This story is long over do but here it is:
I went out Friday, 11/3, parked around 5:00 am (before the time change) and started hiking in. The place I hunt is difficult to access and involves 1000 ft elevation gains without any trails, so it is tough work. On the hike in I noticed some glowing eyes on a hill not to far from me and knew that deer were going the same direction as me, only upwind. I decided to keep the distance to not spook them off.
Just after shooting time, I was standing, scouting the ridges around me and accidentally stepped on / broke a large dead stick. It was one of those “CRACKS!” that gets you cursing at yourself, however two doe jumped up on the ridge next to me (100 yards away) to check it out. Haha I think I found my new technique for calling in deer! All joking aside, I got my cross hairs on them but could not take the shot because they had no back drop. I just watched and watched while I couldn’t take a shot, then they scampered off. I will say it was difficult to do the right thing, but it is the right thing for a reason. After 3 hours goes by, I had not seen a deer since. Frustrated I set all my stuff down and ate my PB & J. Afterward, I stood up and looked into the valley and boom, four deer walking around. Got my rangefinder out, all of them were between 400 to 450 yards away, downhill. After watching for a bit, I noticed that one of the deer had a severe limp, as if it had a broken leg. It was one of the smaller ones but it was hardly moving. Getting my rifle stabilized on a rock I saw that it was a legal G13 animal (antler less than 3”) but was bleeding in its leg.
It just stood broadside for me for minutes, occasionally licking its wound then going back to eating. I decided that even though it was a young deer, it most likely would not survive due to the injury. I ranged him at 419 yards, adjusted the parallax setting on my Nikon Monarch 3, placed the BDC reticle behind the front shoulder and dropped him with a slow squeeze of my Tikka T3 .308.
When I got to him, sure enough he had a taken a bullet through his front right knee joint the day before (that is a guess since I had not heard a gunshot that morning).
Overall I hate taking such a young deer, pissed that someone else had wounded it, and grateful that I get to utilize the meat at the same time.
Anyways, that is my G13 story!
- Jake
.
I went out Friday, 11/3, parked around 5:00 am (before the time change) and started hiking in. The place I hunt is difficult to access and involves 1000 ft elevation gains without any trails, so it is tough work. On the hike in I noticed some glowing eyes on a hill not to far from me and knew that deer were going the same direction as me, only upwind. I decided to keep the distance to not spook them off.
Just after shooting time, I was standing, scouting the ridges around me and accidentally stepped on / broke a large dead stick. It was one of those “CRACKS!” that gets you cursing at yourself, however two doe jumped up on the ridge next to me (100 yards away) to check it out. Haha I think I found my new technique for calling in deer! All joking aside, I got my cross hairs on them but could not take the shot because they had no back drop. I just watched and watched while I couldn’t take a shot, then they scampered off. I will say it was difficult to do the right thing, but it is the right thing for a reason. After 3 hours goes by, I had not seen a deer since. Frustrated I set all my stuff down and ate my PB & J. Afterward, I stood up and looked into the valley and boom, four deer walking around. Got my rangefinder out, all of them were between 400 to 450 yards away, downhill. After watching for a bit, I noticed that one of the deer had a severe limp, as if it had a broken leg. It was one of the smaller ones but it was hardly moving. Getting my rifle stabilized on a rock I saw that it was a legal G13 animal (antler less than 3”) but was bleeding in its leg.
It just stood broadside for me for minutes, occasionally licking its wound then going back to eating. I decided that even though it was a young deer, it most likely would not survive due to the injury. I ranged him at 419 yards, adjusted the parallax setting on my Nikon Monarch 3, placed the BDC reticle behind the front shoulder and dropped him with a slow squeeze of my Tikka T3 .308.
When I got to him, sure enough he had a taken a bullet through his front right knee joint the day before (that is a guess since I had not heard a gunshot that morning).
Overall I hate taking such a young deer, pissed that someone else had wounded it, and grateful that I get to utilize the meat at the same time.
Anyways, that is my G13 story!
- Jake
.
Last edited by a moderator:
