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First deer!

Elmo

By Elmo,
in Deer Hunting

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Elmo
Elmo

Big fat doe. Dropped her around 3:45PM with the muzzleloader. This drag is killing me! Details to come.

Elmo
Elmo

First, I want to thank everyone for their congratulatory remarks. I truly feel lucky to have so much support from this forum family. Second, I want to say that I met Shawn through this forum on a sq

First-light
First-light

Funny how the little extra in cooking help the flavor. This weekend we had wild rice, almonds and cranberries mixed with venison. When you got a cranberry and some venison together it was wonderful!

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Elmo Rookie

Elmo

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Okay..story begins in squirrel season. I use squirrel hunting as my scouting and found a nice spot. Lots of signs. So I came back to that spot during archery. Every time I go there, this doe kicks up from this swamp and runs off in the same direction. Once, I followed her and that's the one I was less than 20 yards from but only had the head shot and passed on in if you remember from my previous postings. After a while, I didn't see her anymore, then the tree stand accident, and I figure I played my cards one too many times at this spot because the deer here has patterned me so I moved on to another spot.

I never did get her and once archery season ended, I couldn't hunt that spot anymore because I didn't have a DMP for that area. While I did find buck signs, I only saw does. I kep telling people that if I was allowed to take them with a firearm, I would have had several deer by now and that's when the light bulb went off. I went and bought a muzzleloader because that'll allow me to use my antlerless and/or either sex tag. I prayed that no one else had discovered that spot during gun season and that deer would still be in that swamp.

Took days off from work, made sure I made my way up to the spot real early. Shawnhu wanted to tag along and assist and it's a good thing he did because I actually owe this deer to him. We got in a couple of minutes before 7 and sat till 10. Nothing. I figure the deer are not moving due to the rain so we need to walk around and push. We walked for miles but golly and saw a bunch of signs. I was so frustrated. It was like their teasing me with signs but never show up. We hike from 10AM till 2PM and we're pretty beat at his point.

I insisted that we go back to that swamp. I'm going to sit in the direction she ran to each time I kicked her up and wait for her to come out as the sun goes down. Shawn, decided to wander off somewhere. Turns out, he decided to go a big circle and come walk in from the rear of the swamp. Good thing. As it turned out, the reason why I stopped kicking her up was because she moved to the other side of the swamp. My walkie talkie went off..Shawn is whispering quickly "She's coming towards you! She's coming towards you!" I shut the walkie talkie off and kept staring...about a minute pass and I see these movement 30 degrees to my right. I raise my gun and the deer saw it and stop. Again, it was head on but even with the muzzleloader, I decided to be patient and wait. We essentially had a staring contest that lasted maybe 5-10 minutes. The doe must've thought to herself "I could have sworn I saw something move over there...oh, it's probably nothing." She took two hop prances to the left, went into a stroll for about 10 to 15 feet, and stopped. Roughly 50 yards from me. Perfect broadside shot. I pulled the trigger. Boom! Huge puff of smoke. I cleared the smoke and look and the deer is gone! Disappeared. I went to where she was standing and I didn't see anything. No blood, no hair, nothing. I was shoced! No way could I have missed! Shawn shows up and I told him what happened. Shawn said well, "if she was facing in that direction when you shot her then she probably ran in that direction." We went over with would be the other side of this rock ledge which starts a decline of a hill and there she laid. Dead as a door nail. We traced the blood trail backwards (and it was a lot of blood) and realized that I had actually shot her 10 yards further back than where I had thought.

Drag out was a killer. Just had a drag rope. No sled. No tarp. Didn't get her to the car till around 5:30PM. Couldn't even get her into the car. Luckily, a fellow hunter happened to have drove by and gave us a hand as well as some extra plastic bags. Got her to my parents garage where Shawn, my dad, and I butcher her up. Shared the meat around. I took off while my dad is putting the finishing touches. He wanted to break the bones into smaller portions because he plan to make stock with them. Me...I find myself telling this story over and over again to anyone who asked. I'm excited. My proud. My dad is proud. I just need to invest in a cart of something. Apparently, I now wear the marks of a hunter. :lol:

PS: .50 cal TC Shockwaves went right through the deer but after examinging the insides, the shockwaves completely shreded both lungs, I couldn't even recognize them anymore.

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Edited by Elmo
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Elmo Rookie

Elmo

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Btw. Due to lack of equipment, overly excited, and rush to have her gutted and skinned, we forgot to weigh her but by the hunter who helped us, estimate, he's guessing "she's 150lbs easy. Maybe 160." Exhausted, I left the head with the tag still attached to it at my dad's garage. I figure I'll report it next morning. That should be okay, right?

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Doewhacker Newbie

Doewhacker

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Btw. Due to lack of equipment, overly excited, and rush to have her gutted and skinned, we forgot to weigh her but by the hunter who helped us, estimate, he's guessing "she's 150lbs easy. Maybe 160." Exhausted, I left the head with the tag still attached to it at my dad's garage. I figure I'll report it next morning. That should be okay, right?

I would put her at 110-115 dressed, good sized doe for sure. You don't need the tag to report the kill, just your backtag number.

Congrats again, I'm sure I speak for a few of us when I say I am proud of you too, well done!

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Elmo Rookie

Elmo

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Way to go!! You have not been draggin to long, not even an hour yet and you gutted it. It is not real bad until you hit 3 or 4 hours and that is the first and you need to go back and get the second one!! Now that is a drag!lol

Took me a little over 2 hours to drag her out. I was too excited so I posted the thread during my first break. Shawn and I took turns dragging.

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shawnhu Newbie

shawnhu

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This is a prime example of how shooting at the range, perseverance, and friendship all pays off at the end of the day(literally).

When Elmo and I split up around 2pm, I really wanted to just sit in the car and call it a day. But something told me I should walk the other side of the forest and not let the miles of walking bother me. I found a nice trail, and thought, I'll take it easy and just "explore the area for next year." Thats when I remembered a conversation I had with Elmo in the ride back one day, "let's worry about this year first, it's not over yet", Elmo said to me. So I found a nice worn out deer trail, and followed it in. I went in as far as I could, hoping to kick up a bedded deer, but only managed to hit a dead end for humans, and decided to turn back. There were tons of sign in there, and in the excitement and many many briars, I was lost. Light was starting to get dim, and I started to panic a little. Took what seemed like hours to get back out, and after many scratches to my legs, arms, and neck, I finally got out with the use of my phone's compass and maps. I said to myself, I've really had enough for one day! On my way back to the car, I remembered seeing another side trail, and stated at it for a minute before I said, what the heck, and went right in. This trail was much heavier used by people, and it led me through the briar patches and into the edge of the swamp. I figured I could connect back to how I came in by walking the edge of the swamp, and maybe kick something up deeper in the swamp if there was a deer in here. Found a nice little spot someone made as a ground sit, and continued on. I again, found myself in a dead end in the direction towards the car, but just then as I walked over and snapped a branch, I heard an echo, "snap....snap!". I took a few steps closer and "snap......snap"! Each time I snapped a branch, another snapped in the near distance inside the thick thick briars. I snapped once more, and that's when it happened. I heard rustling running away from me, in the direction of Elmo. I refocused my attention to closing in on the, now almost silent, rustling and placed my eyes in the area where I last heard it going... And there she came. Up the ridge from the swamp, just like Elmo's encounters were like. She was huge, And she stopped broadside right in between a bunch of trees. I had my crosshairs on her, pretended to take the shot, and even make the noise of the hammer hitting, "click". I didn't fire, but still wonder if I had, would she have been hit and down.

I made some noise to send her off trotting towards Elmo's direction, hoping he hasn't moved and as soon as she was out of viewing distance, I alerted Elmo that this is his chance! I can tell he was excited of the news because he had to ask me a few times to verify the direction he needs to be looking. I pretty much told him, "look towards the car"! Not one minute later, I hear a huge bang and I stood there, at a dead end, lost again, motionless for what felt like a long time. I didn't hear from Elmo, and tried hailing him a few times, but was unsuccessful. I feared the worst, I hope my buddy didn't shoot himself out of excitement or if another hunter shot him in his blaze orange, then I checked myself to see if I was shot and didn't know it(haha). Then I hear "tzzz... You there?....tzzz". Knowing my buddy is still alive, I quickly told him I'd be right there and stay put until I get there and rushed through the swamp I didn't want to trek through. On my way there, I discovered I had lost radio contact with him, turns out he could hear me but I couldn't receive his transmissions. It was very frustrating and turned out to be a VOX setting that was pushed by accident on Elmo's radio. I had to do the Marco polo tactic in the woods and zeroed him in that way. It was a good thing a deer was shot at that point, or else anything within 10 miles would have been spooked by us. And everything after that is history.....

Good shooting buddy, I got the same on both my shoulders and I'm sure your back isn't feeling much better than mine right now.

So when are we going for number 2? Too soon? Haha.

Edited by shawnhu
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Marcygirl Newbie

Marcygirl

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If you had another person with you here is a little tip that may help u on your next one, this is what I do, on the hind legs cut between the bone and tendon half way down the back legs , both of them, find a strong sapling and stick it through the cuts you made in both legs, each of your take a side and off you go easy drag, no ropes, carts, ect. If you are alone do the same thing but tie a rope around each end of the stick step in between loop and off u go. Works like a charm for me atv also works nice lol

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Megan870 Newbie

Megan870

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Hey Steve863,

What if the wife is actually the person helping her husband drag the deer out of the woods, even though it's his third for the season and she's been sitting every morning and night possible and hardly seeing anything but was nice enough to stop her hunt to help him drag, gut, and process his deer? Maybe you shouldn't always jump to conclusions or find someone that's more than just a "ball and chain"

Just a thought....

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Doewhacker Newbie

Doewhacker

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Hey Steve863,

What if the wife is actually the person helping her husband drag the deer out of the woods, even though it's his third for the season and she's been sitting every morning and night possible and hardly seeing anything but was nice enough to stop her hunt to help him drag, gut, and process his deer? Maybe you shouldn't always jump to conclusions or find someone that's more than just a "ball and chain"

Just a thought....

Heres a thought, it was a joke as steve863, I, and a few others know each other and enjoy joking with one another.

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