Post by mr4pt on Oct 18, 2009 9:00:06 GMT -5
I think yesterday was the most fun I have ever had in the woods. It was was the opening day of our first muzzleloader season so Dalton and his friend Brandon wanted to go to Griff's. Griff is a buddy I ran into last year that happened to have 22 acres of prime land just outside of town along with the several hundred of acres that ajoined it that we could hunt that his cousin owned. I hunted it last year a time or two and although I a big buck I didn't see the number of deer or deer sign that I thought I would. That all changed yesterday....
We dropped Brandon off at one spot and before Dalton and I got to where we were going to sit we jumped a doe and her two fawns. The big doe ran up the hill and stopped and Dalton has his gun laid down on her. Although it was going to be a tough shot, 75 yds freehanded, I told him to shoot. CLICK! His little youth muzzleloader has a double safety and in the excitement he forgot to take the secondary safety off. He thought he had forgotten to put a cap in so he started fumbling with his gun. One of the fawns ran out in the open and he told me to shoot it but I was not interested in shooting a fawn. I had told them I had one doe tag left and I was either going to shoot a 1 1/2 year old doe or a good buck.
We sat down right there and watched the logging road and it wasn't 20 minutes later two 1 1/2 year old does came feeding down the road. Dalton got a good rest on a limb and I was so proud of him because he waited 10 minutes for them to feed to within 40 yds. We first saw them at around 130 yds. He busted the lead doe, dropped it in its tracks. The other doe ran back to the end of the road and I shot her. I missed the first shot but she stood there and let me reload. I did not miss the second shot. We were standing there doing the fist bump talking about how that was the first time we had doubled-up together when we heard Brandon shoot. He got on the radio and said he had shot a doe but she ran off so we headed to him to help him find her. We looked for awhile and just as I was going to tell Brandon it was a clean miss I saw s spike, legal for youth, headed our way out of the clearcut. He walked up to 40 yds and Brandon dropped him in his tracks. We had tripled-up. At first I was happy but then I got to thinking how I had to get 3 people and three deer out of the woods on one 4 wheeler. I told them to stay with the deer and I would go get the 4 wheeler and start loading up deer. They wanted their reloads but I told them that we were DONE shooting deer unless ol sad-daddy walked up. All of this happed before 8:30 and I had a chore ahead. I had just gotten to the 4 wheeler when BOOM! Dalton said a HUGE buck came out of the cutover and he missed. I confirmed with Brandon that it was a big 10 pt and it was a clean miss. I had to put one deer on the rack and drag the other two behind. It had to be a sight to see me and two kids with three deer coming out of the woods. Griff lives right on the highway.
Anyway, here's the specs...
Mine and Dalton's doe were identical in size, around 75 lbs. Brandon's spike, which I did not get a pic of, was around 90 lbs. Hope the pic shows up.
We dropped Brandon off at one spot and before Dalton and I got to where we were going to sit we jumped a doe and her two fawns. The big doe ran up the hill and stopped and Dalton has his gun laid down on her. Although it was going to be a tough shot, 75 yds freehanded, I told him to shoot. CLICK! His little youth muzzleloader has a double safety and in the excitement he forgot to take the secondary safety off. He thought he had forgotten to put a cap in so he started fumbling with his gun. One of the fawns ran out in the open and he told me to shoot it but I was not interested in shooting a fawn. I had told them I had one doe tag left and I was either going to shoot a 1 1/2 year old doe or a good buck.
We sat down right there and watched the logging road and it wasn't 20 minutes later two 1 1/2 year old does came feeding down the road. Dalton got a good rest on a limb and I was so proud of him because he waited 10 minutes for them to feed to within 40 yds. We first saw them at around 130 yds. He busted the lead doe, dropped it in its tracks. The other doe ran back to the end of the road and I shot her. I missed the first shot but she stood there and let me reload. I did not miss the second shot. We were standing there doing the fist bump talking about how that was the first time we had doubled-up together when we heard Brandon shoot. He got on the radio and said he had shot a doe but she ran off so we headed to him to help him find her. We looked for awhile and just as I was going to tell Brandon it was a clean miss I saw s spike, legal for youth, headed our way out of the clearcut. He walked up to 40 yds and Brandon dropped him in his tracks. We had tripled-up. At first I was happy but then I got to thinking how I had to get 3 people and three deer out of the woods on one 4 wheeler. I told them to stay with the deer and I would go get the 4 wheeler and start loading up deer. They wanted their reloads but I told them that we were DONE shooting deer unless ol sad-daddy walked up. All of this happed before 8:30 and I had a chore ahead. I had just gotten to the 4 wheeler when BOOM! Dalton said a HUGE buck came out of the cutover and he missed. I confirmed with Brandon that it was a big 10 pt and it was a clean miss. I had to put one deer on the rack and drag the other two behind. It had to be a sight to see me and two kids with three deer coming out of the woods. Griff lives right on the highway.
Anyway, here's the specs...
Mine and Dalton's doe were identical in size, around 75 lbs. Brandon's spike, which I did not get a pic of, was around 90 lbs. Hope the pic shows up.
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