I took three days of vacation this week, so I could come home to Indiana and spend some time hunting and some extra time with my family. I was hunting with my best friend this past saturday evening on his property. He put me in an area with a lot of deer, but no stands or good ground positions. I ended up climbing a tree and wedging myself between the trunk and a branch. Probably not the most safe thing I ever did. It was quite uncomfortable and had to switch positions a few times. I didn't see any deer until right at dark.
With about 15 minutes of legal shooting light left, I looked to my left into an open field, and there stood a good buck about 100 yards away. He just appeared out of nowhere. I grunted at him and he seemed like he was going to come my way, but too slowly as all light was quickly fading. I raised my shotgun, put the scope on his vitals, and pulled the trigger. After nearly being blinded by the muzzle flash, I located the buck, still standing right where I shot at him. He just stood there hunched up for what seemed like forever. He took a few steps, then stopped, then a few more. I was pretty sure I'd hit him but he didn't seem too hurt. I kept saying to myself "fall over! fall over! fall over!". He was on his feet still standing there about 5 minutes after my first shot, so I put another round in my gun and took a second shot. This time, he ran about 20 yards and fell over! The rest is history. Thankfully I didn't fall out of the tree, but I did have my buddy come grab the gun so I could climb down easier/ more safely.
Upon further examination during the gutting process, I found that on my first shot the deer was slightly quartering away, and the bullet had clipped the front of the stomach, then went directly through the liver, and finally clipped the back of the far side lung. I'm not sure if he would have died without the second shot. There wasn't that much blood, but there were some extremely foamy blood piles from where he had stood around before my second shot.
Main frame 10, with 14 scoreable points. You'll notice that this deer is nearly 100% symmetrical, including the 4 extra brow tine points!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Notice your old shotgun iabwhntr?
With about 15 minutes of legal shooting light left, I looked to my left into an open field, and there stood a good buck about 100 yards away. He just appeared out of nowhere. I grunted at him and he seemed like he was going to come my way, but too slowly as all light was quickly fading. I raised my shotgun, put the scope on his vitals, and pulled the trigger. After nearly being blinded by the muzzle flash, I located the buck, still standing right where I shot at him. He just stood there hunched up for what seemed like forever. He took a few steps, then stopped, then a few more. I was pretty sure I'd hit him but he didn't seem too hurt. I kept saying to myself "fall over! fall over! fall over!". He was on his feet still standing there about 5 minutes after my first shot, so I put another round in my gun and took a second shot. This time, he ran about 20 yards and fell over! The rest is history. Thankfully I didn't fall out of the tree, but I did have my buddy come grab the gun so I could climb down easier/ more safely.
Upon further examination during the gutting process, I found that on my first shot the deer was slightly quartering away, and the bullet had clipped the front of the stomach, then went directly through the liver, and finally clipped the back of the far side lung. I'm not sure if he would have died without the second shot. There wasn't that much blood, but there were some extremely foamy blood piles from where he had stood around before my second shot.
Main frame 10, with 14 scoreable points. You'll notice that this deer is nearly 100% symmetrical, including the 4 extra brow tine points!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Notice your old shotgun iabwhntr?
