Just before dark a good sized Doe stepped out of the overgrown clear cut into the Oak flat”¦looked like a cross between a mule deer and a donkey with big ole donkey ears. She stepped across the logger’s road that separates the clear-cut from the Oak flat and had wandered on in about 30yds.
The direction she was heading would intercept my scent stream before much longer and she’d bail out so I had to either shoot or cut bait”¦but I was worried if I didn’t put her down hard she’d bolt back into that clear cut jungle making a very difficult recovery but I decided to take the shot.
She did a complete 360* cartwheel”¦rear end up over the front end”¦never seen anything like it in my life! And she either landed on her feet having swapped ends in mid air, or was awfully fast getting reoriented after the cartwheel because I’ve never seen a deer make such a dead run streak back the way she’d come”¦could see every muscle rippling”¦just made a beeline for the clear cut and was out of sight in it in a couple seconds, apparently not seriously hurt at all.
I was in disbelief I’d made a bad shot on what should have been a chip shot. I climbed down, cleaned the Flintlock, got my lights/TP/drag strap and went over to the area where I’d shot her”¦and only found a couple small spots of blood on some leaves but nothing else. Walked in the direction she’d run to the loggers road between the Oak flat and the overgrown clear cut, still no blood.
Walked 50yds down the loggers road, nothing”¦turned and walked back the way I’d come and this time flipped on a ”˜blood light’ flashlight as I was checking along. Just as I got back to the original exit point from the Oak flat, a couple drops of blood glowed over at the edge of the clear cut”¦aimed the light inside the dark dense jungle, there was blood everywhere, and there she lay. She’d traveled 35yds on a dead run and must have been dead on her feet while doing it.
When I started to drag, it was like somebody had pulled the plug out of an oil pan, seeing the trail she was leaving. The .520” / 220grn lead ball had gone down in behind her left shoulder, down through the lungs, down out the side chest inside her right foreleg.
Dropped it off to that same needy family...a good afternoon hunt all around.
The direction she was heading would intercept my scent stream before much longer and she’d bail out so I had to either shoot or cut bait”¦but I was worried if I didn’t put her down hard she’d bolt back into that clear cut jungle making a very difficult recovery but I decided to take the shot.
She did a complete 360* cartwheel”¦rear end up over the front end”¦never seen anything like it in my life! And she either landed on her feet having swapped ends in mid air, or was awfully fast getting reoriented after the cartwheel because I’ve never seen a deer make such a dead run streak back the way she’d come”¦could see every muscle rippling”¦just made a beeline for the clear cut and was out of sight in it in a couple seconds, apparently not seriously hurt at all.
I was in disbelief I’d made a bad shot on what should have been a chip shot. I climbed down, cleaned the Flintlock, got my lights/TP/drag strap and went over to the area where I’d shot her”¦and only found a couple small spots of blood on some leaves but nothing else. Walked in the direction she’d run to the loggers road between the Oak flat and the overgrown clear cut, still no blood.
Walked 50yds down the loggers road, nothing”¦turned and walked back the way I’d come and this time flipped on a ”˜blood light’ flashlight as I was checking along. Just as I got back to the original exit point from the Oak flat, a couple drops of blood glowed over at the edge of the clear cut”¦aimed the light inside the dark dense jungle, there was blood everywhere, and there she lay. She’d traveled 35yds on a dead run and must have been dead on her feet while doing it.
When I started to drag, it was like somebody had pulled the plug out of an oil pan, seeing the trail she was leaving. The .520” / 220grn lead ball had gone down in behind her left shoulder, down through the lungs, down out the side chest inside her right foreleg.
Dropped it off to that same needy family...a good afternoon hunt all around.
