nkyshooter
Well-Known Member
"ULTRA LONG RANGE" Kentucky Doe ...
So - full disclosure up front - the title is "Tongue-in-cheek". In fact, she was close enough to make it a bit of a difficult shot considering the circumstances.
Ok, ok, ok ... I was short on prep time this year. I'd removed the scope from my Savage 10 7mm-08 with 22" sporter barrel in a B&C aluminum block stock (LOVE that rifle for deer hunting). It had been wearing a 2.5-15x Athlon (gen 1) and when I found a gen 2 here I bought it and moved the gen 1 to my 17HMR for 200 yard "long range" practice. BTW, if you've never used a rimfire with a FFP MIL or MOA scope for long range practice, it is a blast and a great way to teach aspiring long range shooters.
So the issue here is that I'd not had the chance to get the gen 2 zeroed on my 7-08 and I was simply out of time. So what does one do in such a predicament? I started perusing the safe. The problem is not the shortage of rifles that could be ready to go. The problem is that this year, I was limited to the woods out back of my house. All 7/8 of an acre that I own here. The lot drops away to a creek that is adjacent to a pretty well used whitetail trail and I've had luck here before. So 2 weeks before opening day, my neighbor (who'd never hunted before and expressed some interest) and I took my 2 man camo pop up blind down with a couple of folding chairs and had it all zipped up and waiting for opening morning.
So why is this an issue? Because this woods is thick and gnarly and there are essentially 2 extremely narrow shooting lanes from the sole spot remotely flat enough for a blind. The resulting maximum range of a shot from this blind is approximately 25 yards and unfortunately, any rifle I had ready to go was either WAY too heavy, WAY too powerful, WAY too long, WAY too much min magnification, or some permutation of the above. I was really kicking myself for not making the time to get the 7-08 re-zeroed.
I went for the "least bad" combination. I pulled out my 260 Ackley. With the SWFA 5-20 dialed all the way down to 5, I could get the parallax to where items at 25 yards were at least clear-ish. The field of view at 5x is still pretty tight though for hunting at close range but even worse is the 29" barrel (including the Ross Schuler brake) in a blind that the manufacturer "claims" is built for 2. At least the barrel is medium weight as I built it to be a combo for long range targets and medium to long range hunting. It won out on the options since I figured my 30 Sherman Magnum (weighing in at a mere 14.5lbs and who wants to lug THAT 28" barreled beast up and down a steep muddy hill in the woods) might disintegrate anything I hit with it.
I fully acknowledge the riduculousness of this scenario and at this point in my life, I don't even care about the likely well-deserved impending judgement as you all realize I pretty much rolled out of bed and into a pair of jeans, hit start on the coffee pot while I put my boots on, filled the yeti knock-off mug, grabbed a protein bar then went to the basement and grabbed my rifle and my orange and walked out the back patio door to head the 75 yards or so to the blind through the nastiness of the hillside out back. I was in my folding chair less than 30 minutes from the time my alarm went off and about 5 minutes before legal shooting light.
My neighbor ended up changing his mind and stayed back, but texted me with the offer to help haul it out if I took a deer. I told him I understood and thanked him and then put my phone on silent so it didn't spook any nearby deer (or me again - whoops!) and enjoyed my protein bar and coffee.
Now, about 25 minutes from having gotten situated in the blind, my coffee is just about gone and the protein bar is a fading memory. I was privately a bit relieved my neighbor had freed up the extra space in the blind ... that 260 AI barrel is REALLY long and that SWFA is rather large in addition to seemingly weighing more than a splitting maul (but I do love what they let me do at 1000 yards!).
This is when I saw her step into my shooting lane out the left side. Thank God she came from the west! ... I'm right handed and to fire out the right side of the blind is both awkward and on top of that, the max distance shot I can get out that side is about half of that out the left side. She had stopped ever so briefly and my movement at 20-25 yards, even hidden in the blind, captured enough of her attention to look me right in the large 50mm objective "eye" that I had just poked out the left side. She took just an instant too long to decide I was not friendly and the 140g Berger Hunting VLD found its mark perfectly just above and just behind her left shoulder on its way through the lungs to the rear of her rib cage on the right side.
She had that awkward hunching movement and I was pretty sure I'd hit her well even though she had enough gas in the tank to take off. It didn't last long however and she made it all of about 30 yards to a flat spot along the creek and was done.
I pulled out my phone and texted my neighbor to see if he was still up for a little bit of work. True to his word, he came down and helped with the messy part and the work of hauling her up the hill. I have to say though, even though this doe was just average or perhaps even smaller (ok - she was pretty small but VERY tender), she was the most difficult haul out I've had to deal with. That slope was not just steep this morning. It was wet ... REALLY wet ... like from 3 straight days of downpour kind of wet. To drag her out was everything the two of us had and although I'm not a heart patient, I was pondering if perhaps I should begin the process of establishing a relationship with a cardiac specialist in the not too distant future.
After lots of breaks and lots of grab a tree or branch with one hand to brace to take a step so we could drag a couple of feet and then repeat it again, we finally cleared the woods and got her in the back of his truck. I had commitments later in the day so this year I decided to let the butcher do the processing - except for the tenderloins. We removed those and enjoyed them medium to medium rare from the grill with various sauces including mushroom bisque, bourbon barbecue and good old fashioned beef gravy. Perfection!
It turns out I was the first one to the processor that morning ... no line and before I'd left they already had the hide off. It is quite a skill these fellows demonstrate in their ability to turn a whole deer into neatly wrapped white packages clearly labeled and dated. Thanks Ainsworth Animal Arts!
Some of you may be interested in how the 6.5mm Berger Hunting VLD did ... this is the 2nd deer I've taken with the 140 Hunting VLD's. One at 150 yards or so and now this one at 20-25 yards. Both times the bullet did its job well from the perspective of the killing but in neither case did I have an exit wound. However, in both cases, the heart/lung cavity was liquified - although with this doe, the shot was all lungs and the heart was perfectly intact. Aside from the point of entry, there was no additional meat damage and in addition to the tenderloins I've already enjoyed an absolutely perfect roast as well as some "deer sliders on Hawaiian rolls". My youngest daughter in particular is a fan of the sliders as is my neighbor.
Happy Thanksgiving all ... I hope your hunts have been as if not more successful and the fruits of the labors as satisfying and delicious.
Cheers
Tim
So - full disclosure up front - the title is "Tongue-in-cheek". In fact, she was close enough to make it a bit of a difficult shot considering the circumstances.
Ok, ok, ok ... I was short on prep time this year. I'd removed the scope from my Savage 10 7mm-08 with 22" sporter barrel in a B&C aluminum block stock (LOVE that rifle for deer hunting). It had been wearing a 2.5-15x Athlon (gen 1) and when I found a gen 2 here I bought it and moved the gen 1 to my 17HMR for 200 yard "long range" practice. BTW, if you've never used a rimfire with a FFP MIL or MOA scope for long range practice, it is a blast and a great way to teach aspiring long range shooters.
So the issue here is that I'd not had the chance to get the gen 2 zeroed on my 7-08 and I was simply out of time. So what does one do in such a predicament? I started perusing the safe. The problem is not the shortage of rifles that could be ready to go. The problem is that this year, I was limited to the woods out back of my house. All 7/8 of an acre that I own here. The lot drops away to a creek that is adjacent to a pretty well used whitetail trail and I've had luck here before. So 2 weeks before opening day, my neighbor (who'd never hunted before and expressed some interest) and I took my 2 man camo pop up blind down with a couple of folding chairs and had it all zipped up and waiting for opening morning.
So why is this an issue? Because this woods is thick and gnarly and there are essentially 2 extremely narrow shooting lanes from the sole spot remotely flat enough for a blind. The resulting maximum range of a shot from this blind is approximately 25 yards and unfortunately, any rifle I had ready to go was either WAY too heavy, WAY too powerful, WAY too long, WAY too much min magnification, or some permutation of the above. I was really kicking myself for not making the time to get the 7-08 re-zeroed.
I went for the "least bad" combination. I pulled out my 260 Ackley. With the SWFA 5-20 dialed all the way down to 5, I could get the parallax to where items at 25 yards were at least clear-ish. The field of view at 5x is still pretty tight though for hunting at close range but even worse is the 29" barrel (including the Ross Schuler brake) in a blind that the manufacturer "claims" is built for 2. At least the barrel is medium weight as I built it to be a combo for long range targets and medium to long range hunting. It won out on the options since I figured my 30 Sherman Magnum (weighing in at a mere 14.5lbs and who wants to lug THAT 28" barreled beast up and down a steep muddy hill in the woods) might disintegrate anything I hit with it.
I fully acknowledge the riduculousness of this scenario and at this point in my life, I don't even care about the likely well-deserved impending judgement as you all realize I pretty much rolled out of bed and into a pair of jeans, hit start on the coffee pot while I put my boots on, filled the yeti knock-off mug, grabbed a protein bar then went to the basement and grabbed my rifle and my orange and walked out the back patio door to head the 75 yards or so to the blind through the nastiness of the hillside out back. I was in my folding chair less than 30 minutes from the time my alarm went off and about 5 minutes before legal shooting light.
My neighbor ended up changing his mind and stayed back, but texted me with the offer to help haul it out if I took a deer. I told him I understood and thanked him and then put my phone on silent so it didn't spook any nearby deer (or me again - whoops!) and enjoyed my protein bar and coffee.
Now, about 25 minutes from having gotten situated in the blind, my coffee is just about gone and the protein bar is a fading memory. I was privately a bit relieved my neighbor had freed up the extra space in the blind ... that 260 AI barrel is REALLY long and that SWFA is rather large in addition to seemingly weighing more than a splitting maul (but I do love what they let me do at 1000 yards!).
This is when I saw her step into my shooting lane out the left side. Thank God she came from the west! ... I'm right handed and to fire out the right side of the blind is both awkward and on top of that, the max distance shot I can get out that side is about half of that out the left side. She had stopped ever so briefly and my movement at 20-25 yards, even hidden in the blind, captured enough of her attention to look me right in the large 50mm objective "eye" that I had just poked out the left side. She took just an instant too long to decide I was not friendly and the 140g Berger Hunting VLD found its mark perfectly just above and just behind her left shoulder on its way through the lungs to the rear of her rib cage on the right side.
She had that awkward hunching movement and I was pretty sure I'd hit her well even though she had enough gas in the tank to take off. It didn't last long however and she made it all of about 30 yards to a flat spot along the creek and was done.
I pulled out my phone and texted my neighbor to see if he was still up for a little bit of work. True to his word, he came down and helped with the messy part and the work of hauling her up the hill. I have to say though, even though this doe was just average or perhaps even smaller (ok - she was pretty small but VERY tender), she was the most difficult haul out I've had to deal with. That slope was not just steep this morning. It was wet ... REALLY wet ... like from 3 straight days of downpour kind of wet. To drag her out was everything the two of us had and although I'm not a heart patient, I was pondering if perhaps I should begin the process of establishing a relationship with a cardiac specialist in the not too distant future.
After lots of breaks and lots of grab a tree or branch with one hand to brace to take a step so we could drag a couple of feet and then repeat it again, we finally cleared the woods and got her in the back of his truck. I had commitments later in the day so this year I decided to let the butcher do the processing - except for the tenderloins. We removed those and enjoyed them medium to medium rare from the grill with various sauces including mushroom bisque, bourbon barbecue and good old fashioned beef gravy. Perfection!
It turns out I was the first one to the processor that morning ... no line and before I'd left they already had the hide off. It is quite a skill these fellows demonstrate in their ability to turn a whole deer into neatly wrapped white packages clearly labeled and dated. Thanks Ainsworth Animal Arts!
Some of you may be interested in how the 6.5mm Berger Hunting VLD did ... this is the 2nd deer I've taken with the 140 Hunting VLD's. One at 150 yards or so and now this one at 20-25 yards. Both times the bullet did its job well from the perspective of the killing but in neither case did I have an exit wound. However, in both cases, the heart/lung cavity was liquified - although with this doe, the shot was all lungs and the heart was perfectly intact. Aside from the point of entry, there was no additional meat damage and in addition to the tenderloins I've already enjoyed an absolutely perfect roast as well as some "deer sliders on Hawaiian rolls". My youngest daughter in particular is a fan of the sliders as is my neighbor.
Happy Thanksgiving all ... I hope your hunts have been as if not more successful and the fruits of the labors as satisfying and delicious.
Cheers
Tim
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