tcmetrohunter
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2019
- Messages
- 447
So I'll start by saying I'm jacked to share my hunt but as a warning to the reader I didn't use a saddle or a bow. So continue at your own risk.
My buddy bought an awesome house this spring on 7.7 acres in the middle of a bunch of farmland in western MN. He's a deer hunter like me but unlike me he's actually gotten deer since I just started hunting last year. Both he and I did a little bit of work to try and get his spot ready for dear season this year but not much. No food plot just some salt licks and molasses licks down in the bottom part of his land where we wanted to hunt. The way his piece works out is it is rectangle shaped and the house is near the front and he has almost 5 acres of open property in the bottom part with woods on both sides and fields behind him.
We setup a cell camera and got good pictures of some bucks, does, and fawns before the bow season started. He sat a couple times and didn't see anything. He was going to hunt at a family friends deer camp during the firearm season and gave me permission to hunt at his place opening weekend if I needed to. I bought a two person ladder stand with a blind that goes over it and donated it to the cause. I saw a few deer last week but nothing came in bow range the one morning I sat. Was very excited to be able to have my bow in hand just in case they did come in range which is a huge improvement over every other hunt I've been on.
Onto firearm opener and I sit almost all weekend and the weather sucks because it's warm and I don't see a single deer. Plenty of shooting going on around me though which is cool because I'm doing my first firearm deer hunt ever but like I said no deer to be found.
Fast forward to Veterans Day and I got the day off so I'm back in the stand after a cold front moves in and there's fresh snow. See nothing the morning sit and decide to get down and get some lunch. Come back for the evening and right at sunset I spot a what looks like two does and a fawn in the woods and they work there way down the trail into the open. Perfect I think. As much as I would like to shoot a buck for my first deer ever I'm not going get picky and I want to show my wife something for being out of the house all last weekend. One of the does comes right down the trail into the open giving me a 50 yard shot and crack! Shot breaks and the deer runs into the woods onto the neighbors property. The doe and fawn stay around in the area and never figure out I'm in the stand. Right before the end of legal light a spike buck rolls in and I curse myself for not waiting but still stoked to have shot my first deer.
I got down and found blood right away and followed the trail to the edge of the property. There's good blood the whole way so I go back to the truck. Go over to the neighbors, introduce myself, ask for permission to recover the deer, get the okay from her and a thank you for asking. In MN you don't need to ask if you go unarmed but if they find you they can tell you to leave and then it would get messy so to avoid all that and be a good hunter/neighbor it makes more sense to get permission.
Back to my buddies and track the blood trail all 100 yards where I find a my deer which is expired. Check my shot placement and I slipped it in right behind the shoulder heart high where I was aiming. In all the excitement I flip the deer over to check the exit wound and after finding it I look down and what the heck! It's a buck! Look closer and sure as shiz it's a button buck. Couldn't tell from the stand and I thought it was the same size as the doe so I chose to shoot it. Good note to self for next time. My buddy arrives on scene and walks me through gutting it and we get the job done pretty quickly considering it's my first one and he just learned how a few days ago.
Upon inspection I put my round through the heart near the bottom and through the lungs. My buddy said he's never seen as much vital damage even using 12ga slugs. I built a pistol this year for deer hunting which is an AR platform with a 7.5" barrel chambered in 7.62x39 shooting the Federal Fusion 123gr soft points. Needless to say I'm impressed and will definitely be sticking with my this setup for the shotgun/pistol zone.
My buddy bought an awesome house this spring on 7.7 acres in the middle of a bunch of farmland in western MN. He's a deer hunter like me but unlike me he's actually gotten deer since I just started hunting last year. Both he and I did a little bit of work to try and get his spot ready for dear season this year but not much. No food plot just some salt licks and molasses licks down in the bottom part of his land where we wanted to hunt. The way his piece works out is it is rectangle shaped and the house is near the front and he has almost 5 acres of open property in the bottom part with woods on both sides and fields behind him.
We setup a cell camera and got good pictures of some bucks, does, and fawns before the bow season started. He sat a couple times and didn't see anything. He was going to hunt at a family friends deer camp during the firearm season and gave me permission to hunt at his place opening weekend if I needed to. I bought a two person ladder stand with a blind that goes over it and donated it to the cause. I saw a few deer last week but nothing came in bow range the one morning I sat. Was very excited to be able to have my bow in hand just in case they did come in range which is a huge improvement over every other hunt I've been on.
Onto firearm opener and I sit almost all weekend and the weather sucks because it's warm and I don't see a single deer. Plenty of shooting going on around me though which is cool because I'm doing my first firearm deer hunt ever but like I said no deer to be found.
Fast forward to Veterans Day and I got the day off so I'm back in the stand after a cold front moves in and there's fresh snow. See nothing the morning sit and decide to get down and get some lunch. Come back for the evening and right at sunset I spot a what looks like two does and a fawn in the woods and they work there way down the trail into the open. Perfect I think. As much as I would like to shoot a buck for my first deer ever I'm not going get picky and I want to show my wife something for being out of the house all last weekend. One of the does comes right down the trail into the open giving me a 50 yard shot and crack! Shot breaks and the deer runs into the woods onto the neighbors property. The doe and fawn stay around in the area and never figure out I'm in the stand. Right before the end of legal light a spike buck rolls in and I curse myself for not waiting but still stoked to have shot my first deer.
I got down and found blood right away and followed the trail to the edge of the property. There's good blood the whole way so I go back to the truck. Go over to the neighbors, introduce myself, ask for permission to recover the deer, get the okay from her and a thank you for asking. In MN you don't need to ask if you go unarmed but if they find you they can tell you to leave and then it would get messy so to avoid all that and be a good hunter/neighbor it makes more sense to get permission.
Back to my buddies and track the blood trail all 100 yards where I find a my deer which is expired. Check my shot placement and I slipped it in right behind the shoulder heart high where I was aiming. In all the excitement I flip the deer over to check the exit wound and after finding it I look down and what the heck! It's a buck! Look closer and sure as shiz it's a button buck. Couldn't tell from the stand and I thought it was the same size as the doe so I chose to shoot it. Good note to self for next time. My buddy arrives on scene and walks me through gutting it and we get the job done pretty quickly considering it's my first one and he just learned how a few days ago.
Upon inspection I put my round through the heart near the bottom and through the lungs. My buddy said he's never seen as much vital damage even using 12ga slugs. I built a pistol this year for deer hunting which is an AR platform with a 7.5" barrel chambered in 7.62x39 shooting the Federal Fusion 123gr soft points. Needless to say I'm impressed and will definitely be sticking with my this setup for the shotgun/pistol zone.
