Opening day I was sitting at my stand and sure enough the first deer that comes along is a nice buck….downwind from me. Every deer and deer sign was indicating that the deer would be coming from the opposite side the buck showed himself and I was set up accordingly. The buck made me right away so standing up was not an option (I was in my tree stand). Instead, every time he lowered his head I moved the gun a little bit to my right side; I would have to shoot left handed. There was a hitch though, the deer was moving toward a thick patch of trees and brush. Sure enough as soon as I got my rifle to my left shoulder the deer trotted into that thicket. I had thought that the deer was long gone but to my surprise I could make him out in the scope, just standing in that thicket. Normally, I would have never even thought about taking a shot like that but I suppose I had a bit of the buck fever. I could just make out the buck’s shoulder about 75yds away, so I aimed carefully and slowly squeezed the trigger. After the shot I didn’t hear the typical crash of a deer falling into thicket nor did I hear anything bounding away. Thinking that I completely missed due to the bullet hitting a branch or twig, I immediately got out of my stand to investigate.

I walked up the hill to get a better vantage point and sure enough there was the buck, right in the middle of the thicket and only about five yards from where I shot it. I thought that maybe somehow the bullet did not deflect and hit the heart and lungs, right where I was aiming. I than fought my way through the thicket and approached the buck from the back side. I than gave the deer a good poke with my gun… nothing. I wanted to get a better look at the deer’s horns so I leaned in to some of the saplings to get more room and in doing so lost my footing. In the commotion I had inadvertently stepped on the deer’s leg. Poking the deer had no effect but apparently it didn’t like its back leg stepped on, oh yes I quickly learned that the deer was not completely dead. The buck thrashed violently, trying to get up and if I had to guess, gore me in the process. I will have to admit, I had a brief moment of panic. However, I did get the gun up and took a second shot (not really aiming). This time the deer dropped, completely limp. Myself, I backed off and let things settle down for about 10 minutes. Hands still shaking, I went up to the deer again but this time it was a done deal, the deer was down for good.

It turns out that the first shot was deflected by the thicket. The bullet probably had begun to mushroom out before it hit the front leg. The bullet hit the deer in the left front elbow junction completely severing the lower leg from the body and just grazing the brisket. Losing its ability to run away the deer threw in the towel and lay down. The second shot went into the center of the body angling up from the belly, hitting the liver and clipping part of the lung. Best I can figure the bullet hit the spinal column (it was broken in one area) was deflected and ended up under the hide on the opposite side. Oddly enough, no usable meat was damaged with either shot.

Here is the deer, just got done boiling it.


Here is the bullet. If you can believe it the 150gr Scirocco retained 92% of its weight!

Good kill, & what caliber was it?

Nice, I like the dark horns.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Good kill, & what caliber was it?

It was a 7mm-08

Great story and a nice deer.

Good job, good story. He could have done some damage had he got to you.

The mighty 7-08 strikes again!
My daughter killed 4 elk and 4 deer with hers, the first 4 years she hunted.
I killed two elk with the same rifle last year, for old times.

Nice & exciting!
You did a nice job on the head. When I tried boiling the last one it lightend the horn color.

quote:

Originally posted by BigNate:
Nice & exciting!
You did a nice job on the head. When I tried boiling the last one it lightend the horn color.

the secret is to avoid getting the antlers in the lightly simmering water. Here is the procedure I use

• simmer head in water with 1cup borax and 1/4 cup dawn for every 2 gallons of water
  
• when most of the 'stuff' falls off and the water gets dirty start over without the dawn
  
• when there is nearly noththing left start over only using half laundry detergent
  
• rinse with water when finished