NOVEMBER
DEER HUNT REPORT
By
I was able to hunt a total of 5 days and could have stayed for a 6th day. I had worked harder this season, than any in recent years and was over it.
The second evening of the season, I spotted 3 does crossing the bean field my son and I had just stepped into as we headed for the truck.
Between us and the deer was nothing but bean stubble and over 300 yards. We squatted down and I cranked the scope up to 18x on my .243. I was at least going to look at them. Light was fading fast but there she stood clear as a bell. She was clear, the reticle was clear and I could not resist attempting such a shot. I wrapped my arm through the sling, set my elbow on my knee, clicked the safety and squeezed the trigger.
I knew I had hit her, but did not know how well. Long story short, we found blood before the last rays of daylight were gone but did not find her until the next morning. In our haste to find blood, we had pushed her and heard her clear an old fence. After retrieving a flashlight from the truck, we tracked her to the middle of the next bean field and lost her. Daylight the next day did not add any distance to the blood trail, it stopped in the middle of the field.
We found her another 50 yards away where she had attempted to make it to a pond. Temperatures had cooperated and the coyotes left her alone so we field dressed her and drug all 900 pounds of her to the truck. Once she was lying in the bed of the truck she dropped about 800 pounds in a matter of minutes.
She was to be the only shot I had this season. I am not sorry I took the shot but in retrospect, should have given her some time and retrieved the flashlight before beginning our search.
The shot, by the way, went low in her chest but the 100 grain Sierra smashed into her and left a tennis ball size exit hole. Had we not pushed her she would have died where she first went down, 30 yards from where she had been standing.
The season itself was not good, we saw a lot of fresh sign but not the deer. Scrapes were few and far between. Don't know what was wrong, but it was a struggle to keep a positive attitude.
Last Modified: January 3, 2012