Post by joshua on Oct 3, 2009 23:10:20 GMT -8
I thought I'd start a thread on the 2009 General Deer rifle hunt. I'd like to hear your stories for THIS season and see your pics. I'll get things started.
I live in Eugene, Or, and I was privleged enough this year to be allowed to hunt on a 100 acre parcel of private land off of Gimpl Hill Road about a 10 minute drive from downtown Eugene.
I scouted out the grounds last week and saw signs of deer and things were looking promising. There is a nice tree lined meadow at the top of a hill on the property and a trail that leads down to a pond at the edge of the property. At the far side of the meadow, there is a hill that has been clearcut, but is covered with deer trails and has good eating scrub brush and small leafy trees for them. This particular parcel hadn't been hunted in 3-4 years, and all of the property surrounding it was posted No Hunting. The deer here were somewhat used to people since the owners ride utility quads and horses out here. I had all 100 acres to myself.
Around here we primarily have blacktail deer which are smaller than the mulies and like to stick to the brush and to their own trails. (makes road hunting them a bit harder)
I was pretty pumped this season as I have never had the opportunity to hunt on opening morning, it seems like something always comes up. I got up to the property at about 6:45 this morning (10/3/09) and hiked up to the meadow and sat down at about 7:00. The sun was just coming up and it was starting to get light out. I sat down under a large oak tree and started scanning. There was no wind and the air was crisp.
A few minutes after I sat down my leg started tingling and I was thinking "this is going to suck if my legs keep falling asleep." After about 15 minutes I saw movement on the hillside across the meadow to my right which was to the west. It was about 200 yards off. I slid around and looked through My Leupold Vari-X2 3 x 9 scope that was attached to my Ruger M-77 .30-06.
It was a deer! I was pumped; 15 minutes in and I'm seeing deer! I glassed it carefully, and saw that it was a doe. I kept watching her as she walked down the hillside to munch brush. She made no warning flicks with her tail and continued across the hillside at a leisurely pace. About the time that she dropped out of sight, I saw another deer appear. Now I'm getting excited. I know that every deer I see is increasing the odds of it being a buck. I glass this deer and confirm quickly that it is another doe. Bummer. But just as soon as I lowered my rifle, another deer appears! Neither one knew that I was there watching them under the tree. I glassed this third deer but couldn't confirm or deny that it was a buck. It stopped under a small tree and raised up on it's hind legs and started eating leaves off the lower branches. I kept my scope on it and followed it across the hillside with my crosshairs trained on it the whole time. I couldn't see antlers, but I wanted to be sure. Just then, it turned it's head just right and I could see that this was definitely a buck!
Now my heart started beating fast and my breathing got shallow. He continued across the hillside and paused before a downed tree. I got ready to fire before I realized that I had stopped breathing. Just then he jumped over the tree and trotted up to a bush. I told myself, "take a breath Josh, aim just above his shoulder, this gun is sighted in at 100 yards and he is at least 200 yards off." I then thought to myself, "you'd better not miss"
When he trotted up to the bush, I knew that I had maybe ten seconds before he was going to be out of sight and I would be kicking myself for not taking the shot. He wasn't going to be a trophy, but I hunt for meat so I didn't care. He was legal and that is all that mattered to me.
He paused for a moment perfectly broadside; I slowly exhaled, placed the crosshairs just above his front shoulder and pressed the trigger. I know that it was a great trigger squeeze, because I was slightly suprised when the gun went off and the rifle didn't jump at all.
I lowered the gun and saw that he was gone. I thought to myself, "you better not have missed, otherwise your gonna go sit under that tree for the rest of the day."
About fifteen seconds after the shot, I heard him groan. I knew that if I missed he would have been gone and he wouldn't have made a sound. He must be hit!
I gathered my thoughts, said to myself "please let me find him" and started across the meadow. I got to the base of the hill and started up to the tree where I saw him eating. When I got there I saw a very obvious deer trail right through the brush where I had seen him walk a few minutes earlier. I walked down the trail and up to the downed tree that the had jumped over. Like a klutz I promptly slipped and fell off of it and cut my arm as I tried to climb over it. I didn't feel the small cut as I was so jacked up from the adrenaline of finding this deer. I continued over to where I thought I shot him and didn't see anything. No blood, no hair. I figured that if he were hit, he would probably go downhill since it would be faster. (or he would fall that way anyway) I took a couple of steps down the hill and there he was laying on his right side about 15 feet from where I shot him. He was very dead and I was elated. I knelt down, and prayed to God, thanking him for providing this animal as food and asking him to bless this deer. I then grabbed it by an antler and pulled it down the hill and into the meadow to my gear under the tree.
Where did I hit him? He was hit right at spine level just in front of the rear thigh on the left side. It came out the other side only slightly lower. No damage to the guts or the cuts (of meat). Not exactly where I aimed, but it was clean and he died quickly with only one shot. I was using a Remington 150 grain high velocity soft point bullet.
I still can't believe it! Opening morning I get my deer, and only 20 minutes into the season no less! My deer season lasted 20 minutes!
Granted, he's only a forked horn and he certainly isn't huge and I know some hunters that would turn their noses up at a deer this size, but I love it, and the meat is going to taste great. It took me longer to gut and skin it than it did to hunt for it!
Here's the pics!
I live in Eugene, Or, and I was privleged enough this year to be allowed to hunt on a 100 acre parcel of private land off of Gimpl Hill Road about a 10 minute drive from downtown Eugene.
I scouted out the grounds last week and saw signs of deer and things were looking promising. There is a nice tree lined meadow at the top of a hill on the property and a trail that leads down to a pond at the edge of the property. At the far side of the meadow, there is a hill that has been clearcut, but is covered with deer trails and has good eating scrub brush and small leafy trees for them. This particular parcel hadn't been hunted in 3-4 years, and all of the property surrounding it was posted No Hunting. The deer here were somewhat used to people since the owners ride utility quads and horses out here. I had all 100 acres to myself.
Around here we primarily have blacktail deer which are smaller than the mulies and like to stick to the brush and to their own trails. (makes road hunting them a bit harder)
I was pretty pumped this season as I have never had the opportunity to hunt on opening morning, it seems like something always comes up. I got up to the property at about 6:45 this morning (10/3/09) and hiked up to the meadow and sat down at about 7:00. The sun was just coming up and it was starting to get light out. I sat down under a large oak tree and started scanning. There was no wind and the air was crisp.
A few minutes after I sat down my leg started tingling and I was thinking "this is going to suck if my legs keep falling asleep." After about 15 minutes I saw movement on the hillside across the meadow to my right which was to the west. It was about 200 yards off. I slid around and looked through My Leupold Vari-X2 3 x 9 scope that was attached to my Ruger M-77 .30-06.
It was a deer! I was pumped; 15 minutes in and I'm seeing deer! I glassed it carefully, and saw that it was a doe. I kept watching her as she walked down the hillside to munch brush. She made no warning flicks with her tail and continued across the hillside at a leisurely pace. About the time that she dropped out of sight, I saw another deer appear. Now I'm getting excited. I know that every deer I see is increasing the odds of it being a buck. I glass this deer and confirm quickly that it is another doe. Bummer. But just as soon as I lowered my rifle, another deer appears! Neither one knew that I was there watching them under the tree. I glassed this third deer but couldn't confirm or deny that it was a buck. It stopped under a small tree and raised up on it's hind legs and started eating leaves off the lower branches. I kept my scope on it and followed it across the hillside with my crosshairs trained on it the whole time. I couldn't see antlers, but I wanted to be sure. Just then, it turned it's head just right and I could see that this was definitely a buck!
Now my heart started beating fast and my breathing got shallow. He continued across the hillside and paused before a downed tree. I got ready to fire before I realized that I had stopped breathing. Just then he jumped over the tree and trotted up to a bush. I told myself, "take a breath Josh, aim just above his shoulder, this gun is sighted in at 100 yards and he is at least 200 yards off." I then thought to myself, "you'd better not miss"
When he trotted up to the bush, I knew that I had maybe ten seconds before he was going to be out of sight and I would be kicking myself for not taking the shot. He wasn't going to be a trophy, but I hunt for meat so I didn't care. He was legal and that is all that mattered to me.
He paused for a moment perfectly broadside; I slowly exhaled, placed the crosshairs just above his front shoulder and pressed the trigger. I know that it was a great trigger squeeze, because I was slightly suprised when the gun went off and the rifle didn't jump at all.
I lowered the gun and saw that he was gone. I thought to myself, "you better not have missed, otherwise your gonna go sit under that tree for the rest of the day."
About fifteen seconds after the shot, I heard him groan. I knew that if I missed he would have been gone and he wouldn't have made a sound. He must be hit!
I gathered my thoughts, said to myself "please let me find him" and started across the meadow. I got to the base of the hill and started up to the tree where I saw him eating. When I got there I saw a very obvious deer trail right through the brush where I had seen him walk a few minutes earlier. I walked down the trail and up to the downed tree that the had jumped over. Like a klutz I promptly slipped and fell off of it and cut my arm as I tried to climb over it. I didn't feel the small cut as I was so jacked up from the adrenaline of finding this deer. I continued over to where I thought I shot him and didn't see anything. No blood, no hair. I figured that if he were hit, he would probably go downhill since it would be faster. (or he would fall that way anyway) I took a couple of steps down the hill and there he was laying on his right side about 15 feet from where I shot him. He was very dead and I was elated. I knelt down, and prayed to God, thanking him for providing this animal as food and asking him to bless this deer. I then grabbed it by an antler and pulled it down the hill and into the meadow to my gear under the tree.
Where did I hit him? He was hit right at spine level just in front of the rear thigh on the left side. It came out the other side only slightly lower. No damage to the guts or the cuts (of meat). Not exactly where I aimed, but it was clean and he died quickly with only one shot. I was using a Remington 150 grain high velocity soft point bullet.
I still can't believe it! Opening morning I get my deer, and only 20 minutes into the season no less! My deer season lasted 20 minutes!
Granted, he's only a forked horn and he certainly isn't huge and I know some hunters that would turn their noses up at a deer this size, but I love it, and the meat is going to taste great. It took me longer to gut and skin it than it did to hunt for it!
Here's the pics!
