Silvercreek Farmer
11-23-2014, 09:59 AM
Tagged a doe last night. Felt real good after missing what should have been an easy shot with the muzzle loader a few weeks ago.
I'd been in the stand for a couple hours when two does blasted out of the woods in a pretty good run. They were running almost straight at me across a 200 yard long hay field, and had closed almost half the distance before I could even get my rifle up. There is a dividing fence about 50 yards out and the lead doe stopped for a second while contemplating what to do. That was my chance, I hit her head on in the chest with a Lee .309 170 out of my 30-06. Load was 21 grains of 2400 for an estimated 1800 fps. Alloy is around 90-10 AC COWW/SOWW. She proceeded to jump the fence run towards the edge of the woods, I saw her get wobbly and go down right inside, probably 20 yards from my stand. I tried to get a shot on the second doe, but instead of following the first, she zigged off to the side and disappeared into the woods. I pulled out the doe bleat and tried to call her back out, but she was gone. Just then I hear a shot, my hunting buddy had tagged the 4 point buck that was chasing the does.
Spent the rest of the evening butchering and hanging by the campfire. Recovered my boolit in the abdomen, just under the hide. It penetrated an estimated 30 inches and expanded pretty well but shed half of the rivet head despite not hitting any significant bone. A little tin would probably help, but I made these boolits years ago before I knew any better, and they seem to get the job done, so I just keep on using them. As it is, it was good enough for a 1.5 inch trench down the side of the heart. This is the 4th deer with that load and first recovered boolit. I'll weight it later on and post a picture along with the doe after my buddy sends the ones he took with his phone. It is supposed to rain all day today, perfect for cutting and packaging. Sure is nice to have some venison!
I'd been in the stand for a couple hours when two does blasted out of the woods in a pretty good run. They were running almost straight at me across a 200 yard long hay field, and had closed almost half the distance before I could even get my rifle up. There is a dividing fence about 50 yards out and the lead doe stopped for a second while contemplating what to do. That was my chance, I hit her head on in the chest with a Lee .309 170 out of my 30-06. Load was 21 grains of 2400 for an estimated 1800 fps. Alloy is around 90-10 AC COWW/SOWW. She proceeded to jump the fence run towards the edge of the woods, I saw her get wobbly and go down right inside, probably 20 yards from my stand. I tried to get a shot on the second doe, but instead of following the first, she zigged off to the side and disappeared into the woods. I pulled out the doe bleat and tried to call her back out, but she was gone. Just then I hear a shot, my hunting buddy had tagged the 4 point buck that was chasing the does.
Spent the rest of the evening butchering and hanging by the campfire. Recovered my boolit in the abdomen, just under the hide. It penetrated an estimated 30 inches and expanded pretty well but shed half of the rivet head despite not hitting any significant bone. A little tin would probably help, but I made these boolits years ago before I knew any better, and they seem to get the job done, so I just keep on using them. As it is, it was good enough for a 1.5 inch trench down the side of the heart. This is the 4th deer with that load and first recovered boolit. I'll weight it later on and post a picture along with the doe after my buddy sends the ones he took with his phone. It is supposed to rain all day today, perfect for cutting and packaging. Sure is nice to have some venison!