Michigan Hunt---found a buck (one shot one kill?)

[Biohazard Monk]

Long story short...I was born and grew up in western Michigan, I moved to Minnesota about three years ago, and only bow hunted for the last 8 years or so on and off.  I finally decided to buy a rifle last year in order to hunt my first gun season this year.   After not seeing much, yesterday morning dad and I decided to walk the two track on the property just to see if we could spook anything up around 10am.  I caught movement of a deer head out of the corner of my eye and turned/dropped down to a knee to prepare to fire.  In a span of 2-3 seconds more than half my trigger was pulled, the deer just dropped...

After waiting for about 10 minutes the deer just lying there breathing and blinking my brother in law gets there and we all approach the deer only to find three gunshot wounds (one directly in the chest, one in the shoulder, and one in the hip).  The deer was lying in the brush waiting to die and Dad and I spooked it up.   After putting the deer out of his misery we were able to inspect a little closer only to find all the wounds were infected and turned gangerenous. The land we hunt is private land (about 120 acres) with state land butting up to the back of the property.

In hunting last week, I heard a lot of people shooting on the state land maybe 7-10 rounds in a matter of 10-20 seconds...whatever happened to one shot, one kill?

P.S.  This would have been my first deer ever...

[theoldarcher]

I, too, am amazed at the amount of shooting, especially on opening day, when in the woods I hunt.  I believe you have many, many gun toters who do not know how to shoot: they just know how to pull a trigger.  They have no concecpt of their abilities with a gun, especially when a deer is moving or, as is the case a lot on opening morning/day, running.  Nor do they know deer anatomy.  There is such emphasis on the kill and so little on the hunt itself, thanks in no small part to all the slobs who produce deer hunting TV shows, that too many feel the pressure, whether self induced or induced from peers, that if they see brown just shoot and keep shooting until something hits the ground.  Unfortunately, there seems to be fewer and fewer 'teachers' of new hunters who instill the love of the hunt's total experience: all the sights, sounds, textures, smells, and on and on.  The kill is just the icing on the cake, but there are too many to whom the kill is everything.  That's why not many hunt in my woods, and why I don't hunt pblic ground any more.

Best of luck, Arch 

[Skunk]

Sorry BH Monk, I somehow missed this post. That's a great story. I'm sure a little disappointing for you in the end, but a good story none the less. You probably didn't get any meat to take home, but now, you at least have a good story to tell while sitting around the campfire.