Brrrr. My Northern blood has thinned significantly. It was 27 degrees Friday morning with a 10mph wind. Great hunting weather in Michigan but when you've been in the South for 3+yrs, dang cold.
This is my first year working with a grunt call and a bleat can. I tested it out Friday morning and I'll be darned if it wasn't absolute gold. I called in a 4pt early in the morning. I called in two heavies from opposite directions but I was in an ambush blind and they wouldn't turn the corner. Both saw eachother and decided the calls were from them - they duked it out for about 15 minutes before running off. Listening to the snort-wheeze and rattling antlers live is just plain cool. I've watched about 100 youtube videos on how to use the calls but nothing compares to real life practice. I didn't take a deer on Friday and just had fun practicing Rut calls. The outcome - it's like turkey calls - less is most definitely more and you need to change the way you are calling to how the bucks are reacting/posturing. The most effective for me was a couple of contact grunts, 3 bleats 15minutes later, a mating grunt and silence for another hour before repeating. The 4pt wouldn't come out of the woods until I issued a snort-wheeze and then it was on. He was an amibitous little fellar....
Now about those Gods.
Sunday morning I had a MONSTER buck come in around 6:15. There was so little light all I had was a silhoutte and a crazy big body it was. No shot and that bummed me out. Figuring the Gods were against me I still sat in the blind for another 3 hours. Right around that time in walked a deer behind me. It took me the better part of 10 minutes to gradually stand, pausing each time it looked up and turn myself around completely. Finally in-position it was almost out of my shooting lane. I leveled up, picked a spot between 3 trees, aimed high to miss the the last tree branches and take out it's lungs. Shot, deer mule-kicked, I think all good. Wait 30 minutes, go to the spot and nothing but one clump of hair. I have missed a deer once in my life when I was 12 and I'm irate at this point becuase I've helped enough hunters track that no blood and just hair is not good. I did a quick circle to verify lack of blood. In so doing I looked back to my stand and there was a tree branch with a neat hole right through it. I had accomodated for the branches 70+yds away but not the one 20yds away. SHIIITE! Ranting out my frustration I took a nap in my truck and ate lunch. After so doing, I take note of the crows and hawks that are circling and I thought what the heck. Until it clicked! I walked to where they were circling and sure enough - dead deer! It was 40yds from the clump of hair. Here's where it gets interesting. There was zero blood anywhere. I hit the branch dead center, the bullet deflected but only slightly down, having lost most of its power it entered perfectly behind the shoulder and lodged in the heart! Remembering this morning and my seemingly bad luck at not being able to take a shot at the buck, the hunting Gods were simply saving the favor for later in the day. Check out the pics below of the branch with a hole in it... Had it been a glancing blow on the branch I think the bullet wouldn't have been anywhere near but some how, some way, it powered through with just enough force to take it down. Backstraps for dinner Sunday night and the 30-30 maintained its 100% take-down rate. Never lost a deer with it and never missed. The Gods will be receiving many a libation first-pour into perpetuity.
Figured I'd make these pics big so you can see it, crazy!
0 Comments