Worst hunt ever.

[ARKANSAWYER]

 Many, Many seasons have I hunted and alot of my most fondest memories are hunting trips and deer camp.   But not today!   Today was opening morning of Modern Gun Season in Arkansas.   It will go down in history as my worst trip.
   It started bad before I even got in bed the night before.  I had managed to check the sights on my guns during the week and did have most of my gear ready to go.  I did not go to south Arkansas to deer camp because it was going to be warm so I was bummed out about that for starters.  I am not able to hunt on the farm because LBJ will find me and sit under my stand and see that nothing bothers me by barking at every thing.  I can not even sleep with her around.  :(  Customers will see my truck and honk their horns and yell for me to see where I am at.   You would think that 160 arces was large but, it is not large enough.  So I slip off to hunt along the Buffalo River which is rough country and the deer are spread out over it.  I have taken several deer there but the hunting is hard, hit and miss at best.  But it is opening morning so I must go.  Things and calls keep me up to past 11:30 pm 
  I awaken at 4:13 am and reset the alarm for my wife who is pulling weekend duty at the hospital.   The wind is blowing hard out of the south and leaves are falling and blowing every where.   I guess I put two spoons of sugar in my coffee as the first cup was ruined.   Scorched the egg for my breakfast.  Step out the back door and it is 57 degrees so I have to take off half my clothes.   Take off in the truck for the 15 min drive to the river only to realize I left my coffee cup on the bed of the truck.  Half of it leaked out in the drive way.  :'(  Get down in the river valley and there is no wind and just a very light dew so things are looking up.  Find my old faithfull sweetgum tree (est. about 450 bdft of lumber in it) and reach a heigth of about 30 ft and all seems right with the world now.
  NOT!   It was just the bait to lure me into a false demeanor.   I mean it was starting to shape up into a wonderful hunt as any when a 5 point buck came slipping down the trail while I was reading "CATLOW"  by Louis L'Amour.  The buck was just legal and I had my Ruger Super Black Hawk .44 Mag with me and I thought what a great chance to take another deer with it.  I put the 30-06 down and pulled my pistol from the holster.   I gave a doe bleat call and he came right on in.   At about 35 to 40 ft from the bottom of the sweetgum I squeezed the trigger and the .44 leaped to life and the buck dropped in his tracks.  Like a sack of taters off the back of the truck.  I finished the chapter in the book and lowered my gear and climbed down.  It was now that things busted loose.
  While strapping my holster on when I got to the ground I heard a sound behind me and truned to see my deer running off.     Grabbing my 30-06 I take off in hot persuit.   Twice I jump him up but could not get a shot.  I was thinking things were not that bad as he was heading towards the truck.  That was a first for me because most of the time it is down hill and away from the truck.  The buck hits the old logging road and runs about 100 yards and drops.  I get into place to shoot only to notice my truck is just about 30 yards behind the deer and that 06 will most likly go through and through and kill my truck.  So I move to get the truck out of the line of fire and just as I get into a shooting position the buck jumps up and runs past my truck and the field beyound into the cane break on the rivers bank.   Thats just great! as you can not shoot with in 100 yards of the Buffalo River, in the river or across the river.   
  I get to where he entered the cane and pick up his trail.  It's hard to get though because it is so thick and a mess.   I get to the river bank only to find my buck limping across a gravel bar in the middle of the river.  I unload my guns and take up persuit.  Chasing after him down stream wading knee deep he will run about 100 yards then fall down.   When I get close he jumps up and runs some more.  About 1/2 mile down stream I come with in view of the HY 14 bridge and just know a Ranger will cross any time and see me chasing a deer down the river.  Finally the buck hits the bank and back into the cane.   I trail along but lose him in the cane.  Hearing some noise in the field beyound I break out of the cane only to find two city women walking some dogs.  :  They had not seen a deer cross the field  so I ask them if he should come out for them to yell as I was going back into the cane to look for him.  After some tuff searching I find the trail only to jump him back into the river heading back up stream.  Great!!  He then desides to swim across to the far bank but gets hung up on a log trying to get up the far bank.  I get to within 10 ft and fix bayonet.  Dangerous I know but, then I have some special training and about tired of this deal now.  The buck kicks and starts swimming up the river as the water is chest deep on me.  He swims a ways then just floats.  I get close and he takes off again.   I get to the side where the water is not so swift and knee deep and keep up with him.  Hoping he will drown at any time but fate is agin me.  Once again he tries to get up the far bank and slides down to the water.  Knowing that he will rest for a spell the go again I swim the river to about 30 yards down stream of him.  I hang the 30-06 in a willow tree and dump the water out of the Ruger and ready for action.  The buck charges the steep bank and makes it this time.  I plunge in after him and it is a race through the cane break.  Loading 3 shells into the revolver on the run I get close when he takes a break to catch his breath again.  We are now in the woods again but he wheels and heads back to the river like he knows he is safe there.  The .44 barks and the buck stumbles through the cane back to the bank.   He falls into the river and drowns by the time I get there. 
  Temps have been falling during the whole chase and clouds have rolled in.  With guns over head and deer floating behind I wade back across the river to the bank where my truck awaits only with in a few yards where the buck first came into the river.  Rain starts to fall and the wind picks up hard again as I cross the gravel bar to challange the bank and cane.  Had I not been in great shape and working so hard I would have frozen to death where I was.  The little buck is now safely at the processors and I am dry and clean.   The Drill Sergeant was right,  someday this training would save my life.  What a way to find out.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Shoot fire, Arky, Ya got me tired just readin this saga.  At least you could just throw him over yer shoulder and carry him to the truck.  8)  Good story

[PawNature]

Say, ain't that one of them there JackAlopes I heard so much about

[beenthere]

Arky
What a hunting experience. I can't top that one, but there were several parts of it that I can relate to from my own experiences, all too well.      One would think that such a deer on the loose like that would either die or hurt so much from laughing that it would not be able to run off.  :D
Thaat one should eat well, and forever be etched in your mind as a personal challenge.

I do remember shooting one about that size, and and then calmly lowering my stuff out of the tree as the deer lay still about 40 yards out into a swamp, with about 12" of water.  I let my gun at the tree, (mistake!), plodded out to within about 10' of the deer. It jumped up and kept pushing itself just out of range whenever I moved closer than about 5-10ft. I circled it thinking if I kept pushing it, I should head it back toward the tree where my gun was. Trying that, it finally pushed itself into a small clump of tag alder brush, and I managed to toss my drag rope over it's antlers and as it jumped I wrapped the rope around some brush. That held it while I carefully worked up the rope to use my knife to kill the deer. First time I ever was able to lasso anything successfully (as a kid, was bad at that on the farm).  Adds to the deer stories 

[ARKANSAWYER]

   Deer are tuff.  Hit them with a 3,000 lb car going 60 mph and they run off.   Shoot them with over a ton of force and they run for a mile and swim up river for a 1/4 mile.  Both lungs were shot through and he had bled inside and out for over an hour while on the run. 

  Which as it does in deer camps all over the country now bring up the old question of what is the best deer gun?  Now here where a buck might get as large as 175 lbs and many in the 125 to 150 lb class is different then where Kirk has them in the 200+ lb bracket.   Then follows where to shoot them at for the best take down?

  Key in my mind is a caliber that you can shoot well with plenty of power.   A .243 with a 100 g bullet does a fine job and most can shoot it well out to 200 yards in open conditions.  The old 30-30 is a fine a brush gun as you would ever need next to the 45-70.   I use a 30-06 with 165 g bullets as most of my shots are 200 yards less and some brush.   I did shoot a deer with it several years ago that was 873 steps away when I walked straight to it.     Sounds impressive but the bullet only traveled about 150 yards as he was on the next ridge across the holler. ;D  Boy of mine uses .444 as he likes the brush and the loud noise it makes.  He's not hit anything so we do not know how it works.  I have taken several with a .44 revolver and except for yesterday has always done a great job.  Yesterdays was a good shot but maybe a bit high.  Can you hit with it and does it match the conditions in which you hunt is the most important.
 
  What do you use?    ???

[pigman]

The last time I got a deer I used a 222 with a 10 power scope. Too small for a body shot, the the thing is so accurate I used a head shot. I have a 30-30 but cain't hit a deer past 10 yards : If I was that close I would just rope the deer. ;)
Bob the ex hunter

[Norm]

We have to use shotguns in Iowa, I use a 12ga with slugs. I can tell you I've put holes the size of a grapefruit in deer and still tracked them for a long ways.

Two years ago I shot a 10 point buck, went back to the house to get the 4-wheeler as he went down like a brick when I shot and was sure he was dead. Came back without gun and the buck got up and ran not too well. I had a rope in hand and bull dogged him and was trying to get the rope on his antlers to tie off to the 4-wheeler. Finally had to use the trusty buck knife to slit his throat. Kind of messy but I wasn't gonna go back home empty handed after bragging to everyone at the house about the big buck I'd shot.

[Kirk_Allen]

Dave I also hunt with my 44 during gun season.  We are only allowed to use shotgun, muzzleloader or pistol during our gun seasn.  I have a Ruger Redhawk, 7 1/2" barrel with a 2-8 Leopold scope.  I handload 250 grain Nozzler partition gold bullets and have taken severl deer with it and all of them piled up within 75 yards of the hit.

I use the same bullet in my muzzleloader with a sabot.  Its deadly to 200 yards and have never had a deer go more than 75 yards with it.  

My shotgun is a Mossburg Bolt Action Slug gun.  I can drive tacks with it at 100 yards and have shot it through my chronograph and the sabot slug is zipping at 2200 fps.  I have taken dozens of deer with it at 150+ yards and the farthest was 180 yrds.

I think you are correct about hitting with your firearm and matching it to your conditions.

I remember a winter Caribou hunt where we ran into a couple guys from the lower 48 who were hunting with a browning auto loader 30-06.  They got one shot, missed and coudlnt get the reciver open.  The temp was about 30 below and my guess is the lube they used was not conducive to cold weather.  I let them use my 8mm Winchester Mag to take a boo and we all went home with meat.

Deer are tough!  I would have to say that of all the animals I have shot, I think the quickest and cleanest kill comes from a bow with a good broadhead.  Provided you can hit what your aiming at.

Reminds me of a story:  
Farmer approaching his truck in full camo, gun and stand:

Any luck?

Farmer: I saw a bunch.  I got off at least 10 different shots but they must have been to far to hit with this new gun.

What you shootin?

Farmer: Its one of them new slug gun auto loaders with a scope.  They say it will hit deer at 200 yrds. but they must have been farther out cuz I put the cross hairs right on them and missed everytime.

Did you sight it in?

Farmer: It came out of the box with the scop installed and ready to go.  Guess Im going to have to try to get a little closer to them deer.


This guy had NO CLUE what I meant when I asked if he had sited in his gun.  The disturbing part is what provoked the meeting in the first place.  He was hunting due west of us about 300 yards across a field and road.  We were hunting the parimiter of a bedding area and we heard his slugs zipping through our woods.  ALL TEN OF THEM.  I bailed out of the woods to find out what the heck was going on and to our amazement, this farmer, who was a city slicker his whole life and moved back to the farm after his dad passed away, had no business with a gun in his hands.  

The scary part..............................we saw him yesterday putting up a stand getting ready for next weekends gun season.  I think I am going to be a little higher in the tree this year.  

[Corley5]

My go to deer rifle is a Model 70 Winchester in .270 Winchester with a 4X Redfield.  I shoot 130 grain Silver Tips.  Kills deer dead.  First deer I ever shot was with a .22 Hornet.  It ran 100 yards and I shot it in the head to finish it off.  Second deer was with the 30-30 in Marlin 336 also with a Redfield 4X.  I've used the .270 ever since when I get the chance to hunt during the regular season.  Dad always uses the 30-30 even though he could use any of a number of higher power rifles like the 30-06, .280 Rem, 6MM Rem, .308 etc.  He's shot LOTS of deer with the old 30-30.  Kind of a tradition  ;) ;D

[farmerdoug]

I use a Remington 11-87 12 gauge with a scope and slugs mainly during regular gun season which stars here on 11-15.  I also use on occasion an open sight shotgun for driving the brush but I rarely shoot on the drive unless I am absolutely sure were the standers are.  I also hunt with a muzzleloader or my .44 Ruger super redhawk too.

Farmerdoug

[Larry]

Sorta fond of the 6mm Rem with 100 grainers out to 250 yards.  Past that something with little more horsepower gets the nod.  Bean field shots are lot more common round here than shots in the brush.

Learned a lesson few years ago on how critical bullet selection can be.  Worked up a load for the 25-06 using 117g Sierra's.  Shot 3 deer with excellent shot placement but they all walked...not far maybe 50 to 100 yards.  No blood trail.  Called the Sierra Tech Line and was told most quick..."switch to the 100g and save the 117g for bigger game".  Problem solved. 

[isawlogs]

 Deer season is all but over here as of today , I hunt with a Remington pump .270 Win. 140 g are what I like to shoot this gun with . also have a 308 Win. pump . We are only alowed bucks here , does are allowed but only through a lottery , got a nine point  wich weighed in at 195 lbs , nice deer but there was one a little bigger with a much nicer rack that just stayed one step ahead of us .

[SwampDonkey]

All I see in the daylight around here is does. But, it was funny last year I was walking along the road on the day after season closed and a pretty 10 pointer saunders across the road as unconcerned as anything. :D :D I don't hunt, but if my grandfather were alive and still able to hunt,  that deer would of been in the freezer long before the season closed. He wasn't like alot of todays hunters who lean out the pickup window or ride horseback on a 4-wheeler. He hunted and worked his deer on foot. ;D

[Dan_Shade]

I had a similar story to yours, arky, with the first deer I killed.  wasn't quite as bad, mine ended up in water and I had to chase it down after I thought it was dead.

I had to go get help to get mine out, it ended up falling over a bank when I shot it, I couldn't lift it out of the water, but then again, I got 75lb of boned meat out of him

Kirk, maybe you guys should offer to help the guy out a little bit, so he realizes what he's doing.  most people don't want to be unsafe, and if he sees how dangerous he's being, he may learn something.

[pigman]

I was out by the barn cutting slabs for firewood yesterday and a medium sise buck kept wandering around about 200yds away. I saw him three different times come and go in the little valley next to my drive. Enough is enough, I went to the house and got a gun. 8) I am not going to let a deer tease me like that during gun season. Never saw the deer again. They can smell a gun I guess. Maybe if I could mount a loud motor on the gun . :

[Kirk_Allen]

DS, Since last year there have been two other folks who have talked to this guy about siting in his gun and he insists its sighted in and he KNOWS what he is doing.

I understand and agree with you that we should help him out but if you would have been there during that conversaiton you would quickly realizer that this guy wants no part of ANYONE telling him ANYTHING. 

The kicker for us is that my Dad had purchased a 17 acre parcel next to his other property that just happen to be this guys parents land YEARS ago so he was not real freindly because of that.  Its has if he has a grudge with who ever owns land that his folks use to own, which was a bunch before it was swindled away.

[SwampDonkey]

The kicker for us is that my Dad had purchased a 17 acre parcel next to his other property that just happen to be this guys parents land YEARS ago so he was not real freindly because of that.  Its has if he has a grudge with who ever owns land that his folks use to own, which was a bunch before it was swindled away.

It's just the opposite I find on Dad's farm. The buyer basically accused my brother of being a thief. The fact is the only thing that was stole was the time this guy went to my brother's garage and stole 'MY' skill saw. The hermit that lives in a trailor he parked on the property has stole stuff out from under his nose and the guy thinks as long as he's living there his stuff is safe.  : :D :D   Well after about 3 years his farming years ended and he auctioned off the equipment, hired any wood cut that he could make a buck on and now rents out the farmland.  His wife runs an immigration service and the whole fiasco was fronted and financed by my tax dollars.  They basically don't want anyone near their land and most of all my brother and I. As far as I'm concerned they can go back to the homeland and won't be missed by anyone. They sure aren't Canadians and least of all New Brunswickers. >:(  There I said my piece for the day. :D :D :D

[Frickman]

I hunt alot of brush and other thick spots, so I like an old 30-30. Sometimes get out the muzzleloader too.

[Tom]

I use a 12 gauge shotgun because we hunt a lot of swamps and tight underbrush areas.  You are better off with a gun that will shoot deer, bear, rabbits, quail or dove hear with a change in loads rather than a change in firearms.

When I was little, I had the idea that I wanted a rifle.  Granddaddy was dead-set against it.  He went to great lengths explaining the turkey in the swamp and failure of a long rifle to be effective  in our situations.  He said that you never really knew where a rifle bullet would end up.   I'll never forget this quote that he used.  "If it's so far enough away that you need a rifle to hit it, it's too far away to go pick it up."

He was a believer in pre-season trailing and being where the game would pass when hunting season arrived.  His turkey load was low brass #8's and sometimes #6's.   He didn't hunt with slugs but did carry ought buck, twos and fours in his pocket.

I can still remember him standing there with his Model 11, cowboy hat, dress shirt, tie, old dress shoes, khaki trousers and a marine field jacket given to him by my Uncle Brother.  (you gotta read another post somewhere to understand that title.)  :D

My, that brings back memories.

[Bibbyman]

Well,  my deer story is not nearly as exciting as Arky's.

I'd hunted for about two hours first morning and had two fawns walked up to me.  Well, one spotted me about 50 yards out and kept eyeballing me and slippin' closer and closer until it got to about 20 yards.  The other just mumbled along and kept going.  The curious one finally looked around and seen it sibling heading off and bound off after it.  I went to the mill and Mary and I sawed.

Then in the evening of opening day, I was setting about 100 yards from the mill when a doe and two fawns came poking past.  I had plenty of time to down any one of them but they acted like they were being pushed by something so I waited to see if Mr. Buck was bringing up the rear.  Besides, it was still the first day.  Son Chris usually "murders" enough deer to keep us in good eats anyway.

Hunted Sunday afternoon a bit – didn't see anything.  Rest of the week was just too darn windy, cold and rainy to get out and hunt.  We did saw some though.

Mary and I sawed Friday morning and came in to have lunch.  Son Chris came down.  He'd not been able to hunt much but hadn't seen a thing.  Mary said I could have the afternoon off to go hunting so I grabbed my Marlin 1895 47/70,  a Butterfinger candy bar, and a can of orange juice and headed up the road past the sawshed.

It was windy and plenty comfortable warm – I didn't even wear a jacket.  I'd been watching the squirrels play for about 2 hours and had just finished the Butterfinger and was eyeing the orange juice.  The wind was calming a little so I was getting encouraged to watch a little closer for deer.  Then...  I spotted a deer crossing about 70 yards down the draw below me.  I got my trusty Marlin up and in a good position to take a shot.  I looked a little while and saw another larger deer behind the first one a little ways.  It's head was behind a tree but it's body was broadside.  I just swung the Marlin over and when the crosshairs looked right – Kerr-BOOM!  It bucked a couple of times and the deer were off. 

I took a minute to take a leak I'd been holding for the past couple of hours and to find my empty brass.  I then followed up the deer.  Now,  of all the things I can do,  tracking a wounded deer is not one of them.  I can't see blood on the leaves.  DanG! I can hardly see a down deer in the leaves.  But that's why I hunt in close quarters and pick my shots carefully.  "One shot, one kill." is what I like.

I walked up to where I thought the deer was standing when I shot and up jumped two deer about 60 yards further out and off they went.  I thought mayhap I messed up.  But no – there about 40 yards from where it was shot lay the doe.

I was about half way to the house when I saw Mary coming up the drive in the Durango.  She was going to my folks to get the girls off the bus. I flagged her down and she took me up to get the Mule to bring in the doe.  The girls wanted to come with me so they loaded up in the Mule.  We got there and as it was going to be sundown soon,  I decided to bring it to the house rather than field dress it there.  I lifted the front feet into the Mule and Alex took a hold.  I then had Brooke pull on the ears.  As I lifted the back half to stuff it in the bed,  a great rush of air from the doe sprayed a blast of blood all over both girls!  Alex was a bit grossed out but Brooke thought it was great fun.   :D

We took the deer up to show Granny as she always insists on seeing them.  Then I took to girls to the house to get their cloths off and into the washing machine.  I took the doe down in the pasture to filed dress it.  As I was doing this,  I heard a Kerr-BOOM! from not too far away.  I got my work done and then called out. "Chris,  do you need the Mule?"  He hollered back that he did.  He'd killed a button buck.



So now we've at least got camp meet.  ;D

[SwampDonkey]

My grandparents thought it was cute to take pictures of their 4 year old grandson holding a 20 guage double and a partridge (ruff grouse in another). I started hunting grouse with a .22 and then bought a 20 guage double of my own to hunt with. Never needed no 12 guage, where we used to hunt the grouse were so stupid you could club'n. You'd flush'm up into the yellow birches or poplars and they'd sit like chickens, just shot from the bottom most grouse and work your way up. :D :D In close to the settlement they was wild and cagey as a fox. You might get a crack at 1 in 6. I never see flocks bigger than 4 now, we used to run across flocks of 10 or 12 birds. One time we hit onto a flock of 24, but what we realized is the feed was good in the area and their was 2 or 3 families of them flocked together. You get in a good seed year with lots of birch catkins and poplar flower buds, like shown in the 'Tree ID' sticky thread, and your in grouse heaven. Late in the season and into the winter they eat those buds because they are high in protein from the pollen in them. 

[Rockn H]

I usually use a 30/30, but this year I'm taking my Ruger 44mag instead.  I haven't taken a deer with it yet.  Maybe this will be the year.

Arky, did you say once that your camp was around Lacy?

[gary]

I took a walk where I hunt deer today. Five years ago I would have seen at least 30 deer there. Today I was lucky to find a track and didn't see any deer. This will be my last year hunting deer in this spot.

[Mtnjack]

Gary its not just your area after 3 days of bear hunting i saw more bear traciks than deer forest county pa. Here in beaver county its not much better.  Mtn Jack

[gary]

I went deer hunting monday and saw no deer. I went out tuesday morning and all I got was wet. I went back out tuesday afternoon after it stopped raining. I got to the spot I wanted to sit in and wasn't there five minutes and a button buck came running by. I shot it and it fell in a flooded creek.  This creek was roaring I couldn't keep up with the deer even by running. The creek goes into a lake about a half mile from where I shot it so I walked down the creek hoping to see the deer hung up on something or washed up on the bank. Well I got to the lake and had not seen the deer anywhere. Started walking back up the creek and had gone about half way back to where I started and I saw the deer floating toward me. Of course it would not come close to the side of the creek I was on so back to the lake. I ended up wading into the creek which was about four feet deep and thirty feet wide. But I got the deer.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Gary some times a man just has to stay with it.   Always hate to hear about one being lost.

  Rockn H, Deer camp is just south of Monticello but I was hunting here below the house on the Buffalo River.   It was to warm for me down there opening day so I stayed up here.  It is getting cool enough now for the sketters to lay low.

[gary]

After what started out to be a terrible deer season. It turned into a pretty good one. I managed to get 3 does and a 6 point. The total for the six of of who hunt together was 10 deer, 3 bucks and 7 does.

[lucky_cutter]

My worst hunt ever was the time I got the deer(3PT) (3x3 for the Easterners) back to camp and the first question I hear is, "Did you wipe the milk foam off his mouth before or after you shot him?  I started out hunting with a Rem BDL .270.  Never had to track a shot deer with that rifle. I also use a SA-58 .308 and a SAR3 .223. just to shake things up. It is nice hunting out west where you have more options to shoot with.