falcon

Lesson one: Shoot it in the wrong place.

Gun: CVA StagHorn
Scope: Weaver Grand Slam 3-10X40

Load:
240 grain .430 XTP
110 grains of Pinnacle RS
Winc. 209shotgun primer

Saw this ratty buck last evening on the way to my tree stand. Had seen him before and decided to take him out of the gene pool if i had a chance. The deer was standing broadsidewhen sighted. Was unable to shoot from a sitting position because of the 3' tall gras. Stood up and he was looking at me. Popped off a shot and the deer threw up his tail and ran off. Range wasabout 90 yards.

Walked towhere the buck was standing and there was no hair or blood. Walked 75 yards into the woods and the buck took off. Found a lot of blood where he was standing and the tracking was on: Good blood trail. He jumped up out of the grass about 400 yards from where he was initially shot: i shot at him and broke a hind leg. Found him lying dead about 50 yards away from where he jumped up.

The bullet entered the shoulder of the deer and ranged down his side inside the body cavity. It exited the inside of the ham on the same side in two pieces.

Would have normally waited an hour or so and then tracked the deer. That deer was shot at 6:20 pm. Have to be off that militaryproperty by 90 minutes after sunset-8:15 pm, so i could not wait.

cayugad

That's a nice little buck.. that bullet really made some distance as it travelled through..Glad you were able to find it.

Semisane

Good work on retrieving that deer Falcon. A lot of guys would not have even walked that 75 yards into the woods after finding no blood or hair at the point of the shot. A wounded deer that's still running from you can sure pucker your butt.

You call him a "ratty buck", but he looks to me like a good quality year-and-a-half old buck that broke what was a pretty good rack. Must have been a real scrqpper. Did you get a chance to confirm his age?

UncleNorby

That's the risk when you take a shot at a deer facing you. A fatal hit but some tracking involved. Good job tracking and finishing it off.

I've shot deer facing towards and facing away, when I had close shots andknew the bullet would penetrate to get the job done.

Looks like a good eating deer. I wonder if his rattiness has more to do with an accident than genetics?

falcon

i did not.He weighed in at 104 pounds field dressed and is really fat,due to the big acorn crop.

bronko22000

Congrats on recovering that deer. But I was looking at the rack and it almost looks as though it was cut off earlier, like maybe when he was in velvet.
Maybe he got caught in a fence and some good samaritian cut him free. Those antler ends just look too blunt to have occured naturally. They are usually tapered or bulbus shaped if injured. Just a hunch.
What do you guys think?

Semisane

I think he broke them off in a fight after the velvet was off. You're right, if he broke them in velvet there would likely be some bulbous growth.

bronko22000

nah - even in a fight the break wouldn't be that straight and clean. And both main beams look to be cut at the same length. Look real close.

falcon

In 2004 my son killed a small buck in Garvin county, OK. That deer was a fork horn and was 8.5 years old according to the game warden who pulled a jaw out.That deer weighed 100 pounds exactly. Two forks onmy sonsdeer looked just like this one does.Looks like they just naturally grew this way.

Last year i found a skull while hunting in the same area this deer was killed in: Nearly all the tines on that rack looked like this one does. i thought it wasbad genes or something.

Semisane

I wouldn't think a gene issue would cause racks that look like that. The brow tines and configuration of the lower part of the main beams is too perfect. I wonder if there issome sort of diet deficiency that causes antlers to be softer/more brittle than normal? Think I'll e-mail a professor I know at LSU who does deer studies and ask him.