oldsmellhound

First and foremost, I profusely appologize for not having pictures. I am usually very good about that, but my cell phone died and I forgot my regular camrera at home.

Opening morning of Ohio's gun season found me 20 feet up in a tree. I saw 3 deer within 45 minutes of sitting down in the stand. I didn't have a shot, but one seemed to be limping (I had heard some shooting from the direction they came from not long before). They went over a hill and down into a ravine. Since one seemed to be injured, I decided to get down from the stand and try to sneak up and peer down into the ravine to maybe finish it off. As I got to the top of the hill, crouching, I saw a deer about 200 yards away on the opposite hill. As I kept on walking, I spooked up a deer down at the bottom of the ravine. It appeared to be a large doe, and ran to the opposite hill, about 125 - 150 yards away. It presented with a broadside shot, so I decided to take it.

The shot felt good, but seeing the deer's reaction, I knew right away that I had hit it too far back. It kind of hunched up, and slowly walked 20 - 30 yards up the hill and bedded down. I reloaded, and still had a nice broadside shot so I hit it again. The deer stayed right there, and I wasn't sure if I hit it or not. So I reloaded and snuck up on the deer. As I got close, I could see it was mortally wounded, but still alive, so I finished it off with a 3rd shot. Not my best day of shooting, and I'm not proud of it, but I am happy that I could take the deer and put it out of its misery pretty quickly.

It turns out that all 3 shots hit the deer. The first shot was 137 yards away-I went back with my lazer rangefinder and verified the ranges afterwards- (shooting off-hand) and hit the deer in the intestines. The second shot (also off-hand) when the deer was bedded was at 151 yards and hit the deer through the liver. The 3rd shot was almost point blank.

Honestly, I thought the deer was closer, otherwise I might have passed on an off-hand shot that long. But I have more than once hit deer off-hand at 100 yards, so it wasn't that much of a stretch. The deer was good-sized for our area, I would estimate the live weight at 110 - 120 pounds - will be some good eating.

Once again, shot placement is everything - bullet type is secondary. A magic bullet is not going to turn a gut-shot into a boom-flop. I was fortunate that I had the opportunity to follow up quickly so the deer wasn't in pain very long. I felt a bit bad about it, but I did try to do the right thing once the deed was done.

I was using a .45 Cascade Magnum lighting off the 185 grain Lehigh on top of 80 grains T7 3f. All 3 shots were pass-thrus, and I saw evidence on all shots of the petals separating and creating separate wound channels.

cayugad

It is good that you followed up and finished off the deer. Those Lehigh/Bloodline petals might have been very important in the fact that the deer bedded down so quickly. A lot of gut shot deer, when chased will really cover distance.

Way to stick in there and get the job done.

1874sharpsshooter

Congratulations. I'm glad you were able to finish her off. The worse feeling in the world is a wounded deer running off never to be seen again. Enjoy that harvest but no pics is unacceptable

Semisane

Good report Elderlystinkingdog, and congrats on the successful follow up. Most of us know that sinking feeling when you see a deer hunch up.

As for pictures, we shall forgive you (this time).

gregrn43

Congratulations smellhound, on the deer and the follow up. I know how you feel about not making a great shot, but it happens sometimes. Wish I could have been up there hunting Ohio this week but it was not in the cards, always next year.

Breechplug

Congrats and way to go for following up and finishing it off. I once had a small doe run by me with a shot off leg, doing the only thing that was right I finished her off. I did'nt want to have to use my tag on this deer but as it was so small but I knew it was the right thing to do.
Was the one you got the wounded one?
(BP)

falcon

SmellHound: You did a good job following up the shot and dispatching that deer.

WV Hunter

Good job hound....thats some pretty long offhand shooting. I don't think I could have made that shot.

Did you find out if the deer was injured/wounded previously?

oldsmellhound

This deer had not been previously shot. I'm thinking that this was a different deer than the first two that I saw that I had shot at. I'm pretty sure now that I missed completely on the first shot at the two deer - I was shooting through a gap in the branches, and it easily could have deflected, or I just could have plain missed. After that shot, the 2 does just stood there looking around wondering what had happened, then slowly trotted off. The one was limping a bit, but it might have been from a previous injury.

Thanks for all the replies! It was a fun hunt, and I'm glad I could finish it off. If I find any of the separated petals when doing the meat up today, I will post pics of those.