THA4
A Few Steps Ahead Of You
Just a couple of fatty does, you can skip the story and go right for the pix if you want; you won’t hurt my feelings!
It was so cold! This is as cold as any winter I can remember in Iowa…. -10 when I left the house, -16 when I got back in…. I’m starting to question my sanity!
I had a few unfilled doe tags that I wanted to fill before the end of the season, not to mention we need the meat! I recalled a spot that was less than 100 yards from the road and was less than 50 yards from a very heavily used trail where the deer worked their way to the field to feed every night. There was only about 10 deer using this, but every night, about an hour before dark they were there.
This spot is on my daily “milk-route” and I felt pretty good about shooting at least one doe if not two providing they all didn’t show up together. Since I had a pretty good idea of when these deer showed up every night, I didn’t try to leave before 3 PM. Well, that worked out as I accidently didn’t close my pick-up door all the way and that matched with the cold killed my battery….. again….
I put the charger on and somehow made it out there before 4 PM. I strapped on Yukon Charlie’s snow shoes again and made the quick walk through some major snow drifts…. Seriously there is way too much snow out there…. I actually got stuck, even while wearing the shoes….
I cut a few branches out of a big cedar tree and built a make-shift blind, and it worked like a charm.
Like they read the script, 7 does showed up on the other side of the road with intentions to pass me at 50-60 yards just as they do every night. They crossed the road, jumped the fence and slowly walked right down the trail. I picked the biggest one out and dropped the hammer!
She donkey kicked and whirled and disappeared below the hill almost instantly. I knew I made a good shot, but not seeing her go down always makes you wonder…. I reloaded and deliberated looking for her, but I know those deer wanted into that food source in a bad way.
I no more than decided to wait a few more minutes and looked up and saw two does standing at the edge of the road thinking about making the trek across. I assume they were with the first group because they were nervous and as soon as they crossed the fence and into my field, they began running. I popped the scope covers on my T/C, cocked the hammer and tried to grunt to stop them, but they wouldn’t. I had to move a few feet for a clear shot.
They were not running fast, kind of a quick gate, and I thought to myself, “This could be the last bullet I fire until next year and they weren’t running that fast. At about 80 yards, I put the cross hairs slightly in front of the chest of the bigger one and squeezed the trigger. I probably should interject with this, I don’t condone a shot like that, and looking back I probably should not have taken it, especially with a ‘Loader.
After I shot I saw snow go flying everywhere and the deer was dead! I couldn’t believe it!!! It was nothing less than a lucky shot, but I was pleased! After I got up to her, I realized I got VERY LUCKY, as I hit her in the rump and apparently hit the femoral artery…. There was blood everywhere.
Both does were less than 150 yards from the road and both big meaty mature mamas! I was super jacked to end my season that way, I couldn’t be more satisfied with my season!
To top it off, a good friend was out and shot a nice buck as well! Nice work Matt!!!
