Pictures at the end:
Today was opening day for deer in zone 310. My son-in-law drew a mulie buck tag and made good on it today no more than 3 minutes after season was legally opened. He had taken his first deer, a doe two years ago while hunting with his dad. It was my turn to share in his excitment. We had done our pre-season scouting and spotted a couple of herds within a short 15 minute drive from home.
We were moving into position a good 1 hour before legal shooting light. Hunkered down in the deep grass, the wind was to our face as the weatherman had predicted. As we made our final approach, the wind shifted to our back...rats, well this is Chinook country after all. We quickly moved into a deep ravine to hopefully cover our scent. We continued our approach towards the expected location and hunkered down once again to await the next 15 minutes to legal shooting light. We finally decided to stand up and have a look-see. A buck was facing us, obviously had seen us or picked up our scent, I don't know for sure. I stood back about 10 yards from the son-in-law and told him to stand up and look for himself and make a decision. The buck was no more than 50 yards away, he took aim for what seemed an eternity. The little Stevens 200, 7mm-08's report was nothing more than a "pop". The deer turned and ran but I could tell that he wasn't going far. He made 40 yards and collapsed. I know he was using some kind of Federal Premium ammo, not sure which, but the bullet totally destroyed the heart, clipped a lung, made a downward turn and absolutely missed the paunch.
Anyhow, I had told my wife that we would be home by 10:00am for breakfast, we were home with deer hanging and skinned by 9:30am. I think I was more excited that he was.
Edit: if the buck's eyes don't look right, it's because the camera flash made them look kinda ghoolish, I had to doctor that up a bit.
Today was opening day for deer in zone 310. My son-in-law drew a mulie buck tag and made good on it today no more than 3 minutes after season was legally opened. He had taken his first deer, a doe two years ago while hunting with his dad. It was my turn to share in his excitment. We had done our pre-season scouting and spotted a couple of herds within a short 15 minute drive from home.
We were moving into position a good 1 hour before legal shooting light. Hunkered down in the deep grass, the wind was to our face as the weatherman had predicted. As we made our final approach, the wind shifted to our back...rats, well this is Chinook country after all. We quickly moved into a deep ravine to hopefully cover our scent. We continued our approach towards the expected location and hunkered down once again to await the next 15 minutes to legal shooting light. We finally decided to stand up and have a look-see. A buck was facing us, obviously had seen us or picked up our scent, I don't know for sure. I stood back about 10 yards from the son-in-law and told him to stand up and look for himself and make a decision. The buck was no more than 50 yards away, he took aim for what seemed an eternity. The little Stevens 200, 7mm-08's report was nothing more than a "pop". The deer turned and ran but I could tell that he wasn't going far. He made 40 yards and collapsed. I know he was using some kind of Federal Premium ammo, not sure which, but the bullet totally destroyed the heart, clipped a lung, made a downward turn and absolutely missed the paunch.
Anyhow, I had told my wife that we would be home by 10:00am for breakfast, we were home with deer hanging and skinned by 9:30am. I think I was more excited that he was.
Edit: if the buck's eyes don't look right, it's because the camera flash made them look kinda ghoolish, I had to doctor that up a bit.
Last edited:
