Friday I took Dad out to hunt deer
He had his knee replaced just over 2 weeks ago and can walk
But not the 3/4 mile to the creek or the 1/2 mile to the woods
So I rigged up a seat on a deer cart and pulled it SLOWLY behind the ATV
We headed out right after lunch
So we got the the "Chicken Coop" about 1 PM... a real chicken coop we took back to the creek from behind the old barn 30 or so years back
I rebuilt it into a nice deer blind 10 or so years back ... Dry with 1 or 2 open windows on all 4 sides
I parked next to the door , so a short easy walk for dad
I got dad into it and was getting everything set
When he poked me and pointed to 2 does walking right down the lane to us
He already took a buck and I still had not shot a deer , so we were legal
Also Dad and my brother was looking to take a few does to help control the population ... LOL I didn't care , I get free land owners tags
I handed dad my Marlin 44 mag with a pretty soft lead 260 gr powder coated GC , Flat nose cast bullet .... sort of a Lee 310 gr bullet but the nose and body shortened
Don't remember the charge .... the load is in my load notes , but loaded with 2400
I had my Marlin 45/70 with a NOE 460 405 Gr RF GC bullet Powder coated ...Nose is pure lead and the body is a hard alloy
Pushed by Reloaders 10 ... about 1500 fps
We waited till they were about 50 yards out and I softly said ready ??
He cocked the rifle and said on 3
I was shooting out of one window and he was shooting out of another
He softly counted 1,2 and 3 ... BOOM
We both shot our deer through the lungs
His turned and headed to the woods , but only went 30 or so yards before going down
Mine kept going along the lane , but after 20 or so yards turned into a blackberry patch
She went maybe 10 more feet before running into a clump of brush and falling over
I helped Dad out of the chicken coop so he could sit on the deer cart
We watched the deer for 5 or so min as we filled out the info onto our home made deer tags
I walked up to dad's deer and checked to be sure it was dead and tied the tag on her leg
I then walked to my deer and checker her , tied the tag on
I then got dad back on the deer cart , unloaded the rifles and took him home
Mom gave us a strange look as I dropped dad off before heading back to get the deer
I used a rope to pull my deer out of the blackberry patch
Lifted her onto the cart and drove over to dad's doe and added her on top of mine
Total amount I had to by hand drag either deer was maybe 5 feet
I took them to the barn
We then called in to check our deer in
It took longer to take dad down to the creek than the time we took on the Deer hunt part
I skinned the deer , boned them out and washed the meat off
Then cleaned up the mess
I put the tubs of meat in my 2 frig's and ground most of it after I got back from duck hunting this morning
Part I will keep
The rest will go to several retired people that are friends
Oh , since I cleaned and boned them out
I had a good chance to look how the bullets did
Neither bullet was recovered
Both of us shot almost the exact same area through the lungs
Both the 44 mag bullet and the 45/70 bullet did a great job
IMO after the deer were gutted , it would of been hard to tell witch deer was shot with the .430 or .460 cast flat nose
Just ribs were hit , so no big bones were hit and very little meat had to be thrown away
John
