Nice Start to the Pre-Season

[username]

Had the opportunity to do a bit of out of state hunting this September.  Only stags allowed on opening day.

 

Day 1, dawn, Murphy's Law: lots of does and calves inside of 200ya.  Around 10:30am, a nice stag breaks cover at 350ya and chases a few does, nonstop, out to the forestry line at 800ya.  800ya is a bit much for the rest I have, an old cavity block wall covered by a blanket. Bad shot = no shot.

 

Around mid-day, a fox breaks cover around 300ya.  I violate rule #1: always shoot the fox, in the hopes of waiting out a deer or at the very least not spooking them. No luck, roll on dusk, should have taken the fox.

 

Day 2, like clockwork, does and calves at 5:30AM and no bucks.  Around 10:00AM, the cousin decides a 350ya stalk to the stream is in order, hoping to ambush stragglers returning to the forest.  I encourage him to stay put, citing yesterday's timeline. He's having none of it, and goes off for his walk-about.

 

By 10:30am, the cousin is at the stream, carefully working the scrub, which I am glassing, in case one breaks cover on his blindside.

 

10:45, something catches my eye, right in the shooting alley, for which I have prepared.  Two nice stags, tapping,  and they're close to the 400ya mark that I ranged earlier.

 

Firearm on blanket, the distance between my bipod, currently closed, and trigger guard, locks into the width of the cavity block like they were meant for each other.  The 700 is zeroed at 200ya, so the fella with the nice rack, on the left, gets the third hash mark.

 

A bit of mental math, the third cross-hair isn't going to be 400ya, but shorter.  Time for the ballistics calculator?  Time to range them precisely?  N'ah, they're moving and the fella is on the left just went broadside.  All I need is to be accurate, not precise. This is hunting, not competition.  

 

Third hash mark of the E1 reticle is on the heart. 180gr 30-06 SST is chambered, safety off, the 2.5lb Timney breaks, and the cousin hears the most depressing sound of the day, a sonic boom.

 

I ride the recoil and see the drop.  Stag #2 runs to about 425ya and stops, again, broad side.  Doubles are perfectly legal in this neck of the woods.  Hash mark over heart, 100% calm, 100% still.  Holding a bit higher.  However, the second stag gets a pass.  

 

Walking down to find the deer, I range my current position back to where I took the shot.  I am at 370ya, so the search for a trail begins.  10ya more, the search is over. It looks like someone painted the area, deer located at 385ya.

 

One shot, one drop, one happy cousin, and one...

 

After the gralloch, I cut the rear legs as you do for the gambrel.  However, insert the front legs through the incision, making a bambipack.  There's no dragging in this area, only carrying.  Put the rain slick on to keep the ticks at bay.

 

For the life of me, I cannot get this thing up on my shoulders.  Eventually, the cousin arrives, not sure what took him so long!

 

After the trek through the quagmire to get to the green, shown below, I'm tired, to say the least.

 

 

In the end, a great day.  

Edited March 2, 2016 by username

[Rusty]

Nice, that's great !!

 

Ireland?  We went over back in April to visit our son.  

[Rusty]

Did you get to do any fishing or outdoors stuff?  

 

Lots of hiking, it was beautiful.

 

The crazy thing is, there wasn't a cloud in the sky the entire time.  It was bright and sunny every day.  We thought it was great but the locals were all hiding inside, you've never seen so much sunburn in your life.