- Joined
- Mar 11, 2009
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Decent ML season with my new to me Disc Extreme
It started kind of tough. ML season started 2 Nov and for the first week hunting both private and public land, I was having a hard enough time even proving the existence of deer. Actually, that’s not quite true since on the private land (a vineyard) I would always scatter a herd of deer driving in to my spot. But they did not come anywhere near the stands. The public WMAs were a total bust. Maybe the fact that the trees held on to their leaves longer or the total lack of acorns in the woods were factors, or maybe the rut just had not taken off much but the deer were acting more like late season deer, getting off the fields and watering areas at O’ dark thirty and bedding down for most of the day. A discouraging first week.
Second week started much better. Saturday (9 Nov) I got luckier. After glassing some shadowy deer leaving the field too early and too far to shoot, I was going to pack it in early when I spotted one moving fast into the woods behind my stand, about 50 yards. A quick shot put her down DRT.
Not the most glamorous pic, but I like to take them as they lay. It was a high (her left) shoulder shot that spun her onto her back.
Went back to the same stand today (11 Nov) to see if I could nab another. Sunrise was at 0648. I was in the stand at 0555 and saw nothing until another doe was just about to enter the woods, again behind my stand. 65 yard shot, she thrashed a bit but was down within 8’ from where I hit her.
After the smoke cleared I noticed two more deer that were close to her and they ran right under my stand. They milled about a bit and I slowly reloaded, trying not to spook them. They started back towards my first doe as I got my gun reloaded. Took a shot on the one that gave me the best target, a nice broadside at 45 yards. The deer dropped, kicked a bit, bleated once (I hate that sound), and lay still.
This turned out to be a button buck. I figured out that the first doe was the mama, with the other two being her yearlings, which explains while they hung around. I actually had to shoo away the last deer, she kept coming back. Not a story I can tell my daughters, but am pretty sure the last young’un was mature enough to be on her own.
So five days of bad luck and two days of good luck and a very full freezer. All shots taken with Knight Disc Extreme, 100gr BH209, Speer DC .44cal/240gr, Harvester Green CR sabots, CCI 209m primers.
Pics of the vineyard. My stand is about 50 yards behind where I took this pic.
P.S. I gotta say I love my Anza knife. Small, gets the job done and easy to get crazy sharp. Made from a Nicholson file.
Now all I need is a nice 10 pt buck.
It started kind of tough. ML season started 2 Nov and for the first week hunting both private and public land, I was having a hard enough time even proving the existence of deer. Actually, that’s not quite true since on the private land (a vineyard) I would always scatter a herd of deer driving in to my spot. But they did not come anywhere near the stands. The public WMAs were a total bust. Maybe the fact that the trees held on to their leaves longer or the total lack of acorns in the woods were factors, or maybe the rut just had not taken off much but the deer were acting more like late season deer, getting off the fields and watering areas at O’ dark thirty and bedding down for most of the day. A discouraging first week.
Second week started much better. Saturday (9 Nov) I got luckier. After glassing some shadowy deer leaving the field too early and too far to shoot, I was going to pack it in early when I spotted one moving fast into the woods behind my stand, about 50 yards. A quick shot put her down DRT.
Not the most glamorous pic, but I like to take them as they lay. It was a high (her left) shoulder shot that spun her onto her back.
Went back to the same stand today (11 Nov) to see if I could nab another. Sunrise was at 0648. I was in the stand at 0555 and saw nothing until another doe was just about to enter the woods, again behind my stand. 65 yard shot, she thrashed a bit but was down within 8’ from where I hit her.
After the smoke cleared I noticed two more deer that were close to her and they ran right under my stand. They milled about a bit and I slowly reloaded, trying not to spook them. They started back towards my first doe as I got my gun reloaded. Took a shot on the one that gave me the best target, a nice broadside at 45 yards. The deer dropped, kicked a bit, bleated once (I hate that sound), and lay still.
This turned out to be a button buck. I figured out that the first doe was the mama, with the other two being her yearlings, which explains while they hung around. I actually had to shoo away the last deer, she kept coming back. Not a story I can tell my daughters, but am pretty sure the last young’un was mature enough to be on her own.
So five days of bad luck and two days of good luck and a very full freezer. All shots taken with Knight Disc Extreme, 100gr BH209, Speer DC .44cal/240gr, Harvester Green CR sabots, CCI 209m primers.
Pics of the vineyard. My stand is about 50 yards behind where I took this pic.
P.S. I gotta say I love my Anza knife. Small, gets the job done and easy to get crazy sharp. Made from a Nicholson file.
Now all I need is a nice 10 pt buck.
