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Boy’s 1st deer with a Pistol!!
Well, a lot went into this one. Load work for reduced loads in the .308 Win BASP and .30-30 Contender Pistol. Then, getting the .308 threaded to accept a brake and reduce the recoil even more. Not to mention the practice through the spring and summer with the Ruger Charger Pistol, Contender, and .308 SP!
It all paid off.
Went out yesterday evening and saw nothing but big bucks and only a few of them. Moon probably had them moving late. Sunset was awesome, though. A good time in the stand.
So, we got up early and we’re in the stand an hour before sunrise. Making sure everything had time to calm down after our approach. A foggy morning, the deer moved late. It wasn’t until 7:30 that a 4 Point and 2 does came out. I was eyeballing the does and trying to decide which one to take when a spike came out. BINGO!! There was our target. Seeing as we were culling with MLD Permits, that boy had to go.
Well, that began a 30 minute ordeal of trying to get on him with the gun, him standing just right, clear of deer and brush, not moving. Then everything would start over again! My boy was a trooper.
He has shot 8 deer so far, I think. But, this was his first case of “Buck Fever” this morning. I mean, he had the shakes, the jitters, racing heart, everything! He even said halfway through trying to get this deer shot, “My arms feel like jello they are shaking so hard!”
But, he stuck with it and the buck finally stood broadside. Clear from the others. My boy said, “Ready!” And I said, “Send it!”
BOOM!
The gun went off and the blast from inside the blind with a muzzle brake was intense! Good thing for ear pro!
The buck jumped and took off in a semi circle stumbling the whole way. I could see blood pouring out the off side. After a 46 yard run, he flipped over and came to a rest on a two track he was running down.
He was standing behind and to the right of the feeder. At the shot, he ran right. Then, circled around to his left, along the brush line, fell in the two track behind and to the left of the feeder. You can see his white belly in the gap in the brush, left of the feeder.
This is our set up. He sat next to me until it was go time and then he sat in my lap to aim and shoot so as I could coach and spot for him over his right shoulder.
Worked out perfectly.
My my dad was able to be with us in the stand. Three generations of hunters were present for my boy’s first deer with a pistol.
He has been practicing with the reduced 110gr Varmegeddon load. Well, I slipped a reduced 125gr SST load in the chamber without him knowing. While reduced, it’s still about 300 fps faster than the Varmegeddon load. He never knew the difference. I’m sure the deer did, though.
It all paid off.
Went out yesterday evening and saw nothing but big bucks and only a few of them. Moon probably had them moving late. Sunset was awesome, though. A good time in the stand.
So, we got up early and we’re in the stand an hour before sunrise. Making sure everything had time to calm down after our approach. A foggy morning, the deer moved late. It wasn’t until 7:30 that a 4 Point and 2 does came out. I was eyeballing the does and trying to decide which one to take when a spike came out. BINGO!! There was our target. Seeing as we were culling with MLD Permits, that boy had to go.
Well, that began a 30 minute ordeal of trying to get on him with the gun, him standing just right, clear of deer and brush, not moving. Then everything would start over again! My boy was a trooper.
He has shot 8 deer so far, I think. But, this was his first case of “Buck Fever” this morning. I mean, he had the shakes, the jitters, racing heart, everything! He even said halfway through trying to get this deer shot, “My arms feel like jello they are shaking so hard!”
But, he stuck with it and the buck finally stood broadside. Clear from the others. My boy said, “Ready!” And I said, “Send it!”
BOOM!
The gun went off and the blast from inside the blind with a muzzle brake was intense! Good thing for ear pro!
The buck jumped and took off in a semi circle stumbling the whole way. I could see blood pouring out the off side. After a 46 yard run, he flipped over and came to a rest on a two track he was running down.
He was standing behind and to the right of the feeder. At the shot, he ran right. Then, circled around to his left, along the brush line, fell in the two track behind and to the left of the feeder. You can see his white belly in the gap in the brush, left of the feeder.
This is our set up. He sat next to me until it was go time and then he sat in my lap to aim and shoot so as I could coach and spot for him over his right shoulder.
Worked out perfectly.
My my dad was able to be with us in the stand. Three generations of hunters were present for my boy’s first deer with a pistol.
He has been practicing with the reduced 110gr Varmegeddon load. Well, I slipped a reduced 125gr SST load in the chamber without him knowing. While reduced, it’s still about 300 fps faster than the Varmegeddon load. He never knew the difference. I’m sure the deer did, though.
"To Hell with efficiency, it's performance we want!" - Elmer Keith
Replies
Well damn. If he didn’t listen.
Entrance.
Exit.
I told my boy to pose for an obligatory “poke the eye to be sure” pose you see in all the hunting shows.
“Uh, from the time down, the blood trail leading up to the carnage at the scene.........he’s dead, Jim.”
When I walked up to the POI, this is what I found on the ground.
And a couple steps later.
Apparently filled with ****, the growth exploded on impact and shot milky substance out the exit side. The entire blood trail was a mixture of blood and ****. All the way to the deer.
"The Un-Tactical"
The growth was attached to the side of the ridcage and had engulfed the deer’s left lung. Normally, I can cut the esophagus and arteries, then just pull the thoracic organs right out. But, this growth has such a hold on the ribs that I had to cut them out.
Obviously it was full of something that drained as the bullet passed through.
Any my thoughts on what it could have been to be inside the chest cavity, so large, and to have engulfed the lung so much?
Exit through the mass on the left side.
Under the mass.
Exit under hide.
The slowed down SST was not as dramatic but I expected that. Between good shot placement and enough expansion, it did the job.
His next pistol hunt hunt will be with the .30-30 Contender and the 110gr Varmegeddon bullet.
Will be interesting to see the comparrison.
The meat is in a cooler with ice. Gonna ask the local vet and show them the pics tomorrow. See what they say and recommend.
https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79136_79608_85016-99064--,00.html
I wonder if the deer had something pierce his rib cage at some point that got some cootie growing in there. Remember your pimple shot from a couple years back? BLECH!
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
"The Un-Tactical"
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
JAY