Methow Successes

[.280Lady]

The Methow was good to me this year. I was able to harvest two deer on opening day .  It all started back when the draw results were posted and I was selected for two deer tags, a late Palouse Whitetail hunt and a second deer tag for the Methow. I was lucky enough to get permission to hunt a great piece of land in Carlton that held a lot of deer.  We left town at about 4am opening day which put us on the Eastside at 7am, a little later than we would have liked.  There was concern that all the deer might have bedded down by then, especially since it was pouring the rain.  When we arrived, Justin glassed the hillside and not a minute later spotted a doe feeding in the sage brush.  I believed my biggest challenge would be to find a doe without a fawn so I was relieved to see she was alone.  We got our things together and began our pursuit.  When we got about 300 yards from her she began to notice us and would take a look at us between feedings.  We discussed several different plans to sneak closer to her without spooking her and decided it would be best to take the shot from where we were at.  It was 260 yards which was the farthest I have ever shot.  So I sat down with a good rest and it took me about a minute to calm down and be still. I was so excited!! Because of the distance, I chose to put the cross hairs behind her front shoulder and BANG it was all over with one shot.  It was an amazing morning! We were eating breakfast by 9am with a deer in the back of the truck opening day.  It doesn't get any better than that…or so I thought. 

Then came this weekend…

Again, it was opening day and we were headed over to the Eastside.  I brought my gun and tag just in case there was a deer I couldn’t pass up.  We hiked in to our spot in the dark which put us at a good glassing position at daylight.  It was like deja vu. Immediately, Justin was spotting deer everywhere.  Across the next ridge we paid close attention to a particular heard of deer. We watched for a couple minutes in disbelief as two of them were riled up sparing and we realized there were 8 legal bucks!  I couldn’t believe it!!  We decided to make a plan of pursuit and made our way down to the bottom of the hill and back up the other side. Right before we reached the top we talked about who was going to take the shot. Justin wanted me to take the shot if there was a big enough one in the group. I had never shot a mule deer buck before and this was my chance.  I didn’t even have to think twice…of course I would shoot it!! Justin predicted the deer would be in the draw right below us and I prepared by getting the gun on a rest. I watched through the cross hairs as the deer filed out from the trees and sure enough here came a nice 3 x 4 with eye guards at 120 yards.  He stopped broadside and I shot him in the front shoulder. All the deer ran up the hillside and continued to feed including the buck I had just shot, only he was limping around behind a doe and we lost sight of him.  We decided to give him a minute and then hiked up to where they headed.  By the time we spotted him again he was about 500 yards away and we had to make another stalk on him.  We snuck through the draw and were able to get about 30 yards when I made another shot in his neck and he dropped.  I couldn’t believe how it all unfolded. What a morning!! Even though I gave up my opportunity to hunt a rutting whitetail, I wouldn’t trade this hunt for anything!  I had just killed a trophy in my eyes and put some more deer meat in the freezer! That was the 12th buck Justin’s family has taken out of there. Now I really feel like I’m part of the family Thanks babe for another amazing experience in the outdoors!! I couldn’t have done it with out you. I owe you big time for packing that WHOLE deer out of there almost 6 miles.

P.S. We later found out the first bullet had exploded and there were bullet fragments all over the leg and chest with zero penetration into the core of the animal.   

~Jenna

[Bearhunter]

Nice first post .280lady, nice deer!!  Sucks you guys live so far away now!!

[Dmanmastertracker]

 Your putting us all to shame . Congrats on a great year.

[hunterbuilder]

Great write up and nice deer. Congrats.

[MuleySniper]

Nice job! Great first muley. Did or are you guys planning any hunting in OR this year? I'm headed down Friday for my permit muzz buck hunt. Can't wait.
MS

[WDFW-SUX]

Welcome. Nice job. thats great. how bout the ladys putitng bone down!

 

P.S. We later found out the first bullet had exploded and there were bullet fragments all over the leg and chest with zero penetration into the core of the animal./quote]


What kind of bullet was it?

[GoldTip]

Congrats on a couple great animals.  looks like the freezer is filling up, good job.

[hogsniper]

She shoots 140 grain Core Lokts.   Have never seen anything like it.  The bullet went in fine right through the bisep region and looks as if the bullet deflected down.  Thats all I can guess.   I found flakes the side of my finger nail around and quite a bit of blood shot. The deer would not have died right there if it wasnt for the follow up shot.   I guess its just one of those things.   All worked out in the end! 

[boneaddict]

Welcome to the site.   Great first post!

[bobcat]

She shoots 140 grain Core Lokts.   Have never seen anything like it.  The bullet went in fine right through the bisep region and looks as if the bullet deflected down.  Thats all I can guess.   I found flakes the side of my finger nail around and quite a bit of blood shot. The deer would not have died right there if it wasnt for the follow up shot.   I guess its just one of those things.   All worked out in the end!  

That's exactly why I've posted on here many times that I would NOT use core-lokt bullets, especially for elk. My experience with them has been the same. It was my brother's deer actually- I personally have never used core-lokts. But in this incident the bullet disintegrated after hitting nothing more than a rib on a small mule deer. This was out of a 30-06 so it's not like it was the result of ultra high velocity.

[Wyoming08]

Welcome to the site.  Nice job in taking 2 fine animals. Congrats.

[WDFW-SUX]

cor locks are junk IMO.

[C-Money]

Great deer! Glad you had successful hunts! Congrats!

[Austrian Hunter]

Congrats to you and your boyfriend!!!  Great buck and Lot's of meat!!  Way cool 

[400out]

Nice deer! and I'm glad to see my wife isn't the only one that hunts with ear rings