Day 2 Evening hunt continuedI settle the gun back on where the buck had been and I see nothing, my heart started to sink. Damn, I missed him, you had ONE job and you muffed it!
I hear Ben say "NICE SHOT! You drilled him, Dropped him like a rock!" I keep looking and start to see a small bush moving where the buck had been, I tell Ben he might still be there, so I rack another round and stay on the movement. After less than a minute the movement stops and the shakes begin. I had my very 1st deer down, my second game animal ever, with what ended up being a 450yrd shot using a round that I had made thru a suppressor I had made. I give Ben a big handshake and hug and we are both all smiles. I was trying to show Ben the drop calculation on my phone and my hand was shaking so bad we could not read it! We hastily mark the spot we saw him go down. I take a few pictures of the area he was in for visual confirmation and we pack up and haul to the truck, it is 5pm as we leave the spot I took the shot from. The guys by our parked truck are there glassing the far slope and ask if that shot they heard was us we say "yup, shot a little forky." They congratulate us as we throw gear into the truck and head out, the light is fading FAST. We get down below and visually see the approximate area and realize it is close to the road! I strip my pack of all my gear, down to all but my "kill kit" and bust out into the hills. 100yrds of zigzagging later we have him. Unfortunately, in his thrashing he had rolled into a cactus and had quills all over his head which stabbed Ben when he grabbed an ear to turn him around. He also flopped and had bled all over himself. I did not take pictures, he was just a total mess and hunters have enough issues without showing pictures of bloody harvest animals, and he was just a dinky fork on one side, spike on the other. A quick gut and we each take a pair of legs and pick him up as we walk back toward the road. Did I tell you these are small buggers, maybe 100# tops before gutting? We literally could carry him with one hand each. Back tracking a little we realize that we are actually only 50yrds from the road. The pair of hunters from up top had called it an evening as well and came down to see what we had gotten. More congratulations and we all got on our way and lifted him into the truck.
We sat around at the truck waiting for the other pair to arrive back from their deeper hunt and were treated to a beautiful sunset.
It is dark as they walk up. We put on our poker faces and engage in the normal post hunt chit chat, did you see anything, what area did you settle in, did you hear any shots? They mentioned hearing a shot that sounded odd and they could not place the location at the time. About that time one of them went to throw their backpack in the bed of the truck and it made no sound as it landed on the deer, they look in the bed shocked and we all had a good laugh recounting the hunt.
Once back at camp the real fun begins. One of the other members starts walking thru breaking down the deer since it was my 1st. We skin back a side, he outlines muscle groups and cut points, tendons to cut that release joints and in short order the shoulder and rear qtr are off. Backstraps next and then he worked on some rib and neck meat. These are so tiny with so little meat we grabbed every little scrap possible. We flipped the deer over and I worked on the opposite side. We left the qtrs Bone in for now and got them on ice. Tenderloins came out last when they were easier to get to.
Happiness is the end of a hunt with bloody boots and a single spent case.
To be continued…
