First early season montana deer

[T3-OleMan]

ELK, Great post. Glad you came out well. Thank GOD I only got one in my years of not trying. It was a GOOD / YEAR kill. It was just dark & 3 or 4 month old button buck just came out of brush on hill from the right and as he jumped onto 2 lane tar & gravel country road, he must have thought he could go under the headlight cause it just rolled him under (at 40 mph) the GOOD / YEAR. Only damage was had to pop the Trim around the R front back in place and buy a couple of those plastic press in threaded screw/studs. Just saw a flash and felt him in sterring wheel. Turned around and went back got him out of ditch and took him to an archer that I had passed 1/2 mile back that was getting back to his truck. ALL of them can be fatal on both sides of the grill.
GOOD luck out there.

 

[bigngreen]

Well that stinks, every once in a while you actually kill one with a Ford with a direct hit, most get hit with the parts falling of them while you drive

 

[elkaholic]

Well that stinks, every once in a while you actually kill one with a Ford with a direct hit, most get hit with the parts falling of them while you drive

I hit one with a Chevy one time and the deer laughed and ran off waving his tail but the truck was a fatality....Rich

 

[proload]

I hit one with a Chevy one time and the deer laughed and ran off waving his tail but the truck was a fatality....Rich

I must have a look at my cousin's rifle ... Did Chevy ever make rifles, cause thats exactly what happens when he shoots at them ...

Elk ... Glad you're ok. Sorry about your truck.

 

[liltank]

I beat ya Rich. I got a small buck about a month and a half ago. I hit it with a 3300lbs projectile at 51.3fps (35mph) with a HPHB (hollow point hatchback). Best part is that I had to tell my tree hugging co-worker I hit a deer and I would be late for work! I was able to salvage most of the deer though. I know of another guy that was following a Semi on I-80 on his motorcycle. I deer decided to cross in front of the Semi. He got covered head to toe with deer blood and parts. His nickname now is "Roadkill!"

 

[Truc]

This thread will likely begin the discussion of the merits of 1/2 ton, 3/4, or 1ton, and does diesel out perform gasoline. If you add nitrous to your subaru will you gain enough foot pounds to make a clean kill. Hopefully, the humor means all is well on your side of the windshield. You had me as well.

I believe the diesel will perform better as mine is 1000 lbs heavier than my gas tuck so the BC will be better even if it is close range

 

[royinidaho]

Elk,

Great post. Caught me too!!! I was about headed for MT......

Though fuel mileage goes down but ya get a bit better bc with the tail gate down.

 

[elkaholic]

I don't know what is with me and motorized vehicles in Montana! I've lived in North Idaho for 37 years and have never hit a deer yet. On my trips to Montana, I've wrecked two trucks and a new Ski-doo MXZ snowmobile. I also killed another deer with my snowmobile trailer. He tried to slip between the truck and trailer at about 70 and didn't time it correctly. The Ski-doo incident may have been the most interesting. I had just bought a brand new 2003 MXZ Rev and took it over Lookout pass to the Montana side because they had snow and we didn't. I was testing the awesome excelleration when a 3 point jumped right between my skis. I barely had time to duck and it was a good thing that I did. I felt a smack to my helmet and it felt like a Sasquatch slugged me in the left shoulder! Don't know if they have those in Mt. or not? My son was right behind me and saw the whole thing. He said the deer went about 12' in the air, did a 1 1/2 gainer and landed on his back in the trail. All four of his legs were broken off at the knee and flopping by the skin. As most of you know, when a deer lands, all of the feet are pretty close together so I guess I had him timed pretty well. The poor critter was trying to make his escape through the timber and was doing a pretty good job, believe it or not! I didn't have a handgun with me but was able to lay him out with a six foot chunk of tamarack. About that time, a man and his wife stopped by to see why my snowmobile was parked in the trail with the hood up on the bank. Turned out they were "huggers" and his wife asked me if the deer was ok? Didn't ask about me! I told her that he had four broken legs and I had to put him out of his misery. She got VERY upset with me and asked me "isn't there something you could have done"? By that time my sense of humor was gone and I replied "ya, I guess I could have stayed home"! Maybe that says something about the deer population in Mt. and I'm hunting in the wrong state. We'll send you some wolves to help you out. JOKE........Rich

 

[elkaholic]

Maybe my "excelleration" was the problem? Doesn't appear that I excelled at spelling.......Rich

 

[CliffM]

Rich,
All our company trucks wear these. Driving daily at daylight and dusk I've bounced a number of them off it.

One of the guys got a cow ( Angus) on the way into work one morning,it didn't bounce, but it didn't make it back to the engine.

Cliff

 

[elkaholic]

Thanks Cliff! I had one on a new truck I bought right after I wrecked my first truck but got complacent on this one. I am considering going back to a guard now that the horse is out!!.........Rich

 

[rooster740]

I do not ever apply for the early season deer or elk tags but somehow I always draw them. Three elk and many whitetailed deer, no serious truck damage. The benefits of a Herd bumpers and a flat bed usually means broken mirrors, flesh on the flatbed and guts on the horse trailer.
Oh ya, I prefer the Dodge.

Just the other day I was going to pick up a new horse just outside of Bozanglos MT. I was trying to keep the local drivers from killing me. There is something about horse trailers that make people risk their life to pass you, then dynomite the brakes and turn with no turn signal. So in the middle of pre-road rage rant, I noticed the all too, familiar whitetail deer, 126 yards from the road, running like a prison escapee, at a precalculated angle if intersection with,,,,,,,me! A guy can see it coming, know what is about to happen, and only slow down so fast then wham! Right into the door. I looked at my dad and said "the friggen deer do not even know how to act decent in traffic here!", but he was still in shock from the deer attack and waited a few minutes to laugh......He kind of even screamed, at the time of impact like an ol' guy falling down. We lived, horse lived, deer inside out!
My weapon was Dodge truck with the Titan 16 foot, loaded with 1,500 lbs. of draft cross, seated at goose neck, usually around 126fps, but target was impacted at 73fps. DRT

 

[elkaholic]

I'm headed back for McGregor Lake in the morning to try again! Decided to finish the job with a wrecked truck and run the gauntlet that way. I think I will go back to a cow catcher when I have it repaired......Rich

 

[clemens]

This is one of those cases you hope for a head shot. I drive a semi for a living and have hit a few STUPID deer. lets just say it is not pretty. wacked part is these new plastic trucks just don't hold up very well.