MN Rifle Buck 2017

[lungdeflator]

Can't believe I have to be the first to post pics!   2 weekends in the books and our group did fairly well.  My sister shot an 8pt opening night, I shot this one Wednesday morning, and my dad shot a doe Friday night.  Overall we have a lot of fawns around our place, which is encouraging for future populations.  Hoping this winter is an easier one and most of them will make it through.  

I shot this buck at 9am out in a 4 year old clear cut.  He was chasing a group of does that looked like it consisted of a 2.5yo, 1.5yo, and a fawn.  Kind of weird to see the does all together with a buck chasing them, but it all worked out.  He stopped at 60 yards and I took the first shot, second shot I put in his body somewhere but couldn't tell where.  I gave it 45 minutes and then went to look for blood.  Spot of the first shot I saw I shot through a 1/2" sapling at least 20ft in front of the deer, so I think the first shot missed, no blood or hair.  I then went to the spot of the second shot and only found a small piece of fat.  My face was probably white as a ghost, I felt sick.  I continued to follow his tracks in the snow, and found decent blood where he jumped over a log.  Dark blood with more spots of fat.  If I had my head on straight I would've remembered that this was a sign of a gut shot deer, but my head was swimming and I just slowed down but kept moving.  Some how, I got extremely lucky though as I was able to spot the buck lying down 50 yards away through the thick poplars.  His head was still up and moving so I quickly put another shot into the shoulder area, and that was it for him.  Ended up being like I thought, missed the first shot, second shot was guts, and the last was right in the front shoulder.  Being in the clear cut when the deer first came out and not wanting to spook the does, I was unable to get a full look at his antlers before shooting.  So walking up on him was a very pleasant surprise, with no ground shinkage!  He weighed 207 field dressed and has some really cool palmation on the one side.  

Thinking back on it, I couldn't understand how the my shots where that far off and so inconsistent.  Before the season sighting in the rifle, I had it doing decent on paper, but still inconsistent.  I didn't have a solid bench rest so I thought it was just me.  So the day after I shot this buck, I shot a box of shells through on a good solid rest and the gun was all over the place.  Missing paper and very inconsistent.  I knew I didn't have that much influence on the rifle in the rest, so once I took it into Scheels in Minot and they ended up pulling the scope off and sending both the scope and rifle in to get inspected.  Weird deal, never had any problems like that.  The rifle is a Remington 700 CDL in 25-06, brand new 4 years ago.  Scope is a Vortex Viper 4x12, brand new 4 years ago.  

 

[leech~~]

Oh, poor things deformed!      Nice Buck.

[paceman]

That is a great buck and super cool rack!

I connected on this 140" 10 point Thursday Afternoon. Did not have much time to hunt so just stood by a little field the last hour of the day. A doe popped out into the field followed closely by this guy. I watched him for a bit before taking the 100 yd broadside shot. There is a monster in the area that I was holding out for but I am happy with this guy as well.

Edited November 13, 2017 by paceman

[leech~~]

Nice to see some Racks!!

[ozzie]

Nice deer guys!!!  thanks for the story too!!!

[paceman]

My son's forky shot yesterday morning. her was holding out for at least a basket 8 but the last day was any horns.. Last year it was a spike, this year a fork, next year a 6 or better.

[Notime]

I came across the 7 pointer today that I had on the trail cam. It looked like a good shot and it was only about 100 yards from the stand. We had snow for opener so it makes me wonder what went down. Really hate to see any animal go to waste.

[ozzie]

That sucks Notime!  Was this on state land or something?  Very odd with a well placed shot not to find the deer especially with snow on the ground.  A couple years ago we had a guy set up on a wind break between our field and a field he was hunting.  Well this joker shoots at a doe running in the middle of our field and my buddy says the guy must have missed as he never even entered our land to look for blood.  Later that afternoon my buddy goes to sit in a new spot and finds a doe dead 20 yards into the woods...the next year I ran into this "hunter" and sternly told him about the property lines and not shooting across them and that when shooting at an animal to always look for blood etc!!

Congrats Paceman on the young hunters success!!  Awesome job!!!!

[jbell1981]

Came across this, this weekend. Not sure if the doe got stuck out there or if she was shot and the hunter was afraid to retrieve her (this was open water a couple days prior). Regardless, coyotes and birds have been enjoying an easy meal. 

[Notime]

8 hours ago, ozzie said:

That sucks Notime!  Was this on state land or something?  Very odd with a well placed shot not to find the deer especially with snow on the ground.  A couple years ago we had a guy set up on a wind break between our field and a field he was hunting.  Well this joker shoots at a doe running in the middle of our field and my buddy says the guy must have missed as he never even entered our land to look for blood.  Later that afternoon my buddy goes to sit in a new spot and finds a doe dead 20 yards into the woods...the next year I ran into this "hunter" and sternly told him about the property lines and not shooting across them and that when shooting at an animal to always look for blood etc!!

Congrats Paceman on the young hunters success!!  Awesome job!!!!

There are 2 possible stands that the deer was shot from. The first is about 100 yards and the second is about 150 yards. Both stands are made by the same guy and they face each other about 200-225 yards apart. I saw him laying from about 30 yards away, and I believe that if I get up in the one stand I will be able to see the deer. The stands are on state land. A couple of years ago I found a little spike buck shot in the neck with a trail cam watching it. It was when the wolf season was open and it was about 75 yards from a stand. In my opinion that deer didn't go anywhere when it was shot. Both deer were in the same woods and all the deer stands are made the same way, you draw your own conclusions.

[ozzie]

Slobs are not fun to deal with!  Never will understand the killing of a deer just to kill and not want to harvest the animal...