Congrats BUT details man details
apologies for the photo, That's about as good as i got because my camera charger is lost and the normal lens on my phone is fubar. Selfie-shooting SUBJECTS is not easy.
a narrative you say?
Hunting at a place I've hunted many many times, but not all the time since the 70's. Is VERY convoluted land as it was "shaped" by phosphate mining in the early 1900's when they ran roughshod over the land and then dumped it and nobody cared. Very scrubby, lots of pit ponds, getting a 50-yard shot is hard to do. The more hunters we get out there, the better the results are, because more of the escape routes get monitored.
Most of the guys have built shooting-boxes of scraps and junk. Those are handy when it's bitter cold and you need a windbreak, but this last weekend was not such. Mid-thirties mornings - "just frosty" was the wx.
But I generally hunt on the ground, sneaking and sitting with the occasional stalk/intercept.
Things happen CLOSE and FAST generally speaking out there. You can EASILY be 20 feet from a deer and not see it, as I did EXACTLY that on Sunday.
But there were only four of us Saturday morning, three flinters and one of those sawed-off lookin' thingies.
Are you ready yet?
So I get up and make breakfast (after we had strummed the 5 and the 6-strings and
sech most of Friday night). Chugged some coffee and took out over the hill, not feeling totally chipper. Us three flinters hadn't been there since last year, so we're guessing what things will be like when we get out there. The boys (Father/Son(11)) went to a treehut, FunnyGun went to his Barcalounger Shanty of Tin down on the low side. I like the high ground. No one else connected Saturday.
So, I get on into the bush and find a beaten path, then a nice hot scrape, then another...super hot.
I quickly decide to take a sit-spell nearby and get off that hot trail before somebucky sees me. There JUST happened to be a
leafy knoll with a horizontal tree trunk to rest behind (kinda got a headache). I scurry up the incline to the tree (not a log, it's a live tree that fell and recovered somewhat--rough ground i tell ya). Quickly cleared a few bits of brush and settled in. About quarter 'til 7.
Woods are rife with squirrels and birds and I check my prime. Ready to rock.
Seven minutes after 7:00 a deer comes into view (rifle and body coming to position) as i see horns, good-sized horns (oh boy, cocking lock) he's angling away slightly (i'm deciding where to put ball, this one
is a shooter) he's walking fast (window of opportunity is closing) as i let off the shot (HOLD THRU! some part of my brain yells)
And just about the moment cock met frizzen I realized he was half-racked. dangit.
BOOM!
goes the FF!
He kicks and runs--good hit I know.
Then I start trying to reload (from various pockets,
unpracticed)
THEN buck fever hits.
I got the powder down, then...couldn't find patches i'm wearing about 23 pockets and i'm frantically digging through them all, over and over, frisking myself, shaking like a junkie
Was ABOUT to use paper toweling for a patch when i found THAT's where i'd put the patches (uncut--DOH!)
SO i get patch material over the muzzle and (now i know where ALL the other components are!)
set, cut, start put the ball down...nervously with a temporary undersized and untested packin' stick.
gotta dance with who you brung.
Still shaking.
And note the time is now 7:15
I slipped down the leafy knoll to the where he was standing, find hair the ball clipped. I took the long way around to where I expected him to have fallen (instead of crashing the brush as he had). Oh the walk was forever...
Found him expired and BIG (for these woods).
Conservatively estimated at 200# by all who saw him. Main beam is 1.5" and he is the oldest buck i've ever killed. I guesstimate 5.5, and will try to age him by teeth later. He's pre-decline for sure. Wounds on his neck from fighting. two broken tines not counting the busted main beam. A bit of graying...really great old buck despite the unsymmetry. Proud to have him in the cooler.
Am told that no bigger/older deer has ever come out of there (in 30 years).
Rifle (pics later, was just redone) is my first stab at a TN-style gun. I had the bbl long before I understood that it's a bit fat for the most common TN rifles (but i'm uncommon). And it does the job I made it for splendidly*. 42x54cal C in maple and iron. 530 ball in denim/NFO over 80FF.
Shot, 21 yards angling away double lung, ball stopped after penetrating offside shoulder. (he ran about 40).
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*That adrenaline-hampered reload took a good 11-point at 100 yards the next day in the hands of my pal who had never shot my gun before. We were together (2 in the afternoon) and he didn't have his gun and i'm now buck limited out for M/L TN. He hit where he was aiming, a touch higher than i did-dropping his buck on the spot.
2 Super bucks, one gun proven.
another crappy photo:
Here's Kenny with the 100-yard shot Sunday, pretty (hardly chipped at all) tight rack with tall brow tines. I actually used grease from the hole for the re-load in the barrel at that point.
