Holiday Season Happenings.

[Dave Sikorski]

I have a buddy who I've talked into getting into hunting recently. He finally took his safety course and got his license.

The week before Christmas I took him on a deer hunt and he was able to get three shots off at some does. He missed all three @ 100+ yds with my ML, but none the less had a good time. The next night we headed to the gun store and he picked up a ML of his own. A T/C encore w/ a Nikon Omega w/ a BDC recticle. We headed back to the farm to sight in the new gun and hoped to have enough light to try a short drive.

Well 9 shots later we had it grouping well at 100yds and just enough light. I sent him down to an overlook and pushed some pines/thicket with hopes of a deer coming by him. Sure enough a single doe walked right in front of him and he didn't shoot.....Damn rookies.

Anyway. Saturday brought one heck of a goose hunt with large groups in and out of the decoys and a 3 man limit without a problem. A nice early Christmas present for us.

Wed, John...the friend...called and asked if we could deer hunt if he got in to the airport early. Of course my answer was yes, and at about noon I picked him up.

The second I got to the airport it started raining, and the radar showed that it wouldn't be letting up until after dark. Well it turns out the rookie is as crazy as I am and wanted to go for a wet walk through the woods.

I knew the rain would soften the leaves and add the extra noise we needed to get close to the bedding areas and hope for a shot. We weren't out of the truck for 5 min when John jumped the first deer of the day. No shot, but at least he saw one.

We slowly made our way through the woods heading for a thick spot that would be sure to hold a nice herd. We were both carrying our ML's and I made John take some shooting sticks along.

As we neared the make or break spot a group of 5 does busted and headed away from us. There was no shot given, so we backed up and went around the thicket to try and catch them on the other side. As we approached the property line fence I had just turned to John to tell him to get up close to me so if something jumped he could have a clear shot. I sure as hell didn't want a 50 cal. slug in the back of the head for Christmas.

We make it a few more steps and get right to the fence. About 40 yds in front of us a respectable buck jumps and runs to the left and towards the fence and jumps it. BIG MISTAKE. I cocked my omega and let the 295 grain powerbelt fly. Down he goes. The shot took out both front shoulders and pierced a lung. He was down for the count.

I wanted John to get him first deer that day, but with rumors of a big 8 on the property, I didn't let this guy get away.

He ended up being a little smaller than expected, but is still a 16" wide 8. Considering the property, and the 60 yd running shot, I was more than happy. He'll make a nice European mount.



John was happy to be part of a kill and was psyched to keep trying for his first.

Thursday night we tried again and other than a few tails, we didn't get a chance at a shot.

By Friday I was tired of sitting in a tree and took my cousin to our goose pit. John sat in a treestand across the property, but had a slow morning only seeing one doe on the neighbors place.

By the afternoon John, Doug and my dad joined me in the goose pit and we were able to get one good volley in dropping 6 birds before sunset. Not a great day by any means, but it could have been worse.

With maybe 45 min of shooting light left John and I decided to glass the end of the field for a chance at a deer. As we worked up to the top of the hill I spotted three does at the end of the field, but on the neighboring place. I have seen three does in this same spot for 6 months now, and knew they would end up our field before the night was over.

I explained our tactics to John and told him to stick to my hip and stay low and quiet. We had a gusting wind in our face and couldn't have had a better chance.

We closed the distance to 100yds and still had one more hill to go with the light fading fast. As we creeped up the side of the hill something caught my attention to the left. Sure enough there they were, and they were on our property. I picked up my binos, ID'd them as all does and picked out the biggest for him to shoot. @ 75 yds and offhand, John squeezed the trigger and I heard the tell tale WHOP of a hit. It all happened pretty fast and he wasn't sure if he hit her. Silly rookie thought they all fell straight down after watching me take out that buck the other day!!

We headed back to the goose pit and cleaned up the decoys and went and got the truck. By this time it had been at least 30 min and it was good and dark.

Three of us went and found the blood trail and after 75 yds there she was. A big fat doe. John put a bullet through the back section of the vitals and destroyed the left lung and liver, piercing the diaphragm. He took about 15 min to field dress it and put up with plenty of heckling from Doug and I. It's funny how the first time someone dresses a deer they worry about hurting it.

The skies opened up as we headed down the rd. Thank God that shot wasn't any further back, or we probably would have lost her.



Saturday brought 6 more geese to the bag, but no deer showed themselves for the last day of ML in MD.

just a tip....take some extra decoy stakes along and make your harvested geese into decoys. This one's a caller!!



Not a bad way to spend Christmas week.

-D

[Bking]

Great Post Dave congrats on all the hunting success

[brandon558]

Sounds like a great week to me..pretty work on the nice buck and helping a friend get into the sport.

Nice work

Brandon

[NE OWL]

nice buck so how many you up to this year now counting the western trip??

How long has that horseshoe been stuck up there with the luck you are having :-)

[Dave Sikorski]

That's 9 deer. 3 bucks 6 doe. It aint over yet. I want to end up @ 12 with the last 3 going down with the bow.

No horseshoe....just plenty of time in the woods.

-D

[Wild Life Management]

Damn Dave, you are a machine. I thought I was doing ok with 4 deer this year, but 9, wow.

[rarhomes]

Pretty work Dave. Looks like you got a pile of cleaning ahead of you.

Capt. Rick

[Capt-D]

Pretty work Dave!

Good luck Tomorrow!

See ya in OC!

-D

[Cowboy]

Great report Dave, sounds like you got it going on good.