Saturday, December 10, 2011

Deer Camp 2011

 We had another successful deer season this year that, yet again, has given us a full larder.  My wife and I each took two deer.  In the picture up above you can see a portion of the crew from this year.  At one point we had 14 hunters*

*Did you know you can fit 14 people in a 4-door Dodge Dakota, armaments included.  Impressive, I know...
My buck
Here you can see the buck I took through the neck (the ONLY place to shoot a deer) at about 40 yards with a .50 caliber flintlock long rifle.  Dropped where he stood.
Shelley's buck
 Shelley took this buck with a .50 caliber in-line.  The ballistic tip bullet she used did amazing amounts of damage from the shock of the bullet.  This was another neck shot and the buck didn't even wiggle.
Dad's buck
My Dad broke from tradition and took this buck literally between the eyes from a whopping 6' away.  How did he get so close?  The trick is all the camo and scent blocking equipment he uses.  If you don't use that stuff you will never get a deer. Obviously...

4 comments:

Bill Giles said...

I'm curious about the neck shots. A neck shot would probably damage less meat than a lung shot, but how, when and where do you make a successful neck shot. I'm completely innocent in regard to neck shots. BTW, I shoot a T/C Impact with 80 Gr. equivalent of BH 209 and a 250 Gr. Barnes TEZ sabot. It dropped my doe at around 35-50 yd. very nicely.

Anonymous said...

Bill,
I have made neck shots on all the deer I have taken in the last 5 years probably. At ranges from 25 yards to 130 yards. If I can see the neck, that's when I take a neck shot. I will always choose a neck shot over a shoulder (heart/lung shot) for a couple of reasons.

1.) A neck shot ruins less meat, as you stated.

2.) When you take a neck shot you either drop the deer where it stands, or you miss completely. No guess work there.

If a deer is running, I do not shoot. Walking or standing I'm driving a .50 cal patched round ball with 90 grains of FFFG into the neck.

Bill Giles said...

Thanks for the reply. I don't take risky shots on deer, but wait for a good shot to present itself. I have been shooting for many years, but am a novice hunter. My purpose is to learn to hunt, kill, clean and prepare my game in much the same way that our ancestors would have done. I'm not looking for trophies. I want to learn to use most of the deer including the bones, hide and sinew. With deer season a few days each year, that will take some time.

Whit Spurzon said...

thanks for sharing the hunt with us.