DeerTracker
Handloader
- Nov 19, 2010
- 342
- 0
I got my buck at about 3:30pm yesterday afternoon. Nothing like waiting till the last hour and a half of the season to fill my tag. I stayed out in the field all day despite more snow, wind, and 10 degree temps. My dad and younger brother met me out there at about 2 and the plan was for me to sit on one side of the field and for them to go in the brush on the other side to sit and I would be in the right spot for anything they spooked out. Well on their way to where they would park, they found someone stuck in a snow drift. I was already set up and deer were moving everywhere. I called them to find out where they were at and they said to just go ahead and put the sneak on the deer. So I jumped back in the brush and down into the irrigation ditch. I got within 100 yards of where I had seen a nice buck but he had gone back in the brush. I spooked a couple does and they ran towards the other deer so I crawled up out of the ditch and and started running across the field along the trees. I knew where they were all going to come out. The bigger buck came out with the first few does but he got down in a low spot and I couldnt see him. So i kept moving and about 20 more deer all came running out of the brush at once! We had seen a crippled buck the night before and he was one of the last deer to come out of the trees. He was hobbling along at a pretty good pace about 250 yards out. I set down my shooting sticks and waited for him to stop. He never did so I shot. I was out of breath from running through 8" of snow but my shot connected and he dropped. Turns out I hit him too far back but he fell and stayed down. His head was still up so i sent another one into his lungs and waited a couple mins. He still was not looking sick so I put one last shot in his neck and he was down for good. Usually I dont shoot at animals while they are moving but I couldnt let this buck get away. He had a broken front leg that just flopped around. He wouldnt have lasted long in all the snow with the coyotes around. I saw bucks way bigger than this one but it never worked out. Normally I would let a buck this size walk but his suffering needed to end. When I got home with him, my mom told me she knew of a family that is pretty poor so she called them up and the buck is now hanging in their garage, about ready to feed them for the winter. I was shooting my Rem 700 ADL 243 Win with Federal Premium 85gr TSXs. Here are a few pics from this weeks hunting adventures.
20 below temps and -35 degree windchill takes a toll on a guy
20 below temps and -35 degree windchill takes a toll on a guy
