Buck down, 10/30 - Muzzle Loader.


Jeramie

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I haven’t been out much this year (too busy). Until last night I had only been out once for the month of October. Because last night was the last day of Muzzle loader I skipped Church and went to the woods. I sat in a spot, I typically hunt, for about 2 hours. I heard a few blow at a barking dog but never saw a thing. I left about 25-30 minutes to dark because the cows came to the edge of the timberline. I knew the deer wouldn’t move through the cows so I walked to another pasture where does frequent in the evening. I had no intention of shooting a doe on a Sunday evening hunt (too much work to clean one that late). Still, I wanted to at least see something on my second trip out. I snuck up a deep oak covered draw to the open field, climbed through the fence, and sat on my knees. I sat my Muzzle loader on a small folding hunting chair and just sat there. I didn’t see anything and really didn’t expect to on a push hunt but at least I was out there. At last light I see a body moving along the fence across the neck of this field. It is about 155 yards wide at that point. I sat and waited, unsure if it was even a deer. It was really starting to get dark. The buck had already jumped the fence. He turned an came out into the field and walked around feeding. I put the scope on him and could see a rack. I wasn’t sure how large but knew he was tall. He had a huge body so based on those two things I figured if he got close enough and if I still had the light I would take the shot. He milled for a few minutes and started walking away from me. I figured it was over but then he turned and came toward me on a string. He walked about five paces and would stop and get a bite. He would then walk about five more and do the same. All the while he was turned directly toward me. He finally offered a broadside shot at 140 yards. I passed because of the range.I ranged a tree at 115 yards and figured if he got close to the tree I would shoot. As if on cue he picked up his head, quartered to me, and went straight for the tree. He walked between me and the tree (exactly 103 yards). I gave him the “Meeeeeeep” and he stopped in his tracks. I typically wont take a quartering to shot but I have killed several deer with this shot and never lost a single one. This was a now or never situation. I was using the folding chair as a rest, I was still on my knees. I had him in a clearing in the tall grass I was setting in so the conditions were perfect. I squeezed off. I heard him hit the ground with a thud. He then jumped back up, staggered sideways, and hit the ground again. I could hear him thrashing in the open field where I shot but once he ran off about 10 - 15 yards it was too dark to make out what was going on. I didn’t want to push him so I walked back to my truck and called my parents house. Dad brought out some lights and a four wheeler but by the time he made it to the bottle neck in the field I had already drove up on the buck. He went all of 30 yards and tipped over. If you look in the picture there is a hole in his neck in front of the shoulder. That was the shot. The bullet blew through, devastated both lungs, the heart was jelly, and left a decent exit wound. Not a single bone in his body was broke (not even a rib). All of the damage was internal oddly enough. He was a fairly young deer but not as young as I expected. On the hoof he was probably around 140 lbs (he is gutted in the picture below and still has a large barrel). Pretty heavy body for this area (and his age). He was a mainframe 8 but had some damage to his right side. He also has two symmetrical stickers coming off of the bases pointing forward. If he hadn’t been missing the one tine he would have been a 10. He does have 9 measureable points. Not the biggest deer I’ve laid over but not too bad either. Daylight at rifle season he probably would have gotten the pass but I’ll take it for the second hunt in a very busy year.

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