Post by: Odell on December 06, 2011, 04:52:52 PM
I decided to try muzzy hunting for the first time for a couple reasons, I like trying new things and I have access to about 700 acres in 382 where there is a late general muzzy season. I thought it might be fun to hunt the rut and maybe even hunt in snow, something I had always wanted to do. I normally hunt archery and spend lots of time swatting bees off me.
Well the big fire out that way had my landowner nervous so I didn't hunt the early season at all. Not a problem, because I drew the second deer tag for that late time period and thought I would just make one trip of it.
I borrowed a Thompson Northwest Explorer .50 cal and started to get familiar with it. First time shooting it I couldn't hit paper at 100 yards and we only had the few rounds that the guy had included in the gear he loaned. I headed off to the store to get what I needed. Interestingly, I have never seen a method of hunting that has such a variety of opinions on what is the "right way to do it" Just about everyone has a different loading, hunting and equipment idea that they swear is the best. I learned it takes lots of experimentation to find out what works for you.
Next time at the range I start at 50, work back to 25 and finally am shooting bulls at 25 when I break the jag off and screw up the ramrod. This is the day before I am going hunting (late I know). I head out to Goldendale unsure of my weapon's accuracy beyond 25 yards. This has me VERY uncomfortable. I decide to hunt the morning and try to fill the doe tag and to treat it like my bow, I won't shoot past 50 yards and if it is dead on at 25, how much can it be off at 50?
The morning is perfect, cold and 6 inches of fresh dry powder snow. Cutting fresh tracks is fun! I find two does bedded down, they stand up when I get to 40 yards. BOOM! No deer. Find another doe, 37 yards. BOOM. no deer. Find a third doe 45 yards. BOOM. no deer. This is ridiculous.
The nice thing about fresh powder snow is you can be absolutely sure have missed. I decide that hunting like this is pointless and making me uncomfortable ethically. I string up a 10 x 10 tarp with paper in the middle so it will make figuring out where I am hitting easier. Still dead on 25, 3 FT HIGH at 50.
Well, I'm not sure how to deal with it, but I get it on paper and head back out.
Next doe is 65 yards. BOOM! Clearly hit, but I don't like the way she runs off. We head over to where she was when I shot her and I find some guts in with the blood. I decide to give her two hours.
We come back and track her in the snow. Find her very much alive but not wanting to move. I finish her off and celebrate my first muzzy kill and am happy that I didn't lose a deer.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi74.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi255%2FOdell_21%2FBig%2520Game%2Fphoto.jpg&hash=4e7ebf2f8d7e60d5d5071d6a23565eb896b3316a)
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These pics make her look smaller than she is, but she wasn't huge. I don't care, meat in the freezer and I'm less frustrated than I was earlier. One thing is bugging me...in all the sighting in I had many hang fires and the BOOM when it came, was always delayed...pop...boom... When I pull the trigger i am praying it goes off.
My dad and I drive through the big field up to what I call the orchard (all small oaks, they love the acorns). I drag her out and we are both standing there talking when I hear a deer bleat. I look up and see a big buck coming in on a rope...wow, so this is what they do in the rut? He bleats, I reload...he hears me on the ramrod but doesn't seem to care...Is he charging us? At 20 yards I finish reloading, he scurries to the right and stops broadside at 35 yards. He is a big tall 3x3 with decent mass and good eye guards. One of two deer I had seen that I was hoping to get.
I pull the trigger. pop. no boom. I try another cap, he jumped out to 45 yards. pop. no boom. He has had enough and hightails it out of there. I decide I can't deal with this gun and head home. I'll come back when its working. :bash:
Post by: Odell on December 06, 2011, 05:03:22 PM
No snow left, but it helps me that the deer are back in their normal spot. I chase them around all day but don't find any legal shooters. I have one area left where I saw 2 bigger bucks when I pulled in but left them for the next day.
Up early and sneaking down through the timber to get to the edge of the field. Several forks and does and some more deer feeding that I can't see. They keep jumping around and scattering, I figure a bigger buck is chasing tail...sure enough he appears. Not the buck I wanted originally but the buck I am going to take.
I get within 150 yards and decide I can't get closer. Wind is iffy and cover has run out. Sometimes the deer have to help you out. Sure enough, he chases all of them right at me and to my left into the pines. Just enough of a cut in the hill for me to hunker over without being seen. I see ears coming at me through the timber, and a small spike is working his way back to the field, right by me. He passes at 15 yards, sees me, but doesn't know what to doe. We have a 5 minute standoff that seems like 20. He wanders down back toward the field.
My knees are aching so I slowly start to get up and I see the bigger buck. I range him (habit as a bowhunter) but clearly he is in range. 56 yards broadside, I pull the trigger and sure enough it goes boom. As the smoke clears I see him moseying away.
Did I miss again! Nope, wrong deer. I work my way over. I walk right by him because I'm an idiot and distracted by the other deer and still think I missed. Half hour later I work slowly back and see him piled up. He only went 15 yards and I have no idea how I walked by him.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi74.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi255%2FOdell_21%2FBig%2520Game%2Fphoto-3.jpg&hash=6112fe2d532e428b79dbcb44c79471c22fbfa68d)
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Kind of a cool buck, not very big but top 5 in the deer I've taken off this place. I like the crab claw and the broken second eye guards. He is unique....also tasty.
I know I'm longwinded, but the upside is I only kill a few animals a year so you won't have to read a post for awhile.
Cheers.
Post by: BENCHLEG on December 06, 2011, 05:21:19 PM
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Post by: bobcat on December 06, 2011, 06:39:06 PM
Post by: Odell on December 06, 2011, 08:37:10 PM
Glad your hunt ended up successful. But I'd really like to know how your borrowed gun could be dead on at 25 yards and 3 feet high at 50. Just doesn't make sense. I could see 3 inches but not 3 feet.
It made no sense to me but it was happening. I talked to the guy who I borrowed it from and he told me if I used the sights normally it should be very high. He had sighted them in to 'perch'...