2001 deer

i wrote this on the evening of 11 november 2001. rifle used was my herter's mj9 in .308. ammunition was factory: 165-grain sierra gameking on top of a federal premium load. a few of my atitudes, methods and opinions ahve changed since then, but i wanted to leave this story as it was when i wrote it, so here it is:

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i started typing out the whole story, got almost done and the computer froze up or something, so i lost it. what follows is the reader's digest short version.

went out at 0630 this morning, hunted everywhere all day, but only saw 3 and they were on land that i could not hunt on. about 1330 i said the hell with it and decided to head home, maybe to go out tomorrow. as i was driving down the dirt road, almost to the highway, 5 muley does popped up on BLM land about 75 yards from me, walking, not running. remembering the laws of montana, i pulled into a turnout OFF the road to a gate, opened the door, got out and steadied myself, and fired, aiming exactly at the kill zone of the biggest doe.

yeah, i did use the pickup to steady myself, but i figured it is better to do that in order to maximise your chance of a good kill. i think in montana, there are no laws against this, as long as you are off the roads.

she dropped like a rock, but unfortunately was not dead. i had hit right behind the shoulder blade, but it was up high and snapped her spine. luckily i was close, so i was able to walk right and finished her off.....i would rather have missed than not killed her cleanly. my wife said at least i hit her there instead of blowing a leg off or in the guts or in the hams, but it doesn't change the fact that it was a 2-shot kill!

i had aimed perfectly, but as i drove home i thought hard about what had gone wrong. after going over everything, i think that there is a problem with the range i am shooting at. the 100-yard mark is slightly downhill from the bench (in fact, all the marks are slightly downhill from the bench, now that i think about it), and i think that it is causing me to shoot low there, so that i end up shooting high everywhere else. i ahd it set about 2 inches hgh at a hundred yards, but with the downhill angle i think i was actually shooting quite a bit higher. add this to the very close range (she couldn't have been past 70 yards away) and i think i came close to the bullet going over her back, and i wish it would have. she did die only a minute after i shot her, and my wife, a nurse, says she didn't feel anything below the injury, but i still think it could have been a lot better.

either way, i am going to be looking for a place to sight in where it is level at least out to a hundred yards!

looking on the positive side, she is a HUGE FAT doe and i am glad i got her. my kids had a great day out of it and learned a lot of important do's and don't's. and we have a heck of a lot of meat on the way to the freezer. i have one B tag filled and will fill the A tag in chinook next week, and i just might have a chance to go out there again to district 418 and get another doe.

the funny thing is that i was worried about getting out there later than THE CRACK OF DAWN and all year long i ahve been worried about boattail bullets which will shoot flatter faster farther and how to sight in for a 350-yard shot if i ahve to take oneand this and that, and just like every year it comes down to a deer just trotting along dang near right in front of me as i have just decided to give up for the day.......
go figure!

PS - this is the first time in my life i had been out hunting and gotten a deer without my father right there to lend advice and help out. seems every year for some reason (almost sundown, in a hhurry, starting to snow, getting dark and cold, etc) he always ended up dressing the deer too while i didn't do much more than hold the legs and roll them over! well it was an experience but i did it and did it almost right...close enough that there is no difference, but i think from now on i won't be splitting the pelvis...that was a mess and a half......