OLD ONE EYE!
- Thread starter Cali Ridge Runner
- Start date
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Thanks Drew for pointing that out, it maybe the one from Ryan but the scope in the screen shot appears to have an objective bell which did not exist in that time period, Also it appears that the rifle still has front site and if you watch the film and know the history the sniper Springfields did not have a front site. No disrespect I'm just a student of history.
P.S . Had the opportunity a couple of months ago to meet a member of the 82nd airborne 364 artillery division from WW2 and hear his stories, He is 98 years old now and in short order if you have interest look him up on line , His name is Joseph F Stolmier and he was an absolute bad ass in his time, He was decorated with two bronze stars, one silver star and a purple heart he did seven combat jumps in Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany and fought at the battle of the bulge when they were surrounded and fought for their lives. He was one of the founding members of airborne assualt and helped build the jump towers at fort Benning and helped figure out how to jump out of an airplane. Check his story out a true patriot...
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Interesting! I will have to look him up..... ya the scope that was on the rifle when I purchased it is some where in my office in a box. I took it off many years ago. The scope on it now in the picture is a Leupold VX 1. An old scope I purchased back then. I cut up a shirt and wrapped it and the rifle. I was about 19 years old. Its been like that for almost 20 years now. Shot my first buck with that rifle. I have newer rifles and scopes but this one I just have the most confidence in....
Great buck Tony. You have mentioned this buck several times over the years. Nice to finally put him to rest. Well done my friend.
Here it is..... arrived at the gate at 0 dark thirty and the wind was pounding! I took a few minutes and thought about it... it was blowing hard. I decided to go in... I hiked in to my spot and sat under some large boulders over looking some medium sized canyons ( not where I had planned but I needed to get out of the wind) I had recently discovered a new small spring about a mile away. So I figured I could catch something coming out after watering at night back to the surrounding hills. So out of the wind I sat and waited for first light....
About 7:30am I am just glassing with my binos leaning them on top of my shooting sticks and I see the shape of a large body deer bedded under some large boulders just under the rim of a ridge and two ridges from me. I can see it is a big body deer and the infamous white face and shape of a buck. The sun is still rising and its not hitting the ridge he is on yet. At this point he is about 800 yds away and I am having trouble making out any head gear , then I notice a fork and it looks kind of small ( so I say to myself I will keep an eye on him and continue to glass) the sun keeps rising and I keep glassing , the sun starts to hit him and now I am seeing more Horn.... he then stands up and is facing away from me , then the sun hits his head gear! I know exactly who it is and I start talking smack to myself on why I didnt start stalking closer once I knew it was a legal buck... any how now I am game planning and fast... im not sure if that was his second bed and if he is gonna go over the ridge and bed some where out of sight. The ground was really not that high around him and I wouldnt be able to get an advantage to spot him again. He starts to head over the ridge and then stops and sniffs the air... lip curled and all. He stops under another boulder and beds! about 10 yds above his first bed. The wind is blowing my way and there is another ridge about 300 yds from where he is bedded with a pile of rocks and boulders. I make that my next point and drop down off my ridge and begin to stalk.. I get to the bottom of the ridge I want and drop my pack.... to the rock pile I make it and set up. Everything seemed so perfect but the wind. Its about 8:30am now and I am just concentrating on my breathing and playing the shot over and over while I wait for him to stand. Range finder is saying 275 to the boulder he is under. Its a clear level shot across the canyon with giant boulders as a back stops so im good to go. so I thoooouugghhtttttttt.......
Its been over an hr now and I am still sitting on the rifle.... just waiting and waiting and waiting...
Finally he gets up and shakes off..... he doesnt stand long and half is body is behind some brush... he begins to turn like he is gonna go over the ridge so I threw a grunt out , he turns broadside and looks my way..... I squeezed one off but felt a slight flinch! ( I was jacked with adrenaline ) Oh No.... I hear a hit but kind of like the sound of a rock getting hit and he does a little foot dance and tumbles down the steep ridge all the way to near bottom! I can see he is down but moving. I jump up on a large rock and chamber another one. This buck didnt look like he was doing the death shake... he looked like he was hung up on brush and was trying to get up! I fire another one and its a clear miss ( so I thought) shooting off my knee. Two seconds later he is on his feet and moving through the brush under me and away from me out of sight. I was torn for sure....
I made a call and told my partner the news....
we talked about him coming out and hopefully I would have him by then if not we were gonna spend the rest of the day hunting him down. I scour the ridge and bottom and find very little blood. Like two drops so its not looking good.
I start tracking and find tracks at the water I thought he would go to. His tracks are clear as day in the soil next to the water..... so I know which ridges he is headed for.
Partner arrives and we hook up. We find Old One Eye about a mile from the water on the other side bedded on the nastiest ridge in the area. I hate that ridge. My partner stays on the spotter and I make the stalk. Get to 200 yds and I am back where I started.... replay.... Set up and waiting for him to stand..... two hrs go by and the sun is starting to set and im still waiting and the wind is still pounding and im still waiting. I can see all his body and I am a little higher than him. I thought about shooting him in his bed so many times but just couldnt bring myself to do it. Especially not on a second chance on him. I figured I owed him that! Lol finally he stands and begins to feed . I can see a small flesh wound on his neck! He then turns broadside and I squeeze one off! I hear a solid hit and he does another little dance stumble and then starts to run down the ridge! He gets to the top of a drainage and I grunt... he stops and looks my way so I squeeze another one off and he drops right there. Im watching him and he is just lying there no movement. A few seconds went by and he begins to move again and seemed like he was trying to get up again! I fire one more in him and he was done.... 30 minutes later my partner made it to me and we began to game plan. It was getting dark and he ended up straight down a nasty steep canyon. We make it to him and fill out some paper work lol and took some quick pics. I made a call and it was decided to cover him up and come back before first light. I was beat and had fallen twice getting down to him. My body had sweat out to much salt and I was starting to cramp. It was the better decision for me. He was in a drainage and the nights out there are cold enough. Home for a few hrs of rest and We were back out there at 0 dark thirty.... upon arrival we were greeted with an open gate... so that saved 2 miles off the hike. Still it was a nasty long hike... straight down a canyon and straight up...took us till about 11am to get him all out and on ice. So hear is what I know... the first shot I took in the morning grazed his neck.... the second follow up shot put a perfect hole right through the middle of his right main beam ( crap thats never happened and i still cant believe it )
Part 2 of the hunt the first shot went through his chest and still he stood. The second shot went through his lower neck and he still lived till the final shot through his Shoulder blades Angled shooting down on him. He was old and his cape is not looking to good. I may need a good taxidermist to look and decide if it needs a new cape if anyone can recommend some one. The guy I was using retired last year
It would be cool to leave his Blind eye that way on a shoulder mount. I dont know if I will shoot in santa anna winds again but im glad I did. It was a learning experience for sure. I like the Barnes copper blue tips but I can see Its going to take more accuracy and hitting vitals is going to be really key. As it should be any way right? Thanks for the all the congrats.
About 7:30am I am just glassing with my binos leaning them on top of my shooting sticks and I see the shape of a large body deer bedded under some large boulders just under the rim of a ridge and two ridges from me. I can see it is a big body deer and the infamous white face and shape of a buck. The sun is still rising and its not hitting the ridge he is on yet. At this point he is about 800 yds away and I am having trouble making out any head gear , then I notice a fork and it looks kind of small ( so I say to myself I will keep an eye on him and continue to glass) the sun keeps rising and I keep glassing , the sun starts to hit him and now I am seeing more Horn.... he then stands up and is facing away from me , then the sun hits his head gear! I know exactly who it is and I start talking smack to myself on why I didnt start stalking closer once I knew it was a legal buck... any how now I am game planning and fast... im not sure if that was his second bed and if he is gonna go over the ridge and bed some where out of sight. The ground was really not that high around him and I wouldnt be able to get an advantage to spot him again. He starts to head over the ridge and then stops and sniffs the air... lip curled and all. He stops under another boulder and beds! about 10 yds above his first bed. The wind is blowing my way and there is another ridge about 300 yds from where he is bedded with a pile of rocks and boulders. I make that my next point and drop down off my ridge and begin to stalk.. I get to the bottom of the ridge I want and drop my pack.... to the rock pile I make it and set up. Everything seemed so perfect but the wind. Its about 8:30am now and I am just concentrating on my breathing and playing the shot over and over while I wait for him to stand. Range finder is saying 275 to the boulder he is under. Its a clear level shot across the canyon with giant boulders as a back stops so im good to go. so I thoooouugghhtttttttt.......
Its been over an hr now and I am still sitting on the rifle.... just waiting and waiting and waiting...
Finally he gets up and shakes off..... he doesnt stand long and half is body is behind some brush... he begins to turn like he is gonna go over the ridge so I threw a grunt out , he turns broadside and looks my way..... I squeezed one off but felt a slight flinch! ( I was jacked with adrenaline ) Oh No.... I hear a hit but kind of like the sound of a rock getting hit and he does a little foot dance and tumbles down the steep ridge all the way to near bottom! I can see he is down but moving. I jump up on a large rock and chamber another one. This buck didnt look like he was doing the death shake... he looked like he was hung up on brush and was trying to get up! I fire another one and its a clear miss ( so I thought) shooting off my knee. Two seconds later he is on his feet and moving through the brush under me and away from me out of sight. I was torn for sure....
I made a call and told my partner the news....
we talked about him coming out and hopefully I would have him by then if not we were gonna spend the rest of the day hunting him down. I scour the ridge and bottom and find very little blood. Like two drops so its not looking good.
I start tracking and find tracks at the water I thought he would go to. His tracks are clear as day in the soil next to the water..... so I know which ridges he is headed for.
Partner arrives and we hook up. We find Old One Eye about a mile from the water on the other side bedded on the nastiest ridge in the area. I hate that ridge. My partner stays on the spotter and I make the stalk. Get to 200 yds and I am back where I started.... replay.... Set up and waiting for him to stand..... two hrs go by and the sun is starting to set and im still waiting and the wind is still pounding and im still waiting. I can see all his body and I am a little higher than him. I thought about shooting him in his bed so many times but just couldnt bring myself to do it. Especially not on a second chance on him. I figured I owed him that! Lol finally he stands and begins to feed . I can see a small flesh wound on his neck! He then turns broadside and I squeeze one off! I hear a solid hit and he does another little dance stumble and then starts to run down the ridge! He gets to the top of a drainage and I grunt... he stops and looks my way so I squeeze another one off and he drops right there. Im watching him and he is just lying there no movement. A few seconds went by and he begins to move again and seemed like he was trying to get up again! I fire one more in him and he was done.... 30 minutes later my partner made it to me and we began to game plan. It was getting dark and he ended up straight down a nasty steep canyon. We make it to him and fill out some paper work lol and took some quick pics. I made a call and it was decided to cover him up and come back before first light. I was beat and had fallen twice getting down to him. My body had sweat out to much salt and I was starting to cramp. It was the better decision for me. He was in a drainage and the nights out there are cold enough. Home for a few hrs of rest and We were back out there at 0 dark thirty.... upon arrival we were greeted with an open gate... so that saved 2 miles off the hike. Still it was a nasty long hike... straight down a canyon and straight up...took us till about 11am to get him all out and on ice. So hear is what I know... the first shot I took in the morning grazed his neck.... the second follow up shot put a perfect hole right through the middle of his right main beam ( crap thats never happened and i still cant believe it )
Part 2 of the hunt the first shot went through his chest and still he stood. The second shot went through his lower neck and he still lived till the final shot through his Shoulder blades Angled shooting down on him. He was old and his cape is not looking to good. I may need a good taxidermist to look and decide if it needs a new cape if anyone can recommend some one. The guy I was using retired last year
It would be cool to leave his Blind eye that way on a shoulder mount. I dont know if I will shoot in santa anna winds again but im glad I did. It was a learning experience for sure. I like the Barnes copper blue tips but I can see Its going to take more accuracy and hitting vitals is going to be really key. As it should be any way right? Thanks for the all the congrats.
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