A slow 9 day hunt...Very Slow.

[Guest 308Panther]

This year was Wisconsins 156th Deer hunting season,

And certainly not one of my better ones.

 

My state is divided up into differant DMU's,or Deer Management Units.

And depending what DMU your in there are differant rules to play by.

My DMU was an Earn-a-Buck zone.In order for me to shoot a Big Buck

it would be necessary for me to drop a doe or antler less buck,antlerless is

considered anything less then 3 inches.

 

Opening morning(Sat Nov 17th) the only thing we saw on our land(my uncles farm) was one lone 8 pt Buck

A real beauty...But no does...so he was off limits.Sadly watched him walk off.Knowin the guy down the road would drop him in a heartbeat.It sucks...But thats the rules.

We didnt see him till 10 am....Rest of the day....Nothing.Watched squirrels play,wished I brought the .17 HMR...

 

Next day(Sun Nov 18) nothing...Both days we heard alot of shots,infact it sounded like a Rifle Range or War Zone....Found out why,Seems the neighbors had put together a drive amd were walking thru the woods firing into a tree,the ground or in the air.....just to get the deer moving. I watched one lone driver walk the hill on the off side of uncles farm then he got to the property line looked at us in our ground blind turned his back to us,unsling his rifle,load it and shoot into the hill.Right in plain sight of Dad and I.Needless to say we were a little pissed off.But we kept our cool.

 

Monday (Nov 19) Stayed at the folks and hunted there...one lil short faced doe came in....No bigger than a puppy dog....It was one of the Twins that hang around the folks place that was born earlier this spring...Too lil to shoot.Let it go.

Went over to the uncles this time with the .17HMR, as well as the Black Rifle,got 3 Squirrels...

No Deer...

 

Tues. Totally missed 3 shots at a buck and a doe...Checked scope and found I was 2 moa high...Distance was 100 yrds.....nothin like shooting over their heads.And it was my own fault too I had dailed the turrets up watchin the buck the other day.

 

Weds...Sis showed up...took her out....Saw nothin till 5 mins before season close.Saw a doe at 250

dialed it for 200 as my position was above them by over 30 feet....Our ground blind is on a shelf of rock

halfway up a hill. It was inches low and kicked dirt in the does face....It ran,confused in circles.Then ran for some deep grass over by the field edge and roadside.As we were lookin for hair and blood it bolts outta the deep grass and heads for a stand of pines..Found no signs of blood or hair...Clean miss.Again.

Sis locks keys in truck...

 

Thursday...Our Thanksgiving Holiday.Big Feast.

Hunted the morning...saw nothing.Not even a squirrel.

Came back to the folks,Butchered some(9) meatpen Rabbits,Sis brought up.Ate well...turkey,stuffing,cranberries,baked yams,mashed potatoes...Apple Pie ,Pumpkin pie and Pecan Pie for dessert.

 

Fri...Saw nothing.

 

Sat...Heard a shot in the woods close by....a few minutes go by and a lone deer comes out on a dead head on run.Looks like a doe.Cant see any horns.Take a shot.Missed. Start to wonder about ammo...this deer wasnt even 150 yards out...and should be down.Take another shot,clipped the fence behind her.WTF is goin on? Managed to get one into her...it looks a lil far back but is bleedin good.Track it down found it tangled in a barbed wire fence..Damn..got it in the liver. That means the gut got clipped too...if not by the bullet,then by a rib shard.Only problem now its in the deep stuff,rasberry brambles and burdocks..Long drag out...1/4 to 1/2 mile.

Got it out...but man I was one tired puppy....Dad helped the last couple hundred yards as I was all in.

Chest measurement was 37-38 inches...Rough live weight of 150 lbs.

I weigh 175lbs

 

Sat night.... Had an Opposum in the Squirrel's peanut feeder.

Eliminate peanut raider.

 

Sun

Butcherd Deer...

 

Side hill where I missed buck and doe from bein dialed high.

 

 

Uncles Farm/Ranch house...our blind(cant see) is actually behind the house and around the corner on the side of the hill...The hill that slopes right to left in the background of the house,right about where the pine in the middle is,is where the other hunter walked down.Our blind faces that hill.

 

 

 

The dead deer..Not much,We were havin alot of problems with Angels camera batt...it isnt holding a charge,and looks like it needs to be replaced.Available from Sony.So I wasnt able to get the amount of pics I would have liked.

 

 

Like I said...Certainly not one of my better seasons.

The best part was...

Being able to hunt with my family.And in later years the lack of deer will be forgotten as will the size of it.And the missed shots.( I hope)

 

Lessons learned...

 

Check your turret knobs and reset.

Keep car keys with you.

Balistic programs are no sustitute for real time shooting.

Carrying the 1911 as well may be a good idea.

 

 

308Panther

[Guest varmartin]

Good account of your 9 days hunt Pat, ...you got one in the end and like you say the important part was you also spent it with your family...never to be forgotten.

 

Martin

[Guest 308Panther]

Thanks Martin,

Yeah,about the only thing I forgot to mention is

the number of times I got nudged from a bootheel for

snorin...both from Dad and Sis.

Just somethin about them crisp fall days and abit of sunshine

makes me wanna take a nap.Especially when dressed in

my insulated coveralls and a couple of them newer heat packs

in the pockets...Them things are great.

 

 

308Panther

[ejg223]

Well Pat, you got one.

I'd worry a bit about the misses.

Sometimes it's better to simplify the kit.

The ammount of foxes i've not shot because of

wasting time with the scope is unreal. Refocusing and

changing zoom is sometimes enough time lost for the

animal to be around the bend.

The most sucsessful outfit I had was with a simple 8x56 S&B.

Gun up fire... concentrate on the shot.

 

So is that it for your deer season?

 

edi

[varminter]

Nice writeup Pat

Good to hear you got to spend some time with the family!!!

As for the misses i would want to check that out!! ( be tempted to zero at 100yds ), at least you got some venison for the table!!!!

Pat what rifle do you use for your deer rifle buddy and how do find she shoots????

All the best.....................

RAY......................................

[Guest 308Panther]

The rifle I used was/is my AR...DPMS Panther LR 308.

A rifle I have no problems shooting 20rd 2in groups at 200 yrds.

Most years I have had very good luck with Rem 150gr SP.(MV 2800 fps)

And I should have stuck with those.

This year I was trying out Hornady's Custom loads.

165 gr BTSP Interlock.(MV 2700 fps)

I have run 168gr SMK's(MV 2680 fps) thru it and they did very well

but wasnt comfortable usin a match grade bullet

Figured the 165 Interlock was a good between the 2 choice.

 

The scope is your basic plain jane Leupold 3-9x-40 VX11.

with the mag left on 3x. and with a 100yrd zero.

Nothing fancy and about as simple as it gets.

Stoney Point Turrets added...just for the convienance for doin longer shots.

For the most part, I could have shot any 200 yrd shot without dialing up

and settled for it being 2 inches low. No big deal there.

Just chose to dial up...and forgot to dial it down.

 

Some of the missed shots may just be me trying to shoot

100yrds offhand with a 13+lb rifle,rushin the shot or snap shooting and

the added frustration of seeing no deer in an area that as

little as 3 yrs ago the deer were literally thicker than ticks

and almost outnumbered the human population.

 

I know I wasnt the only one to connect in the eleventh hour.

The deer registration count in that county alone was down

by 500+ deer.So there were many that went home with nothing.

 

I am happy with what I got,just very disappointed with our

Wildlife Management,I was forewarned that the deer werent there.

And needed to see it to believe it.

The reality and frustration were a real bummer,and a hard

blow to my "A" Game.

 

308Panther