I screwed up this morning.

agsnchunt

Old Mossy Horns
Decided at 5:00 this morning to take a PTO day.
Ventured to a property I acquired this year that I haven't hunted yet.

Slipped in relatively quietly in the dark, and eased up a tree. All quiet up until about 9 AM. Around 9 a doe comes squirting out of a thicket to my left. She was moving like her life depended on it. She's out of sight in less time than it took to type this sentence. I go on red alert, looking for what I was sure was a buck on her trail. Maybe 2 minutes pass with no sign of anything on her trail, and I began to relax a bit. No sooner than the adrenaline had begun to subside, a buck comes flying out of that same thicket.

I bring the ole smokepole up and try to find him in the scope. He's dodging and weaving through the trees at about Mach 1. I can never get a comfortable shot at him. He finally stops to scent check/ catch his breath, or just because he wanted to taunt me. Whatever the reason, I'm finally able to plaster the crosshairs on him.

At some point whilst I was trying to catch up to him in the scope, I had shifted the gun from my right shoulder to my left shoulder. When he finally stops I've had to let the butt creep down into the bend of my left elbow. I line up the crosshairs and squeeze one off. BOOM!!! Smoke everywhere, and it just hangs there. I can't see squat though it for what seems like 10 minutes. Once the smoke finally dissipates, I'm looking everywhere for a white belly. No dice.

I reload, and sit there cussing into my beard for awhile. I finally work up enough gumption to climb down and go look.

I go to where I thought he was and begin looking for any sign of a hit. Nothing. I start slowing expanding my search in ever widening circles. All of the sudden I see it. Some white hair! I look a little further and there's blood!

I looked back towards my tree and think " Damn. That's awful far." So I dig out my rangefinder and range my tree. 268 yards. " No way that's right." I range it again. 268 yards. "That can't be." I range it a third time. 268 yards. "Hmmm, they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."
"Well.... I guess that explains the white hair...."


I take up the blood trail and it's pretty heavy, and then I start seeing what I believe are marks in the ground where he stumbled. This is followed by me finding the first spot I'm CERTAIN he was bleeding out both sides and I begin to think he's a dead deer. I keep following and crest a little rise, and there he lays.

The bullet took out the bottom of the heart instead of the high shoulder impact I had intended.


Hindsight being 20/20, I should have never took the shot. He was further than I had any business shooting with a Muzzleloader, and I shouldn't have ever taken a shot all twisted around with the butt in my elbow instead of against my shoulder. View attachment 130345

That's a heckuva shot.

What do you think the final drop was on aiming point versus impact?

And what caliber rifle?
 

justin88

Six Pointer
Contributor
Decided at 5:00 this morning to take a PTO day.
Ventured to a property I acquired this year that I haven't hunted yet.

Slipped in relatively quietly in the dark, and eased up a tree. All quiet up until about 9 AM. Around 9 a doe comes squirting out of a thicket to my left. She was moving like her life depended on it. She's out of sight in less time than it took to type this sentence. I go on red alert, looking for what I was sure was a buck on her trail. Maybe 2 minutes pass with no sign of anything on her trail, and I began to relax a bit. No sooner than the adrenaline had begun to subside, a buck comes flying out of that same thicket.

I bring the ole smokepole up and try to find him in the scope. He's dodging and weaving through the trees at about Mach 1. I can never get a comfortable shot at him. He finally stops to scent check/ catch his breath, or just because he wanted to taunt me. Whatever the reason, I'm finally able to plaster the crosshairs on him.

At some point whilst I was trying to catch up to him in the scope, I had shifted the gun from my right shoulder to my left shoulder. When he finally stops I've had to let the butt creep down into the bend of my left elbow. I line up the crosshairs and squeeze one off. BOOM!!! Smoke everywhere, and it just hangs there. I can't see squat though it for what seems like 10 minutes. Once the smoke finally dissipates, I'm looking everywhere for a white belly. No dice.

I reload, and sit there cussing into my beard for awhile. I finally work up enough gumption to climb down and go look.

I go to where I thought he was and begin looking for any sign of a hit. Nothing. I start slowing expanding my search in ever widening circles. All of the sudden I see it. Some white hair! I look a little further and there's blood!

I looked back towards my tree and think " Damn. That's awful far." So I dig out my rangefinder and range my tree. 268 yards. " No way that's right." I range it again. 268 yards. "That can't be." I range it a third time. 268 yards. "Hmmm, they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."
"Well.... I guess that explains the white hair...."


I take up the blood trail and it's pretty heavy, and then I start seeing what I believe are marks in the ground where he stumbled. This is followed by me finding the first spot I'm CERTAIN he was bleeding out both sides and I begin to think he's a dead deer. I keep following and crest a little rise, and there he lays.

The bullet took out the bottom of the heart instead of the high shoulder impact I had intended.


Hindsight being 20/20, I should have never took the shot. He was further than I had any business shooting with a Muzzleloader, and I shouldn't have ever taken a shot all twisted around with the butt in my elbow instead of against my shoulder. View attachment 130345
TLDR: he made a mistake but killed an amazing deer!

Congrats!
 

Ol Copper

Twelve Pointer
Does it require an un-official coup on our parts to remove one as the founder of scrub busters ?
That shirt just hit the trash can....

Nah man, nice deer, I'd a shot him too πŸ‘πŸΌ
Busters be da**ed, I say !!
Seriously though, you gotta watch them standards the rest of this year...😬😬
 
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