Nsghunter
Well-Known Member
Yesterday was my first deer of the season, my first deer with the new muzzleloader and my first ever muzzleloader deer. It was a doe, she was 77lbs field dressed. I was more than pleased, I was thankful.
Now here is the story for those who love stories.
I've only deer hunted for three or four seasons and this season was my first season where I have been able to really hunt. The first two years I went once or twice and last year I went a handful of times but never completed any all day sits or strategically planned hunts. I went to Pennsylvania for a week long trip during archery opener and I was STOKED. I didn't know any of the land but after seven days I was sure I could get a deer. Well, my wife got sick and couldn't go, so her and the 4 boys stayed at her because she really wanted me to get to enjoy the trip. Meanwhile her condition worsened and I didn't want to miss the Fall break with my sons to hunt in another state. That trip was cut short, down to three days. I was bummed about that one but being a present dad is greater than hunting to me, thankfully we don't starve without venison.
I came home to Tn. and hunted 3 more days during archery. Every day I went and seen no deer sign, but a ton of PIG sign and everyday I went home with a dry arrow and an empty freezer. I seen one doe, she ranged at 156 yards away. With my bow this was obviously impossible but I was still excited, at least there was one deer on the whole property.
This week my family was in Pennsylvania and I had a little opportunity to hunt. I worked 10 days in a row starting last Thursday and two of my older sons were at home but after I tool them to school I could sneak a little time in for the woods before I had to go into work. Monday I chose to finish sighting in my MZL ( I still didn't get to complete it and it was shooting dead on at 50 yards but two inches to the right) . I was satisfied enough to shoot out to 100 yards. I would only get to hunt two 4 hour days for the rest of MZL season anyways and statistically I wouldn't even see a deer. I figured I would still-hunt through the woods and keep the shots short. Wed, I had planned poorly and some business came up so I scrapped my WED trip, that left me with the trip yesterday ( Friday).
It was difficult to determine where to hunt. 2 things are constant when I deer hunt:
1.I struggle every moment after I decide to hunt up to the moment I get out of the car. The excuses poor from my mind like water and the dread of putting a hunt together can easily consume me if I am not careful in controlling my mind. In the past I have even planned myself right out of a hunting trip because of the excuses and the perceived difficulty putting one together. ( I struggle with planning because I struggle with focus and I struggle with anxiety because I want a plan but struggle with planning...)
2. I love to hunt. Even if it is only for a few moments, even if I never see an animal. While it was 70 degrees in PA with searing heat and carrying a 25 pound load and when it is 20 degrees with 15 mile an hour winds, I love to hunt. The solace and serenity it offers is such a sobering change of pace from my work with everyday life and death and death and dying compiled with the home life and all the mountains of responsibility of being a good father and husband. Hunting is a very welcome reprieve.
but I studied and prayed and prayed and studied I finally came up with a strategy. I would hunt from the North, the wind was forecasted to be 1-2 MPH from the North. I pulled in and suited up. I left the car and bounded up the the 10 feet embankment into the woods. Immediately began to glass and scout. Lesss than 10 yards in I found a convergence of trails that were littered with pig scat. I tool the advice of a member and began to take three steps and kneel, glass for a few moments and then move on after I planned where my next three steps would go. Always stopping behind or in cover ( a tip form a member) and always out of the sunshine( also from a tip from a member). It's amazing the amount of common sense that goes into hunting that a beginner can easily overlook. I followed this technique for roughly 45 minutes and came to another convergence of trails that all met in the high spot of a deep drainage ditch. It was here I found my first ever scrape. I am still excited and pleased to finally see one. I backed away into a small cedar thicket and waited and waited and waited some more but no deer. The birds played and sang sometimes almost at my feet, it was really neat.
I waited nearly two hours with no action here so I decided I would cover a little more ground, still-hunt some more and maybe get some more scouting done before rifle season. I slowly moved from field to field staying in the shadows and the hedge rows, glassing and ranging ( ranging to ensure that I crossed the fields in a way to ensure I could get the best shot opportunity. ) each field before I moved into it. I seen some features on the TOPO that I wanted to try and explore, as I slipped into the woods I noticed the pine needles were beaten into a very defined path so I followed along and discovered four small trees that had been rubbed and then another small tree that had been rubbed until it had broken. I tried to find a trail that connected to this but couldn't. I marked all this on my hunt on x map and moved on. I would have to leave soon and head to work so I headed on out towards the TOPO feature I had found.
The TOPO feature didn't pan out so well. it was a small raised area that connected two patches of woods that also connected two fields. I marked it for later hinting as well and moved to the car.
By now I was in a familiar place. happy that I was able to walk and tread around, grateful that we have such great public land opportunities and I can get a few hours of time out here but also bummed that I haven't seen one reasonable game animal and not more meat in the freezer. I slouched my shoulders and walked on towards the car. I immediately pulled myself together and reminded myself of how many times I've seen deer as I was walking out, how many have I spooked that I maybe could have harvested if I hunted all the way to the car instead of calling it a day before it was totally over. I returned to glassing and ranging from field to field. Only three remained until I had searched through them all in the area I had hunted. At least this part of the area was roughly scouted by me now. I was pleased to cover more of the area but pleasure doesn't taste as good as venison. I had one last field, yes really, one last field I was less than five minutes from my car. I would be at work in a couple hours and be telling this seemingly same old story to some of the fellas back at work " yeah I went today, nah I didn't see anything, noticed some new sign but now deer yet." . Today was also the last day to harvest doe on the WMA where I hunt. That was a bit frustrating. that limits the opportunity for a meat harvest but I guess I could try another WMA next week in case I seen a doe there I could harvest it.
As all these thought and more were going through my head I pulled up my Binnos to routinely glass the LAST field of the day, I seen her. I was so accustomed to not seeing a deer I seen her but kept sweeping for a second before I stopped and returned my gaze to her. She was perfectly broadside looking perpendicularly out the field to my right side. I immediately dropped to my knees so the large long knoll in the middle of the field would be between both of us and hopefully keep her from seeing me. I laid down my binoculars so they wouldn't interfere with my low crawl, this was almost a mistake. I crawled as low and as fast as I could. I came to a point where any further movement would result in us seeing each other again. I reached into my left cargo pocket to get my rangefinder ready. I went over it in my head, where she was, where I was and how it would work. I wouldn't get a great lot of time to range her then to shoot. I was maybe too far away anyways and she may even spook before I see her. Heck she may already be gone!
I slowly lifted my face out of the red clover, rangefinder glued to my right glasses lens. Where was she? The blasted 4x magnification on the rangefinder didn't offer the same advantage that my 10x50 Redfield Binnos did. There she is! Turing directly away from me in the shadows moving towards the thick stuff. She was 150-something yards. I knew this was a stretch, and in hindsight I'm not sure I would take the same shot again but I held high over her left ear to compensate for the right sided sight-in problem and high enough to allow the bullet drop ( I can't stress enough how much I realize this was a terrible idea now!), I said a prayer begging once more for a successful harvest and I squeezed the trigger in a moment of pure peace, behind the trigger scoping an animal and when the smoke cleared, SUCCESS! For the moment she was DOWN flopping and flailing like a small child walking on ice for the first time.
I didn't celebrate I had carefully planned ( there is that P word again) for a follow up shot. I was going to do all I could to not be a " She went down, got up and ran off never to be found statistic" I had prepared my waist pack. A Gaudy looking thing I found 7 years ago when I moved into out home. It was a 2 inch webbed belt with a goliath of a buckle and two heavy leak-proof old school realtree canvas sacks attached with loops to the belt. The attachment system makes it great because you place each pouch where you wanted it. Well, I wanted one pouch right over my left thigh. In the left pouch was all I needed for a reload. So, without taking my eyes off the poor girl I began to place all the necessities for another shot on a bare patch of the knoll, as I prayed the whole time. Jag, patches, speed loader and bullet starter. For once in my life I didn't fumble, I worked that rifle like a mountain man that had teethed with it in his crib. It reloaded flawlessly, I pulled it up to end her more quickly. She had stopped skating on the ground, it seemed, it was obvious that her spine was affected, either struck or severed all together. Her ears twitched and her head moved slightly but her body had stopped. I got her in the crosshairs and BOOM.
It seemed to be a complete miss. I started again. I reloaded, cleaning the barrel more thoroughly to ensure the best bullet flight and even loaded my speed loader. By now I was loading a simple precaution or maybe for another lingering deer I hadn't noticed because her movements had all appeared to have ceased. I waited, watching her closely, carefully cleaning that smoke pole of soot and debris. I was surprised how easy it was to jam the ram rod down the barrel with the presence of adrenaline and the "harvesters rush". The gun was cleaned, the barrel was loaded, the primer in place. I had even taken the time to peak through the primer hole for daylight, just in case. The speed loader was ready and clipped onto my shirt now. She was seemingly finished even after close inspection with my scope turned up to 9 I could see no movement.
I sill watched her closely, she was mine now and I intended to keep her. I had done this so I assumed responsibility wholly of her. I skirted back and grabbed my Redfields, I stopped to check the bare spot in the knoll for all my necessities that I had laid there a few brief moments ago. I even broke the action down to ensure that my primer was in place and intact. I circled around to ensure that I could best see her. If she were to be alive and spooked I could hopefully shoot again. She wasn't, it was apparent as I tapped her hoof with my boot. Her eyes were cold and she was void of movement. My goal was reached, clean ethical and quick dispatch of a marvelous creature so that my family and I could revel in meals upon meals and celebrate this majestic creature and God's grace every time we partook in the meat.
I prayed prayers of gratitude, I was so humbled that I had this opportunity.
I hope you've enjoyed this re-telling of my tale as much as I have. As I struck the keys my heart pounded more and more and the excitement increased more and more. Thank you for reading and thank you for being a part of my hunting experience. My father is a great man but he taught me almost nothing about hunting or rifle craft. I have learned almost all of it here from all of you. So please, celebrate with me.
Thank you Lord do being born in a country where we can hunt,
Thank you Lord for allowing me the ability to do so,
Thank you Lord for the men and women who have helped make this possible
And mostly thank you for my salvation the root and starting place of all other joys in my life,
AMEN,
~S~ Dustin
Now here is the story for those who love stories.
I've only deer hunted for three or four seasons and this season was my first season where I have been able to really hunt. The first two years I went once or twice and last year I went a handful of times but never completed any all day sits or strategically planned hunts. I went to Pennsylvania for a week long trip during archery opener and I was STOKED. I didn't know any of the land but after seven days I was sure I could get a deer. Well, my wife got sick and couldn't go, so her and the 4 boys stayed at her because she really wanted me to get to enjoy the trip. Meanwhile her condition worsened and I didn't want to miss the Fall break with my sons to hunt in another state. That trip was cut short, down to three days. I was bummed about that one but being a present dad is greater than hunting to me, thankfully we don't starve without venison.
I came home to Tn. and hunted 3 more days during archery. Every day I went and seen no deer sign, but a ton of PIG sign and everyday I went home with a dry arrow and an empty freezer. I seen one doe, she ranged at 156 yards away. With my bow this was obviously impossible but I was still excited, at least there was one deer on the whole property.
This week my family was in Pennsylvania and I had a little opportunity to hunt. I worked 10 days in a row starting last Thursday and two of my older sons were at home but after I tool them to school I could sneak a little time in for the woods before I had to go into work. Monday I chose to finish sighting in my MZL ( I still didn't get to complete it and it was shooting dead on at 50 yards but two inches to the right) . I was satisfied enough to shoot out to 100 yards. I would only get to hunt two 4 hour days for the rest of MZL season anyways and statistically I wouldn't even see a deer. I figured I would still-hunt through the woods and keep the shots short. Wed, I had planned poorly and some business came up so I scrapped my WED trip, that left me with the trip yesterday ( Friday).
It was difficult to determine where to hunt. 2 things are constant when I deer hunt:
1.I struggle every moment after I decide to hunt up to the moment I get out of the car. The excuses poor from my mind like water and the dread of putting a hunt together can easily consume me if I am not careful in controlling my mind. In the past I have even planned myself right out of a hunting trip because of the excuses and the perceived difficulty putting one together. ( I struggle with planning because I struggle with focus and I struggle with anxiety because I want a plan but struggle with planning...)
2. I love to hunt. Even if it is only for a few moments, even if I never see an animal. While it was 70 degrees in PA with searing heat and carrying a 25 pound load and when it is 20 degrees with 15 mile an hour winds, I love to hunt. The solace and serenity it offers is such a sobering change of pace from my work with everyday life and death and death and dying compiled with the home life and all the mountains of responsibility of being a good father and husband. Hunting is a very welcome reprieve.
but I studied and prayed and prayed and studied I finally came up with a strategy. I would hunt from the North, the wind was forecasted to be 1-2 MPH from the North. I pulled in and suited up. I left the car and bounded up the the 10 feet embankment into the woods. Immediately began to glass and scout. Lesss than 10 yards in I found a convergence of trails that were littered with pig scat. I tool the advice of a member and began to take three steps and kneel, glass for a few moments and then move on after I planned where my next three steps would go. Always stopping behind or in cover ( a tip form a member) and always out of the sunshine( also from a tip from a member). It's amazing the amount of common sense that goes into hunting that a beginner can easily overlook. I followed this technique for roughly 45 minutes and came to another convergence of trails that all met in the high spot of a deep drainage ditch. It was here I found my first ever scrape. I am still excited and pleased to finally see one. I backed away into a small cedar thicket and waited and waited and waited some more but no deer. The birds played and sang sometimes almost at my feet, it was really neat.
I waited nearly two hours with no action here so I decided I would cover a little more ground, still-hunt some more and maybe get some more scouting done before rifle season. I slowly moved from field to field staying in the shadows and the hedge rows, glassing and ranging ( ranging to ensure that I crossed the fields in a way to ensure I could get the best shot opportunity. ) each field before I moved into it. I seen some features on the TOPO that I wanted to try and explore, as I slipped into the woods I noticed the pine needles were beaten into a very defined path so I followed along and discovered four small trees that had been rubbed and then another small tree that had been rubbed until it had broken. I tried to find a trail that connected to this but couldn't. I marked all this on my hunt on x map and moved on. I would have to leave soon and head to work so I headed on out towards the TOPO feature I had found.
The TOPO feature didn't pan out so well. it was a small raised area that connected two patches of woods that also connected two fields. I marked it for later hinting as well and moved to the car.
By now I was in a familiar place. happy that I was able to walk and tread around, grateful that we have such great public land opportunities and I can get a few hours of time out here but also bummed that I haven't seen one reasonable game animal and not more meat in the freezer. I slouched my shoulders and walked on towards the car. I immediately pulled myself together and reminded myself of how many times I've seen deer as I was walking out, how many have I spooked that I maybe could have harvested if I hunted all the way to the car instead of calling it a day before it was totally over. I returned to glassing and ranging from field to field. Only three remained until I had searched through them all in the area I had hunted. At least this part of the area was roughly scouted by me now. I was pleased to cover more of the area but pleasure doesn't taste as good as venison. I had one last field, yes really, one last field I was less than five minutes from my car. I would be at work in a couple hours and be telling this seemingly same old story to some of the fellas back at work " yeah I went today, nah I didn't see anything, noticed some new sign but now deer yet." . Today was also the last day to harvest doe on the WMA where I hunt. That was a bit frustrating. that limits the opportunity for a meat harvest but I guess I could try another WMA next week in case I seen a doe there I could harvest it.
As all these thought and more were going through my head I pulled up my Binnos to routinely glass the LAST field of the day, I seen her. I was so accustomed to not seeing a deer I seen her but kept sweeping for a second before I stopped and returned my gaze to her. She was perfectly broadside looking perpendicularly out the field to my right side. I immediately dropped to my knees so the large long knoll in the middle of the field would be between both of us and hopefully keep her from seeing me. I laid down my binoculars so they wouldn't interfere with my low crawl, this was almost a mistake. I crawled as low and as fast as I could. I came to a point where any further movement would result in us seeing each other again. I reached into my left cargo pocket to get my rangefinder ready. I went over it in my head, where she was, where I was and how it would work. I wouldn't get a great lot of time to range her then to shoot. I was maybe too far away anyways and she may even spook before I see her. Heck she may already be gone!
I slowly lifted my face out of the red clover, rangefinder glued to my right glasses lens. Where was she? The blasted 4x magnification on the rangefinder didn't offer the same advantage that my 10x50 Redfield Binnos did. There she is! Turing directly away from me in the shadows moving towards the thick stuff. She was 150-something yards. I knew this was a stretch, and in hindsight I'm not sure I would take the same shot again but I held high over her left ear to compensate for the right sided sight-in problem and high enough to allow the bullet drop ( I can't stress enough how much I realize this was a terrible idea now!), I said a prayer begging once more for a successful harvest and I squeezed the trigger in a moment of pure peace, behind the trigger scoping an animal and when the smoke cleared, SUCCESS! For the moment she was DOWN flopping and flailing like a small child walking on ice for the first time.
I didn't celebrate I had carefully planned ( there is that P word again) for a follow up shot. I was going to do all I could to not be a " She went down, got up and ran off never to be found statistic" I had prepared my waist pack. A Gaudy looking thing I found 7 years ago when I moved into out home. It was a 2 inch webbed belt with a goliath of a buckle and two heavy leak-proof old school realtree canvas sacks attached with loops to the belt. The attachment system makes it great because you place each pouch where you wanted it. Well, I wanted one pouch right over my left thigh. In the left pouch was all I needed for a reload. So, without taking my eyes off the poor girl I began to place all the necessities for another shot on a bare patch of the knoll, as I prayed the whole time. Jag, patches, speed loader and bullet starter. For once in my life I didn't fumble, I worked that rifle like a mountain man that had teethed with it in his crib. It reloaded flawlessly, I pulled it up to end her more quickly. She had stopped skating on the ground, it seemed, it was obvious that her spine was affected, either struck or severed all together. Her ears twitched and her head moved slightly but her body had stopped. I got her in the crosshairs and BOOM.
It seemed to be a complete miss. I started again. I reloaded, cleaning the barrel more thoroughly to ensure the best bullet flight and even loaded my speed loader. By now I was loading a simple precaution or maybe for another lingering deer I hadn't noticed because her movements had all appeared to have ceased. I waited, watching her closely, carefully cleaning that smoke pole of soot and debris. I was surprised how easy it was to jam the ram rod down the barrel with the presence of adrenaline and the "harvesters rush". The gun was cleaned, the barrel was loaded, the primer in place. I had even taken the time to peak through the primer hole for daylight, just in case. The speed loader was ready and clipped onto my shirt now. She was seemingly finished even after close inspection with my scope turned up to 9 I could see no movement.
I sill watched her closely, she was mine now and I intended to keep her. I had done this so I assumed responsibility wholly of her. I skirted back and grabbed my Redfields, I stopped to check the bare spot in the knoll for all my necessities that I had laid there a few brief moments ago. I even broke the action down to ensure that my primer was in place and intact. I circled around to ensure that I could best see her. If she were to be alive and spooked I could hopefully shoot again. She wasn't, it was apparent as I tapped her hoof with my boot. Her eyes were cold and she was void of movement. My goal was reached, clean ethical and quick dispatch of a marvelous creature so that my family and I could revel in meals upon meals and celebrate this majestic creature and God's grace every time we partook in the meat.
I prayed prayers of gratitude, I was so humbled that I had this opportunity.
I hope you've enjoyed this re-telling of my tale as much as I have. As I struck the keys my heart pounded more and more and the excitement increased more and more. Thank you for reading and thank you for being a part of my hunting experience. My father is a great man but he taught me almost nothing about hunting or rifle craft. I have learned almost all of it here from all of you. So please, celebrate with me.
Thank you Lord do being born in a country where we can hunt,
Thank you Lord for allowing me the ability to do so,
Thank you Lord for the men and women who have helped make this possible
And mostly thank you for my salvation the root and starting place of all other joys in my life,
AMEN,
~S~ Dustin
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