Very Close and I mean Really close.

[nobody]

 Early year,s Deer hunting area 8T. I was not a Club member yet and my Club posted property lines were about 80 yds. from me where I was on watch. I had my buddies 12 ga. Mossberg bolt action 3 shot. One up the tube and two in the clip. It was the second day of the opening and I was on watch sitting on a real small cut off tree stump the farmer had removed in the middle of the field on the highest part of it. The grass was from memory I,d say roughly 3 feet high. There was a problem though, my buddy forgot the clip so I had a one shot gun. The accuracy of this Mossberg was real ok that is if you take your time aiming it when you lined up your target. The barrel on it was a Modified choke. After lunch I had wandered up to this location because the wood,s nearby around me was full of blaze orange dot,s (Hunter,s). Coming and going down below me  crossing this massive size soil bank property back and forth. Man it was real quiet just nothing moving as far as deer go. We,ll sitting on this small stump for almost an hour my butt was getting real sore. I decided to get up and walk a little higher on the hill and look to find a larger stump to sit on. I did not have a hot seat I,d left it in the car. I stood up, bent over a little stretching my leg,s , back ect. or whatever and turned around and started to climb the hill. we,ll I had taken 8 to 10 step,s while looking down at the ground. Wow I said to myself as  look at the large deer foot print,s.They were all over where I was standing.Man, whata hell was going on here I thought. I took about 3 more step,s and this massive size deer started to move fast at a quick crall away from me heading to the higher side off the hill justa haulin ass. The Mossberg butt stock hit my should and the safety come off and in my mind I,m screaming horn,s, horn,s but I couldn,t see any ,the deer,s had it,s head tucked down under it chest. I could have touched this animal with the end of the gun barrel in the early moving out stage. And, you guessed it, I had no party permit.Suddenly the head came up with a nice 8pt rack buck just hauling ass. I aimed the best I could in all the excitement and fired my one shot gun. The deer never broke stride. The buck as I watched it go across the farmer,s plowed field toward the road. It crossed the road down where we had a homasowed hunting camp that could sleep 13 guy,s. My buddy was at the camp with a club member eating some lunch and watched the buck cross the field way out in front of them and go down into that deep ravine where I got my 9pt many years later. Anyhow our club scored this buck the next morning on a push drive. When he came in view of one of our club guy,s on watch it was limping. I did get a hit on this fine animal but in the wrong place. This whole thing to me went down in a speedy moment blurr.And  that,s  the way hunting deer can be sometime.

Before I leave this write up, I wanted to pass this hunting tip across I had picked up over many year,s of chasing deer. If you buy any new blaze orange vest,coat, pant,s or hat just before the opening, do not wear these clothes on the opening in the wood,s (unless) that,s all you have. Here,s why, deer cannot see blaze orange hardly at all I agree because I was in full blaze orange head to toe facing broadside to that 9pt. and it did not see me before I shot it.. But, when the clothes are brand new, most any movement to a deer can create a flash reflection effect and it will spook them. Especially if your partly in the sunlight on a watch ect.. Buy your new clothe on sale after deer season,s wind,s down. Come summer, hang them in the sun for as many times as it take,s so it,s enough to dull the blaze orange up. Could get you a deer maybe.I have many hunting stories that I will add when I recall them to write up. Just be patient with me ok.  Good luck on the opening, my Jeep is all packed in my garage. I,m 78 but you can bet your sweet ass I,l be on watch before daylight. I have buddies I can call if I need help with one and oh my do I ever hope I need help.  ha  ha.

TwoSeventy      (God Bless You Guy,s and enjoy your hunt)

 

 

 

[Dom]

Thanks for sharing I use the same gun only in 16 ga and shoots great.Do you still use or your buddy?

[nodeerhere]

Great story! I myself have a few just like this. Makes me think back and smile. My how we learn from our mistakes! Thanks for sharing 

[wolc123]

I use a similar gun for deer around home.  It is a scoped, 3-shot Marlin bolt-action with a rifled barrel.  It also holds one in the chamber and 2 in the clip.   One year, I must have dropped the clip and I had to hunt with it a few times as a "single-shot".   By process of elimination, I figured that it must have dropped into a puddle below the stand I hunted out of the lest time I saw it.  On a warmer afternoon, later that season, I spent a few minutes reaching into that muddy water with my bare arms and eventually found it.  I dried it out good and sprayed it with some WD-40 and it has worked well ever since. 

Those extra shots come in handy at times, like when I hit a doe high with my first shot a couple years ago, and had to give her a quick second one to end her suffering.    My Marlin feeds the second and third shots very smooth and has accounted for several "doubles" over the years.  That was not the case on my first experience hunting deer with a bolt-action shotgun however.  That was with a Mossberg or Savage (I can't remember which), that I borrowed from a buddy at work.   A group of antlerless deer came running out of the brush, past my blind.   I dropped the largest one with a shoulder-blade shot.   I had another doe permit, but the spent casing would not clear the scope and the gun jammed while trying to eject it.  The rest of those deer got back into the brush before I could get a second round in the chamber.   When I told my buddy about that, he said "yeah it always does that".   

[nobody]

We,ll when I became a Club member, I bought at tack driving Mossberg 500 with a slug barrel. I cannot recall exactly how many deer I dumped with that gun in 8T but I will say one thing, every tag was a legal tag in my name. It got to a point that the club guy,s just new I,d get a deer every time I was down there except once. And guess what, on the way back after we cleared Penn Yann, one ran into the side of my Rambler station wagon. Ha Ha . Deer hit the pavement slid on it,s ass and bounced off the lower door panel behind me . I hit the brakes and looked in the rear view mirror and saw the deer and the hair flying behind me. I thought to myself, yeaaa, I just got my deer.My buddy was flipping out because he said 3 big does ran right in front of our car as I was braking and cking the mirror. Thank the man up stair,s because if I had not braked , we would of have deer in the front and back seat.And that Rambler would have been totalled. We both had party permit,s and buck tags and I end up bringing one home with a County Mounty Police tag..

 This morning while walking in with my brand new 300 mag. I lost the clip in it while walking in. I had to turn around and play metal detector with my eyes and flash light and yes I found it. Made it to my watch in time. But, no luck today but man, I love being in the fall wood,s anyways. I had a great day. Got home, ate a big supper and a hot shower and relaxed in my potato chair.