Trailblazer
10-19-2007, 03:31 PM
I finally joined the Leadhead Meatgetters society! I left Tuesday morning and backpacked into my late season area. I got to camp about 3:00 PM. The weatherman forecast fog and a chance of light rain for Tuesday night so I was a little concerned about staying dry. For some reason I didn’t give the prospect of rain any thought. Promises, promises! I was concerned about the fog because it can get very wet there from the fog and dew. There were two old tents there but both had disintegrated and were of no use. I set up camp and walked out to my hunting area. I am 57 and a little out of shape. I hurt bad-legs, feet, and back, so as I hobbled out through the hunting grounds I hurt but I was happy! I saw one doe that evening and that was good. Went back to camp early, had supper and hit the sack.
I woke up at midnight with cold water sprinkling my face. I had my clothes in the backpack next to the sleeping bag to keep them out of the dew. I keep a garbage bag in there so I dug it out and covered the backpack. I have also carried a space blanket in there for the last 25 years since I started backpack hunting-still in the original wrapper. When I bought it I wrapped duct tape around it so I would have tape out there when I needed it. Never needed it and after 25 years the tape was set up in a solid mass so I had to dig a knife out to get that open. Meanwhile the rain continued to fall. Finally got the space blanket open and reached down as far as I could to cover the sleeping bag with it and then pulled the top edge up as far as it would go. I found out they aren’t very big! The bottom edge didn’t cover my feet and the top edge came to the top edge of the bag at my chin. It was wide enough to also cover my boots though. The blanket clung very well to the wet bag which was good as an occasional gust of wind would hit. I grabbed my binoculars, down vest, and watch and got them down in the bag and hunkered down. Everything was good! Things were a little damp in there but still warm. The rain was light but steady. I was using a quilted flannel shirt as a pillow and it must have soaked up the water at the top of the sleeping bag. After a while though, I guess it couldn’t hold anymore and a cold trickle started down inside. I decided it could stop raining anytime and it did shortly after at 1:00 AM. I did not sleep well but it had cleared off when I got up about 4:00. My clothes were dry so life was still good!
As I was getting ready the fog started to roll in. It wasn’t solid and had breaks at times. I saw a doe or a spike right at the edge of my hunting area. I couldn’t quite make it out in the dim light and fog. I continued down the ridge and as I lost altitude the fog cleared more often. I was almost to my favorite spot when I saw a doe come off the other side of a deep little draw and go into the bottom of the draw. I watched and nothing else appeared so I crossed the draw and went to my sitting spot. The doe showed up across the draw. Time was passing but with the fog I figured they would be moving all day. After a while a little buck popped up out of the canyon below. When I saw he was legal I got a bit of buck fever. He was maybe 150 yards down so he was in range but I was jittery and he seemed to be coming up so I waited. He moved quickly out of sight below a step in the hillside. I caught a glimpse of him twice through some dead brush but never got a good look at him again. I waited a long time and finally decided to go down to see if he was below the step. I started down but it was to noisy and I didn’t really think he was still there anyway. I had a notion he was following the doe so I moved across to where I could see over where she was.
Sure enough they were just across the draw heading up the hill. At that point they were a little over 100 yards away and broadside. I had a bunch of dead junipers in front of me and they spotted me as I moved around the junipers. Usually they will just stand and watch if you are not an immediate threat but these two took off. By the time I got clear of the brush and plopped on my butt they were angling up and away toward the left. I had gotten over the jitters by then so I was steady and thought it was no more than 200 yards so I gave him some lead and squeezed it off. The little cannon really jumps and I couldn’t find him immediately. I could see the doe running up the hill but I couldn’t see him which was a good sign. I finally spotted him standing broadside in front of a little clump of brush. He wasn’t moving and didn’t look well but he was pointed downhill and he had to go uphill to make it to the freezer. I shot again just in case but had a brain fart and held high and missed him clean. At the shot though he slowly laid down and his head dropped.
The bullet entered low through the third rib from the back. It clipped the stomach and a lung and exited through a rib behind the shoulder. It must have clipped the heart sac too as that was open but the heart wasn’t touched. He was completely bled out inside. The bullet must have hit a large artery or vein somewhere but I didn’t see it. The entrance and exit were about nickel sized and the entrance was pretty well plugged with hair. There was just a trickle of blood from the exit. There was some bright frothy blood around him that he probably exhaled. Zero meat loss as it was only bloodshot for about an inch around the holes. This is condor country but I really doubt if there was enough lead left in the carcass to poison a buzzard. I doubt if the bullet expanded as it didn’t hit anything substantial.
I checked the distance on the topo map and it was every bit of 200 yards. He was a little buck and I don’t know if I would have killed him normally but I am getting ready to go to Colorado for cow elk in a little over a week and just wanted to fill a tag. Besides that he will eat good and I didn’t want to carry anything bigger out of there in my shape. It was a painful butt busting trip out with a 5 plus mile walk and a 1500 foot elevation gain. I weighed the pack, rifle and binocs when I got home and the total was 95 pounds. I have carried more than that out many times but it didn’t hurt this bad. I don’t know why I still do this except I still can.
This is where he fell:
http://www.hunt101.com/img/523133.jpg (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=523133&c=504&z=1)
This is a look at where I shot from. I was at the tip of the arrow. Anybody who is familiar with southern California’s public lands can see why I make the effort to go there. It isn't solid brush! You can see! This is rifle country!
http://www.hunt101.com/img/523134.JPG (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=523134&c=536&z=1)
I woke up at midnight with cold water sprinkling my face. I had my clothes in the backpack next to the sleeping bag to keep them out of the dew. I keep a garbage bag in there so I dug it out and covered the backpack. I have also carried a space blanket in there for the last 25 years since I started backpack hunting-still in the original wrapper. When I bought it I wrapped duct tape around it so I would have tape out there when I needed it. Never needed it and after 25 years the tape was set up in a solid mass so I had to dig a knife out to get that open. Meanwhile the rain continued to fall. Finally got the space blanket open and reached down as far as I could to cover the sleeping bag with it and then pulled the top edge up as far as it would go. I found out they aren’t very big! The bottom edge didn’t cover my feet and the top edge came to the top edge of the bag at my chin. It was wide enough to also cover my boots though. The blanket clung very well to the wet bag which was good as an occasional gust of wind would hit. I grabbed my binoculars, down vest, and watch and got them down in the bag and hunkered down. Everything was good! Things were a little damp in there but still warm. The rain was light but steady. I was using a quilted flannel shirt as a pillow and it must have soaked up the water at the top of the sleeping bag. After a while though, I guess it couldn’t hold anymore and a cold trickle started down inside. I decided it could stop raining anytime and it did shortly after at 1:00 AM. I did not sleep well but it had cleared off when I got up about 4:00. My clothes were dry so life was still good!
As I was getting ready the fog started to roll in. It wasn’t solid and had breaks at times. I saw a doe or a spike right at the edge of my hunting area. I couldn’t quite make it out in the dim light and fog. I continued down the ridge and as I lost altitude the fog cleared more often. I was almost to my favorite spot when I saw a doe come off the other side of a deep little draw and go into the bottom of the draw. I watched and nothing else appeared so I crossed the draw and went to my sitting spot. The doe showed up across the draw. Time was passing but with the fog I figured they would be moving all day. After a while a little buck popped up out of the canyon below. When I saw he was legal I got a bit of buck fever. He was maybe 150 yards down so he was in range but I was jittery and he seemed to be coming up so I waited. He moved quickly out of sight below a step in the hillside. I caught a glimpse of him twice through some dead brush but never got a good look at him again. I waited a long time and finally decided to go down to see if he was below the step. I started down but it was to noisy and I didn’t really think he was still there anyway. I had a notion he was following the doe so I moved across to where I could see over where she was.
Sure enough they were just across the draw heading up the hill. At that point they were a little over 100 yards away and broadside. I had a bunch of dead junipers in front of me and they spotted me as I moved around the junipers. Usually they will just stand and watch if you are not an immediate threat but these two took off. By the time I got clear of the brush and plopped on my butt they were angling up and away toward the left. I had gotten over the jitters by then so I was steady and thought it was no more than 200 yards so I gave him some lead and squeezed it off. The little cannon really jumps and I couldn’t find him immediately. I could see the doe running up the hill but I couldn’t see him which was a good sign. I finally spotted him standing broadside in front of a little clump of brush. He wasn’t moving and didn’t look well but he was pointed downhill and he had to go uphill to make it to the freezer. I shot again just in case but had a brain fart and held high and missed him clean. At the shot though he slowly laid down and his head dropped.
The bullet entered low through the third rib from the back. It clipped the stomach and a lung and exited through a rib behind the shoulder. It must have clipped the heart sac too as that was open but the heart wasn’t touched. He was completely bled out inside. The bullet must have hit a large artery or vein somewhere but I didn’t see it. The entrance and exit were about nickel sized and the entrance was pretty well plugged with hair. There was just a trickle of blood from the exit. There was some bright frothy blood around him that he probably exhaled. Zero meat loss as it was only bloodshot for about an inch around the holes. This is condor country but I really doubt if there was enough lead left in the carcass to poison a buzzard. I doubt if the bullet expanded as it didn’t hit anything substantial.
I checked the distance on the topo map and it was every bit of 200 yards. He was a little buck and I don’t know if I would have killed him normally but I am getting ready to go to Colorado for cow elk in a little over a week and just wanted to fill a tag. Besides that he will eat good and I didn’t want to carry anything bigger out of there in my shape. It was a painful butt busting trip out with a 5 plus mile walk and a 1500 foot elevation gain. I weighed the pack, rifle and binocs when I got home and the total was 95 pounds. I have carried more than that out many times but it didn’t hurt this bad. I don’t know why I still do this except I still can.
This is where he fell:
http://www.hunt101.com/img/523133.jpg (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=523133&c=504&z=1)
This is a look at where I shot from. I was at the tip of the arrow. Anybody who is familiar with southern California’s public lands can see why I make the effort to go there. It isn't solid brush! You can see! This is rifle country!
http://www.hunt101.com/img/523134.JPG (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=523134&c=536&z=1)