Post by MountainMan on Dec 3, 2007 10:54:48 GMT -5
Setup
Quota hunt on a Tennessee WMA this weekend. Bag limit 2 deer, no more than one antered.
Marked my tree last weekend. When daylight arrived, I was 30 feet up in a split-trunked poplar at the base of a ridge. The light wind was mainly blowing right to left.
Slow Morning
I saw no deer all morning. I did see a flock of turkeys just after sunrise, and heard them in the woods all day. Also, a racoon and a peregrine falcon. Another hunter sat in the middle of the field until 11:30 a.m. An hour after she left, the deer started showing up.
A Little Action
At 12:45, a spike wandered through the shooting lane (at edge of trees to my far left), then along the edge of the field below me, and drank at the watering hole. I let him go--the scrapes, rubs, and "buck turds" in the area had me convinced there were larger deer around. It was the first time I put a legal deer in the crosshairs and voluntarily let it walk away.
At 1:15, six does came charging from the far left corner of the field and ran along the edge, dropping down toward the river as they got near, but not into, the shooting lane on my left.
Other deer moved along the edge near the river but never came high enough that I could get a clear shot.
Big Doe Down
At 4:30, I heard a shot, then a couple minutes later, three does trotted up from river and headed through the shooting lane toward the top of the ridge. I saw that one of the does had blood on her left rear haunches, so whistled to stop her. Instead, she whirled to run back toward the water. Since she was already wounded, I went ahead and shot even though she was moving. She went down on the spot but thrashed around for about 30 seconds. (In the "shooting lane" photo, you can see a tiny white speck near the red dot's 5 o'clock--that's her tail, actually.)
I swabbed reloaded and sat until about 10 minutes after sunset. It was so gorgeous, I included a photo of the sunset.
Buck!
About 5:35, I saw a deer coming down an old roadbed on the end of the ridge near the river. I got the gun up and caught a glimpse of antlers before he got to the shooting lane. When he stepped into the lane, I counted three points on the near beam; assuming he had brow tines, that made him an eight, so I aimed for lungs and fired.
He was ten feet or so to the left of the red dot when I fired. At the shot, he ran along the field edge until he got to the ceder tree in the far left corner. He then dropped out of sight toward the river, falling as he did so. I saw his head come back up then watched the brush thrashing for 5 seconds or so.
Down and Dirty
I climbed down, packed up my gear and went to the doe. Unfortunately, I hit her in the guts (I never would have taken the shot I did if she hadn't already been wounded). Upon field dressing, I found the other hunter's bullet had entered near the rectum and exited the left ham. Two bullet in the guts did not make for a pleasant gutting job!
I found the buck a third of the way down the riverbank tangled/burrowed down into a honeysuckle-covered bush. He had run about 85 yards, leaving frothy pink blood most of the way.
Stats
Doe was 81 pounds, field dressed, 1.5 years old.
Buck was 105 pounds, 14" outside spread, 2.5 years old.
Setup was a Savage 10ML-II, stainless/laminate, bedded & JB'd, topped with Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40.
Load was 300 Shockwave, HPH-24 sabot, 83.0 grains H322, and CCI 209M.
Bullet Performance
Massive entrance wound--nay, entrance destruction--on the doe. Buck had .75 - 1.0" entry wound and approximately 3" exit. Lungs were gone. Upon skinning, much of the ribcage on the exit side was bloodshot. I was rather surprised he had been able to make it almost 100 yards with the damage done.
Not my biggest buck ever, but definitely one of my most enjoyable days afield.
Pics
Click the photo below to see the entire slideshow (8 pictures). These were all taken with my cell phone camera, so please forgive the graininess.
Enjoy!
Quota hunt on a Tennessee WMA this weekend. Bag limit 2 deer, no more than one antered.
Marked my tree last weekend. When daylight arrived, I was 30 feet up in a split-trunked poplar at the base of a ridge. The light wind was mainly blowing right to left.
Slow Morning
I saw no deer all morning. I did see a flock of turkeys just after sunrise, and heard them in the woods all day. Also, a racoon and a peregrine falcon. Another hunter sat in the middle of the field until 11:30 a.m. An hour after she left, the deer started showing up.
A Little Action
At 12:45, a spike wandered through the shooting lane (at edge of trees to my far left), then along the edge of the field below me, and drank at the watering hole. I let him go--the scrapes, rubs, and "buck turds" in the area had me convinced there were larger deer around. It was the first time I put a legal deer in the crosshairs and voluntarily let it walk away.
At 1:15, six does came charging from the far left corner of the field and ran along the edge, dropping down toward the river as they got near, but not into, the shooting lane on my left.
Other deer moved along the edge near the river but never came high enough that I could get a clear shot.
Big Doe Down
At 4:30, I heard a shot, then a couple minutes later, three does trotted up from river and headed through the shooting lane toward the top of the ridge. I saw that one of the does had blood on her left rear haunches, so whistled to stop her. Instead, she whirled to run back toward the water. Since she was already wounded, I went ahead and shot even though she was moving. She went down on the spot but thrashed around for about 30 seconds. (In the "shooting lane" photo, you can see a tiny white speck near the red dot's 5 o'clock--that's her tail, actually.)
I swabbed reloaded and sat until about 10 minutes after sunset. It was so gorgeous, I included a photo of the sunset.
Buck!
About 5:35, I saw a deer coming down an old roadbed on the end of the ridge near the river. I got the gun up and caught a glimpse of antlers before he got to the shooting lane. When he stepped into the lane, I counted three points on the near beam; assuming he had brow tines, that made him an eight, so I aimed for lungs and fired.
He was ten feet or so to the left of the red dot when I fired. At the shot, he ran along the field edge until he got to the ceder tree in the far left corner. He then dropped out of sight toward the river, falling as he did so. I saw his head come back up then watched the brush thrashing for 5 seconds or so.
Down and Dirty
I climbed down, packed up my gear and went to the doe. Unfortunately, I hit her in the guts (I never would have taken the shot I did if she hadn't already been wounded). Upon field dressing, I found the other hunter's bullet had entered near the rectum and exited the left ham. Two bullet in the guts did not make for a pleasant gutting job!
I found the buck a third of the way down the riverbank tangled/burrowed down into a honeysuckle-covered bush. He had run about 85 yards, leaving frothy pink blood most of the way.
Stats
Doe was 81 pounds, field dressed, 1.5 years old.
Buck was 105 pounds, 14" outside spread, 2.5 years old.
Setup was a Savage 10ML-II, stainless/laminate, bedded & JB'd, topped with Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40.
Load was 300 Shockwave, HPH-24 sabot, 83.0 grains H322, and CCI 209M.
Bullet Performance
Massive entrance wound--nay, entrance destruction--on the doe. Buck had .75 - 1.0" entry wound and approximately 3" exit. Lungs were gone. Upon skinning, much of the ribcage on the exit side was bloodshot. I was rather surprised he had been able to make it almost 100 yards with the damage done.
Not my biggest buck ever, but definitely one of my most enjoyable days afield.
Pics
Click the photo below to see the entire slideshow (8 pictures). These were all taken with my cell phone camera, so please forgive the graininess.
Enjoy!