well had a great experience today. i now drive logging truck and in the woods today i scared up 2 blacktail bucks in fine looking velvet. now log truck + deer + 25 MPH is a disaster waiting to happen so i blew the very loud air horn and instead of heading away from the truck ... they both took off running along side the road about 30 to 40 feet off to the side but parelell to the road and suddenly we were racing.
i glanced down to the speed-o to see we were running ...[they were running / i was driving]... at almost exactly 25 MPH. now i knew deer run like the wind but never had the oppertunity to clock them in an all out sprint. i continued to blow the horn as i wanted them to veer off into the woods instead of trying to tackle a loaded log truck ... finally they both veered off into the tree's.
well the rest of the day i wondered about the feet covered in a second so after coming home i got the calk-u-tater out and did some feeble figurin.
near as i can tell ... these 2 bucks were covering around 36 feet per second ...[maybe someone can check my figures for me]... sooo if this is true ... then a runnin buck in season that is moving along at 25 or so MPH ... is gonna require some lead for a shot to connect within a hopefull killing zone. multiply this with the yardage distant the shot is to be and i know for certain that a runnin buck will be allowed to continue on his speedy way before i attempt a shot at him in full sprint.
for myself leastwise ... i am certainly not the shot i once was but even then ... i would/will only be taking a shot at standing or barely walkin game as my luck would injure a game animal and then not only the tracking would ensue but the poor aminal will be in pain and suffer for my un-thought out shot.
just thought id mention a spiffy experience today and my feeble thoughts on "fair chase" for the intended animal to put on the table.