quite a day

shootingduckdog

Well-Known Member
Crappy week so I decided to twist a mates arm to go stalking this evening. The ground is dense woodland but it has a lot of roe. We normally stalk together but each in a different block. It is tremendously difficult to stalk onto deer normally as its noisy under foot and and the cover is too thick. However if we go as a two sometimes they move into the path of one of you when they are getting out of the way of the other.
Anyway my mate then called to say he couldnt make it but his father would. One hour later the father rang to say he was now tied up too :cry:
Both of them told me to go on my own, so what the hell :confused:

Loaded gear up and off. As I was driving in I thought I saw roe feeding in one area. I drove well past and got kitted up then headed back using the track to keep the noise down. Then, there through the trees I could see a doe feeding, obscured by trees. I set the sticks up and waited, as she stepped forward she presented a nice neck shot at about 60m. Shot away and deer down :D

I wait, and then hang on, deer back up and moving around uncertainly :eek: . Round is chambered but no clear shot at engine room and deer wont stand. Nothing for it but to get another shot away, I have always been taught that if you have a wounded deer then you have to finish it quickly and the best way you can, venison now not an issue. Second shot away, again good impact noise and deer down. Phew!

I was now very concerned at how the first shot had gone wrong. Wait a few minutes and go forward. Find dead doe perfectly neck shot :eek: Just away behind her a doe kid, gut shot though. The kid must have been sleeping right next to her, invisible in the cover. I finish it quickly and feel awful. The uncertain movement must have been because it had been startled awake and seen its mother down. Got them both gralloched but left without a very happy feeling inside.

2 questions at this point. What could I have done differently? I really didnt want to see a wounded deer staggering off and there was no way I could see the woodland floor at the time of the decision. The second is a bit more grim. The guts seemed to come out of the entry hole not exit hole, is this normal and how can it happen?

Moving on. I had only been in the wood 3/4 of an hour so decided to stalk on. I crunched around some more of the wood being barked at and bumping deer away. Normal service resumed for this block.

As the light faded I headed back to an area with better ground both on the noise and visibility front. Then along a ride, 2 white spots, binos up and yes 2 roe feeding away from me at about 100m. Left hand animal a doe. Once more onto sticks and wait. After a minute or so the doe turns broadside on and shot away. I can see her jump about 3ft vertically then 1 deer goes left and the other right. The doe had been facing left. I wait and can hear both deer moving. Next a deer appears in view to the left but positively bouncing, the noise on the right stops. Deer on the left vanishes into the wood. I walk forward and search around 30m radius around the spot I had marked, nothing, but the light is pretty bad now. I am now feeling desolate. I cant work out what the hell I am going to tell my mate. Its his venison and I've gut shot one and lost another. I mark the spot and go back for the car and lamp as the light has gone.

Once back and with the lamp I see a really good lung blood trail. It takes me 80m into the wood and stops. Still no deer :cry: Then, back slightly, in a ditch I see it. Its got antlers, small ones in velvet!! Oh crap,dont tell me I've shot the buck somehow. At this point I am feeling like the worlds worst stalker!! I pull it out of the ditch and see the tush on the back end :eek: :eek: :eek:
It was a doe, but an antlered one!! She'd taken a round from the 30-06 straight through the chest, spun and then gone 80m in the opposite direction!! Thank God for the lamp. Gralloched her and then all 3 away to my mates.
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Mate very pleased that doe cull has been improved and with the venison.
Still dont know what the heck I feel about it all so I think I'll have another beer!!
sessat20-03-09-1.jpg
 
Question 2 - It's the result of hydrostatic shock or cavitation or what ever you want to call it. When the round strikes and penetrates it creates a shock wave through the soft tissues, pushing it out and away from the wound channel and (momentarily) creating a cavity. Bullets in motion create a partial vacuum behind them so this cavity rapidly collapses back to fill the space. As the tissue is no longer completely encased by skin (cos there is no a bullet hole in it) soft tissue can be expelled through the entry hole, as you describe.
 
Sunds like quite an outing and sounds like you have a lot oroe on your patch.

Shame about the gut shot kid but it was down and dead thats the main thing; it is not running about with a hole in it.

Dave
 
nice one mate by the sound of it you had quite an outing!!
as for the roe kid ...... at least it was found and it didnt run off wounded , these things happen......

cheers
lee
 
Well, it certainly was an eventful evening that's for sure. You will undoubtedly mull everything over in your own mind and come to your own conclusions.

There is though one thing that I personally think requires a bit of thought. With two does already in the bag, and with the light fading, no dog you still took another one which ran off. This resulted in you searching the wood by torchlight, an 80m track and a lucky find, you were by your own admission relieved.

I think that if I had been in your shoes I would have left number three for another day, but that of course is just my personal opinion.

Anyway it was a good evening that turned out well.

John
 
running

I do agree. I think that I was duped by the fact that I have never had a well shot roe go more than a few yards, especially if they havent seen me. This one was very well shot and still went that far. I suppose despite everything you still learn the most from your own experience. How long before dark would you stop?

I do have a dog but she is in season so confined to barracks. Its the same old story. Overconfidence is always my down fall
 
I have shot deer when it is just about dark. But do try and make sure they are in the open though. I have doen the crawling into the bush looking fr a dead deer after dark Carry a headtorch in your pocket - I have an LED one and blood trail does sort of glow in the light of it.

Expect deer to run for a few seconds after chest shot. In my experience they wil only drop on the spot if 1) they have no adrenalin running - ie are not aware of you or are not chasing each other at rut time, and 2) you take out the central nervous system through a head or neck shot or you crease the back bone or if you hit the heart and aorta just right so that a massive hydrostatic shock wave runs thought the body and up to then brain.

Heym SR 20
 
Re: running

shootingduckdog said:
How long before dark would you stop?

There is not, IMHO, a magic formula you can apply to these things that tells you exactly when to stop shooting. The law tells us that we cannot shoot any later than one hour past sunset, so that is the one and only truly binding constraint we have.

Other than that the prevailing circumstances will dictate. Obviously if you have a dog with you than you have greater leeway than if not. However by and large I would not take a beast in failing light, with me being the only means of tracking, if it was too close to cover where it could easily get lost. How far is too close well that is a judgement call to be made at the time. I would suggest that if the deer is feeding in a relaxed manner and has no idea that you are about than too close would be nearer than if the deer is agitated, full of adrenalin and ready to flee. A stag in the rut, which has already been stated, is another contender for a lot of space and if it happens to be a Sika then add about half as much again, if not more.

It's a bugger this stalking lark ain't it, nothing seems straightforward :D

John
 
dark

The hour after sunset is a wierd one anyway cos in winter its pitch black by then and in summer its not always long enough really. But hey ho and keep on learning.
 
SDD

You're right there. The other thing is that in winter the light goes from "shootable" to "too dark" very rapidly, regardless of whether the hour is up.

Last week I was lying prone by the side of some woods with my crosshairs on one roe from a group of nine - problem was it was just too murky to be 100% sure if it was a buck or a doe. I had seen the group from a distance and had stalked to within 60 yards. I was 95% sure it was a doe, but whether through the binos or the scope I couldn't convince myself of the last 5% so ended up not taking the shot. The roe then moved up to the skyline and sure enough it was a doe :(

willie_gunn
 
What you experienced with the first 2 animals is something that many of us have been through. What you need to do in the future - should the ground/cull plan and conditions allow - is take your time to verify what you are actually shooting at. If you are positive that it is a mature animal, then you see a immature animal, you will know whether to shoot or not. You shot the second in the gut to drop it, nothing wrong with that as you thought you had an injured animal on your hands. Better to be safe and put it down than be unsure with a deer injured in the woods.

The doe with antlers will most probably be an old doe. The hormones go out of balance and the doe grows antlers. Some are just stumps like yours and others can be well formed.
 
wow

Just to add a note regarding deer running and taking some finding. Last night my mate shot a roe, missed the heart but mullered the lungs. I was across a field in a high seat and watched it run on and through a hedge. It went 160m!!! As the shot was high there was minimal blood trail as the body cavity filled from inside.

Is 160m not a bit of a long way for roe doe shot well?

Certainly revising my opinions of shooting at last light.
(we still had plenty of light for this one)
 
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