Are you the worst hunter in the world?

[lonesouth]

probably not...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk0HYn2u7c0[/video]

[bman]

This reminds me of someone we both know...

[onefishtwofish]

Maybe time to hit the range?

I learned a hard lesson one time like that. Had a deer at about 100 yards, put the scope on him and squeezed. Nothing. He ran off, we searched for blood. I had not sighted the scope in after a trip back from Pennsylvania where I had taken a nice 8 pointer at about the same distance. Got up the next morning and a long spike was standing on my property. I eased around to my front porch and put the crosshairs on his neck at about 75 yards. Boom. Miss. Went to the range and it was about 12 inches high at 100 yards. I always checked after along trip after that. Now I pretty much have quit deer hunting, but I still sight my turkey gun in every year.

[Dubble Trubble]

That reminds me of me yesterday trying to kill a big moccasin. Of course, I was trying to hit him with my Glock 9mm. Took 5 shots before I got the head.....

I can say a pissed big arsed moccasin does make me a little nervous.....

Dubble

[big bend gyrene]

Few locals involved with this video clip... I was NOT involved in the poor hunting, only played a part in the post-production of said video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pla3uOe4RxM[/video]

[bman]

Now Wolfeman had to tell his story.

[WolfeMan]

Alright, alright, here's the story behind my first deer...

I was hunting some private land West of Tallahassee, the place is a little over a thousand acres and is well maintained. There were 4 of us hunting that day and it was overall my 3rd time deer hunting and the second time this year. I had been in the stand for 15 or 20 minutes and was text messaging my friend who was sitting in another stand on property...I was asking him some stupid question about ear plugs...when out of the corner of my eye I see a doe trot into the field about 160 yards down range.

The land owner has about 20 doe tags and we have clearance to take a couple doe each if we want to...so to me, this doe is a shooter...I love venison and she'll taste delicious...my host and hunting partners for the day also told me that it is the rut, which means where there are mature doe, there may also be bucks...so I patiently watch as the doe slowly walks from the center of the field to the right edge of the field when I look to the left (where the doe came from) and see white antlers in the brush...a buck!

But...dang! I can't get a good look at him. My host asked that we shoot only 8 points or better, outside the ears. At this point I am looking at the antlers through the scope, and I count...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....damn....then he turned...oh, wow! ...7, 8. Sweet! Wait...that one has a fork at the very end...9! Cool! Ok. He's a shooter, but he's in the bushes...no shot...I'll text Mike...

Quote:

ME: Big 8 holy sh*%!no shot

MIKE: REALLY?!?!?!

ME: Shaking sdo bad
ME: His doe is in the field, he's close by

MIKE: Breathe deep. Breath right during shot.

Ok, while Mike was texting me that, the buck walked out into the field...facing dead away from me. I didnt want to shoot him in the butt, so I waited...slowly he turned broadside...slowly, slowly, there, totally broad-side.

*safety off*

I jerked the trigger so bad, and peeked up out of the scope as soon as the shot was fired *BOOM* and I flat out missed...right over his back, hit a tree behind him and spooked him into the woods..gone...Dad-GUMMIT!

Mike, upon hearing the shot...

MIKE: Was that you?

ME: Mioss!
ME: Sh%*!

MIKE: Seriously?!
MIKE: Buck fever baby!! LOL
MIKE: Did he run?

OK, so around this time I am sulking at my missed shot and look...his doe is still there, at the right edge of the field eating...and what's this? A second doe, much bigger, at the left edge of the field, seemingly following the same trail that the first two followed to get to the field.

Now I have 2 nice shooter doe calmly eating in the field, and no buck around...but it's the rut...so I wait...another buck might follow this 2nd doe...the first buck might come back to his doe...anything could happen, so I wait...I had to work the bolt on my rifle...I reach across with my left hand to catch the empty brass but the blood was gone from my hands and I fumble it...it falls to the steel grate floor of the stand, *tinka*, *tinka*, *tink*, *tink*, *dink*. I cringe and close my eyes...deep breath...open my eyes, the deer are still there, eating and looking around.

It...seemed like an ETERNITY but it was only about 2 minutes then back to the right, there he was...the horny old buck came back! his lady was still eating and he'll be darned if a little bang is going to scare him away!

He milled around in the thick brush for a minute or so then out of nowhere, he CHARGES across the field to the second doe and stands in the knee-high grass at the edge of the field, facing me dead on, stomping his foot and kicking up dirt at this 2nd doe...what in the world is he up to? I pull up the rifle again, look through the scope and I realize that my 2nd "big doe" is really a spike buck with about 2 inch antlers. The big buck was defending his turf and letting this snot-nosed spike that he was not welcomed while he was trying to hook up with Ms. Doe here. So the spike turns tail and wanders back into the woods and the buck turns and walks back toward his doe, stops right in the middle of the field, totally broadside to me, maybe turned 5 or 10 degrees toward me, and starts stomping his front hoofs again, totally flexing his muscles and looking cool...so I slowly, try to get my breath...unsucessfully...try to aim slowly....try to pull the trigger slowly....and fail...my nerves get the better of me, and I jerk the trigger again and pull the shot, totally missed...*BANG*.

But the buck doesnt move...he's totally oblivious, totally focused in on his lady, standing there like the freakin' Hartford logo...when I realize he didnt move, I said, out-loud, to my self in almost a full speaking voice..."No way..."

I close my eyes, take like 10 deep breaths, and put my cheek down on the stock and think to myself, "It's like golf, keep your damn head down, slow finger, deeeeeeeep breath...I exhale, hold it out, find the crosshairs, place them behind his shoulder and let the crack of the rifle surprise me.

*BANG*

The cool part, is that I heard the bullet swack him in the body, loud thud sound, very cool.

ME: Think I go thim!!
ME: 2nd shot missed but he stood still, shot again.
ME: Gonna give it a second and good look for blood.

MIKE (after hearing 3 shots in about 2 minutes): This ain't WWIII! LOL!
MIKE: Sit tight for 10 minutes. Look where you hit him so you can track.
MIKE: WAIT 10 min

I saw him dart into the woods, saw a couple saplings shake as he crashed into them...I waited...about 5 minutes, couldnt stand it...and went walking...

Got to where I know he was standing when I shot, walked to where I saw him round the corner and looked down, saw the bright red blood on the ground!

I did my best tracking job, and realized quickly that he was spraying blood like a fountain...he went about 30 yards, crossed a dang creek, and when I crossed the creek at the point where I saw blood, there he was...laying in the brush and tangles of vines...dead. AWESOME!!

I had to drag him back to the field for pickup which included through the shallow but swift-running creek.

While I was dragging him I realized...this is really hard...this feels like a big deer, but I have no frame of reference...but dragging him is literally a pain in my back...he's freakin heavy, even for me, and I'm 6'4", 215.

Flash forward to my host coming in his truck at dusk and seeing the buck...he freaked, apparently it is huge. He's "just" a 9 point but measured 44 inches around and weighed in at a solid 200 lbs.

Beastly!

I suppose you want some pics!

Heres a view of those antlers!


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Here he is filling up the tailgate of an F150.


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See that other totally respectable 9 point in the truck behind mine? He's nothign to sneeze at, but mine is roughly 50% bigger in the body. When we loaded up Dave's 9 point he said something like "Mine hardly belongs in the same truck as that monster."
I'm pretty happy.

I took him with a Remington model 700 chambered in .243 with a 100 grain Winchester Super-X round....well, three of them technically.

I got a fair ration of crap for missing twice, but I reminded my friends that I'm a duck hunter...there have been days where I've fired 12 shots and come home with no birds...there have been times when I knock a duck down with 2 shots then spend 3 more trying to whack it as it dives...so 3 shots and 200 pounds of meat is a pretty good average for this bird hunter!

I hope you enjoyed my story. Thanks for reading!

[MudDucker]

I think I was parked pretty close to the site of the duck missing ... errr hunting film. The location and the boat looks familiar. We were quite pleased with that shooting, because they flew over and tried to land in our blocks. Unfortunately for the ducks, we didn't miss as bad that day.