I drew a doe LEH this year so I decided to try to make the hunt a bit more interesting. Nothing could ever come close to the Epic Flatops and Fireballs adventure that Tod Bartell and I embarked on in our youth, but I wanted it more interesting than driving around in a pick up then blasting a doe with a 300 Winchester Magnum using a 180gr Power Point.
I was short on time, so I asked Bartell to QL some data for my Tavor and the 62gr TTSX bullet. He sent back the info and instead of my usual proper load work up procedure I just loaded a few rounds to work up and make sure pressure was fine then zeroed the Vortex Viper red dot sight at 100m and went hunting. Any buck season was open too, so I jumped into the Honda SXS and headed up the hills. My plan was to drive up and creep the timber and shoot the first buck or doe I saw.
I parked the 4 wheel contraption and scurried off into the timber. It was still pretty dark,but legal shooting hours. What's that? Big bodied buck, right off the bat. Can't see his his antlers yet and he's clearly busted me, I don't have a shot through the timber in the dark and he slips away silently. No snort, so he's not really freaked out, just not into me.
Nothing happens the rest of the morning so I go back for lunch and head out in the afternoon. Bumped into a buddy who mentioned he had seen some does in the area, so I figure I might get lucky one way or the other. I'm only hunting for a short while and I see a lone, big bodied doe. She's standing about 50 yards away, near a bit of a gully, it's pouring rain and I don't want to drag her out of there. So I take a high shoulder shot. BOOM FLOP! Legs in air. Lights out. I go get the SXS. By the time I'm done recovery, cleaning and loading her, every bit of me is soaking wet.
I was able to load her right up, she wasn't far from a skidder road, so I hung her whole. Very rare for me, most deer get done gutless method then get backpacked out of the woods. Here are some bullet performance pics for those inclined.
Entry
Exit (sorry about the pic)
It's what's inside that counts!
Tenderloin :
I was short on time, so I asked Bartell to QL some data for my Tavor and the 62gr TTSX bullet. He sent back the info and instead of my usual proper load work up procedure I just loaded a few rounds to work up and make sure pressure was fine then zeroed the Vortex Viper red dot sight at 100m and went hunting. Any buck season was open too, so I jumped into the Honda SXS and headed up the hills. My plan was to drive up and creep the timber and shoot the first buck or doe I saw.
I parked the 4 wheel contraption and scurried off into the timber. It was still pretty dark,but legal shooting hours. What's that? Big bodied buck, right off the bat. Can't see his his antlers yet and he's clearly busted me, I don't have a shot through the timber in the dark and he slips away silently. No snort, so he's not really freaked out, just not into me.
Nothing happens the rest of the morning so I go back for lunch and head out in the afternoon. Bumped into a buddy who mentioned he had seen some does in the area, so I figure I might get lucky one way or the other. I'm only hunting for a short while and I see a lone, big bodied doe. She's standing about 50 yards away, near a bit of a gully, it's pouring rain and I don't want to drag her out of there. So I take a high shoulder shot. BOOM FLOP! Legs in air. Lights out. I go get the SXS. By the time I'm done recovery, cleaning and loading her, every bit of me is soaking wet.
I was able to load her right up, she wasn't far from a skidder road, so I hung her whole. Very rare for me, most deer get done gutless method then get backpacked out of the woods. Here are some bullet performance pics for those inclined.
Entry
Exit (sorry about the pic)
It's what's inside that counts!
Tenderloin :
