2011 Deer Hunt ET
Nov 13, 2011 19:24:01 GMT -5
Post by ET on Nov 13, 2011 19:24:01 GMT -5
This has been one unbelievable hunt this year.
For opening day of the Controlled Hunt in my area I chose to revisit my den situated in the side of a hill overseeing the travel route in a gulley. To get to this location I had to walk about 400yards along a field and then proceed a short stretch into the woods before making my descent down a steep hillside to reach my final destination in the dark.
Once I reached my cozy semi-dugout pit blind I crawled inside and parked my butt on the plastic lawn chair already placed there. There was only a short wait before legal shooting time before I uncased my 10ML-II and completed the load by installing the primer. No sooner had I finished loading I heard THUMPING movement on the leaf covered ridge across the creek from my location. For a moment I got excited as this could only be made by a good sized buck. Once the thumping sound ceased I patiently waited and watched along the creek area to see if a buck would appear. After about 10-minutes of constant vigilance I had given up hope and just sort of laid back in a relaxed position waiting for the sun to rise.
As I laid back and closed my eyes for a minute, upon opening them and looking back towards the creek there he was emerging on top the creek embankment. He was from all appearance a decent size buck. Upon emerging he immediately shifted to the left and stopped behind some trees that obscured him enough not to allow a decent shot. This always seems to happen and prepared to try for a shot once he cleared the trees. To my surprise he made an about face and headed back in the direction he came and momentarily stopped. That was all I needed to unleash the shot at about 95-yds. He went down hard but to my surprise he managed to upright himself with an uncooperative back end and disappeared in some tall nearby grass.
At first I thought my 1-shot, 1-kill record was about to be tainted as I climbed out of my hillside den. I reloaded and cautiously made my way down the rest of the hillside to approached the spot I had hit him. Lots of blood found. Then I decided instead of following the blood trail first I immediately moved straight back to the creek and walked the bank to see if he possibly made it that far and possibly crossed out of sight. When no evidence was found he made it that far I did a zig-zag travel back through the tall grass working away from the creek. I figured if he had any life left in him he would try to break back into the gulley on my side of the creek. About my third pass I found him lying there expired.
As I approached the first thing I look for is to see if the eyes are open and they were. Then I watched for any movement but none found. When I took a closer look at the eyes the cloudy lifeless haze was beginning to set in. The next step was to attach my Tag to one his antlers and as I was doing so I thought “Thank You Jon for your help to make this a reality”.
It turned out this fellow was a lot bigger than I first expected and well over 200lbs. He was a 9-pointer, his swollen neck circumference was 32” and his chest depth from the back was 19-1/2”. He was a big boy and here he is hanging.
Now the next adventure was hauling that big boy out of the gulley. That will follow later on The Back Porch when I have a chance to compile the details. Here I had a chance to momentarily live my wild youthful days to accomplish this one.
Ed
For opening day of the Controlled Hunt in my area I chose to revisit my den situated in the side of a hill overseeing the travel route in a gulley. To get to this location I had to walk about 400yards along a field and then proceed a short stretch into the woods before making my descent down a steep hillside to reach my final destination in the dark.
Once I reached my cozy semi-dugout pit blind I crawled inside and parked my butt on the plastic lawn chair already placed there. There was only a short wait before legal shooting time before I uncased my 10ML-II and completed the load by installing the primer. No sooner had I finished loading I heard THUMPING movement on the leaf covered ridge across the creek from my location. For a moment I got excited as this could only be made by a good sized buck. Once the thumping sound ceased I patiently waited and watched along the creek area to see if a buck would appear. After about 10-minutes of constant vigilance I had given up hope and just sort of laid back in a relaxed position waiting for the sun to rise.
As I laid back and closed my eyes for a minute, upon opening them and looking back towards the creek there he was emerging on top the creek embankment. He was from all appearance a decent size buck. Upon emerging he immediately shifted to the left and stopped behind some trees that obscured him enough not to allow a decent shot. This always seems to happen and prepared to try for a shot once he cleared the trees. To my surprise he made an about face and headed back in the direction he came and momentarily stopped. That was all I needed to unleash the shot at about 95-yds. He went down hard but to my surprise he managed to upright himself with an uncooperative back end and disappeared in some tall nearby grass.
At first I thought my 1-shot, 1-kill record was about to be tainted as I climbed out of my hillside den. I reloaded and cautiously made my way down the rest of the hillside to approached the spot I had hit him. Lots of blood found. Then I decided instead of following the blood trail first I immediately moved straight back to the creek and walked the bank to see if he possibly made it that far and possibly crossed out of sight. When no evidence was found he made it that far I did a zig-zag travel back through the tall grass working away from the creek. I figured if he had any life left in him he would try to break back into the gulley on my side of the creek. About my third pass I found him lying there expired.
As I approached the first thing I look for is to see if the eyes are open and they were. Then I watched for any movement but none found. When I took a closer look at the eyes the cloudy lifeless haze was beginning to set in. The next step was to attach my Tag to one his antlers and as I was doing so I thought “Thank You Jon for your help to make this a reality”.
It turned out this fellow was a lot bigger than I first expected and well over 200lbs. He was a 9-pointer, his swollen neck circumference was 32” and his chest depth from the back was 19-1/2”. He was a big boy and here he is hanging.
Now the next adventure was hauling that big boy out of the gulley. That will follow later on The Back Porch when I have a chance to compile the details. Here I had a chance to momentarily live my wild youthful days to accomplish this one.
Ed
