I better get my story in here quick..
Sunday in SW Kentucky was an unseasonably cold and windy affair. The morning hunt was rather cold and the deer had been moving slow. That afternoon Russel asked me if I wanted to sit in a stand that had been undisturbed for the weekend and was a rather new location on the farm.
Reluctantly I said sure. Saturday Chuck and JD sat a couple hundred yards from this stand and saw no deer. In fact all they saw were coyotes, 3 to be exact.
On the drive back to the stand we drove through some beautiful fields along the woods that lined the river bank of the farm. The flat land was absolutely beautiful! Planted with wheat, buckwheat, clovers etc. in alternating rows. To me it looked almost like a well maintained golf course! Russel is one heck of a greenskeeper! The work he puts into growing and maintaining a good bloodline on his property is just incredible! Obviously a labor of love!
As we roll towards the crotch of the woods, we leave the edge of the short food plots and enter a 20-30yd band of tall grass before we come to a stop at the edge of the woods. Russel explains that the deer like this plot because it is a nook nestled back out of the way and the river is very close by. He explains that the treestand is straight in from where we are and the terrain acts as a funnel for the deer as they leave the field and head into the woods. He also informs me that if I did like the location, I could sneak out onto the edge of the field and pick a spot.
I head into the woods and get situated in the ladder stand. A couple of hours go by and I have spent most of that time watching 2 does feed in a small grassy plot in the woods. I range them and they are 119 yards away. They have bedded down for about an hour now. Both does are lying in opposite directions and watching each others backs.. I leave my stand and figure if I could close 20 yards I had a very nice shooting lane.
Well, one step onto the leaves and they are all but gone! The dry crunchy leaves are as subtle as an air horn!! It is now about 5pm and I take the opportunity to walk around a bit in search of a better location. I creep out of the woods and walk the woods line a bit in search of a trail or something.. Pretty much figured sitting on the edge of the food plots might be my only hope.
I head through the tall grass and into the open food plot. As I step into the open, I see movement off to my right. I drop to my knees to take my pack off and set my gun on my shooting sticks and stand back up to glass the deer. I spot several does running some going right and some going left>?? In the middle, I see my buck. :shock: He is a good 200 yds out and down in a bit of a ravine and walking slowly to my right. I drop to my knees again and size up the situation. I consider a stalk but it isn't possible with all the dry leaves and lack of cover.
In despiration, I grab my Primos L'il Can and give it 2 flips.. I grab my binos and stand up on my knees. I can't see down into the small ravine in the middle of the field so I stand up. Just then, I see his rack walking slowly towards me. Soon I see all of him.. He is walking right at me, with the wind. Now I find myslef stading about 5 yards into the tall grass on an ATV path as the buck gets closer.. I slowly drop down and get setup with my HB 167 and a set of shooting sticks. I find the buck in the scope as he crests the rise I had been trying to see over. I can see through the scope the he is starting to loose interest and he comes to a stop. I grabbed the call and gave it another flip.. The buck regains his interest and starts trotting right at me.
I drop the call and dial my Swarovski to 10x and just wait. The buck closes in and feel good about the shot. I don't want to let him get too close as I don't think he will give me a broadside shot. As the buck is getting bigger in my scope, I feel it is time and I put the crosshairs in the center of his chest. The 10ML-II barked and a moment later, that wonderful THUD reported back. The buck lowered his head and tried to make a getaway quartering towards me and to my left. He didn't get far.
He crashed down about 75yds in front of me. I reloaded, grabbed my gear, said a quick thanks to the deer gods and headed out into the buckwheat to get a better look at him! Boy am I a shaky mess now... 8) What a rush!!!
I could see his rack sticking up as I gathered my gear and headed out. :shock: :lol:
Here is my first pics only minutes after the shot..
I looked to see where my bullet impacted and the shot was as expected, maybe an inch to the right? The 275gr Parker Ballistic Extreme over 44gr 5744 and supplied MMP short sabot did an excellent job. Post mortem inspection produced some graphic photos. The bullet entered the chest, blew the heart, damaged at least the right lung and broke two ribs on the right ribcage as the bullet bounced off the bone and never exited. I tried to recover a bullet but was unsuccessful.
The day before, I shot a doe at 50 yards with the same load. The doe was feeding and facing me when I placed the shot where the shoulders meet the spine. The bullet severed the spine and the doe was DRT.
Me and my yummy doe!
All in all, a great time was had! I really enjoyed hanging out with Chuck, Kristel, Harry, Matthew and the new friends we met while there. The staff was excellent as well!!! Pampered would be an understatement!
Here are a few misc. pics from the weekend.
The Hill clan with the spotter, checking out a few does and a small buck on Friday night.
Harry and JD's does. They were later showed up by Kristel and her monster doe!!
.... another great weekend for the memory banks! Thanks to everyone involved! I'm glad I could be apart of it!
Till next year fellas!
JJ
Sunday in SW Kentucky was an unseasonably cold and windy affair. The morning hunt was rather cold and the deer had been moving slow. That afternoon Russel asked me if I wanted to sit in a stand that had been undisturbed for the weekend and was a rather new location on the farm.
Reluctantly I said sure. Saturday Chuck and JD sat a couple hundred yards from this stand and saw no deer. In fact all they saw were coyotes, 3 to be exact.
On the drive back to the stand we drove through some beautiful fields along the woods that lined the river bank of the farm. The flat land was absolutely beautiful! Planted with wheat, buckwheat, clovers etc. in alternating rows. To me it looked almost like a well maintained golf course! Russel is one heck of a greenskeeper! The work he puts into growing and maintaining a good bloodline on his property is just incredible! Obviously a labor of love!
As we roll towards the crotch of the woods, we leave the edge of the short food plots and enter a 20-30yd band of tall grass before we come to a stop at the edge of the woods. Russel explains that the deer like this plot because it is a nook nestled back out of the way and the river is very close by. He explains that the treestand is straight in from where we are and the terrain acts as a funnel for the deer as they leave the field and head into the woods. He also informs me that if I did like the location, I could sneak out onto the edge of the field and pick a spot.
I head into the woods and get situated in the ladder stand. A couple of hours go by and I have spent most of that time watching 2 does feed in a small grassy plot in the woods. I range them and they are 119 yards away. They have bedded down for about an hour now. Both does are lying in opposite directions and watching each others backs.. I leave my stand and figure if I could close 20 yards I had a very nice shooting lane.
Well, one step onto the leaves and they are all but gone! The dry crunchy leaves are as subtle as an air horn!! It is now about 5pm and I take the opportunity to walk around a bit in search of a better location. I creep out of the woods and walk the woods line a bit in search of a trail or something.. Pretty much figured sitting on the edge of the food plots might be my only hope.
I head through the tall grass and into the open food plot. As I step into the open, I see movement off to my right. I drop to my knees to take my pack off and set my gun on my shooting sticks and stand back up to glass the deer. I spot several does running some going right and some going left>?? In the middle, I see my buck. :shock: He is a good 200 yds out and down in a bit of a ravine and walking slowly to my right. I drop to my knees again and size up the situation. I consider a stalk but it isn't possible with all the dry leaves and lack of cover.
In despiration, I grab my Primos L'il Can and give it 2 flips.. I grab my binos and stand up on my knees. I can't see down into the small ravine in the middle of the field so I stand up. Just then, I see his rack walking slowly towards me. Soon I see all of him.. He is walking right at me, with the wind. Now I find myslef stading about 5 yards into the tall grass on an ATV path as the buck gets closer.. I slowly drop down and get setup with my HB 167 and a set of shooting sticks. I find the buck in the scope as he crests the rise I had been trying to see over. I can see through the scope the he is starting to loose interest and he comes to a stop. I grabbed the call and gave it another flip.. The buck regains his interest and starts trotting right at me.
I drop the call and dial my Swarovski to 10x and just wait. The buck closes in and feel good about the shot. I don't want to let him get too close as I don't think he will give me a broadside shot. As the buck is getting bigger in my scope, I feel it is time and I put the crosshairs in the center of his chest. The 10ML-II barked and a moment later, that wonderful THUD reported back. The buck lowered his head and tried to make a getaway quartering towards me and to my left. He didn't get far.
He crashed down about 75yds in front of me. I reloaded, grabbed my gear, said a quick thanks to the deer gods and headed out into the buckwheat to get a better look at him! Boy am I a shaky mess now... 8) What a rush!!!
I could see his rack sticking up as I gathered my gear and headed out. :shock: :lol:
Here is my first pics only minutes after the shot..
I looked to see where my bullet impacted and the shot was as expected, maybe an inch to the right? The 275gr Parker Ballistic Extreme over 44gr 5744 and supplied MMP short sabot did an excellent job. Post mortem inspection produced some graphic photos. The bullet entered the chest, blew the heart, damaged at least the right lung and broke two ribs on the right ribcage as the bullet bounced off the bone and never exited. I tried to recover a bullet but was unsuccessful.
The day before, I shot a doe at 50 yards with the same load. The doe was feeding and facing me when I placed the shot where the shoulders meet the spine. The bullet severed the spine and the doe was DRT.
Me and my yummy doe!
All in all, a great time was had! I really enjoyed hanging out with Chuck, Kristel, Harry, Matthew and the new friends we met while there. The staff was excellent as well!!! Pampered would be an understatement!
Here are a few misc. pics from the weekend.
The Hill clan with the spotter, checking out a few does and a small buck on Friday night.
Harry and JD's does. They were later showed up by Kristel and her monster doe!!
.... another great weekend for the memory banks! Thanks to everyone involved! I'm glad I could be apart of it!
Till next year fellas!
JJ
