The Minnesota regular firearms season started on Saturday. I don't hunt with modern arms, so decided it was time to get my Isaac Haines .54, made by our own Dave Person to replicate an original, out for the season.
I could have ended my season at 7am Saturday on a very large doe at 25 yards, but it was too early in the season. I'll spend most of my season looking for a mature buck and then, if the opportunity presents, take a doe right at the season's end. Many times this results in tag soup, but that's OK.
Until today, I saw just does every time out. This morning I had come from stand on my own small acreage, had a little late breakfast, then was brushing my teeth looking out the bathroom window when I saw two 2 1/2 year old 8 points back in the woods a ways behind the house. I got a pair of binocs and was looking at them when a large mature buck, bristling and sidling toward them came out of a thicket. I could only assume he had a doe in there as why would three bucks all be together during the rut!
Looking the situation over, I could see the chance for a stalk using trees and terrain. Stalking whitetails? Difficult, but bucks in rut on a hot doe can be pretty stupid, so what did I have to lose?
I quickly threw on an orange hoodie and knit cap, grabbed my Haines and shooting bag and sneaked out a door on the other side of the house. I first went away from them, downhill into a steep ravine using that for cover. I had to go about a hundred yards up that then go up the side and get through a stand of pines before I would be able to see them...IF they stayed around. When I got to the top, I went into a belly crawl through the pines and was able to close within 60 yards of where they were. The two smaller bucks were nowhere to be seen, but the big buck was still there, though in brush I could not shoot through. I couldn't get closer without being exposed, so looked for and found some holes in the brush that, if he got in front of one, would be shootable. I had a good rest on a pine.
He finally moved into one of the holes, but was steeply quartering into me. Since I had a solid rest, I settled the front sight into the notch of the rear and put it about 7 inches below his throat patch and squeezed the trigger. He immediately reared over backwards as the .530 PRB hit the mark! He was thrashing wildly then managed to regain his footing and crashed right over a 15 ft high bank near a gravel hill road and into a thick over grown woods on the other side, stumbling as he went onto my neighbor's property.
I waited a bit then circled around to the gravel road to find where he crossed. It wasn't hard...scraping, stumbling marks painted heavily with lung blood showed the way. Now...I'm red/green colorblind, but even I could follow this trail, although he had just barreled downhill through thick patches of brush and cedars. Problem was, it was so thick I could only see but 10 to 20 yards ahead.
About 75 yards into the trail, I saw him get up and stumble/crash over another bank. I couldn't believe he was still alive considering the copious blood loss. Considering how bad he looked, I proceeded slowly and peeked over the edge. He was laying mostly on his side about 30 yards away but his head was up. If I could move about 3 feet to my right, I'd have a small opening. I very slowly made the move, lined up low on his chest, considering how he was laying, and tried to fight the adreniline to hold the sights steady. At the shot, he struggled a little, then all was still.
I sat there, regaining my composure, loading again, and just watching for ten minutes. Nothing. He was down.
He has five points on one side and seven on the other with double tines in two places. His field dressed weight was a tad over 180 pounds. Overall a really nice mature deer.
In 50 years, I've only successfully stalked a whitetail buck once before, and that was a young buck. To pull this off on a mature buck with a flinter is a dream come true.
My buddies didn't want to sit still for a pic with so much to smell!
I could have ended my season at 7am Saturday on a very large doe at 25 yards, but it was too early in the season. I'll spend most of my season looking for a mature buck and then, if the opportunity presents, take a doe right at the season's end. Many times this results in tag soup, but that's OK.
Until today, I saw just does every time out. This morning I had come from stand on my own small acreage, had a little late breakfast, then was brushing my teeth looking out the bathroom window when I saw two 2 1/2 year old 8 points back in the woods a ways behind the house. I got a pair of binocs and was looking at them when a large mature buck, bristling and sidling toward them came out of a thicket. I could only assume he had a doe in there as why would three bucks all be together during the rut!
Looking the situation over, I could see the chance for a stalk using trees and terrain. Stalking whitetails? Difficult, but bucks in rut on a hot doe can be pretty stupid, so what did I have to lose?
I quickly threw on an orange hoodie and knit cap, grabbed my Haines and shooting bag and sneaked out a door on the other side of the house. I first went away from them, downhill into a steep ravine using that for cover. I had to go about a hundred yards up that then go up the side and get through a stand of pines before I would be able to see them...IF they stayed around. When I got to the top, I went into a belly crawl through the pines and was able to close within 60 yards of where they were. The two smaller bucks were nowhere to be seen, but the big buck was still there, though in brush I could not shoot through. I couldn't get closer without being exposed, so looked for and found some holes in the brush that, if he got in front of one, would be shootable. I had a good rest on a pine.
He finally moved into one of the holes, but was steeply quartering into me. Since I had a solid rest, I settled the front sight into the notch of the rear and put it about 7 inches below his throat patch and squeezed the trigger. He immediately reared over backwards as the .530 PRB hit the mark! He was thrashing wildly then managed to regain his footing and crashed right over a 15 ft high bank near a gravel hill road and into a thick over grown woods on the other side, stumbling as he went onto my neighbor's property.
I waited a bit then circled around to the gravel road to find where he crossed. It wasn't hard...scraping, stumbling marks painted heavily with lung blood showed the way. Now...I'm red/green colorblind, but even I could follow this trail, although he had just barreled downhill through thick patches of brush and cedars. Problem was, it was so thick I could only see but 10 to 20 yards ahead.
About 75 yards into the trail, I saw him get up and stumble/crash over another bank. I couldn't believe he was still alive considering the copious blood loss. Considering how bad he looked, I proceeded slowly and peeked over the edge. He was laying mostly on his side about 30 yards away but his head was up. If I could move about 3 feet to my right, I'd have a small opening. I very slowly made the move, lined up low on his chest, considering how he was laying, and tried to fight the adreniline to hold the sights steady. At the shot, he struggled a little, then all was still.
I sat there, regaining my composure, loading again, and just watching for ten minutes. Nothing. He was down.
He has five points on one side and seven on the other with double tines in two places. His field dressed weight was a tad over 180 pounds. Overall a really nice mature deer.
In 50 years, I've only successfully stalked a whitetail buck once before, and that was a young buck. To pull this off on a mature buck with a flinter is a dream come true.
My buddies didn't want to sit still for a pic with so much to smell!
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