Got one!

It's been a long, and frankly, a frustrating season. Regular gun season opened on 11-15 here in western NY. I've hunted for three weeks, every day (nice to be retired :wink: ), haven't seen a deer! Today was the first day of our 9 day muzzleloader season. I was sitting on my stump (Yes, it's MY stump, been sittin' on it for so many years I oughta' own it!) and about 4:20 the thought occurred to me "Ya' know, I haven't heard a shot all day!" I was thankful that the amateurs were now anywhere but in the woods and now I can HUNT. About ten minutes go by and along comes a nice looking spike, moving along slow on the trail about 20 yards below me on the hillside. He stopped momentarily facing directly away from me, his head in the clear but his body somewhat obscured by brush. No way was I going to shoot him in the back and risk messing up those backstraps! I'm not a fan of headshots, but, sometimes you gotta' play the cards you're dealt.....the .54 PRB took him at the base of his skull, he fell right there. I said a quick "Thank You!" to the Lord and then proceeded to break my drag rope three times trying to get him into the clearing! Finally I had to drag him by the antlers to the clearing, walked back to my friends house, got the 4-wheeler out and proceeded to haul him back to my car....what a comedy! I finally got him hung up and skinned in my garage about 7:30 tonight and in the process I asked myself "Why do you even bother hunting in the regular season anymore?!" LOL!

Congrats :thumbsup: but it sounds like it's time for a new rope :haha:

Yeah, after I get this one in the freezer I'm headed to the hardware store! Still have 2 tags, ya' never know!

Persistence pays off! Way to go!
flint

"Why do you even bother hunting in the regular season anymore?!"

'Cause you can. :wink:

Grats. :thumbsup:

Your blessed brother.
Yes many think it is like a computer game and the sooner they are home back on their computer games the better :hatsoff:

B.

Congrats!
Did ya forget yer camera?
hotoSmile:

Way to stick with it. It would have been easy to go looking for another stump.

i used to have a favorite stump but over the years it has rotted away. now every time i walk by where it was i can still see myself as a teenager sitting on it. the memory that stands out the most about my stump was on a opening morning right before light. i had just sat down and got all my stuff laid out, it was a warn morning and as it started to get light enough to see i felt like something was crawling on my neck then it stung me. when i looked down i was covered in fire ants. then i done the fire ant dance. that reminds me of a dove hunt once, some guy had brought his wife with him and she sat in a ant mound. i heard her scream, then she went crazy ripping her pants off in front of the crowd in the middle of the field. it was sorta like a very fast strip tease ant dance.

:hatsoff:

That's the spirit! I can learn something from you, as I am beeing quite frustrated this year.
Congratulations!

Silex

Congratulations. Your story of being in NY and not wanting to shoot the deer from the rear and thus destroying the backstraps brought back a fond memory. That memeory is of eastern NY and a deer shot from the rear. When I was in school I was on the high bore rifle team. We had a range on the northern edge of the campus. Every afternoon as we would be transported back to the main campus, we would admire the deer along the side of the road. A guy two classes ahead of me was from Colorado, and he loved to hunt. He got permission one Saturday to go deer hunting. We had all been issued M-1 Garands when we started school. They had firing pins too. He came to supper that day and said he got one. He started telling the story that the only shot he had was from the rear, and he took it. The .30 cal bullet entered the spinal column in the sacral area and destroyed it all the way to the thoraic area; just split it wide open. No straps, but one dead New York deer.

Yeah, I didn't think to grab it before I left home, I'll get a picture up later today.

I agree with you! Unfortunately, my Godchild is one of them, stays up until 2-3 AM playing online video games with his friends and can't seem to get out of bed until noon! I am Soooo P-O'd at him; I fimally told him "Look Jacob, if you want to hunt I'll be happy to take you along. Give me a call the night before and be ready to go at 05:30. He's never called despite being invited several times. Makes me sad.........

:shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2: Yikes!!!

I used to coach the local junior (12-20 years old) smallbore rifle team. one of my youngsters shot a deer one year with a 6mm Remington, the only shot he had was a small opening through the pines that lined up with the anus! He held "about an inch high" he said, and drove that 100 gr. Remington Core-Lokt bullet directly up the spinal column! At our awards ceremony the following spring, I admonished him that even though this tale had a good ending, one should not make a habit of shooting at the south end of north-bound deer! He's a really good friend to this day and now has his own deer ranch! Good kid!

Sounds like the head shot paid off...congratulations !
:thumbsup:

Great shot! Congratulations! :hatsoff:

Congrats on the deer.

Head shot, no ruined meat that way!

Good Shooting :hatsoff:

Congratulations! :hatsoff:

Good luck on filling those other tags.