I had to work till 1 Am and when the alarm went off at 5 Am. I shut it off and rolled over and said heck with it I'm too tierd. My buddie called me at 5:45 asking what happened to me I told him I had to work late and was just too tierd. He told me that if I didn't get right down there he was going to climb into my stand and shoot the big boy thats been running around there just to piss me off. Well I figured I'm awake and if he ever did that I woulden't be able to live with myself. I had been hunting the same stand ever since the muzzle loader season opened. I haden't seen the big buck since last year when he got by me not once but twice, once during the shotgun season and once during the muzzloader. I thought he must still be around cause no one else hunts in this area and I haden't heard of anyone hitting him with a car. So up I rose and threw my clothes on and out the door. I got to the area about 6:15 and my buddie said I figured that woud get you up. To my suprise hacking John was there a ( well I'll be nice) not nice guy who trys to follow people around who are getting deer. Hacking John can ruin a spot quick He coughes constantly with a smoke hanging out of his mouth, he stinks and can't sit still. He found out I shot a button buck opening day and has been looking for where my truck has been parked ever sence. Now the area I hunt is real small and it don't take a wonderer long to ruin it. As most folks know during the late muzzle loader season you have to be real quit sneak into your stand and sneak back out as the deer have been hunted so hard they spook easy and if you spook them out of these little pockets of woods you may not see them till next year. So I said to my buddie I should have stayed in bed this spot is done. We were both pretty bummed but we were there and it was late so in we went. My stand is all the way in almost to the other side and this is the only way in and out so I have to be real slow and quite. I got to my stand about 6:40 climbed up and hooked up my saftey belt and settled in. My stand is a real comfortable API fixed position with a swivel seat and I have a cables shooting rail so I can take my best shot. Only thing is the rail can double as a head rest and if your not careful you will drift off to sleep which is wat I found myself doing so I stood up trying to shoke off the sleepy feeling. I was watching the area where the field and the woods meet as this is where every deer I have seen in the area have been. Somthing made me turn around behind me and as I did I saw a buck heading into the thickest cover around. I raised my Omega and found him in the buckmaster scope but it was so thick I knew I coulden't take a shot I followed him the best I could in the scope. All of a sudden I hit an open area and squeezed the trigger. For about 20 seconds all I could see was smoke, I quickly reloaded and as I did the smoke cleared. I looked and didn't see the deer there and never saw him go anywhere. I looked through the scope still nothing. I figured that the way he was going there was nothing but houses there and he would eather run back or cross the street but the way I had been hearing cars on the street in their early morning rush to work I thought his best bet would be to come back. After about 20 min. he hadden.t come back so I figured I would go down and see if there was any blood or hair. I got to the area where he was when I shot and I could see big tracks in the ground and I thought I could see where the bullet scraped and entered the ground. Nothing no hair no blood nothing but tracks. I followed for about 30 feet or so still nothing. I figured I must have missed but it was a quick off hand shot and tough to make any way at least I tried. I followed the tracks anyway figuring I'd see what direction he went in and still hoping . As I broke through the thick stuff I saw something I said to myself no thats too big to be a deer it must be a stump or something but as I broke out of the thick stuffI was in I saw it was a deer and what a deer I went over to him saw the horns and had to sit down if I didn't I was going to fall down. He was a big body deer and the groth of the antlers was amazing the polimation was huge he had 4 points on one side and 5 on the other. Again not the tallest rack and not the widest I ever saw but over all huge especially with that polmation it looks like a crown. It drew quite a crowd at Reedys where I checked it in at first the guy told me the scale was broke but when he came out to check it in the scale all of a sudden was working again. The deer weighed 190 lbs which is not giant body size but still a good size deer and I was told he would have gone 230 to 240 before the rut. And he was rough scored about 140. When I get some pictures taken I will post them up. So guys I hope that story didn't bore you too much I could never tell a good short story it always takes me too long.
__________________
Correction Officers: We walk the toughest beat in the country!
A good story Mike. So how far do you think the deer actually ran, from where he was shot? Also you never did find a blood trail of any kind? Last maybe you posted it somewhere, but what load were you shooting again? That really is a nice deer you shot. There is no way I could pass on something like that... Again, congratulations.
__________________
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Cool! - I would ask about the same questions as Cayugad....
We have a kinda carbon copy of "Hacking John" here also but thanks to you I now have a name for him "Talking John" - he talks all the time walks and talks can not believe he talks when he walks and trys to hunt..
__________________
Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
Ok I would guess about a 60 yard shot but I only had a opening of mabey a foot squared to shoot through.
I was using my new (Last years christmas) Omega
120 loose 777
250 gr. TC Shock wave (yellow tip)
I didn't get any blood at all which suprised me as I had a low entrence wound and like I said jellied half the liver and a perfect hole through the heart No exit wound the bullet travled olmost perfectly straight up the body I guess if it came out it would have come out the brisket. I have been talking to quite a few people who say the same thing they are getting no blood trail ftom the shock waves. Could this really be because of the bullet. I am getting about a 2 in entrence hole on both deer i shot.
Ok here goes I'm going to try to post a photo but I'm not very good at this.
Thanks Mike.. you must not have hit any kind of bone mass at all until it actually exited through the brisket. Was the hole through the heart just like a punched hole?
That just goes to show, a lot of deer are missed being recovered because people look where the deer was standing, see no blood, and say I missed and forget about it. I commend you for sticking to your shot.
I picked up the trail of a real nice buck one year my friend shot,that way. Walking along, I heard him shoot. So I began to wander in his direction in case he needed help. All of a sudden, there was blood in the snow.I walked it back one way, and it stopped, but I was sure I could see his stand. So I yelled at him if he had shot. He told me he had, but missed. I then told him I was on a blood trail. So we walked it out, and about 100 yards further, found the buck, liver shot, all curled up and still hot to touch. Had my friend walked his exit path even 30 yards more, he'd of seen the snow blood. Worst part is, I had to listen to him tell me, he was sure he had hit that deer during the whole track and drag job. (Then why didn't he follow it out?)
I understand all about shooting through "glory holes" as we call them. A couple years back I had a big buck with one of the best racks I had ever seen standing in a balsam thicket. All I had was a small glory hole to shoot through. Trouble is all I could see was the very back of his head, and that rack. So I figured I'd wait him out until he walked around the brush pile. Well he never did. He turned back around and walked straight away from me.
My friend who is a taxidermist told me, he could have put the horns back on had I knocked them off. I was shooting a .54 caliber Renegade with roundball and had got to within 25 yards of him. I guess I should have shot, then again it was just nice to see something like that ....
__________________
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Cayudad, I
I'm surprised your freind didn't know he hit much less missed!
If you could see his stand from the blood trail he is a rooky. That why its always nice to hunt w/ some expereinced people you can contact...
I was taught to Mark Your Spot of the hit and then Watch and Listen to the last spot you saw the deer, had he had done that he would have seen the blood. Hopefully you taught him something AND he learned fromthat experience...
SHills
Cayudad, I
I'm surprised your freind didn't know he hit much less missed!
If you could see his stand from the blood trail he is a rooky. That why its always nice to hunt w/ some expereinced people you can contact...
I was taught to Mark Your Spot of the hit and then Watch and Listen to the last spot you saw the deer, had he had done that he would have seen the blood. Hopefully you taught him something AND he learned fromthat experience...
SHills
You know, I was kind of upset with him about the incident at the time. As we walked it out and he started his, " I was sure I hit that deer." line, I then kind of berated him a little telling his he should have fanned out and walked circles trying to cut track and pick up a blood trail. He admitted he did not. It was a good thing I walked in from the direction I did, to which he admitted. Although I will admit, I'd have walked out that way if I had not came across it on the way in.
I will say, he is now a tracking fool. When I used toget called to track a deer or bear for someone, he always went along with us. I think he actually learned something...
I still laugh at people who use tocall and ask for help, tracking for them.I ask them where the animal was hit, and they tell me "right through the heart." I then tell them it should be within 60 yards of where they shot it, you don't need me. 9 times out of 10 people shoot too high or too far back . They hit a liver, diaghram, or hit that empty space above the lungs.
__________________
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
You asked for it so here it is MY Story
