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Michigan Opening Day

Muddyboots

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
8,537
Location
Michigan
Bit late but as some know I had lumbar back fusion L2-L5 plus spine repair in July. I really didn't think I was going to hunt this year but nose grinding PT has paid off. The old adage "work smarter not harder" is what I now have to do forever to protect my surgical repair. I have used a cart for many years due to deteriorating back and added a remote wireless winch to bed of my truck. Pure Redneck engineering. Winch mounted on 12x2xbed width board on 4x4" to lift it off bed plus provide some space for securing it down. SO I have a ratchet strap over the top pf board behind winch to pressure it down plus a ratchet strap in front to secure it front of bed. Crazy how tight it is mounted. Every time I see a hood or door ratchet strapped I just chuckle.

Luck was with me opening morning since EHD has wiped out deer herd in my area except on my son's property. What Luck! The disease is wetland dependent so he has none. Right after shooting light I had an OK buck drop over a lip of a bowl that I was hunting 105yds away and bedded perfectly behind a tree facing away from me. I could see his rack as he turned his head once in a while. Not really a "shooter" that I like to see but under my circumstances good enough IMO. So I had to stay on him for quite a while. It was over 40 minutes staying on him before another buck chased a doe right past him. I knew he was going to stand up and had crosshairs right on his spot. He stood up and I shot within 3 seconds! Perfect boiler room hit at 105yds with slug I load. This slug will legitimately group 2" at 100yds all day. Same hole at 50yds. 870 with Hastings 26" bull barrel 1:34, Timney trigger spring upgrade (2.5#'s) and Remington thumbhole stock set. Extremely accurate with the slugs I reload.

So buck dropped on spot, which is odd for slug. No death run at all. I confirmed kill, went to truck and was able to get it within 125yds of him. Brought cart to him and with wet leaves and slight downhill able to slide him into cart head and shoulders. The tree was used as a backstop so it was much easier to slide the buck into cart.
Tilted cart downward and rest slid in on its own. Just like I planned it? Flat and no debris push tall wheel cart to back of truck. Really minimal effort and made sure I was not over exerting. Heck my PT leg press workouts were 10X worse. Pulled cart up to tailgate and this is where I couldn't stop laughing. I used the cart as a ramp. Slipped rope for rack, hit the retract on remote winch and it went into truck slicker than slipping on goose crap.

SO I thought I'd share how an old geezer got it done under tough restrictions. If that buck didn't slide as easy as it did, I would have to wait for help. He dressed out 165 on scale at my pole barn. I backed truck into barn, hooked up my other winch in barn and pulled him out of truck without having to lift a pinky. It was actually harder to process than getting him into barn!! You have to gauge what you can do under restrictions. SO a few pictures and a video.

Not a giant but gotta tell you it was probably one of the most satisfying deer kills I have ever made.
Short video:

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Bit late but as some know I had lumbar back fusion L2-L5 plus spine repair in July. I really didn't think I was going to hunt this year but nose grinding PT has paid off. The old adage "work smarter not harder" is what I now have to do forever to protect my surgical repair. I have used a cart for many years due to deteriorating back and added a remote wireless winch to bed of my truck. Pure Redneck engineering. Winch mounted on 12x2xbed width board on 4x4" to lift it off bed plus provide some space for securing it down. SO I have a ratchet strap over the top pf board behind winch to pressure it down plus a ratchet strap in front to secure it front of bed. Crazy how tight it is mounted. Every time I see a hood or door ratchet strapped I just chuckle.

Luck was with me opening morning since EHD has wiped out deer herd in my area except on my son's property. What Luck! The disease is wetland dependent so he has none. Right after shooting light I had an OK buck drop over a lip of a bowl that I was hunting 105yds away and bedded perfectly behind a tree facing away from me. I could see his rack as he turned his head once in a while. Not really a "shooter" that I like to see but under my circumstances good enough IMO. So I had to stay on him for quite a while. It was over 40 minutes staying on him before another buck chased a doe right past him. I knew he was going to stand up and had crosshairs right on his spot. He stood up and I shot within 3 seconds! Perfect boiler room hit at 105yds with slug I load. This slug will legitimately group 2" at 100yds all day. Same hole at 50yds. 870 with Hastings 26" bull barrel 1:34, Timney trigger spring upgrade (2.5#'s) and Remington thumbhole stock set. Extremely accurate with the slugs I reload.

So buck dropped on spot, which is odd for slug. No death run at all. I confirmed kill, went to truck and was able to get it within 125yds of him. Brought cart to him and with wet leaves and slight downhill able to slide him into cart head and shoulders. The tree was used as a backstop so it was much easier to slide the buck into cart.
Tilted cart downward and rest slid in on its own. Just like I planned it? Flat and no debris push tall wheel cart to back of truck. Really minimal effort and made sure I was not over exerting. Heck my PT leg press workouts were 10X worse. Pulled cart up to tailgate and this is where I couldn't stop laughing. I used the cart as a ramp. Slipped rope for rack, hit the retract on remote winch and it went into truck slicker than slipping on goose crap.

SO I thought I'd share how an old geezer got it done under tough restrictions. If that buck didn't slide as easy as it did, I would have to wait for help. He dressed out 165 on scale at my pole barn. I backed truck into barn, hooked up my other winch in barn and pulled him out of truck without having to lift a pinky. It was actually harder to process than getting him into barn!! You have to gauge what you can do under restrictions. SO a few pictures and a video.

Not a giant but gotta tell you it was probably one of the most satisfying deer kills I have ever made.
Short video:

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Nice one Craig!
Congrats!
 
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