I went back home for the Thanksgiving holiday and had two days to do a little hunting.

The day before Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to take a young 8-point to fill the freezer.

The day after Thanksgiving I took one of my good friends with me. Since I had already shot my buck, we decided to sit together. I was looking for a doe and he a buck and we thought if we were to split up I would see bucks and he would see does.

The place I hunt are some steep canyons where basically the deer travel the bottoms of the canyon. I just take a lawn chair and sit on the edge watching the canyon floor below. The canyons are only about 100 yds wide and probably 50-60 yds deep.

It was about 8:00 that morning and I thought I had heard something behind me on the ridge. As deer will also walk the post oak timberline along the edge of the canyons too. So, I stood up and was looking behind me, thinking there was a deer behind us. My buddy was probably about 25-30 yds to my right watching a bed in the canyon with me not being able to see that portion in front of him. After standing looking and listening behind us for about 5 minutes I never saw what I was hearing and wrote it off as a squirrel. I turned back around and sat back down. About 5 minutes later kaboom! My buddy shoots. I turn around looking his direction thinking there were some deer behind us. Then I realize he is looking in the bottom of the canyon and at about the same time I hear the deer running towards me. So, I spin back around looking back into the canyon then crash followed by splash!! I look over to my buddy and he raises his hand in the air. The buck is down. I walk over to him and look into the bottom but don't see a deer.

I ask, "Where is he at?"

Buddy responds, "He died right at the edge of the creek and rolled into it. You see his antler sticking up there?"

"Yeah, I see it. Looks like you got work to do, because I'm not getting wet and he's yours!"

So, we cawl into the bottom and my buddy fishes his deer out of the water. We field dress the deer and drag him to the top, which is no small feat in itself.



By this time, it is about 9:00 and I say let's move down the canyon about 300 yds or so and set up again because I'd really like to knock a doe down too. So, we move and get back over to another spot about 300-350 yds from where my buddy just took his buck. I get over to the edge and decided this isn't the place I wanted to sit. My buddy decided this was good enough for him and I decided to move another 50-75 yds to the east. No sooner had I sat down (probably about 10-15 secs) I hear something behind me again. I turn around and there is a doe running at a slight angle to my right about 75 yds, followed by yearling and another doe. They run to one of the fingers that feed the main the canyon and drop off into it. Once they hit the bottom they turn and head my way. The trees were fairly thick in this area but shooting lanes were present, if you picked a spot and the deer came thru them. Well, the first doe walks thru a lane followed by the yearling. I place the crosshairs on the opening and when the last doe fills the sight I pull the trigger. At the shot I see two things: 1) the doe humps up and takes off running and 2) a tree limb about 3/8" falls.

I walk over the where the deer was at the shot and see a huge pile of white hair about 3 feet in diameter, a small piece of fat about the size of your pinky nail, and a tiny piece of flesh. No blood, no blood trail, and no tracks! Crap, not good!! I mill around there for about 10-15 minutes and don't find anything else. I decided to head back and get my buddy to help me look for blood or sign. By this time he had made it down to my chair and was sitting in it.

He says, "Is it in the bottom?"

My reply, "Yeap, but she is still moving."

His response, "What? You missed."

"Nope, I hit her but I don't think I killed her!"

I take him back over to where I hit her and showed him the pile of hair and the small pieces of fat and flesh. We start moving in the direction she was headed when I last saw her.

Then buddy says, "Wait there she is!"

I look up and about 40 yds from us is a deer standing there broadside just looking at us. I put the deer in the scope and say, "That's another buck. He is a spike. That is not the deer I shot!"

We stand there another minute or so discussing this deer until he finally decides he needs to be somewhere else.

We formulated a plan for me to walk back to the 4-wheeler and go around to the point of the canyons, while my buddy is going to walk to me; thereby, making a small drive to hopefully push the wounded doe towards me. Well, to make a long story short, the doe never showed back up, my dad came out to feed the cattle in that pasture, blowing the sirene, etc. We decided to call it a morning and head into town to eat lunch.

After lunch, I thought it would be a good idea to hunt the south canyon since we'd done so much tramping around on the north canyon. We go over to my favorite spot get our chairs set up with my friend about 15 yds to my right. Also, to our right were 4-5 cows down in the bottom of the canyon. I look down at my watch, which reads 1:09 pm. My belly is full, the sun is nice and warm, and I've been up since 4:00 am; it's time to take a little nap! I cross my arms, duck my head and drift off into lala land. Then, I realize there is something running in front of me (meanwhile, I'm still about half asleep with head tucked everything). I think why are those cows running in front of me? Wait those cows were on the other side of the fence! There isn't supposed to be any cows on this side of the fence. Keep in mind, I'm still trying to process this while still in my little fetal position and somewhat asleep. Then, it dawns on me what I'm hearing is a damn deer. I look up and there she is a deer running off the opposite bank into the bottom of the canyon and crossing the creek. I grab my rifle, which is leaning up against a tree to my right. The deer is running up my side of the canyon to my left. I get her in the crosshairs and pull the trigger as she is racing past me at about 20 yds. She continues to run behind us but I can tell the shot was true by the blooding beginning to pump out.

I turn around to my buddy when I realize/hear another deer running thru the bottom. It is another buck hot on this doe's trail. He realizes we're there and turns off her trail and stops about 40 yds from me.

I start saying, 'Don't shoot, it's another buck, don't shoot."

Well, the buck hangs around to get a good look at him thru the scope. He is a bigger deer then my buddies but he is all busted up. I hope he makes it thru the winter.

After the deer runs off, I turn around to my buddy and start telling him that I was asleep and the thoughts that were going thru my mind and how I was trying to process them. He was telling me that he could hear the deer running but couldn't see them until they were almost out of the canyon.

About that time, I hear something again running thru the leaves behind me. I turn around and see a glimps of something running at us. I sit back down and realize it is a coyote. I pull up my gun, settle the crosshairs and pow. The coyote drops like a stone about 25yds from me and just about 5 yds behind were the doe had run and about 10 yds to the north of where I shot her.

I turned around to my buddy and say, "Do you believe this shit? I just shot a damn coyote too!"

We stand there another minute or so and then I look down at my watch and it reads 1:23pm. All of this had happened in 14 minutes. Absolutely unreal!!

I walk over the coyote and am admiring her exceptional pelt when buddy hollers saying he found my doe. I then hear him laughing histarically.



He starts hollering, "Dude, you have got to see this! You are not going to believe it!"

I respond, "What is it? What is wrong?"

He just says, "You just need to see it for yourself."

I walk over to the doe and he pulls back the front leg. "What the hell!? There is no way this is the same deer!"

Buddy says, "Ok, how do you explain it then? Is this the side you were shooting at?"

"Yes."

"Then why can't it be her? I bet it is her!"

I don't know how or why but I'm about 99% sure it was the same doe I'd shot at that morning. I guess the limb I saw fall at the shot was just enough to deflect the bullet off path. A damn story I wouldn't believe had I not been there and witnessed it myself.

Like I said to my buddy on the way home, "An interesting day deer hunting that is better then most fishing tales."





Here is a picture of the little buck I took the day before Thanksgiving. I shot this buck not more than about 100 yds from where my buddy shot his buck just two days later.

That's a heck of a hunt! Congrats to both of you.

Reloader

Thanks!

I was shooting my new Ruger 7mm-08 with 140gn Nosler partitions. My buddy was shooting a 257 Weatherby with the 120 gn Nosler partitions.

It was a heck of a day and one I won't forget soon.

Graybird,

Those are the memories that will last a lifetime--and maybe your children's lifetimes too!

Great read--make sure you preserve it for posterity.

Merry Christmas,

friar

Got to be the same deer

Wow, what an adventure! Congratulations and a hearty "Waidmann's Heil"!

quote:

Originally posted by Mike_Dettorre:
Got to be the same deer

I sure think it was her. It was probably 1000-1200 yds from the shot in the morning to the afternoon shot.

I wonder if the fresh wound could have caused the buck to be chasing her. The rut should have been over by then.

Great story; thanks for taking the time to write it up. I bet the coyote was after that wounded doe. Last month we spent most of a day following up a buck my partner shot and when we found it the coyotes had eaten both hind quarters off it. They'll get on a blood trail faster than a hound.

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
Great story; thanks for taking the time to write it up. I bet the coyote was after that wounded doe. Last month we spent most of a day following up a buck my partner shot and when we found it the coyotes had eaten both hind quarters off it. They'll get on a blood trail faster than a hound.

Possibly, but I think the buck boogered her up. The coyote came from the same direction the buck had run once he spooked. Plus, the wind direction was straight in my face and the yote came from the left. I don't think the scent would have been blown in the direction of the yote.