Larry in SD
Handloader
- Nov 8, 2004
- 426
- 1
Well it wasn't my grand daughter that got the first deer of the season but rather her mother. My oldest daughter got a nice 4x5 this afternoon.
We decided that with the storm moving in tonight that maybe this afternoon would be the time, which turned out to be right. We went out west of town to one of my favorite spots. This spot is next to a rock pile on a hill overlooking a bottom area. From the rock pile looking north there is a strip of farm land that leads into a grassy area, a row of trees and then Rice Cane & Cat Tails. This area of Rice Cane & Cat Tails extends northward for roughly 3/8 of a mile or so with railroad tracks on the north side.
To our left (to the west is a long slopping hillside and to our right (to the east) is CRP with a couple of fairly deep draws that lead down to the bean field and the bottom area.
We had sat there about an hour in this horrible wind and my daughter kept saying we are not going to see anything in this wind, the deer are smarter than we are. I kept telling her to be patient that with the storm moving in the deer should be moving. At about sunset a doe emerged from cover and fed out onto the bean field 430 yards to the east of us. We watched her for a few minutes and she fed to the south and disappeared into one of the draws east of us.
About as I was saying so much for that idea she came back north and out onto the bean field again. Almost immediately a fawn emerged from cover and joined her. I thought something might just work yet so I started getting the rifle rest into position.
Just that quick two bucks emerged from the cover and were headed south for the draw across the bean field. Almost instantly all of the deer disappeared into the draw to the east of us. Just as quickly as they disappeared into the draw they reappeared back on the bean field and this time were headed right for us.
I got my daughter into position for the shot with the .308 up on the rifle rest. As the buck topped the 2nd hill to the east of us (with the doe and fawn in front of him) he stopped perfectly facing us (the dreaded frontal shot).
As she was getting ready for the shot the doe ran back to the buck and was standing directly in front of the buck with her butt to us. I whispered that ain't gonna work. Just as soon as I said it the doe turned and headed northwest down the draw leaving the buck in the open alone. I advised to hold 2 or 3" off to the left to compensate for the wind (the buck was straight east of us and the wind was out of the northwest). I no sooner said that and the .308 boomed and the buck was on the ground.
Man was it COLD on that hillside in that wind field dressing that buck. No we didn't take the time to take any photos in the field but rather snapped the above photo at my house back in town.
The 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip entered the chest dead center left to right, clipped the very bottom of the spine just inside the rib cage and totally destroyed the lungs. When I opened up the chest cavity it looked like a red swimming pool in there, everything was liquid. The 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip did it's job quite well.
After the field dressing chores were done I lasered the rock pile from where the buck was laying on the bean field, it was 231 yards.
We immediately phoned the locker plant in nearby Fairmount ND and took the buck up there to be made into Country Style Sausage with Garlic (mixed 1/2 Deer to 1/2 Pork).
One down five to go. Now that the ice is broken so to speak we can get serious about this deer hunting thing.
Thanks for reading.
Larry
We decided that with the storm moving in tonight that maybe this afternoon would be the time, which turned out to be right. We went out west of town to one of my favorite spots. This spot is next to a rock pile on a hill overlooking a bottom area. From the rock pile looking north there is a strip of farm land that leads into a grassy area, a row of trees and then Rice Cane & Cat Tails. This area of Rice Cane & Cat Tails extends northward for roughly 3/8 of a mile or so with railroad tracks on the north side.
To our left (to the west is a long slopping hillside and to our right (to the east) is CRP with a couple of fairly deep draws that lead down to the bean field and the bottom area.
We had sat there about an hour in this horrible wind and my daughter kept saying we are not going to see anything in this wind, the deer are smarter than we are. I kept telling her to be patient that with the storm moving in the deer should be moving. At about sunset a doe emerged from cover and fed out onto the bean field 430 yards to the east of us. We watched her for a few minutes and she fed to the south and disappeared into one of the draws east of us.
About as I was saying so much for that idea she came back north and out onto the bean field again. Almost immediately a fawn emerged from cover and joined her. I thought something might just work yet so I started getting the rifle rest into position.
Just that quick two bucks emerged from the cover and were headed south for the draw across the bean field. Almost instantly all of the deer disappeared into the draw to the east of us. Just as quickly as they disappeared into the draw they reappeared back on the bean field and this time were headed right for us.
I got my daughter into position for the shot with the .308 up on the rifle rest. As the buck topped the 2nd hill to the east of us (with the doe and fawn in front of him) he stopped perfectly facing us (the dreaded frontal shot).
As she was getting ready for the shot the doe ran back to the buck and was standing directly in front of the buck with her butt to us. I whispered that ain't gonna work. Just as soon as I said it the doe turned and headed northwest down the draw leaving the buck in the open alone. I advised to hold 2 or 3" off to the left to compensate for the wind (the buck was straight east of us and the wind was out of the northwest). I no sooner said that and the .308 boomed and the buck was on the ground.
Man was it COLD on that hillside in that wind field dressing that buck. No we didn't take the time to take any photos in the field but rather snapped the above photo at my house back in town.
The 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip entered the chest dead center left to right, clipped the very bottom of the spine just inside the rib cage and totally destroyed the lungs. When I opened up the chest cavity it looked like a red swimming pool in there, everything was liquid. The 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip did it's job quite well.
After the field dressing chores were done I lasered the rock pile from where the buck was laying on the bean field, it was 231 yards.
We immediately phoned the locker plant in nearby Fairmount ND and took the buck up there to be made into Country Style Sausage with Garlic (mixed 1/2 Deer to 1/2 Pork).
One down five to go. Now that the ice is broken so to speak we can get serious about this deer hunting thing.
Thanks for reading.
Larry
