to retrieve the left antler before I could count the points. It wasn’t the best rack I have ever taken, and certainly not the largest antlers, but it had a great body, with lots of meat! Can’t eat antlers! As I type, the deer is being processed and will literally be in our freezer by 10:30 tonight. The butcher keeps a same-day turn around.
Oddly enough, as I was gutting my deer, a nice 8-point buck came running through with a doe, or a very small spike. While I still had the doe permit, I thought it selfish to take a second deer when my brother was sitting less than 50 yards north of me, and the deer heading his way. I hollered to him, “Joe! 6:00! Buck!” Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a clear shot, and by then they were out of my view. So, anyhow, my cousin shot a 10-point with his rifle, and a 4-point with his .44 Mag revolver. I got a 7-point, and my brother could not quite get the angle on an 8-point…this all within a 10 minute period on opening day. I have never seen so many bucks in a single day. What a great hunt. Edit to add, just got a call from my father. My brother just harvested a big-bodied 3-point. Man, 4 bucks in a single day!
Be safe all, and I hope your hunts are as-successful-as ours was today.
Edit to add: I just came back from the butcher and getting the deer. It netted 60 pounds of boneless meat, and 5 pounds were taken out for making Jalipeno sausage. So in total, 65 pounds of boneless meat. Now I need to go back tomorrow to harvest a doe.
Doc2005
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