Joe C
Student of the 1911.
So yesterday was opening day here in Nebraska for deer with a rifle. The winds were tremendous in the morning blowing out of the south at about 30mph. Because of the wind I was faced with having to hunt a new property for the first time ever. The morning was pretty much a bust as I saw a few does running through the trees as a guy drove all over the property with his truck "hunting". That seems to be the way folks do it around here. They just drive around until something pops out and then they shoot it.
Anyways, going into evening I was faced with a decision. Hunt in the now 35-40mph wind or stay home. I decided to go and lay down in the draw which I'd seen the does go into at day break. After getting set up around 15:30 I looked through my scope and saw a HUGE rub that was fresh about 80 yards in front of me. I decided this could be a good spot after all and there were lots of tracks in the bottom of the creek bed. So, I took a nap. HA! Hey, it was a long day in the wind.
At about 16:50 I awoke to sounds of crunching to my left (south) the direction the wind was blowing from. I looked through the ceders and could see two bodies. As they separated one was a 3x3 and the other was unknown but was much larger. The waiting was nice as I enjoy seeing deer close and these were only about 25 yards away behind the trees. Finally, they finished their scrapes and the bigger one grunted so I grunted back. The little one wanted to see what was going on so he crossed first in front of me about 40 yards out. He got a free pass.
As light was now fading fast a decision had to be made quickly when the big one started to cross through the cedars of the draw in front me. At about 80 yards I could not tell how big he was because when he stopped his head was behind a tree! So I put the cross hairs on him and squeezed. The Nosler 165g BT moving at about 2600fps did it's job and he only went about 20 feet before falling over stone dead. Turns out he is a very respectable 2.5 year old 9 pointer (typical 4x4 with a sticker) that measures about 15.5" inside. I'm happy as it was a rough day for the woods!
Then this morning I took a friend out that has not hunted in about 15 years and he got his first doe from the same exact spot! Anyways, thanks for indulging me and reading the story. Here's a pic or two. Just goes to show, the deer gotta move in the wind just like everything else!
Anyways, going into evening I was faced with a decision. Hunt in the now 35-40mph wind or stay home. I decided to go and lay down in the draw which I'd seen the does go into at day break. After getting set up around 15:30 I looked through my scope and saw a HUGE rub that was fresh about 80 yards in front of me. I decided this could be a good spot after all and there were lots of tracks in the bottom of the creek bed. So, I took a nap. HA! Hey, it was a long day in the wind.
At about 16:50 I awoke to sounds of crunching to my left (south) the direction the wind was blowing from. I looked through the ceders and could see two bodies. As they separated one was a 3x3 and the other was unknown but was much larger. The waiting was nice as I enjoy seeing deer close and these were only about 25 yards away behind the trees. Finally, they finished their scrapes and the bigger one grunted so I grunted back. The little one wanted to see what was going on so he crossed first in front of me about 40 yards out. He got a free pass.
As light was now fading fast a decision had to be made quickly when the big one started to cross through the cedars of the draw in front me. At about 80 yards I could not tell how big he was because when he stopped his head was behind a tree! So I put the cross hairs on him and squeezed. The Nosler 165g BT moving at about 2600fps did it's job and he only went about 20 feet before falling over stone dead. Turns out he is a very respectable 2.5 year old 9 pointer (typical 4x4 with a sticker) that measures about 15.5" inside. I'm happy as it was a rough day for the woods!
Then this morning I took a friend out that has not hunted in about 15 years and he got his first doe from the same exact spot! Anyways, thanks for indulging me and reading the story. Here's a pic or two. Just goes to show, the deer gotta move in the wind just like everything else!
