Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,892
- 6,649
That happened fast! Late on Wednesday I got an invite for a mule deer damage control hunt near and on an orchard. The landowner works with a local veterans group and only wants veterans hunting on his property. He says that the veterans have treated his land and his dirt roads with respect. He has a lot of mule deer trying to eat the tender new growth on his young trees even though they're behind a pretty good deer fence. Also, they go browse on the mature trees too.
I checked my zero at the rifle range Thursday morning. All was well. Tight groups and about an inch and a half high at 100 yards. It's a Bergara Carbon Ridge that I've put in a Boyds laminated stock. It's got a sweet 3-15x Leupold. The 6.5 Creed handloads use VV N555 to push 140 grain Berger Elite Hunters to a bit over 2700 fps from the carbon wrapped 22" Bergara barrel. I've found that the rifle shoots great for three, or four shots then the barrel heats up a bit and the groups start broadening out. Okay, on a hunting rifle I can live with three tight shots time after time.
A buddy and I scouted the property Thursday afternoon. We saw plenty of mule deer. Hiked a lot on the ridges above the orchard. Steep and snow covered. I took quite a fall & slide. Fortunately I was able to steer my descent a bit and stopped when my boots hit a sturdy sagebrush. I slipped and fell a couple times getting back down to the dirt road, but nothing as dramatic as that. Had my good "mountain boots" on - pretty stiff Zamberlans with good tread. It was just steep and slick. A trekking pole and/or crampons would have helped. Somewhere in there my cell phone and I parted company... Not sure where - am sure that I'm not going back for it. LOL!
Next morning, my pard and I were out there before sunrise. We settled into position beneath a fair sized Ponderosa Pine. We saw deer here and there, but no solid shot opportunities. Then a few does started across our front at about 150 yards. They were heading away from us and got out to about 200 yards or so until one turned broadside. The 6.5 nudged my shoulder. She dropped instantly from a heart shot! But... her head remained up. I've seen game with their head up suddenly rise and run, so I popped her again for an instant kill. That shot went into the lungs. She obligingly slid quite a ways down the snowy slope, then stopped, still well above the dirt road. I scrambled up the steep, snow covered slope, on all fours much of the time, and got to her, checked that she was indeed dead - very much so. Gave her a little shove and down she went like a toboggan again! Only had to drag her a few yards through some brush to the road.
I re-learned a lot about steep snow-covered slopes on Thursday and Friday and made meat. She's hanging in my garage now and bound for the meat processor later.
I'm thankful for the unexpected opportunity to hunt with an old friend - He's in his late 70's, I'm in my late 60's, both of us veterans. We were grumbling about not being as strong as we used to be... It was pretty funny. No photos at this point, the squirrels are up there chewing on my cell phone someplace! My buddy took a few photos but he was Navy, so he's having some trouble figuring out how to get them to me... LOL! I may need to grab his cell phone and email them to me myself...
The little 6.5 Creed did well. Damage to her heart and lungs was considerable. This is the first game I've taken with that easy-shooting rifle. It's just fine!
Regards, Guy
I checked my zero at the rifle range Thursday morning. All was well. Tight groups and about an inch and a half high at 100 yards. It's a Bergara Carbon Ridge that I've put in a Boyds laminated stock. It's got a sweet 3-15x Leupold. The 6.5 Creed handloads use VV N555 to push 140 grain Berger Elite Hunters to a bit over 2700 fps from the carbon wrapped 22" Bergara barrel. I've found that the rifle shoots great for three, or four shots then the barrel heats up a bit and the groups start broadening out. Okay, on a hunting rifle I can live with three tight shots time after time.
A buddy and I scouted the property Thursday afternoon. We saw plenty of mule deer. Hiked a lot on the ridges above the orchard. Steep and snow covered. I took quite a fall & slide. Fortunately I was able to steer my descent a bit and stopped when my boots hit a sturdy sagebrush. I slipped and fell a couple times getting back down to the dirt road, but nothing as dramatic as that. Had my good "mountain boots" on - pretty stiff Zamberlans with good tread. It was just steep and slick. A trekking pole and/or crampons would have helped. Somewhere in there my cell phone and I parted company... Not sure where - am sure that I'm not going back for it. LOL!
Next morning, my pard and I were out there before sunrise. We settled into position beneath a fair sized Ponderosa Pine. We saw deer here and there, but no solid shot opportunities. Then a few does started across our front at about 150 yards. They were heading away from us and got out to about 200 yards or so until one turned broadside. The 6.5 nudged my shoulder. She dropped instantly from a heart shot! But... her head remained up. I've seen game with their head up suddenly rise and run, so I popped her again for an instant kill. That shot went into the lungs. She obligingly slid quite a ways down the snowy slope, then stopped, still well above the dirt road. I scrambled up the steep, snow covered slope, on all fours much of the time, and got to her, checked that she was indeed dead - very much so. Gave her a little shove and down she went like a toboggan again! Only had to drag her a few yards through some brush to the road.
I re-learned a lot about steep snow-covered slopes on Thursday and Friday and made meat. She's hanging in my garage now and bound for the meat processor later.
I'm thankful for the unexpected opportunity to hunt with an old friend - He's in his late 70's, I'm in my late 60's, both of us veterans. We were grumbling about not being as strong as we used to be... It was pretty funny. No photos at this point, the squirrels are up there chewing on my cell phone someplace! My buddy took a few photos but he was Navy, so he's having some trouble figuring out how to get them to me... LOL! I may need to grab his cell phone and email them to me myself...
The little 6.5 Creed did well. Damage to her heart and lungs was considerable. This is the first game I've taken with that easy-shooting rifle. It's just fine!
Regards, Guy
