Oh The Temptation

[Pete Gaimari]

I have to tell you up front. There won't be a dead animal at the end of this story.

Elk and deer seasons are over for me this year, but hunting isn't.

I have a place just 3 miles from where I live that's national forest and has a lot of game. It's my favorite spot. Going up today I could see by the tracks in the snow that I was the only one there.

I had a .50 Hawken and was after jack rabbits. I had an urge for rabbit stew. I had my dog with me to help flush them out. He was doing a good job and found 3 of them, and I got one of them. Fast little suckers.

So, i'm headed back to the Jeep which about a mile away. I'm not paying too much attention and I look up and there's a 6 point buck about 100 yds away staring at me. I stop and just stare back. Then I notice off to the sides 5 doe's staring at me too. Just for laughs I shoulder the gun and hold it on the buck. He doesn't move.
As an experiment I start to walk slowly towards the buck. I get to 75 yds and it hasn't moved. I shoulder the gun again and it stays frozen. This was a pretty open area with pine trees about 30ft apart. I start to walk closer figuring he'll bolt any second. He stays frozen and i'm now 50yds away. I shoulder the gun again and have a perfect shot. He in the classic side shot with his head turned to me. I'm finding it hard to believe he's still standing there. He's watched me move 50 yds in on him. The doe's are still frozen too.

I moved one more time and walked slowly to 30yds from him. Once more I shouldered the gun. This took all my self control to not pull the trigger, but of course I never would. I was thinking "where were you when I had a tag?"

Finally, he moved off with all the doe's with him.

This was as perfect a situation as I could have ever got for taking a deer. I could have got my Jeep withing 100ft to load it up after dressing it out, and the snow would have cooled it off quick. My freezer would have had fresh meat.

But I didn't have a tag.

 

[JMinnerath]

:hatsoff:

 

[longcruise]

Yup! This is that time of year when bucks are thinking so much about does that they lose some of their sense. :haha: Kinda like high school boys.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Pete,
Dude, you just went up about six rungs on my Ladder Of Respect...even if you are a Pyro-Racist!
Good call. :thumbsup:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Thanks. :grin:

 

[Lonegun1894]

What Captain Kirk said :hatsoff: . Been there, and didnt like letting them walk. Elk at less than 5yds in my case. Had a deer tag, but never saw one. Go figure.

 

[Bill Hall]

Been in that situation a few times myself. There are some who argue that it's not ethical to point your gun at animals that you aren't hunting, according to one of the ten commandments of safe shooting (never point your gun at anything you don't intend to shoot). It's hard hard to argue against them, and I usually don't try, but I do believe this is an exception to that rule.

I think it really helps a hunter hone his skill when he is able to take some extra time looking through his sights at a deer's vitals. When we take shots during actual hunting, it's usually quick and knee-jerk in nature, more of a conditioned response. Having the priveledge of sighting in on an animal we're not currently hunting allows us the time to study things like heart and lung position, bullet path through the animal, position of the animal relative to shooter, etc. Heck, I've even "pretend" shot deer and elk in the head, usually many times over, since my ML magically turns into a semi-auto :rotf: .

I argue that as long as the gun is on half cock, and the fingers are nowhere near the trigger, drawing down on non-hunted animals is good practice, and helps us make more ethical kills when it's "real". Bill

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I was shouldering the gun for two reasons. For one as you say. To look at the soght picture under relaxed conditions, and two..to see if it would spook the deer.

The hammer was down and it was uncapped.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Capper, ain't that allways the way! If you spend alot of time in the field or forest crazy situations will arise.

Good on ya :hatsoff:

Brits.

 

[jethro224]

Them deer knew you didn't have a tag so they was messin' with ya.
They're evil like that. :haha:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Them deer knew you didn't have a tag so they was messin' with ya.
They're evil like that. :haha:

I'm a believer about that now.

Wait until next year. :grin:

 

[tg]

I hear that Murphy was quite a hunter :idunno: I get frustrated when I hunt all day seeing nothing then have to stop in the driveway at home to let a 4x4 cross from the yard to the flower bed.

 

[smokehouseman]

Pretend shots................. oh yes, they can be something. Many years ago, about 40, I was attending college in an unnamed place in Colorado, and living in a married student housing area in a somewhat remote location on the campus. It was in the fall of the year and just prior to the elk hunting season that was soon to begin. Myself and family had just sat down to dinner when I heard a gunshot loud and close. I went outside and saw a couple of my neighbors standing by a pickup with a center fire rifle with a scope on it laying on top to the hood, and one of them had a very guilty look on his face. The story was one of them had just bought a new rifle and scope and decided to do a "pretend shoot" at an imaginary elk at 200 hundred yards. In this case the "pretend elk" was in fact the dual rear tires of a campus school bus. I don't recall what the final outcome of the incident was but in spite of the seriousness of the situation I still laugh about it.

 

[henbrook]

I do that ALL the time here with moose during deer season.It's very difficult here to draw a moose tag,I've had 2 in 24 years,but have been "2nd gun" on several hunts.(we are allowed 2 hunters per tag)

anyhow,moose season is in September...of course I usually always see a dozen or more moose most most years during the Oct-Nov. deer season.It's fun to hold the sights on them and say "Kapow!" under yer breath,or even on deer that I don't intend to shoot.

 

[Bill Hall]

In this case the "pretend elk" was in fact the dual rear tires of a campus school bus.

I'd consider that a double lung shot :rotf: .Bill