Scored my first deer with the new Encore smokeless
Dec 5, 2011 16:17:03 GMT -5
Post by huntmeister on Dec 5, 2011 16:17:03 GMT -5
I hunted over in IL this past weekend during their 2nd firearms season. Sunday 4AM I awoke to the sounds of rain on the metal roof. While sipping on coffee and viewing the accuweather forecast I decided to skip the tree stand in favor of some still hunting...my favorite way to kill a deer and the conditions were perfect for it. Just before legal shooting light the rain stopped and the wind was around 7-10MPH SSW.
For 2-1/2 hours after legal shooting time I slowly slipped thru the woods some 200-300 yards east to the NW corner of a large CRP field. Once I got along the west edge of the field and just south of the inside corner, I decided to take a stand at the base of a large white oak tree and watch the CRP field for a bit. Within 10 minutes of taking my stand I caught movement south of me heading my direction, it was a button buck and I could see he was on edge. He stopped broadside to me at about 40 yards but I decided to give him a pass. He moved on with purpose and shortly I found out why...a large coyote was dogging him. As the yote approached on the same path as the BB I briefly considered shooting him but decided that I was deer hunting not yote hunting. He passed thru within 40 yards and never even noticed me.
About 5 minutes later I again caught some movement from south of me, it was a doe and she was heading down the same route as the BB and yote did. When she got about 40 yds from me and perfectly broadside she stopped to access the woods ahead of her. I cocked the Encore and touched it off.
It was really nice to see her react to the impact and not be blinded by a big cloud of smoke! She came off the ground 3 feet it seemed and lit out of that spot. I watched her run about 80 yards and in mid-stride she piled up in the woods.
The Barnes TEZ did as expected of it, complete passthru, a double lung shot and it appeared to take some ribs with it when exiting as there was 3 holes in the far side.
As stated, my load was the Barnes 250gn TEZ with a HSB sabot over 60 gns of N120.
I apologize for no pics as it was a rainy day and I didn't want to chance ruining my cam. It started pouring when I got her back to the barn so all I wanted to do was get her cut up and on ice and out of the rain!
For 2-1/2 hours after legal shooting time I slowly slipped thru the woods some 200-300 yards east to the NW corner of a large CRP field. Once I got along the west edge of the field and just south of the inside corner, I decided to take a stand at the base of a large white oak tree and watch the CRP field for a bit. Within 10 minutes of taking my stand I caught movement south of me heading my direction, it was a button buck and I could see he was on edge. He stopped broadside to me at about 40 yards but I decided to give him a pass. He moved on with purpose and shortly I found out why...a large coyote was dogging him. As the yote approached on the same path as the BB I briefly considered shooting him but decided that I was deer hunting not yote hunting. He passed thru within 40 yards and never even noticed me.
About 5 minutes later I again caught some movement from south of me, it was a doe and she was heading down the same route as the BB and yote did. When she got about 40 yds from me and perfectly broadside she stopped to access the woods ahead of her. I cocked the Encore and touched it off.
It was really nice to see her react to the impact and not be blinded by a big cloud of smoke! She came off the ground 3 feet it seemed and lit out of that spot. I watched her run about 80 yards and in mid-stride she piled up in the woods.
The Barnes TEZ did as expected of it, complete passthru, a double lung shot and it appeared to take some ribs with it when exiting as there was 3 holes in the far side.
As stated, my load was the Barnes 250gn TEZ with a HSB sabot over 60 gns of N120.
I apologize for no pics as it was a rainy day and I didn't want to chance ruining my cam. It started pouring when I got her back to the barn so all I wanted to do was get her cut up and on ice and out of the rain!
