Twas the night before christmas... I mean... report...

[netman9]

Started out a cold 23* morning and the woods very still with the occational distant sound of opening day rifle season. Nolan had gone to the back of the farm while I had Wyatt and Ewing by my side midway from the road. The stillness was interupted by the violent roar of Nolan using the 270 Weatherby Mag., a few seconds go by and the phone vibrates. Nolan dropped a small buck in his tracks and says he is fine for now. With Ewing being a little cold I give Nolan a quick text letting him know we're heading his way to help and warm up his little brother. Nolan had looked over the bottom and his deer for 20 min and figured the deer was done for good and met us half way. He was very excited about his shot and the site of the buck going down in his tracks. When we arrived at the spot he was hunting, Nolan showed us the shot path and with a confused look said " it must have moved". Our hunter safety class instructor had told the class to give a deer 30 minutes when hunting with a gun, Nolan had watched for 20 and gave it another 10 while meeting us. The deer was hit with lots of blood loss where it was down but left no trail. After searching for the unfound blood trail, Nolan went to the house of the farms owner who's also a teacher the boys just love from school. She got her beagle out of the cabin to assist on the track. The beagle did his job, but after 100yds we crossed the RR on the back of the farm leading onto another property. I jumped two small deer off a bed and got the beagle on a lead before he found the new track. Frustating, but we gather ourselves continue with our hunt. Around 2:00 we head to the truck and Nolan has traded his .270 for his teachers single shot .22 and makes quick work with it adding to his squirrel feast coming Sunday morning. He had 4 other squirrels from BOW HUNTING making 5 for the skillet.

A great day spent in the woods with a little lesson and some meat in the pot.

[weekender]

excellent read, thanks for sharing

[crappiekrazy]

Wow! do you think the deer got up and ran away? Because that is exctly what happened to a friend of mine (Ted) Sat. Shot a nice buck under 50 yds away with a 7 mag. The buck dropped in it's tracks. Ted gets out his phone and calls his wife to tell her he got one. After several minutes go by he notoces the deer twiching, but figures it his last gasps so he starts getting his gear together. As he starts down the stand the buck jumps up and runs away! He goes to where the deer was laying and could find no hair or blood, so there is no trail to follow. I can't imagine where he could have hit that deer to stun him so bad and not leave some sign of a hit. He had plenty of time to put another round into the deer but didn't think he needed to. Always be on your toes! Them critters are tough!

[Bird Dog]

I'm sure he'll get another one soon. Nice picture.

Wish I had school teachers like that when I was younger.

[netman9]

Wow! do you think the deer got up and ran away? Because that is exctly what happened to a friend of mine (Ted) Sat. Shot a nice buck under 50 yds away with a 7 mag. The buck dropped in it's tracks. Ted gets out his phone and calls his wife to tell her he got one. After several minutes go by he notoces the deer twiching, but figures it his last gasps so he starts getting his gear together. As he starts down the stand the buck jumps up and runs away! He goes to where the deer was laying and could find no hair or blood, so there is no trail to follow. I can't imagine where he could have hit that deer to stun him so bad and not leave some sign of a hit. He had plenty of time to put another round into the deer but didn't think he needed to. Always be on your toes! Them critters are tough!

They are tough creatures, I figured he got one lung. He could see the exit wound about the size of a baseball just behind the shoulder and after watching it lift its head and just drop back to the ground figured it done. He even notched his tag while waiting and watching! If he is any thing like me, in the future he'll be at the deer ready to finish if needed.

When I got there the deer was gone leaving plenty of hair and two big spots of blood where it laid, not a speck for a trail though. If we had access to the neighbors property the dog may have been able to continue the track. We'll never know.