westcliffe01
Veteran Member
I was up just after 4 this morning to get ready, drive out to the farm, negotiate the various gates, park in a safe spot, then make my way to my blind in the dark. I had been out the previous day to rake away the leaves on a path that would get me to the blind quietly and that plan worked out great. The sky was overcast so dawn came later than expected and a lot darker too. Just before 8am I spot movement in the field in front of me and take a look with the binoculars. It is a buck in retreat. I look the other way, and here come 3 more bucks all bigger than the first.
Here I made the first mistake. They were moving parallel to my position, so were not coming any closer. I felt rushed to shoot before they no longer presented a broadside shot, so I did not use my rangefinder. I guessed the range, since I had ranged several objects in the general area and felt it was about 200 yards. Well, I must have guessed wrong, because I held too high and I had a clean miss. I was amazed to see none of the bucks do anything but look around. So I rack another round in the chamber (we have shotgun only rules, so I am shooting a Savage 20 ga rifle barreled slug gun, shooting 23/4 Hornady SST's) and wait for another shot and miss again. By now I realize that I am getting something about the ballistics completely wrong and the next time I decide to hold just a couple of inches above the expected point of impact. Meanwhile, all but 1 of the bucks have scattered and the one above is looking straight at me, stomping his foot. I put the cross hairs right at the base of his antlers and touched it off. With the recoil, I lost him in the sights, but I heard a definite "whack" downrange and when I looked over the gun there was nothing to be seen. At first I thought I had missed again.
So I walked over and sure enough, there he was. Hit between the eye and ear and the bullet was under the skin on the back of the head.
I changed the scope on the gun yesterday, because the weaver I originally had on it had too little eye relief and the tube was too short to allow it to be positioned any further back. So I put on one of my trusty Nikons (3-12x42SF) and went to the range to sight it in, but what I didn't consider was that although I had bought 3 boxes of ammo, they only contain 5 rounds each... So I had a heck of a job sighting in the new scope with so few rounds and still leaving some ammo to hunt with. I went to Cabelas afterwards and the entire shelf for slug ammo was empty... Figures for the day before firearm season..
Anyway, I was pretty embarrassed by my poor performance. I have previously shot 4 does on the same property and each case was a 1 shot kill. I am pretty good with my rifles, but they cannot be used on deer. So, the lesson is: ALWAYS range the animal. ALWAYS take a mini ballistics chart for your gun for the way it is sighted and zeroed. The fact that I got this buck is frankly a miracle that I probably didn't deserve, but I am thankful anyway. It just happens to be the first buck that I have ever taken.
I had it in the barn and skinned by about 11am, and by then I had the farmers wife give me a hand to split it and divide it into hams, ribs and forelegs. They are now in the refrigerator and will be processed in a couple of days. My arrangement with the landowner is that I hunt, they help me process the meat and we split the proceeds at the end of the season. Neither the husband nor wife hunt and they mainly have other family members on the property during gun season. No-one is active during bow season and I am their year round predator control guy. I feel very blessed to have met these folks and be able to help out and pursue several of my interests at the same time.
Here I made the first mistake. They were moving parallel to my position, so were not coming any closer. I felt rushed to shoot before they no longer presented a broadside shot, so I did not use my rangefinder. I guessed the range, since I had ranged several objects in the general area and felt it was about 200 yards. Well, I must have guessed wrong, because I held too high and I had a clean miss. I was amazed to see none of the bucks do anything but look around. So I rack another round in the chamber (we have shotgun only rules, so I am shooting a Savage 20 ga rifle barreled slug gun, shooting 23/4 Hornady SST's) and wait for another shot and miss again. By now I realize that I am getting something about the ballistics completely wrong and the next time I decide to hold just a couple of inches above the expected point of impact. Meanwhile, all but 1 of the bucks have scattered and the one above is looking straight at me, stomping his foot. I put the cross hairs right at the base of his antlers and touched it off. With the recoil, I lost him in the sights, but I heard a definite "whack" downrange and when I looked over the gun there was nothing to be seen. At first I thought I had missed again.
So I walked over and sure enough, there he was. Hit between the eye and ear and the bullet was under the skin on the back of the head.
I changed the scope on the gun yesterday, because the weaver I originally had on it had too little eye relief and the tube was too short to allow it to be positioned any further back. So I put on one of my trusty Nikons (3-12x42SF) and went to the range to sight it in, but what I didn't consider was that although I had bought 3 boxes of ammo, they only contain 5 rounds each... So I had a heck of a job sighting in the new scope with so few rounds and still leaving some ammo to hunt with. I went to Cabelas afterwards and the entire shelf for slug ammo was empty... Figures for the day before firearm season..
Anyway, I was pretty embarrassed by my poor performance. I have previously shot 4 does on the same property and each case was a 1 shot kill. I am pretty good with my rifles, but they cannot be used on deer. So, the lesson is: ALWAYS range the animal. ALWAYS take a mini ballistics chart for your gun for the way it is sighted and zeroed. The fact that I got this buck is frankly a miracle that I probably didn't deserve, but I am thankful anyway. It just happens to be the first buck that I have ever taken.
I had it in the barn and skinned by about 11am, and by then I had the farmers wife give me a hand to split it and divide it into hams, ribs and forelegs. They are now in the refrigerator and will be processed in a couple of days. My arrangement with the landowner is that I hunt, they help me process the meat and we split the proceeds at the end of the season. Neither the husband nor wife hunt and they mainly have other family members on the property during gun season. No-one is active during bow season and I am their year round predator control guy. I feel very blessed to have met these folks and be able to help out and pursue several of my interests at the same time.