My Ohio ML season

[rossman40]

Time came around for the Ohio ML season last weekend (Jan 9-12) but due to work I only had Saturday evening and Sunday to hunt down at the cabin. Had about 3" of snow and chilly temps with the highs around 20F. We hit the field about 3:30 on Saturday evening and didn't see anything. Sunday morning I headed for my normal morning stand and ended up flipping my ATV, I protected my scope but the barrel went about 4 inches into the mud and froze instantly. Luckily I have started taping my muzzle and none went inside the muzzle but the spinjag was pretty covered. Ended up climbing the hill on foot and finally get to the stand and didn't see anything so after a couple of hours I went to a overlook I have set up with a tripod for a long shot. After about 30 minutes a doe pops up out of a gully heading up the opposite hillside, finally stops and I get about a 210yd quartering away shot with about a 12" window between two trees. I rush the shot and as soon as it went I knew I pulled it (at least I did kill the tree) and the doe ran off. After kicking myself for a few minutes and then spending 20 minutes cleaning the mud off my ramrod so I can reload I get reloaded and start "stalking and walking". About 1:00 I start heading back towards the ATV and I look across the small valley and see 3 does just moseying along nibbling on brush. I'm trying to get into a position with a tree for support and still have a clean shot. The one doe sees me and watches me for a while then blows and the group just hops about 20yds and goes back to nibbling. I get into a decent supported position with a sapling and I remember what the biggest poacher I ever knew once said "deer are followers, drop the dominant doe first". So I pick the biggest one, which is the one that blew at me earlier, she finally takes a few steps to give me a clean 165yd broadside shot and I went for a high shoulder shot. I dropped the hammer and she went down like a ton of bricks and after a few seconds was trying to get back up. I quickly reloaded and the other two went about 50yds up the hill. I got the scope back on the one I shot at finally expired but when looked for the other two they were coming back down the hill towards the one I shot. I get the crosshairs on one and it is in full alert mode looking for the one I shot. It takes a few more steps towards me and looks like it is ready to run any second. It is almost facing me at 180yds so I aim for the boiler room and let the shot fly and the deer takes off running like it was shot off a carrier deck almost at me and goes about 20yds then starts plowing snow. The third deer comes running down the hill to almost where the first one was laying and stops. I start cussing, I'm out of ammo, I started the day with one in the gun and two reloads. Normally it is one in the gun and 4 reloads but never have used more then two shots in the past so I thought I would be OK. The first shot broke the spine on that doe, the 250gr bonded SW did the job and even exited. The second shot took out the heart on that doe and went into the guts but I didn't recover it.

I still didn't get my 200yd club card. It is my first double with a ML and I could have tripled if I had another reload. For you game wardens out there I'll swear I tagged the first one before I shot the second one

Lessons learned this time around,
I'll always tape my muzzle.
I'll make sure to carry four reloads.
Practice your reloading, know where everything is at in your gear and the short starter was a big help (next I'll start practicing those Mel Gibson on the run reloads).

New gear,
I broke down and bought one of those butt plug cleaning tools, the jury is still out.
Another thing I used was one of those deer drag harnesses, if you use one and your dragging a deer down a steep hill, do not put the chest harness on. The deer may end up dragging you.

I'll try to post some pics later..

[tar12]

Great job! I can relate to this story! You had a great hunt agent Rossman! It is absolutley true about shooting the lead doe,it works more times than not.I have doubled past 200 but want to triple past 200yds...maybe next year.. ;D

[ozark]

Nice job Rossman. Overcoming mishaps is a stress but you came through like a true deer hunter. Nice story.. Thanks.

[jims]

You left some for seed that way for next year.

[Dave W]

Congrats and nice shooting! Good story too.

[ET]

Rossman40

Congrats on a double and some nice shooting.
Always enjoy reading your posts because all the info or events merges so nicely.

I believe you also tagged the first one ........ with a copper coated lead tag. ;D

Ed

[DBinNY]

Congrats Rossman. I almost thought I was reading a Tar adventure until you ran out of ammo!

[tar12]

Jan 13, 2010 22:02:26 GMT -5 DBinNY said:

Congrats Rossman. I almost thought I was reading a Tar adventure until you ran out of ammo!

;D

[jtswitz]

Good Job, Were @ in Ohio? My father lives there and he can not even see a deer in the woods on public land because the Amish have bought everything else.The butt out tool has been proven here in my part of Indiana.

[rossman40]

The cabin is down in the SE part of the state in Lawrence county about 16 miles north of Ironton. We have 150 acres that is surrounded on three sides by Wayne National forest land. Not much farm crops (mainly a few hay fields) in our area so we do not see monsters but overall a pretty good deer population. The oak trees are still recovering from a devastating ice storm back in 2003 so acorn production has been slim but getting better.

I've only used the butt plug 2 three times. Even though I got it to work as advertised once it is helpfull and I'm not giving up on it. Maybe once I get the knack of how much and how deep to cut around the rectum it should work like a charm everytime

[jeff]

congrats on a double. did u get hurt flipping the quad?
Jeff~

[rossman40]

It was only a little 250 Honda 2 wheel drive. I was balls-to-the-walls going up the hill and had my weight back on the rear for more traction and it grabbed bringing the front up and I couldn't get my weight back forward in time and it came right on over. I've played turtle before and when it came up over me I pushed it off to the side. If it had been the Grizzly I used to ride I would have been alright to start with but if that big thing came up on top of you, it could hurt. I use a Safari sling and cinch it up so the rifle is on my chest when riding a ATV. When I pushed the ATV off to my left that is when the muzzle went in the mud which was from kinda like a spring from ground water further up the hill. It was almost single digits and froze almost instantly.

[DBinNY]

As long as Rossman brought up the "butt out", I'll throw in my 2 cents. I basically found the thing useless (with one exception I'll touch on at the end). As muzzle loader hunters we are already gear intensive and, IMO, this is just one more item to stow and tote around. Back pockets are out of the question if you do any sitting. I found that I still needed to ream the rectum anyway so I could see no advantage to using it. When done, you want to have the bladder out and the pelvic girdle (aka the bung hole housing) completely clean. This is a result that I could not acheive with the "butt out". I do know one guy in my office that swears by it. I have not, however, inspected the bung hole housings of any of the deer he has gutted so I'm simply going by his word. Anyway, if you do decide to use one put it in a ziplock bag. This comes in handy after a use when you have to stuff the thing back in your pocket. It's not the easiest thing to get clean enough that you'd want to stuff it back in your pocket otherwise.

Without doubt, the most pleasure I have derived from this tool is giving one to an attractive young lady that I am mentoring in the sport as a Christmas gift. The look on her face after opening that was priceless ;D.

[wilmsmeyer]

I had an experience with the butt-out this season. Our friend Scott shot a doe in ML season. He can gut a deer in about 2 minutes, blindfolded....and make it look like an alien sucked out every organ and "housing" through a 10" incision. I'm not far behind Scott....but (no pun intended) he's amazing.

Anyhow, one of the kids had a friend with him and we all happened on the scene as Scott was getting ready to do his magic. The new kid whipped out his Butt-out tool and asked Scott if he wanted to try it. Scott smirked and looked at some of us shook his head and said OK.

I will say that everything DB says is true and Scott ended up taking an extra few minute to clean out the pelvic cavity. Somewhere in the process, Scott asked the youngster what to do about the other hole (It was a doe) The kid said he never tried it in there but (again, no pun intended) didn't see why it wouldn't work their too. We never found out.

I will say that this method, IMO, makes me feel queezy. Sticking a sharp object substantially into somethings rear end and ripping and pulling it out....ahhhhh.....not for me. A nice sharp knife, a strong knowledge of anatomy and about 3 small cuts is all I need.

By the way....how does someone even come up with a gadget like that? Imagine the testing process and the failures before achieving the desired results. What do they test these on...road kills?

DB...about your mentoring....did you at least round off those edges a little? You're a real treat.

[DBinNY]

Tact is adjusted as called for by the situation.