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- Dec 15, 2015
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Muzzleloading closed on Sunday but Archery is still open and so is the extended firearm doe (which I was partaking in). I've seen deer every night but none within range. Two nights ago I saw 14 deer but the closest was 400 yards. Tonight I really didn't feel like making the muddy trek out to my blind on the edge of the bean field so I decided to mix it up and hunt the platform out back of my buddies house. He wasn't hunting tonight and told me i could hunt it whenever I wanted. I got out there a little later than I liked but still had an hour and a half before the end of shooting hours.
I was really noisy in the woods. Lots of shooting from the pheasant farm down the road and lots of shots coming from the other direction as well. Probably someone out target shooting. it was also pretty windy. I sat most of the evening and didn't see a thing. I checked my watch and saw I only had about 15 minutes left before I had to pack it up. I couple minutes later I saw some movement out in front of me so I pulled up the glasses to take a peak. I had 5 or six does crossing a small clearing out in front of me. They were out of sight before I had a chance to get the gun up. A couple minutes later I heard a twig snap and looked down to my left, the does had looped back along the tree line and were coming back onto view on the trail just below my stand. I had to double check to make sure they were does, hunting with a gun, doe is my only option tonight. I do not see any antlers so I pick out the one that offered the best shot and dropped the hammer. The muzzleloader makes a heck of a flash in low light. When the smoke cleared I could see her running off into the woods across the trail. About this time I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket indicating that shooting hours were up. I like to set an alarm so I don't have to keep checking my watch. One of the few things a cell phone is useful for in the stand. I really seem to have my best luck in the last 15 minutes of hunting hours.
I didn't wait, I packed up and worked my way down to ground level and walked over to where I hit her., There was blood everywhere, I knew I hit her good. I let her sit for a while and slowly made my way back to to the house. I knew my buddy would be back home and enlisted his help tracking her. It seemed like a long time but 30 minutes later we were back at the location of first blood. The trail was easy to follow it looked like someone had unrolled a red carpet. She only went about 50 yards and collapsed. Looking at the blood trail I'm amazed she made it that far. I dressed her out and dragged her up the hill to the trail. Ever notice that they always seem to run down a hill? We used my 4 wheeler to haul her back to the truck. ATV''s never get tired. :-D
I weighed her in the garage and she registered 120#'s on my scale which is a little low as I could not raise her high enough to get her head off the ground. No wonder my back hurts from pulling her up the hill.
Sorry for the cluttered garage pics, it was raining to hard outside to get decent pictures.
Darn I look evil in that pic. LOL
For the techie details she was about 10-15 yards out when I shot. My gun was a Traditions Buckstalker loaded with 2 Pyrodex pellets under a Barnes Expander MZ
I have to say the Barnes bullet did one heck of a number on this doe. Destroyed the lungs and took a nice chunk out of the heart. I highly recommend them. They perform much better than the SST's I had used on my previous two muzzleloader deer.
I just realized I'm going to have to buy another doe tag if I want to hunt with my new Optima next weekend.
I was really noisy in the woods. Lots of shooting from the pheasant farm down the road and lots of shots coming from the other direction as well. Probably someone out target shooting. it was also pretty windy. I sat most of the evening and didn't see a thing. I checked my watch and saw I only had about 15 minutes left before I had to pack it up. I couple minutes later I saw some movement out in front of me so I pulled up the glasses to take a peak. I had 5 or six does crossing a small clearing out in front of me. They were out of sight before I had a chance to get the gun up. A couple minutes later I heard a twig snap and looked down to my left, the does had looped back along the tree line and were coming back onto view on the trail just below my stand. I had to double check to make sure they were does, hunting with a gun, doe is my only option tonight. I do not see any antlers so I pick out the one that offered the best shot and dropped the hammer. The muzzleloader makes a heck of a flash in low light. When the smoke cleared I could see her running off into the woods across the trail. About this time I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket indicating that shooting hours were up. I like to set an alarm so I don't have to keep checking my watch. One of the few things a cell phone is useful for in the stand. I really seem to have my best luck in the last 15 minutes of hunting hours.
I didn't wait, I packed up and worked my way down to ground level and walked over to where I hit her., There was blood everywhere, I knew I hit her good. I let her sit for a while and slowly made my way back to to the house. I knew my buddy would be back home and enlisted his help tracking her. It seemed like a long time but 30 minutes later we were back at the location of first blood. The trail was easy to follow it looked like someone had unrolled a red carpet. She only went about 50 yards and collapsed. Looking at the blood trail I'm amazed she made it that far. I dressed her out and dragged her up the hill to the trail. Ever notice that they always seem to run down a hill? We used my 4 wheeler to haul her back to the truck. ATV''s never get tired. :-D
I weighed her in the garage and she registered 120#'s on my scale which is a little low as I could not raise her high enough to get her head off the ground. No wonder my back hurts from pulling her up the hill.
Sorry for the cluttered garage pics, it was raining to hard outside to get decent pictures.
Darn I look evil in that pic. LOL
For the techie details she was about 10-15 yards out when I shot. My gun was a Traditions Buckstalker loaded with 2 Pyrodex pellets under a Barnes Expander MZ
I have to say the Barnes bullet did one heck of a number on this doe. Destroyed the lungs and took a nice chunk out of the heart. I highly recommend them. They perform much better than the SST's I had used on my previous two muzzleloader deer.
I just realized I'm going to have to buy another doe tag if I want to hunt with my new Optima next weekend.
