I'm happy to say, I took my first deer on Friday! I got a medium size Whitetail doe.
The day began with my hunting partner and I heading out to the Jumping Pound area (approx 100km west of cowtown) to a meadow we'd scouted earlier. The sun came up and nothing. So we pushed bush for a few hours without seeing anything. Lot's of tracks, but no Bambi.
We headed back towards my hunting partner's acreage close to Cochrane. We had permission to hunt a couple quarters that have some nice Willow thickets. My parter goes in first with his bow while I hang out just above the thicket to get anything that comes out (I'm using a 30/30 Lever). About two minutes later ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!!! On the west side of the thicket, about 8 WT came runnning out. All does from what I could tell. At the same time 2 Mule deer run out of the East side of the thicket. A beauty buck and a decent doe. I passed on all the shots, as they would have been rushed. The buck stopped in perfect range but I only had doe tags. So they all got away. I was pissed off!
So we regroup a couple hundred meters away and have a bite to eat. As we're eating, one of the WT does comes back into the thicket. It's getting late in the afternoon by this time, so we figure we'll try for her one last time. My turn to push the thicket. My buddy sets up about 200 yards away (he's using a scoped .308). A few minute into pushing, he pipes up on the radio that the doe is out of the thicket on the West edge, I'm still on the East side. He can't get a shot so he tells me to hurry up and get to the other side.
I got to the West edge as fast as I could (thick bush!!). She was standing about 75 yards away, slighty up hill. I dropped to one knee and lined her up (open sights). At this point I was out of breath and excited! I must have waited at least a minute until I could get my breathing under control. She just stood there, looking in the general direction of my buddy up the hill. She didn't even see (or smell) me! The shot was perfect, so I took it. She dropped, bucked up, ran about 5 yards then dropped for good. Double lung with a bit of heart. I'm sooo glad I didn't rush the shot. It ended up perfect!
What a great day! Lot's of walking, but it was all worth it in the end. Pics will follow once my buddy sends them to me.
The day began with my hunting partner and I heading out to the Jumping Pound area (approx 100km west of cowtown) to a meadow we'd scouted earlier. The sun came up and nothing. So we pushed bush for a few hours without seeing anything. Lot's of tracks, but no Bambi.
We headed back towards my hunting partner's acreage close to Cochrane. We had permission to hunt a couple quarters that have some nice Willow thickets. My parter goes in first with his bow while I hang out just above the thicket to get anything that comes out (I'm using a 30/30 Lever). About two minutes later ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!!! On the west side of the thicket, about 8 WT came runnning out. All does from what I could tell. At the same time 2 Mule deer run out of the East side of the thicket. A beauty buck and a decent doe. I passed on all the shots, as they would have been rushed. The buck stopped in perfect range but I only had doe tags. So they all got away. I was pissed off!
So we regroup a couple hundred meters away and have a bite to eat. As we're eating, one of the WT does comes back into the thicket. It's getting late in the afternoon by this time, so we figure we'll try for her one last time. My turn to push the thicket. My buddy sets up about 200 yards away (he's using a scoped .308). A few minute into pushing, he pipes up on the radio that the doe is out of the thicket on the West edge, I'm still on the East side. He can't get a shot so he tells me to hurry up and get to the other side.
I got to the West edge as fast as I could (thick bush!!). She was standing about 75 yards away, slighty up hill. I dropped to one knee and lined her up (open sights). At this point I was out of breath and excited! I must have waited at least a minute until I could get my breathing under control. She just stood there, looking in the general direction of my buddy up the hill. She didn't even see (or smell) me! The shot was perfect, so I took it. She dropped, bucked up, ran about 5 yards then dropped for good. Double lung with a bit of heart. I'm sooo glad I didn't rush the shot. It ended up perfect!
What a great day! Lot's of walking, but it was all worth it in the end. Pics will follow once my buddy sends them to me.
