- Joined
- Oct 28, 2015
- Messages
- 1,645
- Reaction score
- 8
The Worst Hunter in the World
It was 28 degrees and windy the first day I sat in a blind in Kentucky. By the second day of the start of our season, it was slightly warmer, but still knocking. When I left Florida for the hunt, it was 89 degrees. The weather unexpectedly nose dived in Kentucky right after I arrived so I went out and bought long-johns, wool socks, and a full knit hunter orange cap from Tractor Supply. I also borrowed two extra shirts and was grateful for every layer. Thinsulate in boots Dad gave me from his Color Guard days helped save my poor cold toes.
I can’t think of anything that can ruin a trip easier than bad feet
I was there for deer, but was currently watching three lucky tom turkeys strut to within 10 yards of me. There were feeders active and it is illegal in Kentucky to hunt turkey on a property within 30 days of an active feeder. So, those tasty November birds were safer than a Presidential Pardon with me.
This was a few hundred yards from the blind I sat in
Gun shots rang several times through the crisp and colorful woods around me. A couple were close and surely belonged to one of my group of seven hunters. Four of us were the oldest of friends- since the 7<sup>th</sup> grade. A fifth, I had heard wild stories about for two decades. The last two were new to me, but had the highest of vouches. All told, we had gathered to camp and hunt deer from Montana, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Florida at the invitation of my old friend, Grumpy. The rest of our party consisted of me, Sluggo, Birdboy, Palehorse, Spartan, and Bear. (Yep. Camp nick-names)
The camp was on Grumpy’s private land and he worked hard sowing fields, running game cameras, setting up feeders, setting up blinds, clearing brush, running off trespassers, and making an old retired machine shop on the property habitable for us on this week he has dubbed ‘Heathen Weekend.’ We spent the first two days moving in, prepping food and equipment, and working on the machine shop fixing this and that.
I was very grateful for all that effort as I sat with my .50 CVA Hawken on the 2<sup>nd</sup> day of our hunt hoping for my first chance of the season. The steamy swamps I hunted in Florida the week before had not been kind to me. But, now, I sat far to the north in more familiar, chilly, rolling hills trying to get my chance with the promise of a hot meal, beer, and friends later.
Only two of the seven were using black powder rifles. In addition to my CVA, Palehorse had a Lyman .54 percussion cap Trade Rifle. Neither Palehorse nor I had scored a deer. But, four of our modern rifle using friends had downed deer the day before. Three nice sized does and one solid buck: modern 4. BP 0.
So, when I got my chance, I was determined. I did not hear the deer approach, but I was down wind- which was good as I had helped dress and skin the day before and my last bath had been a few days earlier. To see the area he appeared in, I had to lean forward and turn to the left which I did slowly from time to time. I was startled to find him there and froze. He was a young spike buck with a large body. I eased my hand to the right to grab my rifle. I had the hammer down so I covered the lock with my gloved hand for noise and… slowly… ‘click!’ He did not seem to be bothered, but he did look up and around. A long weed bobbed from his chewing mouth. His little 7” double spike horns on his big body made him look like an impish devil deer. I waited and he lowered his head… so… ‘click!’ No change… I took my time and drew a bead.
I am not overly fond of heights so I have never taken a shot from 20’ in the air before. I was told to correct slightly higher so I did. He was slightly angled, full broadside to me with head pointed to my right… at 15 yards… the perfect shot. I breathed deep and slow and let it out slow. I pulled the set trigger and told myself, “Don’t jerk the trigger… Kiss it...” …BANG!
“Got him,” I thought to myself, satisfied. “You did everything right.”
But, the devil deer did not drop. To my great surprise, he ran 10 yards, turned and paused. “Ah, this is where he will drop,” I thought- just before he ran off and out of sight looking completely unfazed. “What?! I missed him?!! How?” I checked my hands for adrenaline shakes as I slowly re-loaded. The hands were steady as a rock. I re-ran the shot in my mind over and over again. Did the angle make me go high?
I was not going to rush down and push the deer if I had hit him. I waited 15 minutes before leaving the blind to look for blood. Nothing. No blood. No hair. Nothing. My heart sank. I did not know how, but I had missed the hunting equivalent of a lay-up.
I could not try to track him, yet, either. One important rule from Grumpy was that none of us could leave our blinds or stands until after 10:00 am to keep us from wandering into firing lanes and/or spooking another hunter’s deer. It was around 0800 so I had time to try and work out what had happened. I could not believe I had missed that shot. I haven’t missed a paper target that size and that distance in three years. I went back to the blind and physically repeated every move.
Then it hit me. I had added a touch of white-out to my front sight for dusk or dawn low light. I could not see that part of my sight against the morning lit background in front of me. I had aimed with the start of the black of the iron sight below the whited out part. That maybe meant that I shot way high?
I spent the remaining two hours in the blind beating myself up and deciding I should have picked golf as a hobby.
We had the services of a Viking and a Rhino ATV
When Sluggo and Bear pulled up in the Rhino, the first thing Sluggo asked me was, “Was that you that shot?” I had decided to say little. (It does happen.) “Yeah, I took a shot. Missed.” There were many more questions. I could see I wasn’t going to escape that easy. I decided to sum it up and cut to the chase. “I was close enough. I am the worst hunter in the world. I don’t know how I could have missed that shot.” Sluggo and Bear are both way more experienced than me. I was embarrassed. “Show me where he was,’ Sluggo said.
I walked them through the whole thing while Bear looked for hair and blood. He did not find any. When I was done, Sluggo looked thoughtful and said, “Well, we need you to come with me to help with a big buck and a doe that fell down a ravine.” He looked at Bear and said, “You stay here and try to track. I think there is a chance he hit him.” Bear nodded in agreement. I was surprised, but shrugged and nodded. I would go and help in Bear’s place and let him track my deer. I am much bigger and can be helpful moving stubborn things. My camp nickname was Rhino. (Thundering Rhino when they were making fun of my snoring.) But, Bear was the much better tracker. He was Guide level. The switch made sense, but I held out little hope.
We found Birdboy and Palehorse together near the two downed and field dressed deer. It turns out that Palehorse was the one who scored both deer, but he had switched out his front stuffer for a Ruger American .308 WIN bolt action. It turned out to be a lucky thing for him. He shot the doe and was getting ready to climb down to look at it when a big buck came over the ridge and went to her. Palehorse slowly grabbed his rifle and fumbled a new cartridge into it while keeping his eyes locked on the buck. And, BANG. The biggest buck with the nicest rack of our group was his.
He was simply beautiful and turned out to be the King buck for us
Palehorse is one of my three oldest friends. I worked on the family farm with his father in my youth. Palehorse has 30 years of deer seasons under his belt and has taken a lot of deer for food and a lot of nice bucks. This was his biggest ‘trophy’ animal. He was clearly, quietly, very happy. I congratulated him on his doe and his prize buck as we worked to get them secure. He smiled and quizzed me on my shot.
When he heard it all, he said, “I think you hit him.” I blinked in confusion because he seemed so confident about it. What on earth in my story convinced him of that? It was clear that I did not believe I hit him. “Why?” I asked. “Deer don’t jump unless they are hit. Was his white tail up when he ran away?” I thought briefly and answered, “No.” He nodded with certainty. “You hit him,” he said. "How can you be so sure?" I asked. "I listened to what you said happened. Then you said, 'I can't believe I missed that shot.' That was a tip off. And... I've seen you shoot," he said. I wasn't certain if he was serious or just trying to make me feel better. Did I hit him? And, if so, did I hit him hard enough to drop him? I didn’t want a wounded deer left in the woods. But, if I did hit him where I was trying to hit him, how could he have stayed on his feet?
We went back to the job at hand.
Lordy! That big ole boy was across a small chasm with a shallow creek at the bottom. We hauled both the doe and the buck to the narrowest and lowest spot to get it close to the Rhino. Despite the field dress, it still took two of us to drag the buck- and three to get him up over the lip of the ditch. We had just finished getting both into the Rhino when Birdboy looked up from a text on his cell phone. “Spike buck recovered. Bring the Rhino.” I had to ask him to repeat it because I had a hard time believing what I heard. When it got through my thick ears, I let out a yell, did a little involuntary jig, and we all started laughing.
Gun and devil deer back at the camp
It turns out that my .490 Hornady round ball had torn through him and exited on the other side. It was slightly higher than I tried for and to the left a few inches which was likely caused by the unfamiliar twist and lean to the left and forward from the blind. He was diaphragm and liver shot. Bear tracked him 80 yards before he saw the first blood. That devil deer traveled a total of 180 yards before dropping.
Day two results with devil deer at the bottom
When we had loaded the devil deer, we got another text. “Another deer down. Send the Viking.” By the time we all got back to the camp with all our deer, the seven of us had netted eight deer in two days- 4 does and 4 bucks. We had a lot of work to do. We were going to process all our deer right there.
Devil deer is in the middle. Grumpy rigged the stand up & we also used a tree.
This was a big harvest to deal with. Plus, Grumpy had bought new processing equipment that we needed to sort out and learn. We also had to rotate two of us back into the woods. Birdboy and Bear still had hunting to do. But first, we had to dress and skin.
Making sure he doesn’t cut off the wrong appendages
I dressed and carefully skinned devil deer- I had plans for the hide if I could work it out, but we worked in turns and shifts and sometimes on several deer at the same time. I gutted three and skinned two while listening to pointers. We swapped off turns at cooking food and bringing the occasional beer while stoking the fire. Five of us rotated work at that while two others worked on boning the carcasses. Spartan and I would make supply runs as needed. It was a merry orchestrated chaos.
This went on until we called it a night and watched NFL football on a computer with a portable hotspot, a Dish subscription, and a projector as we swapped stories over food and more beer. I sliced up some liver and a heart and fried it in a big cast iron skillet. The heart was a hit. The liver, not so much. I enjoyed it all immensely.
It’s a good play
We ran into two big bottlenecks after we finished skinning. The boning took the most skilled hands and that meant Grumpy, Bear, or Palehorse. But, Palehorse needed to supervise assembling half the new equipment with Spartan. That new equipment was our other bottleneck. So, that left me and Sluggo to figure out the other half of the stuff. We also worked the seasoning and measuring for the first round of jerky and sausage because Birdboy was still in the woods trying to fill his tag. We had no way of weighing the pork and venison so we had to figure a work around.
It worked out. Our first Jerky
But, then we cleared the hurdles and hit a rhythm together and we went into the final trim and grind. Birdboy was back. He was still deerless, but pitched in on the trimming.
Meat, Meat, Meat!
We made jerky, mild Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, summer sausage, ground hamburger, and breakfast sausage. None of us have a final weight, but I’m guessing around three hundred pounds of finished, packaged venison.
Some summer sausage
First meat processed and packaged. It’s a sausage party!
We staggered to the finish as we cleaned all the equipment with limited water supplies. (I finally bathed using only three 16.9 oz. bottles of water!) Shortly after, we dug into hot venison chili with cold beer when Grumpy shared a surprise with us. He had placed game cams in new places the day before our first hunt. He wanted to see what the deer were doing when we were in the woods and how they shifted after we started hunting. He ran a slide show of the camera’s records and we ticked off the locations. And, surprise! The new patterns revealed the possibility that new bucks were moving into the recently emptied turf including a BIG unknown eleven point.
Devil deer 3 days before I met him and before the temperature dropped
Birdboy and Bear rushed into their gear and out the door. They had just enough time to get to where they thought they had a chance. They were hunting outside the blinds from the ground now.
Meanwhile, with Bear’s help, I had found a place that would tan my pelt. Arlington Cape, LLC walked me through the preparation process. (Not ready for my own brain tan) Don’t freeze it if you don’t want the hair to fall out. Lay it flat, scrape meat and fat, avoid making extra holes, and cover in salt. I used 50 lbs (you may use less) of mineral free, fine salt. If the salt covering shows damp, add more salt. I got mine from Tractor Supply. Leave it in a protected, enclosed environment for a few days. Then hang it fur down and skin up until it turns white and is stiff to fold. Send it flat like a pizza if it gets too stiff to fold. Ship to a trusted tanner.
We’ll see how the devil deer pelt turns out. We won’t move it till December
Birdboy did not have any more luck so he came up empty. But, he had missed the whole first day of the hunt traveling back from a Masons event way out of state. The breakdown of who took what is below.
Heathen Weekend Results
<table class="MsoTableLightShadingAccent1" style="width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;border:none;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-top-alt:
1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-bottom-alt:1.0pt;mso-yfti-tbllook:1632;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:-1;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes"><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Deer Taken</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hunter</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Weapon</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Ammo</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:0"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Day 1</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:1"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Spartan</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Springfield Armory M1A</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hornady 155 GR expanding point (Blew a very large 6.5 inch exit hole)</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:2"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Bear</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington 700 300WSM, Leopold vxl 4.5x14x50</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Federal Fusion 180 GR</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:3"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Sluggo</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Browning A-Bolt 30-06 Springfield, Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14 scope</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hornady Superformance 180 GR SST</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:4"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (Fork Horn)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Grumpy</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington 750 in 30-06 (A Sluggo hand-me-down)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hand loads by Palehorse</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:5;mso-row-margin-right:75.0%"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">
</td><td style="mso-cell-special
laceholder;border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in" colspan="3" width="75%"> </td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:6"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Day 2</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:7"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Palehorse</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Ruger American 308 WIN, Wolf Camo pattern stock, Harris mini bipod, Redhead adjustable sling, Nikon Gen2 Prostaff 2-7x32mm scope in Leupold rings </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington PSP Core-Lokt 150 grain</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:8"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (Spike Buck)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Rhino</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">CVA .50 Hawken Percussion Cap</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hornady .490 Round Ball, Goex 2F, Remington <a href='/tags/11' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #11'>#11</a> caps</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:9"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (9 pt) </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Palehorse</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Ruger American 308 WIN, Wolf Camo pattern stock, Harris mini bipod, Redhead adjustable sling, Nikon Gen2 Prostaff 2-7x32mm scope in Leupold rings</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington PSP Core-Lokt 150 grain</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:10"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (7 pt)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Sluggo</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Marlin 336 XLR 30/30 Win, Nikon 2-7 ProStaff scope</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Federal Power Shok 170 GR Soft Point RN</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:11;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes"><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Total</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">8</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td></tr></table>Other Guns Used for the Hunt that brought no meat home
Birdboy:
TIKKA T3, .270WSM, Leupold VX-3 4.5-14x40, Federal Fusion 150 GR
&
Marlin 1895GS, 45/70 Govt., Leupold Rifleman 3-9x40, Hornady LEVERevolution 325 GR FTX
Rhino:
Model 71 Winchester by Browning lever action .348 WIN 200 GR FTX Hornady
w/46.6 grain IMR 4320 powder hand loads
Palehorse:
Lyman percussion Trade Rifle, .54 1:48 twist over GOEX 2F w/ CCI Magnum Primers and Hornady Great Plains Bullet
High flames and tall tales
This was just the best of times with old friends, new friends, and in the best of conditions doing the things we all love. I won’t forget this hunt. Neither will Palehorse. His deer, the Heathen Weekend King Buck, is being European dry mounted at the taxidermist’s as we speak. We spent the last day cleaning the camp, packing, and cleaning guns as we lied to each other about our past conquests. Spartan, the third of my oldest friends, and I even got to take some meat to both our parents before I flew home.
Just. The. Best. Times. Ever.
The End
It was 28 degrees and windy the first day I sat in a blind in Kentucky. By the second day of the start of our season, it was slightly warmer, but still knocking. When I left Florida for the hunt, it was 89 degrees. The weather unexpectedly nose dived in Kentucky right after I arrived so I went out and bought long-johns, wool socks, and a full knit hunter orange cap from Tractor Supply. I also borrowed two extra shirts and was grateful for every layer. Thinsulate in boots Dad gave me from his Color Guard days helped save my poor cold toes.
I can’t think of anything that can ruin a trip easier than bad feet
I was there for deer, but was currently watching three lucky tom turkeys strut to within 10 yards of me. There were feeders active and it is illegal in Kentucky to hunt turkey on a property within 30 days of an active feeder. So, those tasty November birds were safer than a Presidential Pardon with me.
This was a few hundred yards from the blind I sat in
Gun shots rang several times through the crisp and colorful woods around me. A couple were close and surely belonged to one of my group of seven hunters. Four of us were the oldest of friends- since the 7<sup>th</sup> grade. A fifth, I had heard wild stories about for two decades. The last two were new to me, but had the highest of vouches. All told, we had gathered to camp and hunt deer from Montana, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Florida at the invitation of my old friend, Grumpy. The rest of our party consisted of me, Sluggo, Birdboy, Palehorse, Spartan, and Bear. (Yep. Camp nick-names)
The camp was on Grumpy’s private land and he worked hard sowing fields, running game cameras, setting up feeders, setting up blinds, clearing brush, running off trespassers, and making an old retired machine shop on the property habitable for us on this week he has dubbed ‘Heathen Weekend.’ We spent the first two days moving in, prepping food and equipment, and working on the machine shop fixing this and that.
I was very grateful for all that effort as I sat with my .50 CVA Hawken on the 2<sup>nd</sup> day of our hunt hoping for my first chance of the season. The steamy swamps I hunted in Florida the week before had not been kind to me. But, now, I sat far to the north in more familiar, chilly, rolling hills trying to get my chance with the promise of a hot meal, beer, and friends later.
Only two of the seven were using black powder rifles. In addition to my CVA, Palehorse had a Lyman .54 percussion cap Trade Rifle. Neither Palehorse nor I had scored a deer. But, four of our modern rifle using friends had downed deer the day before. Three nice sized does and one solid buck: modern 4. BP 0.
So, when I got my chance, I was determined. I did not hear the deer approach, but I was down wind- which was good as I had helped dress and skin the day before and my last bath had been a few days earlier. To see the area he appeared in, I had to lean forward and turn to the left which I did slowly from time to time. I was startled to find him there and froze. He was a young spike buck with a large body. I eased my hand to the right to grab my rifle. I had the hammer down so I covered the lock with my gloved hand for noise and… slowly… ‘click!’ He did not seem to be bothered, but he did look up and around. A long weed bobbed from his chewing mouth. His little 7” double spike horns on his big body made him look like an impish devil deer. I waited and he lowered his head… so… ‘click!’ No change… I took my time and drew a bead.
I am not overly fond of heights so I have never taken a shot from 20’ in the air before. I was told to correct slightly higher so I did. He was slightly angled, full broadside to me with head pointed to my right… at 15 yards… the perfect shot. I breathed deep and slow and let it out slow. I pulled the set trigger and told myself, “Don’t jerk the trigger… Kiss it...” …BANG!
“Got him,” I thought to myself, satisfied. “You did everything right.”
But, the devil deer did not drop. To my great surprise, he ran 10 yards, turned and paused. “Ah, this is where he will drop,” I thought- just before he ran off and out of sight looking completely unfazed. “What?! I missed him?!! How?” I checked my hands for adrenaline shakes as I slowly re-loaded. The hands were steady as a rock. I re-ran the shot in my mind over and over again. Did the angle make me go high?
I was not going to rush down and push the deer if I had hit him. I waited 15 minutes before leaving the blind to look for blood. Nothing. No blood. No hair. Nothing. My heart sank. I did not know how, but I had missed the hunting equivalent of a lay-up.
I could not try to track him, yet, either. One important rule from Grumpy was that none of us could leave our blinds or stands until after 10:00 am to keep us from wandering into firing lanes and/or spooking another hunter’s deer. It was around 0800 so I had time to try and work out what had happened. I could not believe I had missed that shot. I haven’t missed a paper target that size and that distance in three years. I went back to the blind and physically repeated every move.
Then it hit me. I had added a touch of white-out to my front sight for dusk or dawn low light. I could not see that part of my sight against the morning lit background in front of me. I had aimed with the start of the black of the iron sight below the whited out part. That maybe meant that I shot way high?
I spent the remaining two hours in the blind beating myself up and deciding I should have picked golf as a hobby.
We had the services of a Viking and a Rhino ATV
When Sluggo and Bear pulled up in the Rhino, the first thing Sluggo asked me was, “Was that you that shot?” I had decided to say little. (It does happen.) “Yeah, I took a shot. Missed.” There were many more questions. I could see I wasn’t going to escape that easy. I decided to sum it up and cut to the chase. “I was close enough. I am the worst hunter in the world. I don’t know how I could have missed that shot.” Sluggo and Bear are both way more experienced than me. I was embarrassed. “Show me where he was,’ Sluggo said.
I walked them through the whole thing while Bear looked for hair and blood. He did not find any. When I was done, Sluggo looked thoughtful and said, “Well, we need you to come with me to help with a big buck and a doe that fell down a ravine.” He looked at Bear and said, “You stay here and try to track. I think there is a chance he hit him.” Bear nodded in agreement. I was surprised, but shrugged and nodded. I would go and help in Bear’s place and let him track my deer. I am much bigger and can be helpful moving stubborn things. My camp nickname was Rhino. (Thundering Rhino when they were making fun of my snoring.) But, Bear was the much better tracker. He was Guide level. The switch made sense, but I held out little hope.
We found Birdboy and Palehorse together near the two downed and field dressed deer. It turns out that Palehorse was the one who scored both deer, but he had switched out his front stuffer for a Ruger American .308 WIN bolt action. It turned out to be a lucky thing for him. He shot the doe and was getting ready to climb down to look at it when a big buck came over the ridge and went to her. Palehorse slowly grabbed his rifle and fumbled a new cartridge into it while keeping his eyes locked on the buck. And, BANG. The biggest buck with the nicest rack of our group was his.
He was simply beautiful and turned out to be the King buck for us
Palehorse is one of my three oldest friends. I worked on the family farm with his father in my youth. Palehorse has 30 years of deer seasons under his belt and has taken a lot of deer for food and a lot of nice bucks. This was his biggest ‘trophy’ animal. He was clearly, quietly, very happy. I congratulated him on his doe and his prize buck as we worked to get them secure. He smiled and quizzed me on my shot.
When he heard it all, he said, “I think you hit him.” I blinked in confusion because he seemed so confident about it. What on earth in my story convinced him of that? It was clear that I did not believe I hit him. “Why?” I asked. “Deer don’t jump unless they are hit. Was his white tail up when he ran away?” I thought briefly and answered, “No.” He nodded with certainty. “You hit him,” he said. "How can you be so sure?" I asked. "I listened to what you said happened. Then you said, 'I can't believe I missed that shot.' That was a tip off. And... I've seen you shoot," he said. I wasn't certain if he was serious or just trying to make me feel better. Did I hit him? And, if so, did I hit him hard enough to drop him? I didn’t want a wounded deer left in the woods. But, if I did hit him where I was trying to hit him, how could he have stayed on his feet?
We went back to the job at hand.
Lordy! That big ole boy was across a small chasm with a shallow creek at the bottom. We hauled both the doe and the buck to the narrowest and lowest spot to get it close to the Rhino. Despite the field dress, it still took two of us to drag the buck- and three to get him up over the lip of the ditch. We had just finished getting both into the Rhino when Birdboy looked up from a text on his cell phone. “Spike buck recovered. Bring the Rhino.” I had to ask him to repeat it because I had a hard time believing what I heard. When it got through my thick ears, I let out a yell, did a little involuntary jig, and we all started laughing.
Gun and devil deer back at the camp
It turns out that my .490 Hornady round ball had torn through him and exited on the other side. It was slightly higher than I tried for and to the left a few inches which was likely caused by the unfamiliar twist and lean to the left and forward from the blind. He was diaphragm and liver shot. Bear tracked him 80 yards before he saw the first blood. That devil deer traveled a total of 180 yards before dropping.
Day two results with devil deer at the bottom
When we had loaded the devil deer, we got another text. “Another deer down. Send the Viking.” By the time we all got back to the camp with all our deer, the seven of us had netted eight deer in two days- 4 does and 4 bucks. We had a lot of work to do. We were going to process all our deer right there.
Devil deer is in the middle. Grumpy rigged the stand up & we also used a tree.
This was a big harvest to deal with. Plus, Grumpy had bought new processing equipment that we needed to sort out and learn. We also had to rotate two of us back into the woods. Birdboy and Bear still had hunting to do. But first, we had to dress and skin.
Making sure he doesn’t cut off the wrong appendages
I dressed and carefully skinned devil deer- I had plans for the hide if I could work it out, but we worked in turns and shifts and sometimes on several deer at the same time. I gutted three and skinned two while listening to pointers. We swapped off turns at cooking food and bringing the occasional beer while stoking the fire. Five of us rotated work at that while two others worked on boning the carcasses. Spartan and I would make supply runs as needed. It was a merry orchestrated chaos.
This went on until we called it a night and watched NFL football on a computer with a portable hotspot, a Dish subscription, and a projector as we swapped stories over food and more beer. I sliced up some liver and a heart and fried it in a big cast iron skillet. The heart was a hit. The liver, not so much. I enjoyed it all immensely.
It’s a good play
We ran into two big bottlenecks after we finished skinning. The boning took the most skilled hands and that meant Grumpy, Bear, or Palehorse. But, Palehorse needed to supervise assembling half the new equipment with Spartan. That new equipment was our other bottleneck. So, that left me and Sluggo to figure out the other half of the stuff. We also worked the seasoning and measuring for the first round of jerky and sausage because Birdboy was still in the woods trying to fill his tag. We had no way of weighing the pork and venison so we had to figure a work around.
It worked out. Our first Jerky
But, then we cleared the hurdles and hit a rhythm together and we went into the final trim and grind. Birdboy was back. He was still deerless, but pitched in on the trimming.
Meat, Meat, Meat!
We made jerky, mild Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, summer sausage, ground hamburger, and breakfast sausage. None of us have a final weight, but I’m guessing around three hundred pounds of finished, packaged venison.
Some summer sausage
First meat processed and packaged. It’s a sausage party!
We staggered to the finish as we cleaned all the equipment with limited water supplies. (I finally bathed using only three 16.9 oz. bottles of water!) Shortly after, we dug into hot venison chili with cold beer when Grumpy shared a surprise with us. He had placed game cams in new places the day before our first hunt. He wanted to see what the deer were doing when we were in the woods and how they shifted after we started hunting. He ran a slide show of the camera’s records and we ticked off the locations. And, surprise! The new patterns revealed the possibility that new bucks were moving into the recently emptied turf including a BIG unknown eleven point.
Devil deer 3 days before I met him and before the temperature dropped
Birdboy and Bear rushed into their gear and out the door. They had just enough time to get to where they thought they had a chance. They were hunting outside the blinds from the ground now.
Meanwhile, with Bear’s help, I had found a place that would tan my pelt. Arlington Cape, LLC walked me through the preparation process. (Not ready for my own brain tan) Don’t freeze it if you don’t want the hair to fall out. Lay it flat, scrape meat and fat, avoid making extra holes, and cover in salt. I used 50 lbs (you may use less) of mineral free, fine salt. If the salt covering shows damp, add more salt. I got mine from Tractor Supply. Leave it in a protected, enclosed environment for a few days. Then hang it fur down and skin up until it turns white and is stiff to fold. Send it flat like a pizza if it gets too stiff to fold. Ship to a trusted tanner.
We’ll see how the devil deer pelt turns out. We won’t move it till December
Birdboy did not have any more luck so he came up empty. But, he had missed the whole first day of the hunt traveling back from a Masons event way out of state. The breakdown of who took what is below.
Heathen Weekend Results
<table class="MsoTableLightShadingAccent1" style="width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;border:none;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;mso-border-top-alt:
1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;
mso-border-bottom-alt:1.0pt;mso-yfti-tbllook:1632;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:-1;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes"><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Deer Taken</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hunter</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Weapon</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Ammo</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:0"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Day 1</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:1"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Spartan</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Springfield Armory M1A</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hornady 155 GR expanding point (Blew a very large 6.5 inch exit hole)</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:2"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Bear</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington 700 300WSM, Leopold vxl 4.5x14x50</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Federal Fusion 180 GR</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:3"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Sluggo</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Browning A-Bolt 30-06 Springfield, Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14 scope</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hornady Superformance 180 GR SST</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:4"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (Fork Horn)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Grumpy</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington 750 in 30-06 (A Sluggo hand-me-down)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hand loads by Palehorse</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:5;mso-row-margin-right:75.0%"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">
</td><td style="mso-cell-special
laceholder;border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in" colspan="3" width="75%"> </td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:6"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Day 2</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:7"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Doe</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Palehorse</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Ruger American 308 WIN, Wolf Camo pattern stock, Harris mini bipod, Redhead adjustable sling, Nikon Gen2 Prostaff 2-7x32mm scope in Leupold rings </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington PSP Core-Lokt 150 grain</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:8"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (Spike Buck)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Rhino</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">CVA .50 Hawken Percussion Cap</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Hornady .490 Round Ball, Goex 2F, Remington <a href='/tags/11' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #11'>#11</a> caps</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:9"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (9 pt) </td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Palehorse</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Ruger American 308 WIN, Wolf Camo pattern stock, Harris mini bipod, Redhead adjustable sling, Nikon Gen2 Prostaff 2-7x32mm scope in Leupold rings</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Remington PSP Core-Lokt 150 grain</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:10"><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Buck (7 pt)</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Sluggo</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Marlin 336 XLR 30/30 Win, Nikon 2-7 ProStaff scope</td><td style="width:25.0%;border:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">Federal Power Shok 170 GR Soft Point RN</td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:11;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes"><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" nowrap=" valign=" width="25%">Total</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%">8</td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td><td style="width:25.0%;border-top:solid #4F81BD; mso-border-top-themecolor:accent1;border-top:1.0pt;border-left:none; border-bottom:solid #4F81BD;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent1;border-bottom: 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt" valign="top" width="25%"> </td></tr></table>Other Guns Used for the Hunt that brought no meat homeBirdboy:
TIKKA T3, .270WSM, Leupold VX-3 4.5-14x40, Federal Fusion 150 GR
&
Marlin 1895GS, 45/70 Govt., Leupold Rifleman 3-9x40, Hornady LEVERevolution 325 GR FTX
Rhino:
Model 71 Winchester by Browning lever action .348 WIN 200 GR FTX Hornady
w/46.6 grain IMR 4320 powder hand loads
Palehorse:
Lyman percussion Trade Rifle, .54 1:48 twist over GOEX 2F w/ CCI Magnum Primers and Hornady Great Plains Bullet
High flames and tall tales
This was just the best of times with old friends, new friends, and in the best of conditions doing the things we all love. I won’t forget this hunt. Neither will Palehorse. His deer, the Heathen Weekend King Buck, is being European dry mounted at the taxidermist’s as we speak. We spent the last day cleaning the camp, packing, and cleaning guns as we lied to each other about our past conquests. Spartan, the third of my oldest friends, and I even got to take some meat to both our parents before I flew home.
Just. The. Best. Times. Ever.
The End
