Well, I got back Sunday night from about a week and change of deer hunting with my family up in NY. Had a good time, hunted with my father, sisters, son, wife, cousins and old friends. We came up pretty dry. It was a rough week. We covered alot of ground. Deer numbers don't seem to be as good as they were, and the coyotes have really taken hold up there too. My old man has taken about 13 coyotes this year in traps. Anyhow, I hunted with my 14 year old cousin. First year hunter. He sat with me the entire windy, cold and nasty opening morning. He used my sons' M700 243 with the 95gr BT's at around 2900.
He shot his deer on the run in the rear end. Not a great shot, but I believe he caught a little of the fever. He did keep his head enough to get the gun up, take the safety off and put a bullet in the deers rear. Where he shot the deer, there was meat chunks and blood everywhere. Knowing it wasn't a great shot, we gave the deer about 1.5 hours to die. Well, once we started tracking, we bumped the deer again before dark.
We left the deer until the following morning and finished trailing her. She only went about 65 yards further, leaving tons of blood, but it was a good blood trail. We found her, but not before the coyotes ate about half of her. We were able to pull a quarter off of her, and a backstrap, but the yotes ate the entire other side. I have no idea about the bullet, but it seemed to go in the rear ham and into the guts. It did an admirable job for such a little bullet. We talked about shot placement and what happens when bullets land off the mark, but being a young hunter, we did the best we could and recovered the deer.
Anyhow, his father bought him a M10 Savage 243, that night. I zeroed it and now, we have another hunter amongst the ranks. He will do well and hopefully will continue to take as many coyotes as he find!
Here are some pictures.
Here is an old shed my cousin and I found (laid the rear tine on my 18.5" 45-70 barrel and the rear tine was easily 13" if not longer). Trophy buck for NY, unfortunately I never found any of his kin. I passed one little spike with the 45-70, but nothing else presented itself.
My son had a close encounter with a doe that busted him at 15 yards, but it was a great encounter for him. Anyhow, it was fun to hunt with them all, but too bad there weren't more deer. There was a few over 400lb bears and one that dressed out at 540lbs! Also, a family friend shot a nice 11pt. That was the only big buck that I even saw and he was already dead. I will get some more pictures once the parents send them along. Scotty
He shot his deer on the run in the rear end. Not a great shot, but I believe he caught a little of the fever. He did keep his head enough to get the gun up, take the safety off and put a bullet in the deers rear. Where he shot the deer, there was meat chunks and blood everywhere. Knowing it wasn't a great shot, we gave the deer about 1.5 hours to die. Well, once we started tracking, we bumped the deer again before dark.
We left the deer until the following morning and finished trailing her. She only went about 65 yards further, leaving tons of blood, but it was a good blood trail. We found her, but not before the coyotes ate about half of her. We were able to pull a quarter off of her, and a backstrap, but the yotes ate the entire other side. I have no idea about the bullet, but it seemed to go in the rear ham and into the guts. It did an admirable job for such a little bullet. We talked about shot placement and what happens when bullets land off the mark, but being a young hunter, we did the best we could and recovered the deer.
Anyhow, his father bought him a M10 Savage 243, that night. I zeroed it and now, we have another hunter amongst the ranks. He will do well and hopefully will continue to take as many coyotes as he find!
Here are some pictures.
Here is an old shed my cousin and I found (laid the rear tine on my 18.5" 45-70 barrel and the rear tine was easily 13" if not longer). Trophy buck for NY, unfortunately I never found any of his kin. I passed one little spike with the 45-70, but nothing else presented itself.
My son had a close encounter with a doe that busted him at 15 yards, but it was a great encounter for him. Anyhow, it was fun to hunt with them all, but too bad there weren't more deer. There was a few over 400lb bears and one that dressed out at 540lbs! Also, a family friend shot a nice 11pt. That was the only big buck that I even saw and he was already dead. I will get some more pictures once the parents send them along. Scotty
