Ridge Runner

I've been pretty well hammered about my long range endeavers, one of the things I have heard is that I do it because I lack the woodsmanship skills to get close, well yesterday I had a 2.5 yo 8 point dead to rights, ranged him at 688 then decided not to shoot him.
I was also called out about my dislike for cor-lokt bullets, so I gathered my savage 99 7mm/08 loaded with 140 gr cor-lokts because the buck went into a thicket to chase does, I started in and before long caght up with him, in the thick stand of maples he had a doe corralled as I got into shooting position he became aware of my presence and turned to face me, he was very hard quartering too as I placed the crosshair in line with the offside back leg and squeezed the trigger.
continued when I get a chance
RR

Champlain Islander

Your rendition isn't the one I saw. From my limited memory a vast majority of the members here were encouraging your LR efforts and expertise.
Now you are playing with us.

Ridge Runner

at the report, his front feet came off the ground, as the front came down he kicked up with the back legs, whirled and made a loping stumbleing dash out around the bench he was on, I watched him run 30 yards, then lost interest cause I figured he wasn't gonna make it out of sight.
went to the impact site, found the swirled tracks where he turned to run and.....nothing else, walked the line I saw him run.....again nothing, walked another 100 yards, still not a sign.
started a grid searchthat part of the thicket is 150x500 yards, bordered on the uphill side by a large rock ledge with only 2 places deer can get through. back and forth up and down I looked, every 50 yards I would scan the area for a white belly, after not seeing it I watched the ground for blood, to keep track ofmy grid as I went along in 10 yard increments I would use landmarks, a certain unmissable downed tree, or a big square rock. searched there found nothing, dit the same above the ledge and on the back side of that ridge, left at dark, the next morning I went to the closest place from where the buck was where he could get through the ledge, as I got to the rock break I could see his belly, he was 30 yards from one of the landmarks I use for the grid search.he had ran a total of 100 yards, only blood anywhere was a bit on his nose.
After thinking about it I had walked by him at least 4 times during the search, within 20 yards and I'm sure he was either still alive laying flat on his belly, or died flat on his belly and rolled over later, but I have never saw a deer die flat on its belly.
The liver had a bullet hole through it as did the stomach, left the heart and lungs intact and will clean it tomorrow and keep you all posted, there was no exit, and I don't think any heavy bone was encountered.
RR

quigleysharps4570

I wouldn't worry about it...gonna get that on every site.
My hat's off to you on those shots...damn few can do it. I've always been one to say don't take a shot at ranges you haven't shot at a lot. Keep up the good shooting my friend.

Champlain Islander

That one might be a good one to give away. Anything through the stomach and laying even if dead all night in my experience won't be a good eater. Had steaks from an Ontario 9 point I got in 2013 tonight...delicious. Just cleaning out the older stuff out of the freezer. Got a fresh Vt buck from this year and a few older steaks from last year along with some from last years elk. Still have the ML season and I have 2 tags so hopefully the kids will all eat well this year.

Ridge Runner

well when I gutted him, he wasn't too bad, wasn't even really cool yet, tied a rope to him, threw him in a pond and washed him out, if he's tainted I'll discard it, however it seems fine, but I wanna inspect him to see what happened, hope to recover the bullet in the offside ham. stomach had a hole in the edge but most of the contents were intact.
CI my being hammered comment was made not to those who support what I do, but my hunting abilities are questioned by those who don't.
RR

Father Forkhorn

Well done on the deer.

Champlain Islander

That always happens. Some people just view things through different glasses. The most important person you have to keep happy is yourself.
I made a bad bow shot on a doe once years ago and couldn't find her until the next morning. Shot was too far back and went through the liver and then stomach. I did the same as you with the washing and butchered the deer. Not sure if it was just me but I could taste the tainted meat. I ended up throwing it out. In 50 years of hunting that only happened once. Knock on wood.

WV Hunter

Hey good job RR...so you can hunt em up close! haha

Did you find the bullet? Got any pics?


FWIW... my son killed two does with one shot (unintentionally) with Rem 140 core lock out of his 7mm Mauser last Wed. A bunch of deer came running through, and stopped about 60yds broadside. He held behind the shoulder of a nice sized doe, squeezed off and she took off running. She fell about 50yds later. Come to find out, there was a dink directly behind her that he couldn't see...that dropped on the spot. The bullet went through the lungs about broadside on the big doe, and in the top of the shoulder and out behind the shoulder of the small doe. Passed through both deer. He found the dink when he went over to where he shot, it was laying there. Luckily he had two tags left

I shot a doe with my .280 about 40yds away ... quartering towards me somewhat. Took out the front shoulder completely and I never found an exit or the bullet. ? Maybe it was inside when I gutted her, but I didn't pay any attn, lungs were trashed. I was surprised, as probably 98% of all the deer I've shot with the Hornady Interlocks always give me an exit...and I've probably shot at least 75 with that one particular bullet. What I've come to understand is sometimes stuff happens that I can't explain.

Did you guys kill any nice bucks? We got a few decent bucks and a bunch of slicks. My cousin killed a mainframe 8 with a double brow that was pretty nice. Around 120" which is big for where we are. I only saw one shooter and let him go so my buddy's son would have a chance at him, and he got him. Nice 8.

CalHunter

I would consider the source(s) and ignore it. If you can't do so, then think through this logically.

1. You started a topic asking for opinions on long range hunting. On this board, you just know you're going to get quite a few opinions and most of them strong.

2. All but a few members responding were okay with it as long as you (or anybody else doing it) were able to make effective shots and put the animal down humanely.

3. A few disagreed with long range hunting but didn't question your hunting skills. They're entitled to their opinion and most answering disagreed with them (same right to their opinion too).

4. Maybe 1 or 2 actually questioned your hunting skill which is kind of silly as they formed a conclusion without knowing anything more about you or your hunting experience. Obviously they were wrong. And one of them got a timeout for a week when his post violated the rules.

So logically, you know somebody was wrong and they didn't have all of the necessary information to come to such a conclusion. At least one also apparently didn't bother to read the rules or chose to ignore them--either way, that's on him. With faulty analysis like that, you definitely wouldn't listen to their opinion on any type of investment or purchase because they obviously leap before they look and don't guess very well either. So why listen now?