Been a slow year; lots of time to hunt, not seeing much... a small doe and a spike is all I've put in freezer since EARLY OCTOBER. Deer numbers seem way down... shot the coyote chasing a doe, that was best day in the woods until last night.
Thursday evening, high up in my climber near hilltop, mature oaks with lots of saplings. Deer ambles in around 5pm... LOTS OF HEADGEAR! - watched him until he got to closest point, maybe fifty yards or so... BOOM - deer takes off. A minute of panic - I was in a hurry getting into woods and left my light in the car, don't know this area well, it's getting dim - I tossed off two more shots as he ran away. He didn't fall. Came down from the tree, walked thataway... found him STANDING UP, clearly hurt, broke leg - snapped up rifle and fired again, this hit a little far aft... deer goes down. At that point I'm empty, having only put four in the tube and he's still alive, wants to get up but can't make it. Did I mention that in my hurry I'd also left knife, gloves, and drag in car? Just then I realized I had a couple more rounds in pocket... loaded up as he expired.
Turns out first shot broke leg, made very big entrance/exit at brisket, barely got bottom of lungs. I hit him once running away - entered behind ribs, no exit. The big hole in photos is finisher. The pointed Hornadys in my Marlin were fine, but this is 2nd time I've hit a deer a little too low this year, even though both were recovered. Got to work on that... .
We're having A Moment, here....
