Back from Arkansas deer hunt. Got good and bad news.

[duckinalaska]

Fellow longrangers,
I was sitting on my pipeline stand at 0715 in the morning and the fog was rolling off of the frosty green rye grass. I had the remmy sendero in 7 ultra awaiting securely on sandbags when I saw the background moving way down the pipeline. I looked through the zeiss 4.5-14x50 tacticle and saw him clear as day. He entered the pipeline at my 500 yard marker and he was quartering towards me. I adjusted the zeiss accordingly, got my breathing right, and gently eased on the trigger. Bang! The recoil caused me to loose him in the scope. After I found him again, the 154 grn hornady sst slammed into him. I got off of the stand when my good buddy that was hunting on the other side of the pipeline came to see what the verdict was. We found the frothy impact blood exactly 485 yards from my stand. We found him after trailing for 50 yards. The sst entered just behind the left shoulder and exited just behind the rib cage on the right side. It was a 7mm entrance hole and a quarter sized exit hole, and it just devistated everything in between. In the picture you can see the exit hole.

That was the good news, now for the bad.

I was hunting on the same pipeline stand two weeks later. It was about 1630 in the afternoon when I looked in the mirror and saw him. He was sneaking across the pipeline at a slow trot, so I had to wing around pretty fast to get a shot. I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and he stopped. He let me get a good shot on him at a measley 200 yards. I felt really good about the shot. Hell, I just knew that I had got him. Since it was later in the evening, I went to see how I had done. When I walked up to the impact area I jumped him up 25 yards away, and he was a BRUISER. I found blood, hair, and bone where the bullet had struck him. We found blood and meat for 3/10 of a mile through brair thickets, and I mean good blood. Then the blood just ran out. I can't belive after .3 mile of good blood, it just RAN OUT. We used the gps and every known tracking tool (except for dogs) to try and find this guy. Well, guys I still haven't gotten over it. I'm totally depressed and I think about it everyday. How do you make a direct hit at 485 yards one day, and wound a deer on another day. I'm baffled and discusted, and I don't know what could've happened.
Thanks for listening guys,
Brandon

 

[Nomosendero]

Congrats on the Deer you took! I am sorry to hear about the
other Buck, it is odd to have good blood that far, only to stop totally. I have helped alot of people in the past track
Deer in addition to my own & I have seen fairly good blood
in a short distance become less & less & then trickle out,
but your case is far more unusual. I wish I could say that
I personally have never lost a Deer, but in reality anyone
who has taken alot of Deer, say a 100 or more & tells me
he has never lost one, well I am skeptical as mistakes happen, especially in some of the thickets we have.
It appears that you are probably hunting in South AR. What
County? I was in a lease for years between Camden & Magnolia
but now I hunt family property 10 minutes from my house in
North AR.

 

[Ol'Gator]

Blood,hair bone and meat sure sounds like a classic (if there is such a thing) leg shot. I've had to deal with this several times and almost always results in a long difficult trailing job.

Congratulations on the one that didn't get away. Good shooting.

 

[Coyboy]

I agree with old gator, I watched a friend shoot a deer at about 400 yards. I seen it was a front leg hit as the deer ran. He found blood (short)hair and bone frags. Well we decided to go back and get lights. We trailed to where the deer laid down. No blood after that, I believe the wound clotted up.

 

[duckinalaska]

Nomosendero,
We have 3,000 acres between Camden and El Dorado. It's right outside a little town called Luanne. It's a small world.
Guys,
Thanks for the responses, I think you might be right. I guess that's what happens when you have to rush a shot. It's kind of the gamble you take when hunting on pipelines. It just makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[Kenster-Boy]

I sure know the disgusted feeling you get when loosing a deer. I lost not one but TWO deer this year while bow hunting. The first was a rangefinder reading of the background instead of the buck, so I stuck him in the spine.(he probably lived) And the second the buck jumped the string and the way he jumped it stuck him in the leg. I never found that one either. I know how you feel about it being a bruiser. The two that I stuck this year were by far the biggest bucks that I have ever shot at.

I hung up the bow because of it, but in talking to many, many, MANY people, it's just one of those things that's gonna happen if you hunt long enough. Things don't always go right when in the field.

Don't let that get ya too down. . . and hopefully better luck next year!

 

[Nomosendero]

For those that may not know, the pipelines that I know there
are narrow & hunting the pipelines is rough. When a Deer crosses, especially a Big Buck, they usually cross in a hurry. When they stop, you know it will likely be for only a second or two, so you have to shoot fairly fast & sometimes you shoot a little too fast. And once they cross, you know they will vanish in the thick woods. It is totally different than the conditions I hunt on our Wyoming trips, where we get to range the Mule Deer or Antelope, get in position, etc. On the pipelines, it is best to have range indicators already in place, as you usually won't have time to range find the animal.

 

[duckinalaska]

7mmagman,
Thanks for the support, I've came to the conclusion that I'll just have to get over it. I will just have to get him next year.
Nomosendero,
You hit the nail on the head. You have to be quick, and I have yardage streamers set up out to 600 yards. The woods are really thick on either side, but so are the deer. Every morning and afternoon that I hunt I see anywhere from 20 to 100 deer. We all know that those big bruisers don't like it out in the pipeline. I'd say that the pipeline that I hunt are maybe 10 to 15 yards wide, and it takes only seconds for the big boys to pass.
Thanks fellas,
Brandon

 

[bailey1474]

Great story and congrats on the deer you got. Losing a deer you hit is one of the worst feelings a person can have, but it happens. Just out of curiosity, did I send you that scope?

 

[duckinalaska]

BJ,
Your dang right you did, and it did perfect. I can't believe the difference in the zeiss and the nikon monarch that I have on my 300 wby. It's absolutely uncomparable. I might not have killed the 8-point if I would've had it, because it was early and overcast. That thing really brings out the light.
Thanks partner,
Brandon
P.S. Next year you outta slid down a few miles and hunt a few days with us.

 

[Ol'Gator]

Not sure this would apply but if you have some good crossing trails, consider putting some scent bottles/rags mid field across the pipeline. Often times this will give you that extra time you need while they are checking out where the other deer had been.

 

[bailey1474]

Glad to hear it my friend!!! Congrats again on a good hunt.

 

[cdmorten]

Don't feel too bad. I lost the first deer I shot. It was about a 70 yard shot, right through the lungs. Anyway, tracked for about 45 minutes until the blood ran out. I know I hit the lungs because I found about half of one on the ground and about an 1/8th of one hanging on a fence. I shot it with a .308 using an SMK 168. Must have left a big exit wound. I could not believe we couldn't find it. Have since switched to ballistic tips.

 

[Ernie B]

DuckinAlaska,
I sure know how it feels to loose one like that so you have my sympathy. The first buck deer I ever shot at in my life, I was 7 or 8 yrs old, was a big ole' WV 12-pt. that walked right thru the brush right up to about 10 yrs. in front of me. I let go with my trusty old 410 slug gun, saw the hole open up right behind his left front shoulder, everything. He takes off out around the hill and instead of me just sitting still as my Grandfather had told me to about an hour before this, I took off after him. As you say, there were blood, bone, hair, guts, everywhere, but I couldn't find the deer. The blood trail trail stopped dead after approx. 150 yds.. I went and got my grandfather and after he chewed me out good for not sitting still, we tracked him some more - no luck. However, I did find that deer about 3 hrs. later, at the little country store that was also a checking station right below our house - he was in the bed of my neighbor's old Chevy P/U. I knew it was the right one - I remembered the brow tine on the righ side that went straight down by his right ear! The only hole I could see in the deer was the one my 410 made right behind the left front shoulder. I think the deer must have walked up to the guy and died. When I asked the guy where he got the deer at, he said right up there behind your house! Right then's when I wished I was about 10 yrs older - we would have stirred a little dust up there in that parking lot! It's the truth guys - thats something that can happen to you 40 yrs ago that you CAN'T forget!