I'm back, the deer is skinned and hanging in the garage. Now some details. Got into my blind 10 minutes before legal shooting time. Got all my good ready and laid out where I wanted them. Right at shooting time saw 3 mulie does but too far to shoot, about 250 yds. I could have made the shot but decided not to. My plan was to have my camera set up and video the shot and it wouldn't work in the low light at that range. Move deer moved by but none offered a good shot. Finally about 15 minutes after sunrise a couple of mulie does came out at about 100 yds. Set up the camera, zoomed a little and turned it on. Got out the rifle, set it up, aimed and squeezed. I'm almost embarrassed to say I missed. I couldn't believe my eyes. The doe jumped slightly, trotted off a few feet and stopped. Turns out there were 4 there. They trotted about 20 yds, milled around and just stood there. By the time I reloaded they just walked into some trees. Later checks revealed no sign of a hit. I could believe it. Sat there and watched a constant parade of deer, all white tails. 5 were bucks but too small to shoot so I let them pass. I reviewed the video on my camera but it didn't tell me anything. Then a coyote came by in about 3rd gear
. I tried a running shot at about 100 yds but knew I'd never make it. All I did was make some noise and speed him up to about 5th gear
. My partner and I then did a tour of the pasture and saw nothing. I was still worried about the miss and thought something had gone wrong with my Savage. Took one shot at a target and it was dead on. Must have been me.
We had a turkey sandwich(today is Thanksgiving but we had turkey yesterday so now it's time for turkey sandwiches
) Saw nothing. We returned to the same area we started and he wanted to take a walk around the bush in front of us. I set up in my blind and all of a sudden there were mule deer running everywhere. Most were over 200 yds but suddenly one came out about 100 yds away. She was moving at a fast trot. Lined her up, squeezed and down she went. As I said, she's skinned and hanging in the garage. When I got home I down loaded the video and watched it a couple time. I can see that she moved an instant before the shot and that would explain the miss. That's all I have to tell you today. It was a fun day, although it was a little chilly this morning. Just a gentle reminder of the weather that's coming
.