Deer Season 2021 - Day 3 Saturday, 20 NOV

 Well it's still windy here in the midwest, like plus 10 mph (16 kph).  But at least the temperature has not bottomed out.  It was a crisp 33 F (0.5 C) when Kathy, Eric, and I walked onto the golf course before sunrise.  Where's Nick, you ask?  He's not feeling well and stayed in bed.  Alex?  He had to watch the kids this morning.

Kathy took the bowl again down on Hole #15, just like last weekend.  Eric took overwatch on Hole #16, again just like last weekend.  And I, following suit, stood on Hole #14's tee box.  It was a slow morning.

After an hour, I saw four antlerless deer jog from the NE to the SW and cross in front of me about 200+ yards (183 m).  The three younglings played and scampered over the hill into the woods heading directly between Kathy and Eric.  If they continued due S, they would pass by them with no chance at tagging them.

About 15 minutes later or so, a buck did the same thing.  Interestingly, both the mama doe and the buck both stopped on the cart path and scanned the area around them before entering the woods.  Mama looked directly at me for a solid minute.  I had time to pull her up in my scope - but at such a distance, I had no shot with my 300 Blackout.  That rifle cartridge maxes out at 200 yards for an ethical lethal shot, IMHO.  Thus, both the doe and the buck walked.

The buck, from the distance, had antlers outside his ears and appeared to be a nice 6-point.  I just hoped they walked by one of the other two hunters.

It was roughly 8 am when I heard Kathy fire.  I smiled.  I knew she just shot her first deer of the season with my new Tikka T3 6.5 Creedmoor rifle.  She texted that she shot at a buck but maybe missed - she was tracking.  And then Eric shot.  He watched a big doe drop on the spot as he nailed her in the neck.  Then Kathy sent a photo of her buck - and then fired again.  The three yearlings had run by her as they were frightened by Eric's shot.  And then Eric fired again.  That's four shots.  Do we have four deer?  Neither Kathy nor Eric were certain of their second shots.

I walked to Kathy and we dragged her buck to the cart path.  We were fixing to track her second shot when Eric walked down into the bowl and said there's a dead deer on top right next to the cart path.  This was Kathy's second shot.  She had two deer down in about 15 minutes.  2 shots fired.  100%.  I claimed it was the handloads in a superior weapon.  She claimed it was the nut at the end of the butt plate.  

Eric's second shot was at a smaller 6-pt buck but he missed.  He said he shot over it at about 60 yards.  I told him that his gun was on out to 100 yards and that he should not aim high.  He claimed he did not aim high on purpose - he was nervous.  Got buck fever and panicked.  Buck escaped.  But hey - we got three in the freezer.

Then Davey came by with his buck that he shot down in Putnum County and Krueger dropped off the buck that he shot on his property.  We had five deer hanging in the barn.  It was starting to look like a rendering factory.  We hauled them all up to Frank in Young America for processing.  Freezers are filling up with some of the best tasting, tender meat available.  No chemicals and no preservatives.  Venison - it's what's for supper!

Kathy with her 7-point buck.
This is her first buck EVER!  Good one to open on.
That's the approach to the green in the upper-right of this photo.
The creek behind her is out of bounds to the left of the hole.
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Eric with his large doe - that we had to drag for 100 yards!

Kathy pointing out what Nick may have gotten if he'd would have joined us today.
And yes, this is how we retrieve deer from the golf course.
And yes, we do have to wash the carts when we finish.

Three deer in the truck.  Time for a celebratory beer.
This week's adventure is brought to you by Dare Devil Brewing.
We enjoyed a nice Vacation grolsch-style beer

Davey Jones with his nice buck.  Been fighting, the buck has.
He had one tine completely snapped off.


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