I finally managed to get me a deer tag for a doe this year. In past years I procrastinated to long and they ran out. For reasons you stated I hope to put some meat on the table also. I have a couple of guys that use my property to hunt and they have been gracious enough to include me in there bounty. I don't put the time in to really stalk a buck and rely entirely on luck. Seeing does on the homestead is a lot more prevalent.Your story sort of reminds me of when I shot a moose way up in northern NH. It was long time ago but to this day I won't forget it. I was a sub-permitty and essentially was the camera man for the event. We spotted 3 moose, two females and one big ass male with a monster rack. My partner worked his way around while I was filming. Eventually I heard the first shot ring out. I saw the male moose flinch but didn't move. Then quickly another shot rang out. now the moose started to walk away. Let me tell you these aren't the brightest animals around. Then there were two more follow up shots and now the moose was trotting off at a brisk pace. WTF over, dropped the camera and picked up my 54 Cal muzzle loader. Over a hundred yards out now while the moose in now in almost a full run I fired off a shot. After the smoke cleared I couldn't see him anymore. My buddy came around a couple minutes later and said did you get all that. I said yeh but the last part. I dropped the camera and fired off a shot because it was running off. He wasn't too happy but none the less we headed over to where I saw him last.
We found him there laying right in the logging road. Made it kind of nice to get him out of there. We started the process of cleaning the varmint out. Both lungs had a hole the size of my thumb going through them. I didn't say anything at the time. He was so hyped up over shooting the moose I kept quiet. It took both 4 wheelers to drag him out and he weighed in dressed at 897 lbs.
The next day we brought him over to the guy that was going to cut him up for us. We watched him skin it at the time. Out of the blue the guy says who had the muzzle loader. I said I did.
Well then you were the one who took this guy down. My buddy's faced dropped. Turns out it went clear through and out the other side. When we got the meat back a week later he found one 30-06 round in the shoulder that just barely penetrated and another in his neck just floating around which really didn't do anything either. It was a shot of a lifetime for me and I will not forget it.
Neither will my buddy, He has the mount in his house still today. Huge ass rack.
Dave
