Encore Doe
 

Killed this little doe this morning, the first day of muzzleloder season on Ft. Sill,OK. She is 2 1/2 years old and weighed 67 pounds field dressed. Got into my favorite tree stand overlooking a pond about 45 minutes before legal shooting time. When it got light enough to see it was evident that few deer and hogs had been using that pond recently. Left the stand and headed 1/2 mile north to a food plot.

Chased three big does out of the woods into the open but did not get a shot. Approached the food plot from the south and at the edge of my cover seen this doe eating wheat grass. Wind was out of the east at 15-20 mph. The doe was standing broadside at a distance that i later stepped off at 103 paces. Wanted to get closer but that would have put me in the open field.

Got a good rest against a tree and touched off my Encore. Did not adjust for the wind and the bullet hit too far back (excuses, excuses). The doe stood for a couple of minutes and laid down. Quickly went over and administered a coup de grace.

This was the first deer checked into FT. Sill Sportsman's Center this M/L season.

Gun: .50 Encore
Scope: Zeiss 4X Conquest
Bullet: 250 grain SST
Sabot: Hornady Low Drag
Powder: 100 grains of Goex Pinnacle 3F
Primer: Winchester shotgun

that will be good eating there. Then little ones are so good to eat.

Congrats, good eating there!

Congrats on the doe! That reminds me, I need to burn some of my doe tags.

Congratulations

Congrats the little ones makes your mouth water.

Perfect size! Harder to hit, easier to drag, better to eat! What's not to like?

This is true but i still miss hunting those big eastern MD deer. If someone had told me 35 years ago about a 2.5 year old doe that field dressed 67 pounds i would have not believed him. That little doe had weaned a fawn this year too.

That's pretty close to the norm for our hunting lease in the piney woods/sandy soil area of S.E. Louisiana Falcon. That 67 lb. field dressed doe would have gone about 90 lbs. live weight.

Our 2 & 1/2 year old does have a live weight anywhere between 90 and 115 lbs. Like people, they come in different sizes even in the same area. Now the fertile soil along the Mississippi River, only 60 miles away, produces much bigger deer.

Yea I wacked a doe the same size last week with my Xbow... She had a yearling with her too...