Jordan Smith
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Calgary, AB
Almost each day that I've spent hunting over the last 2 years was to help new hunters get started with their first deer. I also have passed up many 3 and 4 point bucks in the last couple of years, and last year I ate tag soup because I refused to shoot a deer that didn't meet my criteria. I guess that earned me some good karma, because I sure cashed in this past Saturday.
I was out with a few hunting buddies, one of them being new, and I was trying to help the new guy get a deer. Well, about 2 hours before dark, the new guy and another friend decide to enter the bush and still hunt for a while. I figured that I'd go around to a small funnel where I know the deer travel when they're being pushed or flushed by unsuspecting hunters. The 4th guy came with me. We went to a spot where the woods meet a large farmer's field. There's a small strip of bush about 40 yards out in the field that runs parallel to the edge of where the woods meet the field. We took our stand right on the edge of that strip of bush. After sitting for no more than 10 minutes, I hear 2 shots coming from the area that the other 2 guys were hunting in. I figured they had a deer down, and I just sat and waited for a few minutes to see if anything would come out.
All of a sudden, my friend whispers loudly "There's a coyote!" I look to my right and there's a coyote at about 30 yards sneaking along the edge of the strip of bush, coming right for us. He must have heard the whipering and he darted across the 40 yards of field into the woods. About 10 yards before he got to the woods, I put a 130gr GS Custom HV into him from my .280, and he rolled around in the woods and lay still. Then my buddy whispers again "another coyote!" This one jumped from the strip of bush and was running away from us into the field. By the time I got turned around and into position, he was about 500 yards out and sprinting directly away. I cranked up the Vortex Viper 3-9x40 to 9x, and took a poke at him on the run, but missed. My heart was racing, since these were some NICE coyotes. They looked like running balls of fur, and the 2nd one (which I missed) had a nice reddish hue.
About 30 seconds later, my friend again whipers "hey, there's deer!" He was obviously sitting on the side nearest the area the other 2 hunters were still hunting in, and was seeing each animal as it flushed into the field and ran along the edge of the strip of bush. I looked over and saw a doe heading right for us at 20 yards. She heard him whisper and cut hard into the strip of bush and then out into the field running as fast as she could. I ran through the strip, which was no more than 10 yards of bush and got set up for a shot offhand. She exited the bush and ran by me at 40 yards broadside. I was about to get the crosshairs on her, when a buck runs out of the bush chasing the doe. He was 30 yards from me, sprinting full throttle broadside, so I didn't have time to count tines or estimate spread. I simply saw a bush on his head and decided that I had finally found a shooter. I pulled up the scope (which was still on 9x!), and squeezed one off. "CLICK!" When I reloaded after shooting the coyote, the bolt failed to pick up a live cartridge from the magazine, and I was shooting on an empty chamber. I quickly fumbled with the action, clearing a jammed shell. The buck was now 120 yards out, running full throttle away from me at about a 45 degree angle. I got the rifle loaded and ready and threw the scope to my eye. It was still on 9x. All I could see was a patch of the buck's shoulder. I settled the crosshairs about 1.5 feet in front of his shoulder and fired. Immediately after the thunder of the rifle subsided, I heard the tell-tale "thwap!", and see the buck do an instant nose dive, skidding to a stop.
As my friend and I walked up to the deer, with every 20 yards closer we got, the buck just kept on growing. He got bigger and bigger, until finally we arrived at the deer and just stood there in shock. He was the biggest WT I had ever seen while holding a rifle in my hand.
After dressing him, we got him home and hung him up in the garage. He easily bottomed-out the 224lbs scale that I have, so he is well over that weight, field-dressed. I did a little digging around in the wound channel, and saw that the bullet had impacted the on-side "rear shoulder"
, penetrated through the tenderloins, through the liver, wrecked the lungs, and punched a hole through the off-side ribs, immediately behind the off-side front leg. There was an exit hole in the hide, but as I was feeling around, I felt a little lump. I dug out the remains of the bullet - which still had 99 of its original 130gr, for 76% weight retention.
I'm quite happy with him. Now I need to get a couple more young hunters onto their first deer, find myself a MD buck to fill my drawn tag, and off to hunt late-season elk in January. Life is good, and it's a good year for deer in AB.
These are just crappy iPhone pics which don't do him justice, but you get the idea.
First approach:
And one for perspective. The body size of the 2 average deer in the back and the yearling in the front, compared to the buck. His hocks are on the same level as the rafters, and his nose is a couple of inches off the ground...
I know you guys like boolit pics:
For anybody interested in this sort of thing, I put a tape to him Sunday night, and he grossed 175 as a typical rack, and netted 162. As a non-typical he taped out at 175 4/8. That 6th point on the right antler keeps him out of the all-time typical category. I probably wouldn't have entered him, regardless, I'm just a curious sort.
I was out with a few hunting buddies, one of them being new, and I was trying to help the new guy get a deer. Well, about 2 hours before dark, the new guy and another friend decide to enter the bush and still hunt for a while. I figured that I'd go around to a small funnel where I know the deer travel when they're being pushed or flushed by unsuspecting hunters. The 4th guy came with me. We went to a spot where the woods meet a large farmer's field. There's a small strip of bush about 40 yards out in the field that runs parallel to the edge of where the woods meet the field. We took our stand right on the edge of that strip of bush. After sitting for no more than 10 minutes, I hear 2 shots coming from the area that the other 2 guys were hunting in. I figured they had a deer down, and I just sat and waited for a few minutes to see if anything would come out.
All of a sudden, my friend whispers loudly "There's a coyote!" I look to my right and there's a coyote at about 30 yards sneaking along the edge of the strip of bush, coming right for us. He must have heard the whipering and he darted across the 40 yards of field into the woods. About 10 yards before he got to the woods, I put a 130gr GS Custom HV into him from my .280, and he rolled around in the woods and lay still. Then my buddy whispers again "another coyote!" This one jumped from the strip of bush and was running away from us into the field. By the time I got turned around and into position, he was about 500 yards out and sprinting directly away. I cranked up the Vortex Viper 3-9x40 to 9x, and took a poke at him on the run, but missed. My heart was racing, since these were some NICE coyotes. They looked like running balls of fur, and the 2nd one (which I missed) had a nice reddish hue.
About 30 seconds later, my friend again whipers "hey, there's deer!" He was obviously sitting on the side nearest the area the other 2 hunters were still hunting in, and was seeing each animal as it flushed into the field and ran along the edge of the strip of bush. I looked over and saw a doe heading right for us at 20 yards. She heard him whisper and cut hard into the strip of bush and then out into the field running as fast as she could. I ran through the strip, which was no more than 10 yards of bush and got set up for a shot offhand. She exited the bush and ran by me at 40 yards broadside. I was about to get the crosshairs on her, when a buck runs out of the bush chasing the doe. He was 30 yards from me, sprinting full throttle broadside, so I didn't have time to count tines or estimate spread. I simply saw a bush on his head and decided that I had finally found a shooter. I pulled up the scope (which was still on 9x!), and squeezed one off. "CLICK!" When I reloaded after shooting the coyote, the bolt failed to pick up a live cartridge from the magazine, and I was shooting on an empty chamber. I quickly fumbled with the action, clearing a jammed shell. The buck was now 120 yards out, running full throttle away from me at about a 45 degree angle. I got the rifle loaded and ready and threw the scope to my eye. It was still on 9x. All I could see was a patch of the buck's shoulder. I settled the crosshairs about 1.5 feet in front of his shoulder and fired. Immediately after the thunder of the rifle subsided, I heard the tell-tale "thwap!", and see the buck do an instant nose dive, skidding to a stop.
As my friend and I walked up to the deer, with every 20 yards closer we got, the buck just kept on growing. He got bigger and bigger, until finally we arrived at the deer and just stood there in shock. He was the biggest WT I had ever seen while holding a rifle in my hand.
After dressing him, we got him home and hung him up in the garage. He easily bottomed-out the 224lbs scale that I have, so he is well over that weight, field-dressed. I did a little digging around in the wound channel, and saw that the bullet had impacted the on-side "rear shoulder"
, penetrated through the tenderloins, through the liver, wrecked the lungs, and punched a hole through the off-side ribs, immediately behind the off-side front leg. There was an exit hole in the hide, but as I was feeling around, I felt a little lump. I dug out the remains of the bullet - which still had 99 of its original 130gr, for 76% weight retention.I'm quite happy with him. Now I need to get a couple more young hunters onto their first deer, find myself a MD buck to fill my drawn tag, and off to hunt late-season elk in January. Life is good, and it's a good year for deer in AB.
These are just crappy iPhone pics which don't do him justice, but you get the idea.
First approach:
And one for perspective. The body size of the 2 average deer in the back and the yearling in the front, compared to the buck. His hocks are on the same level as the rafters, and his nose is a couple of inches off the ground...
I know you guys like boolit pics:
For anybody interested in this sort of thing, I put a tape to him Sunday night, and he grossed 175 as a typical rack, and netted 162. As a non-typical he taped out at 175 4/8. That 6th point on the right antler keeps him out of the all-time typical category. I probably wouldn't have entered him, regardless, I'm just a curious sort.
