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Author Topic: Okay, so I killed bambi's aunt  (Read 2422 times)

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Offline Moving2thecountry

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With all due thanks to God, for creation and good fortune, I killed a doe--the first deer I ever killed.  Perfect kill in my estimation. 

I hit a rib and a lung, the bullet was a pass through.  A chunk of the rib hit the vein or artery beneath the spine, severing the vein (or artery).  The bullet deflected only slightly and exited the other side, well below the spine--hence my speculation that rib fragments severed the vein.  Lots of blood, quick kill.  Doe ran 50 yards and hit the ground dead.

Some observations:

1.   I killed it without the clothes recently sprayed with scent killer.  I killed it with my normal jacket that I wear everyday and did not wash or set outside. 
2.   I am starting to suspect that PETA members have infiltrated the company that manufactures Scent Killerâ„¢, and are surreptitiously adding a potent deer repellant to their mix. 
3.   Before, during and after the kill--no adrenaline rush whatsoever.  I think I should have been a sniper in the military.  (Though to be honest I had quite an adrenaline rush the first time I killed a pheasant.)

The story:  I decided to move my deer stand after getting it almost assembled because I put the ladder on what I thought was a great tree, but it was so thick (and I am so thick) that I could not use both loops in my safety harness to put the stand up.  Simultaneously, I realized that the shooting lane I was planning to use only existed at ground level.

So I decided to move the tree stand.  I scouted  what appeared to be a deer mega-highway on what used to be an ATV trail, judging by the tracks in the snow.

I went back to my vehicle to get out of the blaze orange/camo snow pants and parka.  It was too warm with all the climbing and clinging, so I wanted lighter clothes to move the stand.  I left the muzzleloader at the truck, put on my everyday jacket, and a blaze orange field vest for pheasant hunting, and a blaze orange baseball cap.  With the lighter clothes, I expected that I would not sweat so much.  I left my snow pants and parka and facemask hanging on a branch, to dry out. 

Went back to the ladder, climbed up, took down a section, making a racket.  Climbed up, took the second section down, and then noticed two does were looking at me.  But crap, I had no gun!

So I just watched the does.  They watched me.  Then they went about their business.  I walked slowly toward my vehicle, put a cap in the muzzleloader, and took a long path around the does, attempting to flank the does from downwind.  They spooked. 

So back to the ladders.  I moved and installed all four four-foot sections on a new tree closer to the deer mega-highway.  As I went back to get the stand, the strap to my muzzle loader came undone and the gun came down on a log.  It didn't make too much noise, as I slowed its fall, but I did, cursing.  I fixed it, and picked up the stand, making more racket.  Then I saw three or four does staring at me, the best shot about 35 yards away.  I set the stand down slowly, and unslung my gun.  The doe began to walk, and as her head went behind a tree, I raised the gun to aim.  But there was too much brush in the way.  So I waited.  The doe started to walk again, but stopped perfectly at the only spot the provided a clear shooting lane (and the shooting lane was probably about 2 feet wide), and I shot. 

(BTW, as I am typing this, I am eating fried tenderloins and onions that my loving wife just cooked.  Pretty good.  Not gamy at all.)

Where was I?  Oh yea, I shot.  Smoke.  I saw a doe run to the right, full blast.  I sat down to wait, and clean my gun.  I use the sabotted all copper boat tailed bullets that require exquisite barrel cleaning to load.  They are very tough to load in a clean gun, impossible to load with an almost clean gun.  But I left my cleaning patches back at the vehicle.  So I layed the gun on the ground, aiming it toward where I had shot the doe, and went back to the truck, to fetch the gun cleaning supplies, and a field tri-pod stool I picked up at Menards for $6.  Back to the shooting location, I sat, and cleaned the gun, then reloaded and capped.  Looked at the time, about 20 minutes had elapsed since I had shot, so I went back to the vehicle to get some gloves and baggies for field dressing.  Back to the shooting location, I walked down the shooting lane, to study the kill site.  Massive amounts of blood spread out in a triangle extending 6 feet back and 10 feet wide.  Wow. 

I then looked in the direction I had seen the doe run, and could see occasional fresh hoof prints where there was snow, but no blood trail.  What happened?

Turns out it was a different doe.  The doe I had shot ran in a different direction, but I missed it with all the smoke and the other doe acting as a red herring after the smoke cleared. 

I found the blood trail, and it was pretty strong, consistent with the massive amount of blood I saw at the kill site.  50 yards away, I saw the doe, dead, head wedged under a blow down tree that was almost but not quite horizontal. 

To make a short story longer, cleaning was relatively straightforward.  A bit difficult because I was by myself, but I eventually figured out how to use the slope of the terrain to my advantage.  Many thanks to "mncowboy" who recommended a youtube video that was produced by Kentucky Afield, also available on DVD.  It made the task easier.  I used a cheap folding buck knife, the 110, which might have been a little too long for the task.

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« Last Edit: December 12/08/08, 12:54:06 AM by Moving2thecountry »

Offline Spinach

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Get, that was a great read, I really enjoyed it! I am so glad you got a deer after reading your other post a couple weeks ago. Congrats again!!!
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Offline beeker

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you always remember your first. I haven't been able to teach my wife too cook if for me yet, you may have to teach me that one.
If science fiction has taught me anything, it's that you can never have enough guns and ammo when the zombies come back to life... "WS"

Offline Realtree

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Congrats on your first deer Moving2thecountry! That's quite a day you had there. I'm sure you will have fond memories (and probably a few good laughs) about this hunt for a long, long time! Thanks for sharing that with the rest of us.   ;)      :fudd:    :deer:
The "20" Rifle & Pistol Club-Board Member
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Offline Duckslayer

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CONGRATULATIONS on your first deer!  Your story reminded me of all the ducks that have tried to land in the decoys as I was standing there picking them up!  What the  :censored:?  Where were they when I was well hidden in the blind?

I do not understand the part about no adrenaline though... that just seems hard to fathom that there would be none!  I will have to try that technique next year!  Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

Offline 22lex

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Great story. Congrats on a first of many! :happy1:
Marry an outdoors woman. Then if you throw her out into the yard on a cold night, she can still survive.
-WC Fields

Offline sjohnnie26

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Nice going M2TC, great story, I bet next time you go to set up a stand you'll be packing heat.
"AIM SMALL, MISS SMALL"  -Jeff Simpson

Offline JCAMERON

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If you really didn't have any adrenaline rushing than you have nerves of steel!  Congrats!
"Superior... never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early."

Offline Grute Man

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Good job.  That's quite the story and Im sure you'll never forget it.   :fudd:   :deer:

Grute
If ya don't know where ya are, go back to da beginnin.

Offline Moving2thecountry

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Thanks to all.  Next time I will be more prepared. 

About the lack of an adrenaline rush. 

I've hunted rabbit and pheasant in the past, and cleaned rabbits (My wife cleans the pheasants for some reason), so I guess I just knew what to expect.  When I killed my first pheasant, I did have an adrenaline rush, like I said, both because I killed it, and also because the bird took awhile to die, and I didn't wring its neck. 

Cleaning a rabbit that has been dead for a few hours is much worse, smell wise, than cleaning a deer--at least the deer yesterday that didn't have a gut wound.  No foul rabbit oders either.

I've watched several videos and saw several deer kills on video, and I also learned a lot from this website.  I prepared myself mentally for the task, taking the life of an animal for food, and have envisioned taking a clean kill.  I knew enough not to run after the deer immediately.

I am killing for food (my family loves the pheasants and rabbits), to learn survival skills for the coming Obama famine, for exercise with a purpose (pheasant hunting public land is good exercise), most importantly, in preperation for teaching my young son to hunt (I already took him out rabbit hunting once, with a pellet gun on a WMA before pheasant opener, which thrilled him, even though we didn't see any rabbits.  He likes to tell his friends about the time he went hunting with his dad.  My wife was a nervous wreck, as he is only 7.  But he is a very good shot on targets in the prone position from about 10 yards in our makeshift backyard range with backstop.)  My father never took me out hunting, but I want my son to learn.  I'd teach my daughter, too, but she says she won't go unless my wife goes.  I've even shown her the pink .22s they have now, and she's still not interested.   My wife won't go hunting, though she has no problems cleaning pheasants and fish.

Beeker, I bribed my wife in order to get her to cook the backloin, because she really didn't want to cook at that hour.  I told her I would clean the snow off the car in the morning and warm it up for her, as she had a job to go to today.  Besides, she doesn't want me cooking because she keeps the kitchen very clean, and I am not as tidy of a cook as she is.  I am blessed with a wonderful wife, though she says I have turned into what she calls "a low IQ orange head".  I am not sure where she gets these ideas from.  The price you pay for an otherwise good wife is the occasional dig, I guess.  My wife is an outstanding cook which is one of the reasons I am overweight (the other being I eat too much junk food at work).

Online deadeye

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Way cool story.  Just goes to show you that some times you can do everything against what you are "susposed" to do, and still get a deer.  Funny thing about deer, they usually show up when you least expect them to.  One thing you may have learned is to never be more than an arms length from your gun.  :rotflmao:
***I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.***

Offline BiggA

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Great story!  Congratulations on your first deer.
I think if I didnt get an adreniline rush I wouldnt hunt, but thats just me. I think you can hear my heart from 100 yards away even if I just see a fawn I have no intention of shooting.

Offline Cody Gruchow

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congrats on your first deer...dont worry about the adrenaline thing, i get a little amped when a doe comes in but nothing to much, but when a big buck comes in i do shake alot!

Offline Go Big Red!

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Congrats!!!!!  You'll never forget your first deer.  :toast:
Take a kid hunting and fishing... It'll be the best thing for generations to come.