This has never happened to me before. I can't kill any more bucks. I am allowed 2 deer per day, 6 per license year...3 of which must be antlerless. ( I get 3 either sex stamps and 3 antlerless.....and you can also buy bonus doe stamps for private land. ) First one I killed was a spike that kept coming round and hamming it up for my game cam. Then I got a doe about a week later. 2 weeks ago I jumped up in the tree in my work clothes and took a medium sized 8 pointer....those were all urban deer. I live in a rural neighborhood of large (6 + acre lots) and have been granted the opportunity to bow hunt on several properties around here.
Yesterday was doe day out in the WMA where I have been hunting for 10 years. I headed out with a friend to rifle hunt a spot I had set up on several times last year. Saw does on three different days last year but never on a doe day.
To say that it was crowded out there is an understatement. I've never seen so many cars, trucks and minivans in the parking area. My buddy had to change his hunting plan twice because he stepped on two guys hunts when trying to find a place to hang his stand. I didn't see anyone going in and had a few people walk thru a field about 100 yards from the draw I was in.
The squirrels were going nuts from the moment the sun came up and they kept me on my toes. At just after 9 am I caught a glimpse of a deer walking down the hill toward me on the opposite side of the draw I was set up in. I quickly picked up my rifle, took the safety off and laid the sites on his chest. I could see antlers and could tell that it was a nice deer. I was fumbling trying to get my fingers out of the popout mitten covers. As soon as I had my index finger free I pulled the trigger. Hit him just forward of the chest in his massively thick neck and he dropped face first. His body never moved again but he kept lifting his head up and shaking it back and forth for about 2 minutes. shook it so much that he slid a full body length down the hill. I kept the sites on him with another round loaded for almost 10 minutes. I didn't come out of the tree for almost 20 minutes. Wanted to make sure he didn't jump and run. When I got to him I was quite pleased. He is a 5 pointer with the biggest body of any deer I have killed. My buddy met me after I had dragged him 200 yds. Thank God because we had about a mile and a half and it took us almost 2 hours to get him back to the truck. Being fat and old doesn't help.
Didn't get to weight him but my buddy said 150.... I would guess about 140 lbs field dressed. he had a grey face and and a couple people said he looked old, but I cut his cheek and the teeth say he was actually only about 3 years old. Since This is public land, You can't be choosey. I have had several seasons out there where I never saw a legal deer.
Rifle was .270. Round was remington corlokt 130 grain . Shot distance was paced off at about 68yds but with the decline and incline of the draw I would estimate it at about 60 yds straight distance.
