My 2014 deer hunt with my lead bullet

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ShawnT

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Finally got back from 2 weeks in Ohio and got settled enough to post some pics. This year I chose to hunt with my MK-95 .54 caliber rifle and my new lead .500 dia 336 grain Lead bullet in a purple MMP sabot. The Bullet is Pure lead. Same one WV Hunter recently tested in his "Box". The charge was 100 grnsV of BH209 and a CCI large Rifle Magnum Primer in my modified Brass 38 spl cases. unfortunately I was unable to recover any bullet. I really wanted too though.

Opening morning was 12/1 and in southeast Ohio it was sort of warm, about 40*, and rainy with plenty of wind. Sort of miserable. I started on another stand but left that side of the farm after the neighbor started driving a tractor to his stand and farting around making all kinds of noise, guess his quad was broke this year. Rain was getting heavier so I relocated to a shack (got 3 on the farm) on the north side of the farm next to our other neighbor, Mead Paper company. I was only in the shack for maybe 5 minutes and saw a doe trotting across the bottom on the other side of the fence. She looked like she might get whiplash because she kept looking back over her shoulder like she had the devil after her. Well not the devil but it was an nice 8 point buck and a little ratty horned smaller buck behind him. No shot since it was on the other side of the fence and too many tree tops to shoot though. So now I am thinking that since I had rain gear on, I might as well move to my little platform next to the fence line and sit in the rain since that looked like where the activity might be.

About 10 minutes after relocating again I took a nice large doe at 28 yards in almost a straight vertical shot. I have a little platform with a chair on it that sits on a very steep bank that is..well 28 yards tall. :wink: This over looks our creek bottom and the hill behind our farm that belongs to Mead Paper company. So the shot is sort of like sitting in a tree stand. The doe came up the bottom from my right at a trot but stopped just 2 hops from the fence line. She stopped and was sort of bent back in a U looking back behind her for whatever pushed her to me. I aimed to hit her at the base of the neck but due to the angle of the shot I could not use my sticks and was free hand. Either she moved a bit, or I wiggled and hit her right in the top of the right shoulder blade. At the shot she was floored! I swabbed (Yup I dry swab even though It is BH) and reloaded while looking to the right to see if this was the doe I saw the buck chasing, No buck though. Turned out to be a different doe.

When I looked back the doe was moving a bit and then started to kick her rear legs pretty violently so I did not want to get kicked and felt bad that the first one did not take her clean. So I finished her with a shot from same distance though the top of the head, should have taken that shot first. :( After field dressing I saw that the bullet hit the right shoulder blade (was basically shattered), then broke a rib and passed though the right lung. I though the bullet was in the hide but later found it was not. :huh?: The shot to the top of the head passed though leaving an exit in the palate a bit over 1" in diameter and the top of the head look like a wood maul split the skull open! :shock: Bullet went deep in the ground and I later could not figure out where it went in. :(

Next day was spent butchering and caping a nice 10 point buck for my cousins son in law. It was his first buck and he wanted a head mount done but did not know how to do it and asked me for help. My cousin was afraid he would mess it up. He did give me the meat though so the Freezer is stuffed now! Next day I went back to look though the gut pile for the bullet but the only thing that was left was the stomach! :shock: Guess a coyote for a little lead poisoning. :lol:

So anyway here is the doe.


Here is the shoulder blade. The meat was full of bone splinters. She had a lot of fat on her too.


This shows the broken rib where it entered. That white thing is the top of a corn bag and it is a little over 1 inch wide.


Here is the platform and some pics of the area from the platform. The last one shows the shack I started from that is up the hill.





Was vey disappointed that I did not recover a bullet and even went back with my nephews metal detector. I am not sure it was working right since I could not find the one that went into the ground.

Anyway the MK-95 .54 has now made meat. Saw the buck later that afternoon on that hill in the back ground at 260 yards alive and well still trying to lock his doe down, but that little buck was no where to be seen. Guess he got his marching orders. :lol: Saw 8 more does that afternoon but no shots. Slowed way down after that and got no other opportunities and did not see that buck again. Was a good trip overall. Hate that it is over. :cry:
 
Wow that bullet really did a number on the deer. Nice shot. Lots of good eating there still.
 
8) Way to go Shawn!! You are lucky to have a place like that to hunt! Does sure know how to put on the fat getting ready for later I'd say. :yeah:
 
Good story and post. really enjoyed the pictures, and the awesome devastation of that deers shoulder. Good job.
 
Thanks guys! I was surprised at the devastation of the shoulder too. I dug around in it and did not find any lead bits like I thought I would though. In all honesty I was not really thinking of "Testing" the bullet when I shot. I was thinking she was 2 hops from that fence and the Freezer is empty! :lol: Later I was thinking "Hey that was not exactly the shot I was wanting to test it on". Oh well, got to take the shot the Good Lord provided! :D I did think wow it floored her when it hit though, got the adrenalin really pumping. :lol:
 
toytruck said:
8) Way to go Shawn!! You are lucky to have a place like that to hunt! Does sure know how to put on the fat getting ready for later I'd say. :yeah:
You bet! We just have a small "Hobby' farm but it does have a nice strip of woods. I just sit there all day and enjoy it the heck out of it! don't hurt that that section of Mead Paper company is 150 acres either! :wink: Plus the surrounding farms have corn and alfalfa to fatten them up some. I've hunted that property since I was 13 years old and knew every inch of it. But it was about 80% hardwoods back then too. They harvested the pines about 3 years ago and just re-planted pine again last year but here are quite a few "Volunteers" coming up.
 
edmehlig said:
Way to go Shawn and Love the area you are hunting. Is that in NY?
Hey Ed,

Nope that is Southeast Ohio, Gallia County. My Real home! Never have thought of Long Island New York as home. :roll: Just the place I live and work. No offence to the New Yorkers here. :wink:

Lots of people think Ohio is Flat! Not southeast Ohio! We got plenty of Hills and Hollers to Hunt! :D
 
Here is another little funny thing that happened this season.

I did see a real good looking coyote on the first wet morning but that neighbor scarred him off. Well low and behold he showed up again on that distant hill about 250 yards away on Sunday, last day of the gun season. First thought I saw a does head pop out of the brush but the binos showed it a coyote. He sat down in an opening and just sat and watched that bottom like me for a while. Don't really know what this .54 will do at long range yet so just watched. He wandered around after that and laid down in the sun next to a pine bush about 9:30 am. Was wishing I had packed my custom .22-250 for the trip. :roll: I took a walk to the other side of the farm to check it out after that but wandered back at 11 am and he was still there! So I sat on the platform and just enjoyed watching, since it was really the first time I had got a good long look at one doing what they do. Was a real treat! I sat and watched him for about an hour only picking up his head now and then when he heard something, he seemed to be real comfy! I had to go help Mom prepare for a big family dinner later, so as I got ready to leave I thought "Well I need to unload this rifle soooo".... :think: I turned up the Leupold VariXII to 9X and held high above him and squeezed the trigger. Even with the smoke I saw him jump about 4 feet up and 6 or 7 feet to the left and look around "Like What the Heck was that"! :shock: Guess it hit fairly close. He looked long and hard for a few minutes then high tailed it to the top of the hill! :lol: :lol: I think he heard me laughing my butt off at him!
 
Shawn is that bullet from the new mold you had made?
 
sabotloader said:
Shawn

Really nice looking country - Congrats great harvest
Thanks Sabotloader. I always love the pics of the country you get to hunt myself! Loved seeing the mountains up around Post Falls.
 
Shawn the bullet looks perfect. Sith that mold I could retire the Speers, Rainiers, and Hornadys. It is the perfect bullet for a 54 caliber.
 
Dutch said:
Shawn the bullet looks perfect. Sith that mold I could retire the Speers, Rainiers, and Hornadys. It is the perfect bullet for a 54 caliber.
Thanks Dutch. WV Hunter took a doe with one of them too. He posted his down in the success forum. He also torture tested one in his Test box of wet sand. It is down the forum here.
 

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