- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Messages
- 450
- Reaction score
- 5
I was invited by a friend to hunt a farm the next county over for the mid-day and afternoon, so I thought a change of scenery might change my luck. This farmer has had a lot of deer problems, so he wanted us to take as many deer as we legally could.
We got set-up in the woods around 10:00 a.m. and I didn't see anything until 2:00 p.m. I noticed a doe and her twins standing downwind roughly 90 Yds out, but the trees/brush obscured them. I wanted to take the doe (more meat for the freezer) , but they didn't move. After sitting like a rock for what seemed like 10 minutes, they all start heading directly towards me. As they got closer, they started running faster until they were maybe 15 Yds away. She put on the brakes, swapped ends and started back the same way she came, with the twins in tow. She must have hit my scent again, because she stopped at 60 Yds or so and looked over her shoulder. I really didn't want to take the shot because of the poor angle, but with space in the freezer, and thinking about what the farmer said, I put the crosshairs right in front of her hindquarters and pulled the trigger. She went straight down, struggled for a bit and expired. The twins didn't know what to do without Mom, so they wandered closer to get a look, then ran off about 40 Yds further. Thinking about the farmer again, I wondered if I could reload and take one of the twins?
I have the powder pre-measured, with the bullet/sabot and module/primer in my coat pocket. I take the spent module and put it in my pocket, then get the powder poured down the barrel, and got everything seated without them moving. I fish around in my pocket for the primer/module and get that in the gun. Slowly get the crosshairs lined up on one of them, and squeeze the trigger. Click..... What the .....??? Somehow they hear the noise and run another 40-50 Yds out and stop behind a blowdown. I slowly open the bolt to see what happened. Dang it! I put the fired primer/module back in the gun. No wonder it didn't go off! Mentally kicking myself, I keep looking at the twins while I fish around in my pocket for the good primer/module. Finally, I find it, slip it in the gun and look for the deer. They are still there, about 130 Yds out, but there is a bunch of tree branches between them and me. I turn up the scope and start looking for a hole. There's one! Line up the crosshairs again and squeeze. The gun goes off this time, and they both run away. Awwwww.......... Wait! One just fell over! Whew! I climb down from the stand, and load the Savage with the last load I had with me. Keeping an eye on where the deer were standing, I walk there and look for blood. Whooooeeeee!! It looks like someone turned on the hose. I follow the footprints and the blood, there's one of the twins, dead. She ran almost 60 Yds, but I don't know how. I think all of her blood was on the snow.
The 250 gr. Shockwave Blem entered the doe (Mom) right at the top of the hindquarters, just to the left of the spine. No exit, and I couldn't find the bullet. I really don't know where it went, not much of the internals were cut, but she was pushed forward about 3 feet from the impact. I could see where her feet slid in the snow, and where the hair was cut off of her by the bullet. I'll see if Dad still has his metal detector and go back tomorrow after work.
The bullet that hit one of the twins, entered right behind the front leg, part of it cutting the heart, another part cutting the stomach, and the remainder scrambling the lungs and continuing on for another 25 feet before burying itself in an oak tree. When I'm there tomorrow, I'll dig it out of the tree to see how much is left.
I guess my luck is changing, I was the only one to see a deer. We do have an open invite back tho!
Impact site of twin. The bullet is in the Oak Tree in the background @ 12:00.
Closeup of the tree w/bullet.
A blood trail anybody can follow!
More of the blood trail
Momma
Another pic of Momma
Blue-Dot-37.5
We got set-up in the woods around 10:00 a.m. and I didn't see anything until 2:00 p.m. I noticed a doe and her twins standing downwind roughly 90 Yds out, but the trees/brush obscured them. I wanted to take the doe (more meat for the freezer) , but they didn't move. After sitting like a rock for what seemed like 10 minutes, they all start heading directly towards me. As they got closer, they started running faster until they were maybe 15 Yds away. She put on the brakes, swapped ends and started back the same way she came, with the twins in tow. She must have hit my scent again, because she stopped at 60 Yds or so and looked over her shoulder. I really didn't want to take the shot because of the poor angle, but with space in the freezer, and thinking about what the farmer said, I put the crosshairs right in front of her hindquarters and pulled the trigger. She went straight down, struggled for a bit and expired. The twins didn't know what to do without Mom, so they wandered closer to get a look, then ran off about 40 Yds further. Thinking about the farmer again, I wondered if I could reload and take one of the twins?
I have the powder pre-measured, with the bullet/sabot and module/primer in my coat pocket. I take the spent module and put it in my pocket, then get the powder poured down the barrel, and got everything seated without them moving. I fish around in my pocket for the primer/module and get that in the gun. Slowly get the crosshairs lined up on one of them, and squeeze the trigger. Click..... What the .....??? Somehow they hear the noise and run another 40-50 Yds out and stop behind a blowdown. I slowly open the bolt to see what happened. Dang it! I put the fired primer/module back in the gun. No wonder it didn't go off! Mentally kicking myself, I keep looking at the twins while I fish around in my pocket for the good primer/module. Finally, I find it, slip it in the gun and look for the deer. They are still there, about 130 Yds out, but there is a bunch of tree branches between them and me. I turn up the scope and start looking for a hole. There's one! Line up the crosshairs again and squeeze. The gun goes off this time, and they both run away. Awwwww.......... Wait! One just fell over! Whew! I climb down from the stand, and load the Savage with the last load I had with me. Keeping an eye on where the deer were standing, I walk there and look for blood. Whooooeeeee!! It looks like someone turned on the hose. I follow the footprints and the blood, there's one of the twins, dead. She ran almost 60 Yds, but I don't know how. I think all of her blood was on the snow.
The 250 gr. Shockwave Blem entered the doe (Mom) right at the top of the hindquarters, just to the left of the spine. No exit, and I couldn't find the bullet. I really don't know where it went, not much of the internals were cut, but she was pushed forward about 3 feet from the impact. I could see where her feet slid in the snow, and where the hair was cut off of her by the bullet. I'll see if Dad still has his metal detector and go back tomorrow after work.
The bullet that hit one of the twins, entered right behind the front leg, part of it cutting the heart, another part cutting the stomach, and the remainder scrambling the lungs and continuing on for another 25 feet before burying itself in an oak tree. When I'm there tomorrow, I'll dig it out of the tree to see how much is left.
I guess my luck is changing, I was the only one to see a deer. We do have an open invite back tho!
Impact site of twin. The bullet is in the Oak Tree in the background @ 12:00.
Closeup of the tree w/bullet.
A blood trail anybody can follow!
More of the blood trail
Momma
Another pic of Momma
Blue-Dot-37.5
