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2012 Deer season thread

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JimP:
Sometimes it's tough, and then sometimes you have more deer to deal with than you can deal with ..... I was beginning to think the deer were allergic to me- every time I left the kids* alone on stand, the shooting would start .......

Last year, I spent far more time cutting up deer than I did hunting them ......

.... we did OK this year.  Eldest, in particular, had a great time ..... telling her da that she was going to sneak up on that doe sitting smack in the middle of that giant stubble field on the next ridge, and shoot it ..... and then proceeded to do just that, despite me telling her she was wasting her time, going on a long walk to spook a deer long before she was anywhere close to being in range.....




* I say "kids", but my nephew is 21 .....

Wildgoose:
Nice one Brian!

Wildgoose:
Saturday morning opener was way to warm and windy. We did have good luck though. My son in law shot a nice sized but small rack buck right off at 6:45 and about a half hour later my grand daughter shot very similiar one. His shot was thrity yards with a .300 WM and hers was 170 yards with a .300 Savage.
We spent the rest of the morning taking care of the down deer. My first shot came right a dark that evening. I was looking at what I thought was a shadow when it started walking. Made about a 160 yard shot with a .300 Savage. I hate cleaning deer in the head lights. Very tired old man that night.
Sunday I took it easy and my grand daughter and I went out on Monday in much more seasonal weather to fill our doe tags. Didnt see anything until two deer came across the field in front of us moving at a fast walk abut 8:30. She put the lead one down with one shot and I wound up with the trailing one but had to take a second shot into her from the stand. The first hit spined her and she was trying to get up so a second was needed to make sure she stayed put. First pic is my buck from Saturday night and the second is from Monday morning.

bkoenig:

--- Quote from: maanbr on November 14, 2012, 06:48:24 PM --- 
bkoenig, was that the vax bullet you were talking about with the 300 blackout?  How was the penetration, did you get a pass through?


--- End quote ---

Yeah, it was the 110 gr vmax.  It worked fine.  On the buck I just barely clipped the back of his shoulder blade which slowed it down a little.  The bullet passed through the opposite ribcage but didn't exit the hide on the opposite side.  On the doe it passed all the way through.  I think this bullet is ok at lower velocities like the 300 puts out, but using it with a faster cartridge would probably result in a wounded deer or a ton of wasted meat.  Next year I plan to try the new Barnes TSX made especially for this caliber.

JimP:
Nice deer, 'Goose!  And good shootin' by the G'daughter, too!


--- Quote ---Then the REAL FUN began... Didn't have a deer cart or anything to assist in dragging. Got a couple hundred yards dragging by the hooves after stopping every 10 feet to get a new grip and catch my breath. Then I managed to find a stick small enough but sturdy enough to stick in between the tendons and bone in the hind legs to get a better hold while dragging. After 3 hours of dragging I made it back to the truck with the roughly 125lb field dressed deer.

--- End quote ---

Some tips on dragging:

Drag the deer forwards/from the front end, as hair has a whole lot less friction with the ground if the friction is going with the direction of the hair than against it.

With that in mind, antlers make good handles. A person on each antler makes long distance drags a breeze. 

Hands get tired before the rest of you.  Switch hands- If two are dragging, switch sides.

Better than grabbing an antler is having a 12-15 foot rope.  Put a loop around the head or antlers and leave enough of a tag end to tie the forefeet and upper jaw together and  to the working end of the rope ..... there will be enough rope to bring it over your shoulder, and away you go.  An improvement on that is to tie the end of the rope to the center of a 3 or 4 foot branch about 1 1/2" or 2" in diameter to use as a yoke.  Two people with a yoke in front of their shoulders can almost run with a field dressed deer.  A thick rope is easier to grip, but takes up more space.  If you use a yoke, you can get away with 550 cord.

Game carts are for sissies and gear geeks.  ;).  Rope weighs little, fits in a pack, and skills weigh nothing.

   


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