My first deer. -hunting srory

banjo318

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
Messages
186
Location
Billings, MT
Hey all, don't know if this is the correct place for some hunting stories, but who cares? it pertains to deer hunting :p. Anyways on to the story.

I just passed hunter safety with a 100% on the paper test and on the field course. I was very good at school and have been hunting before with my father (no i did not shoot anything, well besides a coyote when i was nine, but thats different....). I was so exited to finally take my 243 winchester and hunt with it. I loved that gun, and still do. But when i was eight years old i turned down the opportunity to shoot a friends 7mm rem mag sniper rifle (m40a3, just chambered in a long action 7mm remington magnum.) My father did and i knew i made a mistake. I did some research on the cartridge and instantly knew i wanted one for myself. Well i would not shut up about how badly i wanted one so my father bought me one the day before hunting season began. Wow was that thing sweet. It was a savage 111 with a black synthetic stock and to me, that rifle was the greatest thing since sliced bread. We went out that evening and sighted it in to hold 2 inches high at a hundred yards. (what i do with all rifles that don't have a bdc) I woke up early the next morning (very early, like 3 am) and we hit the road. We went to the little snowy mtns just 2 hours away from where i live. My dad has seen many mature bucks and knew that not many people hunted that mountain, so we thought. We get to camp and set everything up, i make the fire my dad sets up the grill and tent and we were set. My dad and I then proceeded to go on an evening hunt and check out this clear area that had a pond in the middle of it. Sat there for an hour till the light made us quit. We then hunted for the next 3 days and see NOTHING! Not even a doe. We are certain illegal aliens abducted all the wildlife on that mountain. :) Anyways we went home on sunday evening and i was blaming not seeing anything on my fault (It wasn't, some guy got the montana record whitetail there and then everyone came to that one spot looking for the largest deer there was, the area was completely hunted out.) So weeks go bye and then we finally get to go out again and hunt 1 week before the season ends. We got permission to hunt an area 2 hours to the other direction of the little snowy's and gladly accepted the offer. But when we arrived and talked to the lady that owned it, she said it was only 80 acres. Thats very small for an area to hunt. And this area was completely cleared. The only trees were on the part of the property where the house was. We instantly see 3 very large does that i would love to put in my freezer. Me not even seeing a deer this season was ******* ready to shoot one. My dad talked me out of it and said theres a buck hanging around over by those cliffs. The owner has seen it more than once right over there. So we just sit and watch over by the cliffs which were toward the house so there were treed on top of the cliff not on the bottom where we were. Anyways, i was all ****ed at the world that we just passed up a couple of deer that me and my father could have taken. So i'm sitting there pouting like most 12 year olds would do, and my dads like SON LOOK 1 O'CLOCK 200 HUNDRED YARDS AWAY! And long behold there's that young 2x2 mulie that she was talking about. I had the bipod up and the crosshairs right behind the shoulder. And as i'm closing the bolt my dad says wait a second, i forgot to check and see the regulations and see if its okay to take a mulie buck in this area. so it takes him 5 flipping minutes to find the book and when he does it takes him yet another minute to find the page. I'm sitting here controlling my heart rate by breathing very slowly. And the very second he says shoot i pull the trigger. Actually yank the trigger is more accurate. Clean miss. I jack another shell into it. The deer is looking around trying to see what all the commotion is about. I control my heartbeat again. exhale. squeeze and nail him. He dropped like a sack of tomatoes from a 150 grain nosler ballistic tip exiting the barrel at 2950 fps. I'm cheering with my dad and we're both happier than a fat kid that hasn't eaten in a week watching his parent walk through the door with a big mac in hand. We drive the 200 yards over there and i'm wondering where on earth that shot landed to put him down like that. Well we thought i had accidentally shot a doe at first. I got it square in the head. I was ****ed off and i thought that was awesome at the same time. I just fucked up what i wanted to be a mounted deer. But i just got a 200 yard head shot on a deer, my first deer. There is blood everywhere and i'm just like "Awesome..." I didn't like gore, but everyone gets that one feeling that they have when they walk up to the animal you have just harvested that most of us look forward all year to feel. But at the same time i was freaking out because i had thought i shot a doe. Turns out one horn was shot off and the other was covered in grass. His eyeball was gone and the other on was just hanging out of the socket. I got to field dress it (a glorified way to say gutting it out) And learned much more about the anatomy of the deer than a book could ever teach me. This is one of the greatest moments in my life and one i certainly will never forget. And by the way, the rifle fell at some time during our previous hunt and the scope was moved to the right 1 foot and high 9 inches. SO i would have made a perfect behind the shoulder shot if the scope had not been moved.

Thanks for reading, it means alot that some of you would take the time to read my story and i thank all of you that do.

The rifle used is now my main long range hunting rifle. I have added a stock and a very nice scope to it.
 
I know what you mean as even though I'm 65 now I can remember certain days with my Dad when I was just 5 or 6 starting out duck hunting and coon hunting at night with our two dogs.
 
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