Joe C
Student of the 1911.
After a rather uneventful evening last night I decided to take my friend Jake, who has never shot a deer before (he just got into hunting last year), and my dad, who is in town from Arkansas to meat hunt, out to a "honey hole" about two minutes from the house this morning. Now I LOVE going hunting with my dad and also LOVE taking new hunters. Both Jake and dad only have doe tags and this was going to be a great chance to put some meat in the freezer for the winter.
I was really just there for the experience and wasn't going to shoot a doe even though I have three doe tags left. But I also had one buck tag and knew that there was a nice 8 pointer in this hole as I missed him a week ago during bow season from 15 yards away when my arrow hit a branch.
We had only been in the woods about an hour and a half when I looked over to where Jake was and saw a deer approaching. I like to keep new hunters close and since Jake has only been out a couple of times with me he was about 50 yards away. Then the rack appeared. The deer walked up to within about 10 yards of Jake and I could see that it was the 8 pointer. It watched Jake closely for about five minutes before turning and coming down the path in front of me un-alarmed. As he approached I thought about letting him pass but then good sense got the better of me. We don't need the meat but since dad and Jake hadn't got any yet it seemed like a good chance to make sure they didn't go home with empty coolers...
As I watched through the vintage 2-7x32 Wide View Redfield perched atop my minty 1969 Remington 788 .308 the buck came into an opening about 80 yards in front of me. I squeezed off the shot right behind the front right shoulder. The 165g Hornady FP in front of 43g of VVN140 was placed perfectly and the buck stumbled off towards the creek. As I looked over I saw Jake had jumped to his feet and was watching the buck run to his final resting place. ;D
Per our plan, I slowly crept out of the woods and went to the truck to go get a cup of coffee and wait for one of them to shoot the does that were, unbeknown to us, in the creek bed about 50 yards away. I found out later that one of the does ran by my dad at warp speed about 20 minutes later and he didn't have a shot. The other wandered behind some brush and disappeared in the thick stuff.
About an hour and a half later I came back and we recovered the old buck approximately 100 yards from where I shot him. There was a great blood trail and it was fun to watch Jake follow it through the woods carefully as we stalked up to where the buck lay under a giant locust tree.
It has been an incredible hunting season for me. I've bagged three does with my old bow and two very nice bucks with two different rifles. It has been even better because of the time spent in the woods with my dad and good friends. And the best part is...we have several days to go!
So thanks once again for indulging a young pistolsmith by reading the stories of my hunting adventures. Now it's time to help my dad and friends bag some more meat for the year ahead by filling their doe tags!
My dad and me.
My friend Jake and me.
I was really just there for the experience and wasn't going to shoot a doe even though I have three doe tags left. But I also had one buck tag and knew that there was a nice 8 pointer in this hole as I missed him a week ago during bow season from 15 yards away when my arrow hit a branch.
We had only been in the woods about an hour and a half when I looked over to where Jake was and saw a deer approaching. I like to keep new hunters close and since Jake has only been out a couple of times with me he was about 50 yards away. Then the rack appeared. The deer walked up to within about 10 yards of Jake and I could see that it was the 8 pointer. It watched Jake closely for about five minutes before turning and coming down the path in front of me un-alarmed. As he approached I thought about letting him pass but then good sense got the better of me. We don't need the meat but since dad and Jake hadn't got any yet it seemed like a good chance to make sure they didn't go home with empty coolers...
As I watched through the vintage 2-7x32 Wide View Redfield perched atop my minty 1969 Remington 788 .308 the buck came into an opening about 80 yards in front of me. I squeezed off the shot right behind the front right shoulder. The 165g Hornady FP in front of 43g of VVN140 was placed perfectly and the buck stumbled off towards the creek. As I looked over I saw Jake had jumped to his feet and was watching the buck run to his final resting place. ;D
Per our plan, I slowly crept out of the woods and went to the truck to go get a cup of coffee and wait for one of them to shoot the does that were, unbeknown to us, in the creek bed about 50 yards away. I found out later that one of the does ran by my dad at warp speed about 20 minutes later and he didn't have a shot. The other wandered behind some brush and disappeared in the thick stuff.
About an hour and a half later I came back and we recovered the old buck approximately 100 yards from where I shot him. There was a great blood trail and it was fun to watch Jake follow it through the woods carefully as we stalked up to where the buck lay under a giant locust tree.
It has been an incredible hunting season for me. I've bagged three does with my old bow and two very nice bucks with two different rifles. It has been even better because of the time spent in the woods with my dad and good friends. And the best part is...we have several days to go!
So thanks once again for indulging a young pistolsmith by reading the stories of my hunting adventures. Now it's time to help my dad and friends bag some more meat for the year ahead by filling their doe tags!
My dad and me.
My friend Jake and me.
