if that ain't deer huntin !

[KyBoarSlayer]

Hello all,
Thought I would share my experience the last weekend of rifle gun season. Ive been blessed this season with seeing deer every time I went huntin, except for one. So, its hard to complain about that, but man was I surprised when I went for a hunt on public land the last weekend (really Friday and Saturday) of the rifle season.

Here's a view of the sunrise on my way to the top, just an example of one of the many reasons i love to deer hunt.


I headed up to one of my favorite spots where the oak flats are:


Im not sitting there for more than 10  minutes when much to my surprise I see antlers coming through the thicket below me. I got on my shooting sticks and waited for the deer to come out on the other side. Well, typically, the buck stops behind thick cover and I get ready to just wait him out. After a few minute wait, he decides he doesnt like something and snorts and takes off down the hill. What I do not realize is there is a bigger 10 point that was behind him ,and he runs back the way they came.

At this point I have to reposition and buck fevers got me good. I sneak up to t where I can get a look at him. A real decent 10 point, is looking right at me, with his vitals blocked behind a tree. I get my rifle up against the nearest sapling, because I was afraid to move too far and have him spook. I was watching that deer look at me through the opening in the trees for several minutes, and he just would not move. Of course, Im trying to steady against a sapling which was already blowing around, and my knees are knockin like crazy !

I remember saying, PLease lord let this deer take another step, PLEASE !" Ive been hunting around 10 years, and I have never had the opportunity to take a big buck ( I mostly meat hunt), but man have I been hopin'. Im sitting there thinkin', man could this be the day ???

FINALLY, the deer takes the few steps that I need it to, and I m like OK, here we go. Il line up the crosshairs and let fly. WHAM!
I look through the scope and the deer is still there looking back at me. Confusion does not decribe that feeling, Im a fairly handy rifle shot, so I work the bolt and line up another. WHAM ! Still the deer is looking at me for a few seconds after the shot, and then finally he runs off. I sat down in total desperation and just wonder what the f(*& ? I've killed three deer during the rifle season, so i know the gun is good to go. I was thoroughly confused, and did not believe I missed the deer.

So I go down to confirm what I already think I know, and sure enough, not a single sign of a hit. I can see where the deer bolted in the leaves, and he appeared completely unscathed. I gotta tell ya, as a long time deer hunter, the feeling was sickening. 

I hunted from that spot for like another hour and a half, but was mostly replaying in my mind blowing my chance at a big buck. It really was hard on me, and I was hard on myself for it. I spend a lot of time preparing, planning, and practicing with my rifles, so it hurt pretty bad. Anyways, I finally got sick of replaying it in my mind, and started heading back to where I made the shot from.

As I head up the ridge side, I look up and what do I see:

thats the backside of the sapling which ruined my day. Notice the bullets had obviously done the expansion thing.

Heres the front where you can see the entrance holes:

not great shot placement, but enough to down said 10 pointer I would think.

The little sapling was maybe like 40 yards from me, and another 80 or so yards to the deer. Obviously, the bullets never made their mark. I wasnt sure whether to feel good or bad about it, but at least it explained the misses.


Well, I was able to recover from the miss and went back the next day to look for the big boy, although probably a long shot since he'd been shot at in that spot the day before. but I didnt know what else to do but keep huntin:
Heres some shots over my shooting sticks in the oak flats.




About two hours into the hunt, an 8 point buck comes down the bluff, follwed by three does, I got some footage of the 8 point, but I didnt know the other deer were behind him and shut it off. Sorry, the video is so small, my camera got turned to Compact mode somewhere during the hunt and I didnt know it. But I always love seeing deer while huntin'.

I couldnt figure out how to put this video inline, so heres a link to some video of the little 8 point. I called him a spike buck in the video, but he was a small 8 point.



Anyways, its weekends like that which keep me coming back for more...

[slagmaker]

Champions law of hunting states that the size of the sappling between you and your intended target is directionaly proportional to the chance of you hitting said sappling. Conversly wise the nicer the trophy the more likley you are to not noticing said sappling.

Bummer on the missed buck but thanks for taking us along.

[riverboss]

That sucks but at least you didnt wound him maybe next year he will be bigger.

[KyBoarSlayer]

Yeah RiverBottom,

I failed to mention it in the write up, but I was sure darn glad that there was no sign, rather than scant sign, or a wounded deer. That definitely would have bothered me a lot worse.

[Hawks Feather]

I guess hitting a tree is a good reason to let one go till next year.  At least you found the problem.  Think how you would have felt if you were left wondering why you missed.  Next year, same place, BIGGER rack.

Jerry

[Carolina Coyote]

A real Bummer for sure, but that is hunting and don't let it spoil your year, still time to get him. cc

[wv_yoter]

Thats a bummer Billy Jack, I agree with Jerry "next year, same place, bigger rack"

[KyBoarSlayer]

Hey Jason,
Yeah, I agree, thats a good way of looking at it. Congratulations on your deer, I saw your post on there. You making it down to LBL this year ?

[FinsnFur]

Yeah that sucks big time, but rest assured your not alone. We've all done that and were all going to do it again.

By the way, you didnt miss anything on posting videos. Just how you did it, is the only way to do it right now...posting a link to it.
Embedding videos into the posts isnt possible yet, since all the upgrades (I'll take the blame for that)

[FOsteology]

Definitely sucks, but happens!

Several years ago I experienced a similar situation. I couldn't see a small limb right in front of my barrel while looking through the riflescope. Fortunately it deflected the bullet so I didn't end up with a wounded animal either.

[kyfuzzyface]

He will be bigger next year !!!

[iahntr]

Yeah, unfortunate for sure !
But like others have said,
it's happened to most of us. 

[Okanagan]

KyBoarSlayer,
Man, feel bad for you. You hunted well and put it all together except for some luck on the shot.  Great photos and told well and straight.  That takes some gumption to admit what really happened.

I aimed to hit a 5x5 bull elk in the spine of his neck, the only shot available at 50 yards.  The closer I aimed to an aspen, the more vital the shot.  I aimed to clear it by an inch... and caught 2inches of tree.  That made the bullet pass through 5 or 6 inches of wood, similar to your photos.  The bull flinched as if hit by a thrown rock, either from splinters or the bullet.  Not a hair nor drop of blood.  No chance for another shot.

I rattled in a fair 4x4 (8 Point?) whitetail a few years ago and shot (at) him at 18 yards.  He wheeled and ran, and I watched expecting him to fall over.  He stopped at 35 yards to look back and I shot him "again."  He took off again and seemed to stumble going uphill over a small log and I was expecting him to drop any step.  He paused again 60 yards out and just in case I shot him "again" at the base of his neck at the withers.  That time he dropped on the spot.  Feeling bad for messing up so much meat with three shots, I walked up to him and found one bullet wound, a 3"x 8" oval gouge on the back of his neck ahead of his withers. 

My first shot had had hit a horizontal pole the diameter of a baseball bat 10 feet from me.  I had seen it in the scope and thought that I was aiming above it enough to clear.  The bullet is traveling about 1 1/2 inches below line of what we see in the scope when it leaves the muzzle.  I have no idea where the second bullet went except that I am not all that bad a shot and am sure it deflected off something unseen.  The third round had hit something unseen, tumbled and gouged the big entry oval as it went in sideways, but did the job.

  Pure luck, but that day it ran my way, finally.  Wish yours had.

[KySongDog]

If one hunts in the woods one can expect to kill a sapling or two along the way.   

I missed two coyotes at the last LBL due to my .223 encountering small saplings.   I think I'm taking a shotgun next year.   

[wv_yoter]

Billy Jack I'm planning on being there for at least a couple days, looking forward to hunting with everyone again.

[eleaf]

If one hunts in the woods one can expect to kill a sapling or two along the way.   

I missed two coyotes at the last LBL due to my .223 encountering small saplings.   I think I'm taking a shotgun next year.   

Yeah. The saplings. That's it.

Uh huh.



LOL

[dog dropper]

that looks like an amazing sitting spot, bummer you missed though