After the hunt.....

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MrTom

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Each year after the last regular gun season ends and before the muzzy season starts, I run down to the hunting property and spend a morning with the owner up at the stand sites cleaning up brush, trimming tree limbs and picking up anything left and missed from the hunting season. The landowner is an archer and hunts elk in Colorado regularly so he has a very good laser rangefinder. Just for the sake of my own journal keeping I have him bring it along so I can get a more accurate idea of how far deer were away from me when I shot.

I have taken targets on stakes to the property during the warm weather and set them where my line of sight runs out and laser ranged them, so I know what my shooting parameters are. Then I've actually shot them using the guns I hunt with from the stand. My Accura and Optima pistol are both pretty much get-the-crosshairs-on-the- animal-and-shoot guns at the stand. From one direction only in the stand can I shoot what is maybe a long distance, 96 yards, so I have a tree marked with a spot of red paint at 50 yards to indicate where I no longer will take a poke with the pistol. The other directions I can shoot are all pretty much inside of 55 yards.

This year between the regular and muzzy seasons we were up there cleaning some buckthorn and we ranged where the deer were standing when I shot each of them this fall. The first was taken in late afternoon as the sun was just starting to peek out from under clouds after it being pretty much a damp drizzley day and the deer was in heavy shadows. I had the pistol that day and thought the deer was maybe 30 yards out. Laser ranging showed she was at 33 yards. The second deer again was taken late day but I had sun in my face, and I was in a real odd stance to get a shot. The deer caught my movement and was locked on me like a homing device. I didn't know I had that much contortionist in me, but the shot was true. My guess as to distance was off quite a bit.... ranged with the laser at 30 yards, not the 20-22 I thought she was. I'm happy I had the rifle on that day, given the unusual off-hand stance.

The deer are dead, but I still like to make notes regarding shot distances and what the conditions were and add them to my journal. I also note where the deer taken came from and where the shot was made along with where the deer was found after the shot...which direction did the deer run. I've shot a ton of deer on this site averaging 2 deer per season, sometimes three. One deer out of all of them got a second shot.

None of what I do in the after-season really helps get me deer the next season other than to help me recognize parallels with past seasons. Each deer, each season, is unique. If anything, doing what I have done at the stand site, getting absolute distances and marking where I will not shoot beyond, gives me a huge sense of confidence. Going back and looking at what I thought was the distance and what it actually was is a learning tool once compared with the circumstances and conditions of each shot. It never ceases to amaze me how much I can be off with distance in the heat of the moment. I'm just glad the guns are set up to point and pop. Another point of interest is the angle at which the deer was shot, meaning from top down. The closer to the stand the steeper the downward angle.... what did the bullet do to the deer?

Journal entries include what was going on at the site when the deer appeared. Squirrels or turkeys around? Bird activity?

Maybe it's just me but I like to know all of what took place in my kills. If there's something to learn from them, I want to know what it is. I'm the same way at the range. Note taking fool. If I see something out of wack and can't get it righted, I quit for the day as I refuse to continue doing it wrong. Most often it's me, not the gun. Fishing and I are on the same plane as shooting or hunting. Notes, notes, notes.

It seems like there is so much to conquer and for what comes after the hunt to me is as important as what comes before.
 
I also find being able to judge yardage a useful skill to have, both for muzzleloader and archery uses.
I first started in the early 90's when I went from shooting instinctively with a recurve to shooting a compound bow with sights. There were no affordable laser rangefinders back then and everyone judged yardage for hunting and 3d shoots. A person can get pretty good at it with regular practice.
I have judging yardage broke down into about 3 distances as far as confidence goes. I have a lot of confidence to 40 yards, I'm generally within 1-3 yards off. 40-60 yards that max jumps to 5 yards. 60-100 it jumps to about 10 yards. Beyond a 100 it is a crap shoot. :D

My Grandpa was really good at judging distance way out there, just had an uncanny ability for it. In the military back in his day they didn't have reliable rangefinders, it took some time to set them up and use them, so someone was given the job of judging the distance for mortars for those "need to get the range in a hurry" situations. He told me when training they had a drill to find who was good at it and would be the one in their company who called the yardage. They set up a mortar and had a target way out there. They had everyone guess a distance, write it on a piece of paper and then hand it to the Sergeant. They had a rangefinder set up and would then evaluate who was the closest with their guess. Then they were going to actually fire on the target. The Sergeant told them what the actual distance was once they all had their numbers turned in, 1100 yards, and said that Grandpa was the only one with a reasonable guess. Grandpa had said it was 1200 yards. My Grandpa quietly (he always spoke softly) told the Sergeant that the rangefinder reading was short (whether from being used wrong or not being real accurate I'm not sure) and he was confident in his number. The Sergeant side-eyed him and then barked for the mortar to be adjusted to "Private Grandpa's number so he learns to be a bit more humble".
It was a direct hit.
 
Not so much with the gun but when hunting with my crossbow, I always have a range finder. I'll sit in the stand and look around for specific things like a stump, rock or particular tree. I'll mentally guess the distance then use the range finder. Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at estimating various distances.
 
I always thought I was a pretty good judge of distance. I usually visualize a football field and can get pretty close with my guess. Only problem is there aren't a boat load of trees and rocks on a football field. I learned pretty quickly that estimating distance in the woods is much different.

I have also got in the habit of @deermanok use my range finder to pick landmarks out and see how close I am with my guesstimate. Over time I have become pretty accurate.
 

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