Where Were You Hunting (USA/state, Canada, etc)
Brownwood area/Texas
What Were You Hunting (Whitetail or Mule Deer)
Deer and Turkey
What I Did
Bagged a buck after my brother wounded it.How I Did it
My brother Roy and I were on opposite ends of a thousand-yard-long oat field, bordering a river that fed the Colorado. I was sitting in a large oak tree in a hasty stand that I had rigged up, watching the field and tree line along the river across from me. It was about 500 yards away, and there was an old three-strand barb-wire fence to keep the cows from falling over the cliff into the river. Roy had his Remington 700 270, and I had my trusty Winchester 670 243.
I heard Roy yelling, then he began firing. I saw dust popping up in front of the fence that was across from both of us. I grabbed my binocs and started scanning the tree line, looking for what Roy was shooting at.
I saw a deer limping along the tree line. Roy must have emptied his rifle, because he stopped firing for a while.
The deer was headed my direction. There was a tree line that ran from just to the east of me to the fence across from me, so I climbed down my rope ladder and ran!
I was huffing and puffing as I got to the river/fence line and there was a trail the deer and goats used to walk the cliff edge.
I concentrated on catching my breath and checked the rifle, good thing I did because I had not chambered a round. I slid one in and pushed off the safety... and waited.
I heard the deer coming through the brush, wounded... he was making more noise than a deer normally would. I stepped out from behind the tree to the side of an evergreen to mask my scent and it must have worked.
Just then the deer topped a small rise, about 40 yards away.
I had my scope, a Weaver V-4.5 set on the smallest magnification and immediately aimed at the heart. I squeezed the trigger just as he saw me, I never even counted the antler points, just knew it was a legal buck. He dropped right there.
He was the biggest deer I had taken off that property, 126 lbs and with a broken tine had 5 1/2 points. I still have that rack.
The deer had a .30 cal hole in the knee joint of the rt. rear leg, but he still made it 1500 yards in the time I covered 400.
I had the deer hanging by the time Roy made it to me. All I could think of was "Liver tonight!"
Lessons Learned
- Always stay alert.
- Be in shape for the season.
- Be prepared to leave your blind or stand.
- Carry extra ammo (Roy did).
- Use the terrain to your advantage.
- Make sure of your shot, before you pull the trigger.
- That is a lot to remember, in a rush!
