17cal Fan
Silver $$ Contributor
My 55th season and enjoyable as always. Kind of in the middle of season right now but not sure I'll go back again this year. Last year I wanted a doe and all I saw was 3 bucks on opening day. Never saw another deer that season. Again this year I really just wanted a doe and opening day started with a large 8'ish point crossing in front of my stand 30 minutes into shooting time. I let him walk on his merry way but took some pictures. 4PM another nice buck with a funky rack gave me ample time to shoot but again I let him carry on. I have stacks of antlers and several nice mounts. When I die, they'll likely sell for little or nothing. But I do like some venison in the freezer. Maybe this one will be some youngsters pride and joy.
1st buck
Find Waldo, the second Buck, in front of the cedar tree.
Maybe 5 minutes of shooting time left on opening day, a yearling trotted out in front of my stand. By the time the reticle settled on her she had changed course to walking straight away from my stand. A quick whistle stopped her and she turned her head to the right to look for the source of the sound. My options were Texas heart shot or head shot. So I chose the head shot and a 100 grain pill from the Ruger 260 did not entail any tracking. I would have preferred a larger/older doe but wasn't going to risk a re-run of the last season.
The Doe
Went back to hunt Wednesday evening but saw nothing. But did like the idea that, having 2 boat paddles is always better than having only 1 paddle. On the left we have a 2010 222 Hawkeye stuck in a boat paddle stock, on the right we have a 1990 vintage MKII in 308.
Thursday presented some challenges with fog that rolled in shortly after daybreak.
1st we have the full view at 6:40AM
And an hour later
The fog would lift a little and return over and over for next 4 hours. About 10 AM I saw a pair of ears looking toward my stand from about 75 yards. Hoping it was nice fat doe I settled the reticle to discover antlers. Not really countable (we have a 4 points on one side rule) I wasn't convinced there were the required 4 so I just enjoyed the view. Spent the rest of the day in the stand with no other deer encounters.
1st buck
Find Waldo, the second Buck, in front of the cedar tree.
Maybe 5 minutes of shooting time left on opening day, a yearling trotted out in front of my stand. By the time the reticle settled on her she had changed course to walking straight away from my stand. A quick whistle stopped her and she turned her head to the right to look for the source of the sound. My options were Texas heart shot or head shot. So I chose the head shot and a 100 grain pill from the Ruger 260 did not entail any tracking. I would have preferred a larger/older doe but wasn't going to risk a re-run of the last season.
The Doe
Went back to hunt Wednesday evening but saw nothing. But did like the idea that, having 2 boat paddles is always better than having only 1 paddle. On the left we have a 2010 222 Hawkeye stuck in a boat paddle stock, on the right we have a 1990 vintage MKII in 308.
Thursday presented some challenges with fog that rolled in shortly after daybreak.
1st we have the full view at 6:40AM
And an hour later
The fog would lift a little and return over and over for next 4 hours. About 10 AM I saw a pair of ears looking toward my stand from about 75 yards. Hoping it was nice fat doe I settled the reticle to discover antlers. Not really countable (we have a 4 points on one side rule) I wasn't convinced there were the required 4 so I just enjoyed the view. Spent the rest of the day in the stand with no other deer encounters.
