About 9:30 this morning, I was cresting a rise on a cutline and found some does feeding. When I was getting lined up, and wanting to wait for a nice broadside shot, I got busted. I took the full frontal shot that I was lined up on. A little bit rushed, I had been hoping for a clear side shot.
The doe boogered off the cut to the side, at a pretty good clip, and while they (the others) were running away from me up the cut, a doe came out of the bush and joined them.
I presumed that it might be my target doe, figured I had pulled the shot and missed.
I spent about 25 minutes walking through the bush in the area, and crossing back and forth through the area the doe had been standing, and where she had gone through the bush. Not a drop of blood anywhere. Good. Well, except for the miss. Didn't make my day, if you know what I mean.
I carried on down the way the others had gone, into a flat bit of riverbottom, and spent a couple hours working my way around the perimeter of the bit of land. About 1:00 I headed up towards the truck for some lunch. About this time, I hear the ravens putting out the dinner call.
They are not shy about speaking up when they have a meal sitting, so I was pretty pleased to hear it coming from the same area as I had shot at the doe.
Ayup! Walked into the bush where the ravens had been circling, and almost stepped on the doe. I was able to backtrack her, once I had the tracks that were hers for sure, out of all the tracks in the area. She'd gone in, and done a hard 90 degrees turn, then thundered in facing back the direction she'd come from, just over the rise in the land from where she had run in.
The bullet entered from the front left, trashed her shoulder, broke two ribs, punched through one lung, and carried on through her on the diagonal, coming to rest against the hip bone on her right side. There was exactly one spray of blood, and it was less than a couple yards from where she landed.
It ain't over till it's over!
The birds had pulled a few tufts of hair, but had done no damage and made no mess. All in all, a happy end to this story. For everyone but the doe, anyways.
Not the DRT I'd have preferred, but a successful recovery.
The ravens around there are pretty good at what they do. I've had them actually start stacking up in the trees, waiting for me to finish gutting a buck I shot.
So that was my day. Near three hours of self doubt and second guessing the shot I took, only to find out it was good, and a recovery made.
I think I'll haul my bag of trim and fat up there and leave it for the ravens as payback.
Cheers
Trev
The doe boogered off the cut to the side, at a pretty good clip, and while they (the others) were running away from me up the cut, a doe came out of the bush and joined them.
I presumed that it might be my target doe, figured I had pulled the shot and missed.
I spent about 25 minutes walking through the bush in the area, and crossing back and forth through the area the doe had been standing, and where she had gone through the bush. Not a drop of blood anywhere. Good. Well, except for the miss. Didn't make my day, if you know what I mean.
I carried on down the way the others had gone, into a flat bit of riverbottom, and spent a couple hours working my way around the perimeter of the bit of land. About 1:00 I headed up towards the truck for some lunch. About this time, I hear the ravens putting out the dinner call.
They are not shy about speaking up when they have a meal sitting, so I was pretty pleased to hear it coming from the same area as I had shot at the doe.
Ayup! Walked into the bush where the ravens had been circling, and almost stepped on the doe. I was able to backtrack her, once I had the tracks that were hers for sure, out of all the tracks in the area. She'd gone in, and done a hard 90 degrees turn, then thundered in facing back the direction she'd come from, just over the rise in the land from where she had run in.
The bullet entered from the front left, trashed her shoulder, broke two ribs, punched through one lung, and carried on through her on the diagonal, coming to rest against the hip bone on her right side. There was exactly one spray of blood, and it was less than a couple yards from where she landed.
It ain't over till it's over!
The birds had pulled a few tufts of hair, but had done no damage and made no mess. All in all, a happy end to this story. For everyone but the doe, anyways.
Not the DRT I'd have preferred, but a successful recovery.
The ravens around there are pretty good at what they do. I've had them actually start stacking up in the trees, waiting for me to finish gutting a buck I shot.
So that was my day. Near three hours of self doubt and second guessing the shot I took, only to find out it was good, and a recovery made.
I think I'll haul my bag of trim and fat up there and leave it for the ravens as payback.
Cheers
Trev
Should post a picture of the shoulder. Never woulda figured a deer would have been able to go anywhere on that one!
