Legionnaire
Contributing Member
At 0600 on the first Monday of NY's southern tier gun season I was once again sitting in a tree stand at a friend's farm waiting for sunrise. Thanks to my lifetime NY license, they send me my tags every year, and since I've not had time to scout out places to hunt in PA yet, I took two days off to hunt on land I already know.
At 0600, the moon was high, and so bright that it was casting shadows. Unfortunately, that often means that the deer are moving a lot at night and might not be quite as evident during the daylight. I heard movement in the woods before sun up, but nothing came close enough for me to tell what it was. Might have been deer, might have been a coyote. I've seen several of the latter in recent years.
It turned into a beautiful day. Mostly sunny with moderate temperatures, probably approaching fifty degrees. The squirrels were out in abundance, as were the crows, geese, chickadees, and woodpeckers. But I didn't see any deer from sunrise until 1400. So I started thinking about moving. I figured that since it was still early in the season, the deer might still be feeding in the harvested fields east of the woods before sundown. So I climbed down from the stand, packed up my gear in my backpack, and slowly worked my way up the hill, planning to settle into a hedgerow between two fields.
The hedgerow runs east-west, the west end joining the woods, the row sloping up to the east. The hedgerow itself is more a strip of woods than a hedge, with numerous mature trees as well as the more traditional scrub. It's also a good ten to fifteen yards wide. I sat down in the row about twenty feet up from the woods, facing the cornfield to the north. That field had several rows of corn still standing since it was planted in a swampy place where the harvester couldn't get to it. I figured it was sure to attract deer. But I kept "checking my six" to keep an eye on the field to my south. That field had the remainder of alternating strips of corn and alfalfa, all of which had been harvested.
Just after 1500, as I once again looked over my shoulder to the south, I saw two doe emerge from the woods near the far end of that field, jog across the intervening patch of alfalfa, and start to browse the harvested corn. They were well over 100 yards away, but they were the first deer I had seen all day. So I slowly got up and started working my way back through the hedgerow to see if I could get a shot (I had two doe tags in addition to my buck tag).
The two doe were browsing up the hill and slightly away. As I began working my way through the hedgerow, a third deer appeared from the brush at the far end of the field and began browsing toward me. A buck! I was moving as quietly as I could, but apparently he heard me as his head came up and he looked my direction. I froze, still a good ten feet back in the hedgerow. When he looked down again, I got on my belly and low crawled to an opening in the brush, stopping each time the buck raised his head.
I guestimated the distance to be a bit over 100 yards. Through the scope on my rifled shotgun (Mossberg 500), I could see he was a fairly good sized six point. The problem was he was head on toward me. I'd have much prefered to take a broadside or quartering away shot. But from the prone position, the scope was rock steady. So when he put his head down again, I held just between his shoulder blades and squeezed off. The copper saboted slug hit him in the spine just at the shoulders and he went down like he'd been pole-axed, dead before he hit the ground.
The recoil from the shot opened the action of my Mossberg 500 and ejected the fired case. I closed the action and took aim at the big doe that trotted over, alert, to see what had happened to the buck. I got a nice broadside sight picture and squeezed off, hoping to fill one of my doe tags at the same time. "Click." Apparently, the gun had short-cycled and I'd not chambered another round. I worked the action, trying to do so quietly, but the doe spooked and both disappeared into the brush at the far end of the field. I don't know if she heard me cycle the action or just spooked at the dead buck. Either way, she was gone.
I got up and paced off the distance to the buck, stepping generously to err on the short side. 140 paces. Not bad at all for a rifled shotgun. The buck was down in the field, so no need to drag him. Gutted him out, and then went and got the truck. I'll not bore you with the details of getting the truck stuck on the way out (turns out my 4-wheel-drive unit wasn't functioning properly). A couple of the land owner's sons helped me get it free. Tuesday a.m. I went out again to try and fill my doe tag. I saw at least four deer, but didn't get a shot. Nevertheless, I had a great couple of days in the woods!
At 0600, the moon was high, and so bright that it was casting shadows. Unfortunately, that often means that the deer are moving a lot at night and might not be quite as evident during the daylight. I heard movement in the woods before sun up, but nothing came close enough for me to tell what it was. Might have been deer, might have been a coyote. I've seen several of the latter in recent years.
It turned into a beautiful day. Mostly sunny with moderate temperatures, probably approaching fifty degrees. The squirrels were out in abundance, as were the crows, geese, chickadees, and woodpeckers. But I didn't see any deer from sunrise until 1400. So I started thinking about moving. I figured that since it was still early in the season, the deer might still be feeding in the harvested fields east of the woods before sundown. So I climbed down from the stand, packed up my gear in my backpack, and slowly worked my way up the hill, planning to settle into a hedgerow between two fields.
The hedgerow runs east-west, the west end joining the woods, the row sloping up to the east. The hedgerow itself is more a strip of woods than a hedge, with numerous mature trees as well as the more traditional scrub. It's also a good ten to fifteen yards wide. I sat down in the row about twenty feet up from the woods, facing the cornfield to the north. That field had several rows of corn still standing since it was planted in a swampy place where the harvester couldn't get to it. I figured it was sure to attract deer. But I kept "checking my six" to keep an eye on the field to my south. That field had the remainder of alternating strips of corn and alfalfa, all of which had been harvested.
Just after 1500, as I once again looked over my shoulder to the south, I saw two doe emerge from the woods near the far end of that field, jog across the intervening patch of alfalfa, and start to browse the harvested corn. They were well over 100 yards away, but they were the first deer I had seen all day. So I slowly got up and started working my way back through the hedgerow to see if I could get a shot (I had two doe tags in addition to my buck tag).
The two doe were browsing up the hill and slightly away. As I began working my way through the hedgerow, a third deer appeared from the brush at the far end of the field and began browsing toward me. A buck! I was moving as quietly as I could, but apparently he heard me as his head came up and he looked my direction. I froze, still a good ten feet back in the hedgerow. When he looked down again, I got on my belly and low crawled to an opening in the brush, stopping each time the buck raised his head.
I guestimated the distance to be a bit over 100 yards. Through the scope on my rifled shotgun (Mossberg 500), I could see he was a fairly good sized six point. The problem was he was head on toward me. I'd have much prefered to take a broadside or quartering away shot. But from the prone position, the scope was rock steady. So when he put his head down again, I held just between his shoulder blades and squeezed off. The copper saboted slug hit him in the spine just at the shoulders and he went down like he'd been pole-axed, dead before he hit the ground.
The recoil from the shot opened the action of my Mossberg 500 and ejected the fired case. I closed the action and took aim at the big doe that trotted over, alert, to see what had happened to the buck. I got a nice broadside sight picture and squeezed off, hoping to fill one of my doe tags at the same time. "Click." Apparently, the gun had short-cycled and I'd not chambered another round. I worked the action, trying to do so quietly, but the doe spooked and both disappeared into the brush at the far end of the field. I don't know if she heard me cycle the action or just spooked at the dead buck. Either way, she was gone.
I got up and paced off the distance to the buck, stepping generously to err on the short side. 140 paces. Not bad at all for a rifled shotgun. The buck was down in the field, so no need to drag him. Gutted him out, and then went and got the truck. I'll not bore you with the details of getting the truck stuck on the way out (turns out my 4-wheel-drive unit wasn't functioning properly). A couple of the land owner's sons helped me get it free. Tuesday a.m. I went out again to try and fill my doe tag. I saw at least four deer, but didn't get a shot. Nevertheless, I had a great couple of days in the woods!
