Opening Deer Firearms - 18 NOV 2017
This Saturday opened up the firearms season for deer in Indiana. The morning looked bleak. While it was 56F outside (which is odd for the 18th of November), it was also raining - buckets. I awoke at 5:40 am, and yes, it was raining. A few texts back and forth and I confirmed that Nick and RePhil were in, but Kathy was going to stay warm and dry in her bed.
We met at the golf course at 6:45. Sunrise was 7:37 am, making legal shooting light 7:07. However, with the cloud cover, it was not going to get light until much later than 7:07.
The rain broke and it looked like we might get 2 hours in before the 'all dayer' set in on us. We left the parking lot at 7:07 and headed out. RePhil was off to Jenkins on the E side of the course. Nick was over-watch on hole #5 with his .243. I went to #17 to block the W side.
The rain had stopped for now at least. First shot heard was early, like 7:10. It was not our group, but way off. We ended up hearing four shots before Nick finally fired. And then he fired again. That's usually not a good sign. The old Indian saying goes like this: one shot, one deer; two shots, maybe two deer; three shots, no deer. That usually ends up being the case. But could Nick really have two deer?
My phone buzzed (yes, we remembered to put them on Silent Mode). Nick quickly sent the word out that he had one deer down and was going to check for blood on deer #2. The next text indicated that he had miffed on deer #2 and he watched her run away to the South. No blood could be found. This was all at 7:30.
And then it got really dark. It started to rain a bit. And then the lightening and thunder came. I made a hurried retreat to the truck after texting the other two that I was bailing out. They concurred. We met at the truck, quickly borrowed a golf cart and then picked up Nick's deer. That's right, we hauled a deer off the golf course in a golf cart. Sure makes things easy. (Thanks Ken!)
We are now sitting in the truck at 8:30am with a deer in the back while Nick shares his story. Two doe came walking up the trail in the woods. They got within 30 yards when he finally pulled the trigger. He shot the first one through the shoulder as she quartered to him. A complete pass-through exited the behind the rib cage on the opposite side. A bit high for a heart shot, but double lunged and dropped on the spot. Deer #2 came out of the woods about 150 yards E. Nick was too pumped with adrenaline to make a good shot on her. Total whiff. But as he was tracking her, two more came out of the woods from the N. They spotted him and ran back into the woods. The must have continued due N because neither RePhil or I saw a darn thing this morning.
Since it was pouring (we got 3" of rain Saturday), we returned to the barn. Nick checked the deer in on-line (which, BTW, is a sweet app) and then we butchered her in the barn. It remained in the 50's for most of the day - producing two tornados (one in Dayton to the W and one in Frankfort to the E). We did not go back out Saturday night.
We met at the golf course at 6:45. Sunrise was 7:37 am, making legal shooting light 7:07. However, with the cloud cover, it was not going to get light until much later than 7:07.
The rain broke and it looked like we might get 2 hours in before the 'all dayer' set in on us. We left the parking lot at 7:07 and headed out. RePhil was off to Jenkins on the E side of the course. Nick was over-watch on hole #5 with his .243. I went to #17 to block the W side.
The rain had stopped for now at least. First shot heard was early, like 7:10. It was not our group, but way off. We ended up hearing four shots before Nick finally fired. And then he fired again. That's usually not a good sign. The old Indian saying goes like this: one shot, one deer; two shots, maybe two deer; three shots, no deer. That usually ends up being the case. But could Nick really have two deer?
My phone buzzed (yes, we remembered to put them on Silent Mode). Nick quickly sent the word out that he had one deer down and was going to check for blood on deer #2. The next text indicated that he had miffed on deer #2 and he watched her run away to the South. No blood could be found. This was all at 7:30.
And then it got really dark. It started to rain a bit. And then the lightening and thunder came. I made a hurried retreat to the truck after texting the other two that I was bailing out. They concurred. We met at the truck, quickly borrowed a golf cart and then picked up Nick's deer. That's right, we hauled a deer off the golf course in a golf cart. Sure makes things easy. (Thanks Ken!)
We are now sitting in the truck at 8:30am with a deer in the back while Nick shares his story. Two doe came walking up the trail in the woods. They got within 30 yards when he finally pulled the trigger. He shot the first one through the shoulder as she quartered to him. A complete pass-through exited the behind the rib cage on the opposite side. A bit high for a heart shot, but double lunged and dropped on the spot. Deer #2 came out of the woods about 150 yards E. Nick was too pumped with adrenaline to make a good shot on her. Total whiff. But as he was tracking her, two more came out of the woods from the N. They spotted him and ran back into the woods. The must have continued due N because neither RePhil or I saw a darn thing this morning.
Since it was pouring (we got 3" of rain Saturday), we returned to the barn. Nick checked the deer in on-line (which, BTW, is a sweet app) and then we butchered her in the barn. It remained in the 50's for most of the day - producing two tornados (one in Dayton to the W and one in Frankfort to the E). We did not go back out Saturday night.
Nice Big Doe that Nick shot on Saturday morning.
That's a leaf on her neck. The entry hole is right at the crease on her shoulder.
A dark and overcast opening morning.
It's about to get worse, weather-wise!
Notice the puddles. More to come, like 3" total.
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