Deer Season

[Matt In Oklahoma]

My son and I had 2 days to get it done this year. We used 1 and took 4 deer off public land at Black Kettle Grasslands. Now the real work of putting up meat begins! Nothing very big but good meat and got to use my freshly painted, newly scope 4x16mildotted illuminated reticle and recently free floated 30-06 with worked up handloaded 165gr sp. My son used a 243 new england single shot he has had for years with 100gr sp. Truth is the rifle was a waste this year because my doe was an offhand standing 60yd shot in the pump station as she tried to run off and made it 20yds after contact and the buck was a head on neck breaker at 80yds and was DRT and was still trying to figure out why that bush moved.
I'd like to see anything anyone else put down this year too.

[birdseye.2]

Nice looking rifle. Congrats on the harvest. Probably not much like in San Diego, I've never been hunting, but around there friends would go hunting for weeks and get nothing.

[Klayton]

Hey Matt, what kind of scope is that? power and manufacturer?

[Matt In Oklahoma]

@ Klayton-BSA 4x16 it's not an expensive one but this group was obtained at 100yds using silver bx win 165gr and even with my ball bearing breaking self it has held up very well and held zero. I was hoping to bleed it in at 3-400yds and everything snuck up close on me this year.
@birdseye.2
Thanks I've been for 4-5 days and not seen anything a few times. God was smiling on us this year. I got 2 boned out before daylight and after I get done reading this mornings post I'm back at it till I get them put up in the freezer then it's on to my house move.

[groovy mike]

Congrats on a great hunt!

Here's mine.



And here's the story:

I was up at 5, out at 6 and settled into my stand by 7. At 9 a shot went off fairly close to me and two deer rocketed past at Mach 10. At 11 a doe and fawn went past. At 1 PM a decent buck surprised me by popping over the ridge 30 yards behind me. I snapped a shot but my scope on its lowest setting at 3.5X magnification was full of deer and I muffed the shot. He ran down hill and I fired twice more. The blood trail and bits of bone tell me that I broke a leg - probably a front leg with my first shot. I trailed him for the next 4 hours as the blood trail diminished to a drop every yard or so into a swamp with high grass, thick scrub brush and hummocks dotting foot deep water. I lost him despite pulling in the help of another hunter and gave up as darkness settled in.

Henry Ford said “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” It is only failure when you quit trying so Sunday I was back looking for him. I was hoping to find if not a dead deer at least a fresh blood trail. I didn’t find either. By noon I was pooped from pushing through that bog. My knees ached and I was just too tired to walk much more. Since I didn’t know where that wounded buck was I figured looking anywhere was as good as anywhere else. I began to work my way back toward my original stand where I had left the majority of my gear the day before. I slowly made my way uphill stopping to rest frequently and got back to my portable chair and thermos of ice cold 2 day old coffee at about 1 PM. I sat down and drank the coffee. There wasn’t much hope of a deer coming in to this stand now. The deer that had been here were scared away yesterday. The scent lure was put out the day before and would be cold. I had crisscrossed the whole area. There was a blood trail from yesterday running right through it. Just a few minutes before I had come up the hill through the noisy leaves leaving yet again another human scent trail. No deer in his right mind would be anywhere near here. But I just couldn’t give up. Our God is the God of second chances. I have screwed up so much in the past I am surprised if I get something right the first time. God blessed me again.

After sitting about 5 minutes I saw movement. It was a big bodied deer feeding on acorns and coming toward me at about 120 yards. I settled myself. There would be no hasty shot this time. I got my Winchester model 70 in position, settled the cross hairs on his chest. I could see antlers as he came within 100 yards. At 80 yards I pulled the trigger. The buck trotted a few steps and went out of sight behind a rock ledge. I couldn’t believe it. He acted like he hadn’t been touched! I was in position when he came out from behind the ledge quartering toward me. I was not about to lose another deer if I could help it. At 40 yards I put a bullet through his spine at the base of his skull and he went down like deer are supposed to! I thanked God and went to tag him. When I field dressed him I saw that my first shot clipped the top of his heart. I have no idea how he kept walking!

He is a 5 point (2x3) and probably the heaviest white tail I have ever taken. I don’t have a scale to weigh him on but I could only drag him about 10 yards at a time and Rob and I together couldn’t lift him on the 4 wheeler. I’m guessing he is well over 150 on the hoof.

I am glad to have him, but I will still be looking for a buck going on three legs when I go out again next weekend.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Sweet! Thats good stuff, amazing how tough they are

[groovy mike]

Thanksgiving morning I had just time enough to settle into my chair and begin to thank God for the ability to hunt, access to the land, and deer on it, when this girl showed up to fill my antlerless tag



God is good.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

God is good.

Yes he is!
Awesome, thats a great morning!