I'll start by saying: Chad, I forgot to take any pics and it's too late now she's in the freezer!
So I finally filled my tag today. It wasn't a nice mature buck like I had hoped but, with the new position at work, all of the traveling every week and still trying to spend time with my family, I just haven't had much time to get in the woods since late October.
I'll tell her story because I'm happy about it and it's the strangest deer kill I've had to date.
I ended up getting to come home Friday night even though I wasn't supposed to be home until mid next week. I decided to spend Friday afternoon and Saturday morning with the family and try to get out Saturday afternoon and today since I did buy my first muzzleloader this year, I figured I needed to break it out at least once. I didn't see a thing last night and slept in this morning. I have to go to Washington court house tomorrow morning so I knew this afternoon would be my last hunt of the year. I dumped a bag of corn at about 10am and hung a stand in a cherry tree that's engulfed by a big pine I've wanted to put one in for a while now. I waited until about 4, got dressed and headed to the stand. About 5 3 doe made their way across the bottom of my property like they always do but one of them spotted the corn pile and they all headed to it. I picked out the biggest one and let her rip. The shot sounded weird, not quite as loud as expected and I didn't hardly feel any recoil. I thought it must be the adrenaline. I watched as the three of them ran about 60 yards and stopped right on my property line. I saw the one I shot at stumble a few times but make her way around the hill and out of sight. I waited about an hour and went to the spot where I shot her. I found the wad from my hornady laying there with some hair in it... strange that it shot that far. Didn't see a spec of blood so I backed out for about an hour then crept in to the last place I saw her. No blood anywhere. Not a drop. I knew she had crossed onto the neighbors property so I looked up his number and called for permission to track. He wanted to come along so I waited for him and we followed her tracks around to where I had last seen her. About 15 yards past where I could see we found her dead. Not a drop of blood anywhere. None from the mouth or nose and we couldn't find a bullet hole anywhere! At this point we're both concerned maybe this is a different deer so we do a big circle around his property but don't find any blood or deer. I thank the gentleman for allowing me on his property and drag the deer out. She was full of blood and I did find a tiny hole in her heart and maybe a tiny hole in one lung. After we got the hide off I see the slug must have broken apart or something because there are 2 small holes in the heart/lung area and 2 small holes in her shoulder. This is the first deer I've killed with the first muzzleloader I've ever owned. Needless to say I'm not real happy with the performance of that hornady. I feel blessed that I was able to recover the deer.
I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable season!
So I finally filled my tag today. It wasn't a nice mature buck like I had hoped but, with the new position at work, all of the traveling every week and still trying to spend time with my family, I just haven't had much time to get in the woods since late October.
I'll tell her story because I'm happy about it and it's the strangest deer kill I've had to date.
I ended up getting to come home Friday night even though I wasn't supposed to be home until mid next week. I decided to spend Friday afternoon and Saturday morning with the family and try to get out Saturday afternoon and today since I did buy my first muzzleloader this year, I figured I needed to break it out at least once. I didn't see a thing last night and slept in this morning. I have to go to Washington court house tomorrow morning so I knew this afternoon would be my last hunt of the year. I dumped a bag of corn at about 10am and hung a stand in a cherry tree that's engulfed by a big pine I've wanted to put one in for a while now. I waited until about 4, got dressed and headed to the stand. About 5 3 doe made their way across the bottom of my property like they always do but one of them spotted the corn pile and they all headed to it. I picked out the biggest one and let her rip. The shot sounded weird, not quite as loud as expected and I didn't hardly feel any recoil. I thought it must be the adrenaline. I watched as the three of them ran about 60 yards and stopped right on my property line. I saw the one I shot at stumble a few times but make her way around the hill and out of sight. I waited about an hour and went to the spot where I shot her. I found the wad from my hornady laying there with some hair in it... strange that it shot that far. Didn't see a spec of blood so I backed out for about an hour then crept in to the last place I saw her. No blood anywhere. Not a drop. I knew she had crossed onto the neighbors property so I looked up his number and called for permission to track. He wanted to come along so I waited for him and we followed her tracks around to where I had last seen her. About 15 yards past where I could see we found her dead. Not a drop of blood anywhere. None from the mouth or nose and we couldn't find a bullet hole anywhere! At this point we're both concerned maybe this is a different deer so we do a big circle around his property but don't find any blood or deer. I thank the gentleman for allowing me on his property and drag the deer out. She was full of blood and I did find a tiny hole in her heart and maybe a tiny hole in one lung. After we got the hide off I see the slug must have broken apart or something because there are 2 small holes in the heart/lung area and 2 small holes in her shoulder. This is the first deer I've killed with the first muzzleloader I've ever owned. Needless to say I'm not real happy with the performance of that hornady. I feel blessed that I was able to recover the deer.
I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable season!
