For the last 4 years we've traveled up to Montana for a little run at their whitetail doe hunt. You can buy up to 5 tags over the counter (non-res), they are $75 each & we've had a lot of fun chasing these little darting, dipping, weaving, bounching, circling little rascals. They are a real hoot to hunt. Much different than our muleys, not any tougher, just different.
I can't actually say this has been my best year ever, we've had a divorced daughter move back in, got our basement flooded & my mom recently passed away, so it was time to get out of the house for a couple of days & relax with friends.
My amigos, Carmello, Carlos, Alejandro, Jesus, Hector, Mingo, Junior, Pedro, Miguel & Rafael had already been up there twice, they had taken 10 doe's & now it was turn to see if I could christen a couple of new sixguns.
I really wanted to Ferminate a doe with a 10 1/2" 44 I got from Fermin last summer, my plan was to use one of the Miha hollowpoint 240's to see how they compared to my normal 250 gr Keith slugs. This bullet at 1200+ with 10 grs of Unique was shooting very well using an Ultra Dot scope.
My other gun that needed to stretch its legs (slugs) was an old model, very rare 7 1/2" flattop, this gun, thanks to Robb Barnes & some friends now resides at the Thompson household in a new Barranti work of art (commonly called a holster) this gun with 8.5 grs of Unique with the Keith slug was actually breaking 1100 fps from the long barrel.
My practice the last few years has been to carry an iron sighted belt gun & have the scoped gun sticking out of my ever handy backpack when I needed to stretch things a bit. Both guns needed to start earning their keep.
After a late arrival in Montana I went to bed & the others started playing poker, I think they went to bed at 2am, we were up at 6am to 6 degrees & 4" of snow. When we arrived at our hunting area it had dropped to minus 1 degree. I wore my normal Danner hunting boots with my gators strapped over them, there is quite a bit of water in this area although its not very deep in most places. One thing in this kind of weather, one little slip up & get a boot full of water & it could get serious in a hurry.
The plan was for me to head along a game trail to my normal spot where I could watch a nice funnel area where I've taken several slick heads in the past. My amigos like to spread out & move slowly through the heavy cover, lots of brush, tall gass & blow down (dead trees) on the ground. Again, this area has lots of waterways through the timber, its ideal habitat for these ear-tail, ear-tail, up & down, bouncing little flag wavers. I love hunting them!
When I say my buddies move slow its kind of like Hoover downing a huckleberry shake.......quick! These guys motor around at mach II with their shirt tails sticking straight out in the wind! They really travel. It only took an hour & I started seeing slick heads in the heavy brush, no chance for a shot but things were heating up.
Soon I saw a couple of the guys easing through the tall grass at about 28 MPH, they wave, I wave back & they are gone, 20 minutes later some deer start sneaking back past my friends. I have the 44 maggie flattop in my lap & the scoped Ferminator laying on top of my back pack. I always carry a little folding stool, it only weighs a pound & comes in handy for setting back against a tree or rock.
The grass in front of me was very tall, maybe 2 feet in many places & suddenly I could see a slick head walking across in front of me at a guesstimated 60 yds, no time to switch to the Ferminator gun, I had to try it with the OM flatttop. Making a small fawn bleat with my mouth she stopped & I launched 250 grs of Elmer's finest across the tall grass, the doe jumped & bucked & took off with her tail tucked, just like Callshot when its his turn to buy lunch.
Suddenly another doe walked out but I only had one tag so I let her walk, she went over by the other deer & then ran back the way she came. Pacing it off I was surprised to find out it was exactly 90 paces instead of my guessed 60. The 250 gr keith had hit her at the bottom of the heart, exited & worked its magic....cast bullets, so simple & yet so effective. I was disappointed I didn't get to bust her with the Ferminator & to also test the Miha HP at the same time.
I could hear what sounded like Custers last stand going on all around me, these guys are shooters.......not necessarily hitters but shooters. All of them carry AR's & if one or two shots is fun then 5-6 are even better. They had 4 more slick heads down & then the work started. Every one of the deer had more than one hole in them, they don't take prisoners.
We didn't get many photo's, it was so cold & getting dark that we just loaded up & headed to town for a hot meal.
Sunday was spent more as a scouting day than hunting, we looked over some new country & found one of the most interesting gun stores I've ever been in, small town Montana with a huge selection of guns, perhaps 500-600 of them, many handguns I hadn't seen for sale in many years, absolutely amazing. Rugers, S&W's, Kimbers, Brownings, Sako's, Sig's, Glocks (maybe 200) Winchesters, Springfields, Beretta's, Ruger #1's, AR's, 50 Cal. Barretts, Walthers,etc.
I also remembered to call my wife & wish her a happy 47th wedding anniversary, this kept me out of the doghouse!
Sorry for the dark video, we hadn't even gutted the deer, we headed back to Alejandro's place to warm up & then took care of them, mine is the one in the back.
Jesus had been telling me that he had whitetails in his yard every day so we decided to drive over to his house & see for ourselves, this slickhead was laying down 20 yds from his front door, right in town.
Four them were actually standing right next to his front step!
Everywhere we looked there were doe's standing in people's yards, one place probably had 15 head bedded down next to some shrubs, right outside the front window.
We probably spotted somewhere between 250-300 antelope in 2 days, they were everywhere.
Fun times with good friends, lots of laughs, good food......except for the Manuda, at least for breakfast!
Dick
