2nd firearm/1st ML season opened Thursday. I was totin' Roy Stroh's "Traveling Rifle". She sure is sweet! A .62 Virginia style flintlock. Shoots real good with 100 grains of 2F Goex pushing a .600 ball. Her name is Sue... Runaround Sue.
At 8am I had slipped into a spot on a hillside overlooking a big gully where I usually see a lot of deer. As I scanned the area movement caught my eye 150 yards away on the other side. The first and only buck I saw during the whole firearm season. Big body but I only caught a glimpse of his rack. He had already got under my radar and was sneaking into the neighbors place when I saw him. No shot situation.
Sometimes they circle around over there and come back into the valley on my side so I waited. Not 10 minutes later I saw 2 does crossing an opening a little over 125 yards out across the gully. I was sitting on the hillside and I put my elbow on my knee and the sights on the lead doe and the sights just hung there. Light wind right in my face.
Now, I know that is a pretty far shot with open sights, I had shot the rifle at 125 yards and I've made this shot before. If the shot feels right...
Hold just over her back. Light 'er up.
The shot felt real good. Smoke blocked my view so I didn't see how the deer reacted. Just heard them running off up the valley. I decided to sit tight for an hour.
Nothing moved for an hour so I got out of there and took the long way around the end of the valley and walked down the other side. Best part was the wind switched while I was walking so it was still in my favor. I sneaked down in there to where the does were when I shot and found a big wad of hair. No blood.
More wads of hair every few feet for 10-15 yards. Still no blood. I followed along the trail she was on for 50 yards or so without finding any blood. Then I combed back and forth a little bit on the way back to the hair in case I had missed where she took a side trail. Nothin'.
By then it was 11:00 and I was hungry. Just uphill from the hair I have a spot where I left an old steel folding chair with a good view, so I sat down in my chair and ate lunch and thought about the shot. It FELT like a good shot! There was a LOT of hair! Could I have just gave her a haircut? I didn't think so.
With some food in my belly, I went back to the hair and started over. After the big obvious wads of hair ran out I got down on my knees and found a hair here and a track there for the next 50 yards or so. Right back to where I had been before. The main trail went right there but I couldn't find any sign. There was a fainter trail splitting off to the left. Another hair!
From a real low position I saw a red gob on a small tree 20 yards farther along the smaller left fork. Hair and blood! 70+ yards from the first patch of hair! Then I started finding a few drops of blood on the trail. Not a good blood trail at all. At least it was proof that I was on the right deer track.
She wound her way another 50+ yards thru the brush and went across the creek. Right there at the creek the blood trail finally started getting good. I didn't even hafta bend over anymore. Bright foamy splashes on the big sycamore leafs all the way up the other side of the creek bed.
I made my way down thru the creek bed and up the other side. Followed the blood around a clump of bushes and looked ahead. Another 20 yards or so and there she laid. She had made it a good 150 yards before falling over!
I hit her high thru the lungs. Exit wound just forward of the entry. You can see the entry in the picture. Them .600 balls make big holes. I couldn't believe how far she ran! Or how far she ran before she bled!
Other than the lack of antlers, this has been a pretty good year. There's meat in the freezer. I saw a bunch of deer. Several within a few feet of me. Many in range. Still have 3 days of ML season next weekend and good tags for that. I'll be out there looking for the big buck that has been avoiding me so far. :thumbsup:
At 8am I had slipped into a spot on a hillside overlooking a big gully where I usually see a lot of deer. As I scanned the area movement caught my eye 150 yards away on the other side. The first and only buck I saw during the whole firearm season. Big body but I only caught a glimpse of his rack. He had already got under my radar and was sneaking into the neighbors place when I saw him. No shot situation.
Sometimes they circle around over there and come back into the valley on my side so I waited. Not 10 minutes later I saw 2 does crossing an opening a little over 125 yards out across the gully. I was sitting on the hillside and I put my elbow on my knee and the sights on the lead doe and the sights just hung there. Light wind right in my face.
Now, I know that is a pretty far shot with open sights, I had shot the rifle at 125 yards and I've made this shot before. If the shot feels right...
Hold just over her back. Light 'er up.
The shot felt real good. Smoke blocked my view so I didn't see how the deer reacted. Just heard them running off up the valley. I decided to sit tight for an hour.
Nothing moved for an hour so I got out of there and took the long way around the end of the valley and walked down the other side. Best part was the wind switched while I was walking so it was still in my favor. I sneaked down in there to where the does were when I shot and found a big wad of hair. No blood.
More wads of hair every few feet for 10-15 yards. Still no blood. I followed along the trail she was on for 50 yards or so without finding any blood. Then I combed back and forth a little bit on the way back to the hair in case I had missed where she took a side trail. Nothin'.
By then it was 11:00 and I was hungry. Just uphill from the hair I have a spot where I left an old steel folding chair with a good view, so I sat down in my chair and ate lunch and thought about the shot. It FELT like a good shot! There was a LOT of hair! Could I have just gave her a haircut? I didn't think so.
With some food in my belly, I went back to the hair and started over. After the big obvious wads of hair ran out I got down on my knees and found a hair here and a track there for the next 50 yards or so. Right back to where I had been before. The main trail went right there but I couldn't find any sign. There was a fainter trail splitting off to the left. Another hair!
From a real low position I saw a red gob on a small tree 20 yards farther along the smaller left fork. Hair and blood! 70+ yards from the first patch of hair! Then I started finding a few drops of blood on the trail. Not a good blood trail at all. At least it was proof that I was on the right deer track.
She wound her way another 50+ yards thru the brush and went across the creek. Right there at the creek the blood trail finally started getting good. I didn't even hafta bend over anymore. Bright foamy splashes on the big sycamore leafs all the way up the other side of the creek bed.
I made my way down thru the creek bed and up the other side. Followed the blood around a clump of bushes and looked ahead. Another 20 yards or so and there she laid. She had made it a good 150 yards before falling over!
I hit her high thru the lungs. Exit wound just forward of the entry. You can see the entry in the picture. Them .600 balls make big holes. I couldn't believe how far she ran! Or how far she ran before she bled!
Other than the lack of antlers, this has been a pretty good year. There's meat in the freezer. I saw a bunch of deer. Several within a few feet of me. Many in range. Still have 3 days of ML season next weekend and good tags for that. I'll be out there looking for the big buck that has been avoiding me so far. :thumbsup: