A whirlwind day and a half hunt!

Zee

My rancher friend has a business partner who brings his son out to hunt every year. This was my third year guiding for him so I had high hopes. 

Our goal was to get this Axis Cull Buck...
....and a whitetail doe. 

Day 1

Thursday evening, we sat in the stand The above pic was taken as that seemed a regular haunt of the buck. He was mostly a morning visiter, but I figured it was still our best chance. 

Then, we got thrown a bonus. Soon after getting in the stand, the young man says, “Hey, there’s a coyote!”
I look out the window and see it trotting across a sendaro about 150 yards away. 

So, we try hot and heavy to kill the yotes on the ranch as they decimated the fawn crop a couple years ago. Daylight opportunities are rare. 

I asses the situation.......hunter still looking with binos.......yote trotting across sendaro.......bad direction for hunter........I reach behind him.........grab his rifle leaning against the wall......stick it out the window.......and drop the yote at 137 yards........all in about 5 seconds. 

“Holly crap!  That was fast!”
”Sorry dude, I couldn’t risk losing him.”


It didn’t totally ruin our hunt. We saw a bunch of deer afterwards, but no axis.  We got down and walked over to the yote. 

It was the mangy buggar I’d been getting pics of.

Interesting how his dying act was to bite his own leg. 

Showed the pic to a buddy and he said, “That’s his ‘Son of a.....’ pose.”

Remington 700
6.5 Creedmoor 
147gr Hornady ELD-Match 

Ernie Bishop

Dead yote is a good yote!

Jayhawker

That's a pretty nasty looking yote..

Never been able to pass up those target of opportunity shots at a coyote...and it never screwed up a deer hunt. I suppose it had a lot to do with the fact that the deer where I hunted heard gunfire all the time..

Zee

Day 2 Morning
We got back in the same stand early Friday morning and waited for enough light. Soon we were seeing whitetail bucks and does. But, I still wanted to wait on the doe until after we got the Axis. A doe should be easy. 

The morning ticked by but I knew the Buck we were after was a late arrival (game cameras help). 

Soon we had a good number of deer around. Including the wide 8 I call “Wide Load” feeding about 50 yards away. 

Then, I looked to my left and saw the Axis we were after!  He was making his way down a narrow sendaro and would pass right next to the blind. 

The hunter was set up to shoot to the right and the buck would be on our left. So, I reached over and repositioned his rifle slowly as the buck was darn near right under us by that point. 

The hunter got behind his rifle and I noticed he didn’t have his ear pro on. I motioned that he might want it (braked rifle) and he took them off his knee. And........turned them on. 

I’d never seen a pair of Bluetoothed ear pro before. But, don’t ever use them for hunting.......that I learned. 

Turning them on, the ear pro starts talking to you about searching for devices and the synchronization......and being connected to his phone. 

Rather loudly!!
Well, Wide Load and the Axis heard that and got spooky. They were looking around nervously and started moving off. 

The hunter then gets on his gun again and pops open his scope caps....”POP!”

That really sets the Axis off and he Grotts forward down the sendaro. 
“You better take him.”
He stops, quartering away.
”TICK!”  The hunter flips off his safety and the buck locks onto us with a “Got’cha!” stare. 

“Take him!”, I whisper. 

BOOM!
His butt drops as the bullet impacts. 

Regaining his feet he lurches forward in a run that tells me his on side shoulder isn’t working correctly. 

He heads for the sendaro I shot the yote on. 

After running down it a ways, he breaks right into the brush. He was running further than I expected but I knew he was hit. So, we decided to wait a bit. Gathered our gear and got down to go to the impact location. 

No blood. No worries, I knew from the video which route he took. We start to follow it. No blood. Continue on to the sendaro he went down. No blood. Get to the point he broke right and I figure he’ll leave blood on the brush he pushed through as it’s really thick. No blood. 

Now I’m worried. I knew he was hit and I hoped he was dead. Not........we had to search. I started crisscrossing through the thick brush as I made my way up the hill. Finally........after about 30+ minutes of beating the black brush so thick I was crawling at times and gaining ample thorns.......I find him stone dead without a drop of blood on him. 

Where he entered the brush (red circle) and and where I found him (yellow arrow). 

The shot was a little high. Clipping the top of the lungs, the bullet lodged in the off side shoulder. Filling the chest cavity  with blood. But, with a small entry and no exit, no external blood. Not expected. Well, persistence paid off and we had our buck. 

Sucker had a life weight of 220 pounds 

And aged at 6 years. 

And the reason for his jacked up right antler with no brow or fork was a jacked up nut. Smaller, fiberous, and hard. Obviously injured at some point and mostly scar tissue. 

Zee

Day 2 Evening
For the evening hunt, I decided to throw up a makeshift blind around the well engine and put corn along the road through the pasture. Deer feed there regularly as we always put corn there. They are well trained. 😁

Like clockwork, after my buddy drove the road putting out corn, a herd of Axis with a big buck came out to feed. A few minutes later a whitetail doe and yearling came out and I said, we would take her. Ranged her at 104 yards and he sent a 147gr ELD-Match into her chest. 

At the shot, she took off running and the hunter said, “I was a little left.”

Fortunately she was quartering away some and the round hit her liver, angled forward, and took out the back of her lungs. Exiting behind the off side shoulder. She only ran about 25-30 yards, stopped, and fell over backwards. Mission accomplished. In about 10 minutes. 😎

Not a bad day and a half. 

Zee

And, his father is supposed to gift me a new Remington 700 Varmint in .220 Swift that he won in a raffle and doesn’t need. That’s kinda cool!

Supposed to pick it up from him later this month when I pass through Houston. 

I am assuming this one, as he said it was about an $800 gun and this is the only model Remington offers in .220 Swift. 

Linefinder

That is a nice looking rifle. Got coyotes written all over it.

Mike

Ernie Bishop

Zee said:

And, his father is supposed to gift me a new Remington 700 Varmint in .220 Swift that he won in a raffle and doesn’t need. That’s kinda cool!

Supposed to pick it up from him later this month when I pass through Houston. 

I am assuming this one, as he said it was about an $800 gun and this is the only model Remington offers in .220 Swift. 

Now, that is cool!

Zee

Already have an HS Precision Varmint Stock, Leupold 4.5-14x scope, rings, bases and trigger sitting on the shelf in the cave without a current use. 

👍🏻👍🏻

The Swift is not a cartridge I would have normally pursued. But, I won’t say no. And I think my boy could have fun with this one. 

Six-Gun

Gifted a rifle?  That's one helluva tip!  Nice work getting the young man on a productive hunt again.

Oh, and as for the 700 Varmint...you're gonna hate the stock (and you already knew that), but it's an easy fix, of course.  No way, I'd be unhappy with it.

Zee

Six-Gun said:

Gifted a rifle?  That's one helluva tip!  Nice work getting the young man on a productive hunt again.

Oh, and as for the 700 Varmint...you're gonna hate the stock (and you already knew that), but it's an easy fix, of course.  No way, I'd be unhappy with it.

Yeah, already have an HS Varmint stock in the Man Cave without a home. It’ll get swapped. 

Diver43

Another well done.

Ernie Bishop

I am not anti-220 Swift or anti-gifted rifle...But it sure would have been great if that was a fast twist barrel.  I am sure your boy can wear that throat out till it needs a new barrel!

Zee

I agree. 

But, I already have an 8T .22-250 Remington, so this’ll cover the other end of the spectrum. 😎

Ernie Bishop

I forgot that you had a fast twist 22-250

Six-Gun

Zee said:

Six-Gun said:

Gifted a rifle?  That's one helluva tip!  Nice work getting the young man on a productive hunt again.

Oh, and as for the 700 Varmint...you're gonna hate the stock (and you already knew that), but it's an easy fix, of course.  No way, I'd be unhappy with it.

Yeah, already have an HS Varmint stock in the Man Cave without a home. It’ll get swapped. 

Absolutely perfect choice.  You actually just got my blood pressure up over the fact that Remington no longer offers a factory option that already includes an H-S Precision stock ala the 700 VSF that I bought years back (and still own).  Such a sad turnabout. 

bellcat

Great hunt!

Zee

On Sunday, we snared the second yote of the duo I’d been getting pics of.
Setting the snare a week ago.  

Got’em yesterday. 

Now he rests in the same pit I got pics of him visiting every night. 

Diver43

Nice. Atleast a fawn saved
Not worried about a deer getting snagged?

Zee

Diver43 said:

Nice. Atleast a fawn saved
Not worried about a deer getting snagged?

Small hole dug under the fence. Deer can’t get through. 

Diver43

Good deal.  A co worker and I are talking about saving fluffy from a coyote or two. Florida makes if difficult though

Zee

Of course. 😒

GunNut

Zee said:

Already have an HS Precision Varmint Stock, Leupold 4.5-14x scope, rings, bases and trigger sitting on the shelf in the cave without a current use. 

👍🏻👍🏻

The Swift is not a cartridge I would have normally pursued. But, I won’t say no. And I think my boy could have fun with this one. 

That ought to make a heck of a rig! 

jbp-ohio

An outdoor shop the next county over is having a coyote tournament the month of February. Old friend of mine is leading. 46#.........

Zee

Nice!

Zee

We ate the hearts of the Axis and Whitetail last night. With a side of Axis Nuts as well.

Six-Gun

You're clearly having...a ball.

Zee

Picked up the .220 Swift yesterday. 😁
:popcorn:

Ernie Bishop

Awesome!