10-24-2005, 08:31 PM
[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1] I was able to bag this 2 x 3 by about 9:30 am on opening morning. It's a very small 1 1/2 year old buck, with small antlers but that's fine since I had to drag the dang thing from the bottom of a steep ridge 400 - 500 yards back to the top (I managed to shoot him at the very bottom). I saw a bigger 3 point and took a shot at it from about 400 yards away while it was trotting along. Some idiots were also shooting at it from over 800 yards away at the top of the ridge, missing by more than 30 feet. They even kept shooting at it when it ran to a lower ridgeline with nothing behind it for a backdrop. Those type of people just piss me off -- someone could have been killed! Anyway, that one got away and dropped down over the ridge into some thick trees and private land.
A minute after, a few more does came running across, and this little buck following behind. They ran below me across the flat heading towards a stand of aspens. I took a couple shots at it from about 250 or 300 yards, the deer at full run, but kept not leading it far enough. Just before it got to the aspen stand, it stopped, letting the does go on ahead. When it stopped, I was about 350 yards, so I aimed just over it's back and fired. It flinched, but then trotted into the trees. I thought I had hit it (I found out later once I skinned it that I had in fact barely grazed its back, getting only skin and no backbone), but it kept going. My dad and another guy were just up the ridge from this stand of aspens, so we waited to see if the buck would head out the other side. The does did, but the buck never came out. After waiting for about an hour, I sent my little sister down the ridge, out onto the flat and around the backside of the aspens, and had her come back through the stand from the backside, pushing the deer back towards me.
That buck held tight till she was more than halfway though the aspen stand, then bolted out the way it came in, coming back towards me. It disappeared under the curve of the hill from me, so I ran downhill farther so I could get where I could see it pass underneath me. When it came into view, I stopped and took a shot at it (by this time it was only "jogging"). It instantly dropped. I didn't know if I had nailed it or if it dropped farther below my view, but when I went down there, I found it on the ground kicking its legs and rearing its head. One more bullet finished it off. My other shot ended up hitting it's front shoulder, but deflected away from the vitals. It apparently couldn't get up with only 3 legs though. So finally we got him back to the truck and took these pictures.
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Later that day, while pushing deer for my dad and another guy, me packing the 12-gauge, I came across this nice blue grouse and took him out too. Made a tasty dinner last night!
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A minute after, a few more does came running across, and this little buck following behind. They ran below me across the flat heading towards a stand of aspens. I took a couple shots at it from about 250 or 300 yards, the deer at full run, but kept not leading it far enough. Just before it got to the aspen stand, it stopped, letting the does go on ahead. When it stopped, I was about 350 yards, so I aimed just over it's back and fired. It flinched, but then trotted into the trees. I thought I had hit it (I found out later once I skinned it that I had in fact barely grazed its back, getting only skin and no backbone), but it kept going. My dad and another guy were just up the ridge from this stand of aspens, so we waited to see if the buck would head out the other side. The does did, but the buck never came out. After waiting for about an hour, I sent my little sister down the ridge, out onto the flat and around the backside of the aspens, and had her come back through the stand from the backside, pushing the deer back towards me.
That buck held tight till she was more than halfway though the aspen stand, then bolted out the way it came in, coming back towards me. It disappeared under the curve of the hill from me, so I ran downhill farther so I could get where I could see it pass underneath me. When it came into view, I stopped and took a shot at it (by this time it was only "jogging"). It instantly dropped. I didn't know if I had nailed it or if it dropped farther below my view, but when I went down there, I found it on the ground kicking its legs and rearing its head. One more bullet finished it off. My other shot ended up hitting it's front shoulder, but deflected away from the vitals. It apparently couldn't get up with only 3 legs though. So finally we got him back to the truck and took these pictures.
Later that day, while pushing deer for my dad and another guy, me packing the 12-gauge, I came across this nice blue grouse and took him out too. Made a tasty dinner last night!
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