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I finally had a few days off from work to go out hunting during the late muzzleloader season. I was hunting public ground, so I wasn't sure how much pressure the deer got during the shotgun seasons in early Dec., but I decide to shoot the first decent deer I saw to put some more meat in the freezer.
The weather has been unseasonably warm, with no snow on the ground. I went to a new spot that I had scouted a few weeks back, hoping for a big doe to enter the bedding area close to where I was sitting. It was a beautiful morning, temps around 30, just a slight breeze in my face, the only problem was, I forgot my shooting sticks! Oh well, no long shots this morning.
The sun came up, beautiful sunrise, I saw movement to my right, coyote! I've always wanted to get one. I ranged him at 120 yards, stopped him with a quick, not very good, animal in distress sucking sound with my mouth. He stopped and looked in my direction for a few seconds but continued on his way over the hill. Oh well, back to deer hunting, maybe next time.
I sat for another 45 mins with no action, nothing. I had a good view of the property so I decided to glass for a while to see if the deer were sneaking in from a different spot. Still nothing, except for someone using their chainsaw extremely early in the morning. Well, this isn't working so far, so I got up to walk to the NE side to the ground to scout the area and maybe do a slow spot and stalk.
I had been out of my spot for about 15 mins, walking very slow, and glassing every few steps. I made it to the top of a hill when out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. 4 bucks running from the north towards the timber I was sitting close too! They hit a trail and slowed down to a walk as I hit the dirt and got myself ready for a shot. I ranged them at 137 yards, a possible shot as long as I got my rifle steady while in my sitting position.
I look at the first buck through my scope, ya, I would like to take him, look at the second one, yep, I would shoot him too, move to the third one, that's the one I want! The last one was a fork horn following his big brothers. I get as steady as I can, try to calm myself, I was shaking, worse than I can remember in a long time, I put the cross hairs a little high on him, I thought about using my first circle down but I was shooting downhill and didn't want to shoot over his back. They were still walking the trail so I give a quick grunt with my mouth, they stop and look my way. It's now or never so I sqeeze the trigger, lots of smoke as the gun goes off, so I can't tell how he reacts to the shot. All 4 deer bolt away, up a hill, opposite from where I was sitting.
Man, that happened fast! Ok, time to reload just in case. All I'm thinking is, 'boy I was shaking bad, I hope I put a good shot on him'. Time to go look for blood, I wish there was some snow on the ground, this could be tuff in this type of grass. I go to where they were standing when I shot, no blood, ok, keep looking. The spot where they crested the hill was next to a small ceder tree. I go to that spot and start zig zagging back and forth looking for blood, NOTHING! Maybe I missed, maybe I made a bad shot and blood is spotty at best. Ok, time to sit down and collect my thougts, no giving up until I exhaust myself.
After my 5 min idle down time, I walk to my right to where the taller grass starts at the top of the hill. BLOOD! Its on the grass stalks at the right height for a good shot on the lungs. I quickly text my wife and son 'shot a buck, got blood, still looking'. I move in the direction I think he ran. No blood on the grass on the ground. Luck is with me, the grass is much taller on this side of the hill so the buck has to run through it. Ok, keep looking at the tall grass at that same height. I walk very slow and find very little blood a little further on. I keep thinking 'I made a bad shot and he is long gone from here'. My son texts me back and asked how the blood looks, I reply, 'bright red but not much blood to track'. He comes back and says 'keep looking, he's dead 60 yards from you'. I keep looking and find more blood but soon, the trail runs out. I look ahead and see a possible path that he might have made through the tall grass. I mark my last blood spot and take a chance and follow the trail. It takes me to the top of a terrace 20 yards from the last sign of blood. I look to my left and straight ahead, nothing, then I look to my right and there he is 20 yards away and laying in the short grass on the edge of the terrace! He ran about 70 yards total before he expired. I can't put into words how excited I was and thankfull that I made a good shot. Now the real work begins, getting this guy out by myself on public ground with no motor vehicles allowed, but you know what, It was worth every back breaking minute of it.
CVA Apex with BlackHorn breech plug, 290 grain Barnes TMZ, CCI209M primer, Nikon Omega 250 BDC scope. I think it took out both lungs, one for sure, but the other was hard to tell if it was from gutting or a gun shot, the POI was a little further back than I wanted.
The weather has been unseasonably warm, with no snow on the ground. I went to a new spot that I had scouted a few weeks back, hoping for a big doe to enter the bedding area close to where I was sitting. It was a beautiful morning, temps around 30, just a slight breeze in my face, the only problem was, I forgot my shooting sticks! Oh well, no long shots this morning.
The sun came up, beautiful sunrise, I saw movement to my right, coyote! I've always wanted to get one. I ranged him at 120 yards, stopped him with a quick, not very good, animal in distress sucking sound with my mouth. He stopped and looked in my direction for a few seconds but continued on his way over the hill. Oh well, back to deer hunting, maybe next time.
I sat for another 45 mins with no action, nothing. I had a good view of the property so I decided to glass for a while to see if the deer were sneaking in from a different spot. Still nothing, except for someone using their chainsaw extremely early in the morning. Well, this isn't working so far, so I got up to walk to the NE side to the ground to scout the area and maybe do a slow spot and stalk.
I had been out of my spot for about 15 mins, walking very slow, and glassing every few steps. I made it to the top of a hill when out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. 4 bucks running from the north towards the timber I was sitting close too! They hit a trail and slowed down to a walk as I hit the dirt and got myself ready for a shot. I ranged them at 137 yards, a possible shot as long as I got my rifle steady while in my sitting position.
I look at the first buck through my scope, ya, I would like to take him, look at the second one, yep, I would shoot him too, move to the third one, that's the one I want! The last one was a fork horn following his big brothers. I get as steady as I can, try to calm myself, I was shaking, worse than I can remember in a long time, I put the cross hairs a little high on him, I thought about using my first circle down but I was shooting downhill and didn't want to shoot over his back. They were still walking the trail so I give a quick grunt with my mouth, they stop and look my way. It's now or never so I sqeeze the trigger, lots of smoke as the gun goes off, so I can't tell how he reacts to the shot. All 4 deer bolt away, up a hill, opposite from where I was sitting.
Man, that happened fast! Ok, time to reload just in case. All I'm thinking is, 'boy I was shaking bad, I hope I put a good shot on him'. Time to go look for blood, I wish there was some snow on the ground, this could be tuff in this type of grass. I go to where they were standing when I shot, no blood, ok, keep looking. The spot where they crested the hill was next to a small ceder tree. I go to that spot and start zig zagging back and forth looking for blood, NOTHING! Maybe I missed, maybe I made a bad shot and blood is spotty at best. Ok, time to sit down and collect my thougts, no giving up until I exhaust myself.
After my 5 min idle down time, I walk to my right to where the taller grass starts at the top of the hill. BLOOD! Its on the grass stalks at the right height for a good shot on the lungs. I quickly text my wife and son 'shot a buck, got blood, still looking'. I move in the direction I think he ran. No blood on the grass on the ground. Luck is with me, the grass is much taller on this side of the hill so the buck has to run through it. Ok, keep looking at the tall grass at that same height. I walk very slow and find very little blood a little further on. I keep thinking 'I made a bad shot and he is long gone from here'. My son texts me back and asked how the blood looks, I reply, 'bright red but not much blood to track'. He comes back and says 'keep looking, he's dead 60 yards from you'. I keep looking and find more blood but soon, the trail runs out. I look ahead and see a possible path that he might have made through the tall grass. I mark my last blood spot and take a chance and follow the trail. It takes me to the top of a terrace 20 yards from the last sign of blood. I look to my left and straight ahead, nothing, then I look to my right and there he is 20 yards away and laying in the short grass on the edge of the terrace! He ran about 70 yards total before he expired. I can't put into words how excited I was and thankfull that I made a good shot. Now the real work begins, getting this guy out by myself on public ground with no motor vehicles allowed, but you know what, It was worth every back breaking minute of it.
CVA Apex with BlackHorn breech plug, 290 grain Barnes TMZ, CCI209M primer, Nikon Omega 250 BDC scope. I think it took out both lungs, one for sure, but the other was hard to tell if it was from gutting or a gun shot, the POI was a little further back than I wanted.
