Silvercreek Farmer
12-05-2022, 02:17 PM
My son got his first deer, a doe, last year and was really hoping for a buck this year. We figured this was our tenth trip out. Hunted one place (that has produced well in past years) 7 times with no luck. Finally worked out schedules to hunt my usual spot where we saw this guy a week before Thanksgiving. Saw him with a doe Sat night, but no shot through the brush. Got back in the stand yesterday afternoon. Had a small doe or button come up behind us, but it spooked when we tried to get into shooting position.
This guy finally popped out, perfectly broadside, in the last few minutes of light, at 30 yards. My son made the shot with a 30-06, Lee 170g RNFP 49.5 COWW/49.5 SOWW/1 pewter, powdercoated, over 21g of 2400. The buck made a nice jump and took off into the woods. We gave it a little while then started tracking. Picked up the blood trail fairly quickly, best we have ever had, only having to really search for a couple brief moments. Found a small chunk of lung at one point, always encouraging. The trail led us down by the river, and I started imagine hauling a wet deer up some very steep bank. But the trail turned and followed along the river. The landowner joined us right as we found quite a bit of blood. I knew we had to be close, and there he was, down in a 4 or 5 ft hole, but not in the river! My son climbed down and passed his head up to me and the landowner, and we were able use his convenient “handles” to pull him out without too much trouble.
All said, he probably made it 150 yards or so. Shot placement looked pretty good, but there were some stomach contents on the edge of the exit hole. Opened him up and the bullet appeared to have passed right between the liver and lungs, damaging both pretty well. The heart was also bruised. Not sure if he got the esophagus or very top of the stomach, but the cavity was slam full of acorns and leaves. Worst I have ever had. Spent a lot of time trimming off tainted meat and salvaging what rib meat we could. The rest of it was fine. Ate the heart and some burger for lunch today. All and all, a great hunt, amazing how much more fun tracking is when you have a nice blood trail. We have a beef steer ready for the freezer(s), so I don’t think I am going to hunt any more this year. It’ll be my first time in a over a decade without pulling the trigger on one, but I don’t feel shorted in the least!
This guy finally popped out, perfectly broadside, in the last few minutes of light, at 30 yards. My son made the shot with a 30-06, Lee 170g RNFP 49.5 COWW/49.5 SOWW/1 pewter, powdercoated, over 21g of 2400. The buck made a nice jump and took off into the woods. We gave it a little while then started tracking. Picked up the blood trail fairly quickly, best we have ever had, only having to really search for a couple brief moments. Found a small chunk of lung at one point, always encouraging. The trail led us down by the river, and I started imagine hauling a wet deer up some very steep bank. But the trail turned and followed along the river. The landowner joined us right as we found quite a bit of blood. I knew we had to be close, and there he was, down in a 4 or 5 ft hole, but not in the river! My son climbed down and passed his head up to me and the landowner, and we were able use his convenient “handles” to pull him out without too much trouble.
All said, he probably made it 150 yards or so. Shot placement looked pretty good, but there were some stomach contents on the edge of the exit hole. Opened him up and the bullet appeared to have passed right between the liver and lungs, damaging both pretty well. The heart was also bruised. Not sure if he got the esophagus or very top of the stomach, but the cavity was slam full of acorns and leaves. Worst I have ever had. Spent a lot of time trimming off tainted meat and salvaging what rib meat we could. The rest of it was fine. Ate the heart and some burger for lunch today. All and all, a great hunt, amazing how much more fun tracking is when you have a nice blood trail. We have a beef steer ready for the freezer(s), so I don’t think I am going to hunt any more this year. It’ll be my first time in a over a decade without pulling the trigger on one, but I don’t feel shorted in the least!