Broke down & went to my old stompin' grounds today- a +/- 500 acre farm dating from late 1700's. Mostly open field flanked by stands of evergreen & oak. Think "The Shire" of JRR Tolkien for a visual. I've essentially renovated the whole property over the last 10 years, so I've spent a lot of time there...
It was rainy,low 50's with a stiff SW breeze here today-a little unusual for Dec. Upon my arrival I quickly realized the wind would dictate where I hunted, so I set out on the long way around via hedgerows, moving slowly, stopping and sitting for a bit every 50 yds or so. It's odd, out of habit I wanted to hunt an old stand of white pines but my mantra this ML season is "hunt smart, not hard", so I headed to a place I call the ledges. It's a neat little sidehill area of exposed rock just below a hemlock stand, most other trees are oaks, overlooking a small woodland pond. I'm telling you, this place is straight out of the Hobbit.
On my way into the ledges I immediately spooked 1 deer which ran but showed no flag as the wind was in my favor. So I stopped and sat awhile. Next I headed across a small ravine toward the remains of a rock wall; as I stood to climb over a downed tree doesn't another deer get up and trot away. At his point I thought I'm in for a nice p.m. nap in the woods and that's fine...normally in this area there is a particular outcropping I'll sit on or near but for some reason I made the choice to sit pretty much where I stood as I thought the rock looked to have a nice recline for my snooze.
No sooner had I sat down then a nice doe strolled just past my usual posting spot taking me completely off guard. I think I actually said Oh Sh*t! aloud because she stopped and began to turn around. Since her head was behind a tree-actually the tree I use for my climber, I set the sights and took the shot.
She immediately took off running & I thought it was a bad shot; having spent so much time shooting at 80 yds these past few weeks I was unprepared for a 25 yarder! However, as soon as she started uphill I knew I'd hit her good as she veered back downhill into a thicket. I looked where she stood at the shot but saw no blood; out of the corner of my eye I saw motion in the thick. With spots of leftover snow it was tough to be sure but I thought I could make out the white of a deer belly, not 100% sure so I sat and watched. After 5 min or so I was convinced of what I saw and headed down to her.
She ran a 180 degree semicircle from where she was hit maybe 75 yds total, double lunged on a quartering away shot, not a drop of blood as the .50 PRB was just under the hide on exit. I have to admit, her angle of stance was greater than I noted and though it resulted in a perfect hit, it was not all skill on my part...
The drag was some work & I enjoyed every foot of it.
I realized while typing this it was tag soup for me last year; while this may seem longwinded you know how it is reliving the moment and all!
Photo of the spent ball: .490 Hornady,BoreButter pillow tick patch over 75gr 777.
That is a nice big doe. Congratulations. And the expansion on a roundball never ceases to amaze me. How much powder were you shooting?
You have a lot of good eating there.
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"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."
I had a friend that many years ago, during rifle season. He shot the biggest doe in the State of Wisconsin (so he claims). He showed me a picture of it, and it was a HUGE deer. Hard to believe it was a doe. The DNR came out and took weight, measurements, and even the teeth from her.
And recently a friend shot a doe that we weighed. Field dressed she weighed 138 pounds. What she would have weighed without having been gutted might have been very interesting.
Although it should be noted.. we have huge deer in Northern Wisconsin. It is not uncommon to get a buck well over 200 pounds. In fact I was at a tavern once, and they were going to weigh in a monster buck. It cost a dollar to guess the weight and the closest to the weight won the pot. Seeing it was so large I guessed 232 pounds. It weighed 247 pounds. And this is field dressed mind you.
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"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."
Congratulations on a very nice doe. Them ole round balls can sure put a spanking on a deer. Its been a long time since I have used round balls.
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white shooting system .50cal
cva optmia elite .50cal
ruger M77 30-06
ruger M77 .257 roberts
ruger M77 300 win mag
rem 700 30-06
rem 700 7mm rem mag
rem 700ML .50 cal
No matter the actual weight, that is a big doe. It is easy to over judge the weight of a deer you have shot. The biggest deer I have shot was a buck that I had to call my father in law to help drag up a small hill to get it out of the woods. Before the drag I asked him what he thought it weighed and we both agreed it was in the 200 pound range. The scale at the weigh in station read 150 pounds. I always thought the scale was wrong but with no other means to weigh the deer I could not dispute the weight. A couple of years ago I bought a scale from http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/net/....aspx?a=686991 . It is really nice to have and takes away any doubt.
Well Guys, I finally have a story!
