Slinky Pickle
09-27-2011, 03:05 PM
I managed to take this guy last Saturday. Although I would love to give you this long story about waiting, watching and stalking, the reality is that my buddy and I sat in a cut block for 3 hours waiting for a couple of other bucks that we have been watching all year, to show up and they never did. We poked around a few other spots and then finally decided to head home. At the last cut block my buddy says "I'll walk down through, you drive around and pick me up at the bottom." So I buggered around for a while giving him time to make is way down and then slowly drove around to pick him up. Doh!!!! there's a nice buck standing just up in the cut block staring at me.
I jump out of the of the truck but since I'm not sure where my buddy is, I have to reposition myself so there is nothing but dirt bank behind the buck so I know where my bullet will end up. Bang!!! 49 grains of Varget push the 168 grain Hornady SST out the end of my 30-06 and into his mid section. Now it gets interesting. I just want to go on record as saying that the human mind can be a sick and demented thing!!!
The buck disappears into a bit of thick stuff and then I hear what I believe is the sound of him piling up in a bit of a low spot. Moments later a doe calmly walks out and crosses the road in front of me. I give the big boy a little time to expire and while I'm waiting, the doe comes back across the road again. A minute or so later I can see her with two bucks part way up the cut block. The three of them are just standing there like nothing has happened. At this point my buddy and I finally get in contact and he says "I see a 3 x 2 and a spiker with the doe." Hmmm... mine had was a good 4 on the side I saw but at that very moment I started to second guess myself.
After a few minutes, the 3 deer wander down across the road and leave. I headed in to where the buck had been standing when I pulled the trigger and there is no blood, no hair, no nothing... just tracks heading down towards the road. I follow them down and they disappear into the thick stuff that I had heard him go into. There is nothing in there though... now deer, no blood.... no nuthin'. By this time I'm really starting to think I screwed up the count and somehow ended up missing (or worse, nicking) the 3 point that we had seen. So, I went down to the road where the 3 had crossed and looked for blood.... there was none. Ok, back up to where he started from... let's try this again. Down the hill, into the thick stuff and then nothing.... hmmmm.
My buddy finally picks up a single drop of what is either blood or possibly beery juice on a log and heads off in that direction which is predominantly up hill. I continue to look under logs and bushes thinking he might have wedged himself under something before he died. After another 20 minutes of this, my buddy gives a shout from the other side of the cut block. What a wonderful sound that was!! The buck had gone down towards the road and then turned 180 and headed straight up hill for about 50 yards. That's not what I had expected at all. Thinking back later, the 3 deer that we saw milling about were standing right where he died. They must have stayed with him till he expired and then headed off.
So here's the thing. In a matter of 2 minutes I had gone from KNOWING that I had made a good clean shot on a tall 4 point (at least) to BELIEVING that I had gut shot a small 3 x 2 and that it had wondered off to die somewhere. In hind sight, there's no way I could have mistaken the rack on this guy to the one on the 3 point.... but the mind can play crazy games on you.
He doesn't look that big in the picture cuz I'm a pretty big guy myself but when we hung him at home, after field dressing, he was 197 lbs and when we took the head and hide off he was 156 lbs.
I'm very happy with my first Mulie of the year!!!
http://www.ospreydesign.ca/hunting/Success.jpg
I jump out of the of the truck but since I'm not sure where my buddy is, I have to reposition myself so there is nothing but dirt bank behind the buck so I know where my bullet will end up. Bang!!! 49 grains of Varget push the 168 grain Hornady SST out the end of my 30-06 and into his mid section. Now it gets interesting. I just want to go on record as saying that the human mind can be a sick and demented thing!!!
The buck disappears into a bit of thick stuff and then I hear what I believe is the sound of him piling up in a bit of a low spot. Moments later a doe calmly walks out and crosses the road in front of me. I give the big boy a little time to expire and while I'm waiting, the doe comes back across the road again. A minute or so later I can see her with two bucks part way up the cut block. The three of them are just standing there like nothing has happened. At this point my buddy and I finally get in contact and he says "I see a 3 x 2 and a spiker with the doe." Hmmm... mine had was a good 4 on the side I saw but at that very moment I started to second guess myself.
After a few minutes, the 3 deer wander down across the road and leave. I headed in to where the buck had been standing when I pulled the trigger and there is no blood, no hair, no nothing... just tracks heading down towards the road. I follow them down and they disappear into the thick stuff that I had heard him go into. There is nothing in there though... now deer, no blood.... no nuthin'. By this time I'm really starting to think I screwed up the count and somehow ended up missing (or worse, nicking) the 3 point that we had seen. So, I went down to the road where the 3 had crossed and looked for blood.... there was none. Ok, back up to where he started from... let's try this again. Down the hill, into the thick stuff and then nothing.... hmmmm.
My buddy finally picks up a single drop of what is either blood or possibly beery juice on a log and heads off in that direction which is predominantly up hill. I continue to look under logs and bushes thinking he might have wedged himself under something before he died. After another 20 minutes of this, my buddy gives a shout from the other side of the cut block. What a wonderful sound that was!! The buck had gone down towards the road and then turned 180 and headed straight up hill for about 50 yards. That's not what I had expected at all. Thinking back later, the 3 deer that we saw milling about were standing right where he died. They must have stayed with him till he expired and then headed off.
So here's the thing. In a matter of 2 minutes I had gone from KNOWING that I had made a good clean shot on a tall 4 point (at least) to BELIEVING that I had gut shot a small 3 x 2 and that it had wondered off to die somewhere. In hind sight, there's no way I could have mistaken the rack on this guy to the one on the 3 point.... but the mind can play crazy games on you.
He doesn't look that big in the picture cuz I'm a pretty big guy myself but when we hung him at home, after field dressing, he was 197 lbs and when we took the head and hide off he was 156 lbs.
I'm very happy with my first Mulie of the year!!!
http://www.ospreydesign.ca/hunting/Success.jpg