Tweet
First off, a shout out to FB for hanging out with me this afternoon from over 1000 miles away. I’m still a bit dumbfounded about what went down.
I had the opportunity to leave work early today and took it. When I got home the Kid was hunting a nearby public spot that has spotty cell coverage and he hadn’t received the text I was on my way home. I started getting ready to head up without him when he texted back that he was on his way to the truck so I waited on him.
We headed up about 3:00, me to the shack and him to the back side of the hill. The wind was pounding the front side I was on and I wasn’t really expecting much tonight but my daughter and I had 9 deer around us last night, including two small bucks and a button buck.
I was trying to sit still as best as possible while keeping an eye out of both the front and side windows. I was quite comfortable but a bit bored so I started checking in on today’s TGIF thread and giving some updates that FB was catching and responding to. A little after 4:00 a four point shows up that I start posting pictures of with some commentary. He’s oblivious and feeding hard for about a half hour. It starts getting to where the day’s about over when all at once he jerks his head up and stares down at the bottom of the field. I know something is down there but can’t see what he’s looking at. Next thing he’s busting out uphill away from whatever it is. I don’t mess around and get the gun out of the window. Up to that point I had it in with me just in case something showed from the side. It wasn’t a minute when this 8pt comes strolling up and across. I’m on him almost instantly but am second guessing whether to just shoot him or let him get closer. Something just clicks in my brain and I take the shot at the front edge of his left shoulder. He immediately drops on that side but seems to almost bounce back up, spin and take off at the same time.
My first reaction is what just happened? Then I text my wife and the Kid before taking a minute to make a quick and slightly cryptic post on the TGIF thread before getting my stuff together. I head down to where the buck fell but there’s nothing to show a hit. I turn the way he ran and go about ten yards when I spot him laying against a stone wall about 30 yards away, stone dead. First thing is take a couple pics and text the wife and Kid again that I’ve got him. Then I post on TGIF again just because. About then the Kid walks up so we get a couple more pics before it gets too dark then he heads down to the house for the tractor while I take care of business.
Because of the lousy weather I decided to take the Ruger American .270 Win with the Burris FF II and the Hornady American Whitetail ammo I’d sighted in with. The bullet entered on the front edge of the shoulder and apparently came unglued, the back of the same (left) shoulder is blown up plus there’s an exit hole on the opposite (right) side between the last rib and the hip. It’s no wonder he didn’t go far but I’m really second guessing using these. Interlocks have a reputation for being a tough cup and core bullet but with a small sample of three deer killed I don’t see where they’re anything special. Maybe we’re just shooting our deer too close.
The only other hiccup was after finding the buck I went to eject the spent case and somehow the bolt rotated which prevented it from going back into battery. Most likely something I did but I’m not sure what happened. I popped the mag out and handed the rifle to the Kid to take with him and he figured out what was wrong. Just glad I didn’t need a quick follow up.
Anyway, here he is just as he fell. Or apparently face planted.
842BDFB0-C862-4485-83D1-216CB0B60F20.jpg
I had the opportunity to leave work early today and took it. When I got home the Kid was hunting a nearby public spot that has spotty cell coverage and he hadn’t received the text I was on my way home. I started getting ready to head up without him when he texted back that he was on his way to the truck so I waited on him.
We headed up about 3:00, me to the shack and him to the back side of the hill. The wind was pounding the front side I was on and I wasn’t really expecting much tonight but my daughter and I had 9 deer around us last night, including two small bucks and a button buck.
I was trying to sit still as best as possible while keeping an eye out of both the front and side windows. I was quite comfortable but a bit bored so I started checking in on today’s TGIF thread and giving some updates that FB was catching and responding to. A little after 4:00 a four point shows up that I start posting pictures of with some commentary. He’s oblivious and feeding hard for about a half hour. It starts getting to where the day’s about over when all at once he jerks his head up and stares down at the bottom of the field. I know something is down there but can’t see what he’s looking at. Next thing he’s busting out uphill away from whatever it is. I don’t mess around and get the gun out of the window. Up to that point I had it in with me just in case something showed from the side. It wasn’t a minute when this 8pt comes strolling up and across. I’m on him almost instantly but am second guessing whether to just shoot him or let him get closer. Something just clicks in my brain and I take the shot at the front edge of his left shoulder. He immediately drops on that side but seems to almost bounce back up, spin and take off at the same time.
My first reaction is what just happened? Then I text my wife and the Kid before taking a minute to make a quick and slightly cryptic post on the TGIF thread before getting my stuff together. I head down to where the buck fell but there’s nothing to show a hit. I turn the way he ran and go about ten yards when I spot him laying against a stone wall about 30 yards away, stone dead. First thing is take a couple pics and text the wife and Kid again that I’ve got him. Then I post on TGIF again just because. About then the Kid walks up so we get a couple more pics before it gets too dark then he heads down to the house for the tractor while I take care of business.
Because of the lousy weather I decided to take the Ruger American .270 Win with the Burris FF II and the Hornady American Whitetail ammo I’d sighted in with. The bullet entered on the front edge of the shoulder and apparently came unglued, the back of the same (left) shoulder is blown up plus there’s an exit hole on the opposite (right) side between the last rib and the hip. It’s no wonder he didn’t go far but I’m really second guessing using these. Interlocks have a reputation for being a tough cup and core bullet but with a small sample of three deer killed I don’t see where they’re anything special. Maybe we’re just shooting our deer too close.
The only other hiccup was after finding the buck I went to eject the spent case and somehow the bolt rotated which prevented it from going back into battery. Most likely something I did but I’m not sure what happened. I popped the mag out and handed the rifle to the Kid to take with him and he figured out what was wrong. Just glad I didn’t need a quick follow up.
Anyway, here he is just as he fell. Or apparently face planted.
842BDFB0-C862-4485-83D1-216CB0B60F20.jpg
Comment