Okie Huntsman
32 Cal
In 1974 my dad retired from the Army and moved us from a city to my current location in Oklahoma. It was the best move ever for me. I have been an avid deer hunter ever since my parents allowed my to hunt with my uncle when I was 13, but I knew I would enjoy it even before then. From the time I was 16 and got a driver’s license until I was 33 I enjoyed going to deer camp during modern gun season with either my family or friends or both. I am off work for the entire 9 days of modern gun season so that made for a great vacation. I also enjoyed hunting during muzzleloading season but it was more of an aside because I had to hunt around my work schedule. But when I was 35 I married a gal from Kentucky and things changed. We travel to Kentucky to be with her parents during Thanksgiving week, which is the week of modern gun season here in Oklahoma. So muzzleloading season became much more important to me. I had to step up my muzzleloading game. I’ve had some memorable muzzleloading hunts the last 20 years. Sadly, because of work and my camping friends and family getting older, no deer camp though.
I bought a 2 1/2 acre place in the early 90’s that backs up to a 35,000+ acre WMA…and that’s 90% of the reason I bought it. I don’t drive anywhere to go hunting now. While I have to share with other hunters I have an advantage as it is literally right out my back door. I’m not an antler hunter, just a meat hunter, but the thrill of the hunt still brings that tingle to my spine when a legal deer is approaching whether it be a buck or doe.
I hunt out of a tree stand some of the time. The year is 2017. I had scouted quite a bit during bow season and knew there were a few bucks using on this ridge about 1/4 mile behind my house. I put my climber on a tree that I thought gave me a good opportunity from which to see one traveling from a bedding area to some post oak acorn thickets where I knew they were feeding. I then went home for supper. I got to the tree just before daylight the next morning, climbed up to a height of about 12 ft (I don’t like heights so that’s high enough for me) and watched the morning come to life. You know how it is. Squirrels keeping me entertained, lots of different feathered wildlife and even some raccoons passing by as daylight took the place of the early morning darkness. I remember making a Facebook post about that time to the tune of reminding my hunting friends to wear their safety harness and then saying something about not caring if I saw anything or not, just being there in the woods and not being cooped up in a classroom was good enough that particular morning.
About 9:45 I poured my 3rd cup of coffee from the thermos sporting the picture of our school’s mascot that I’d received as a Christmas present years before. I had just taken a swig when I caught movement to my left. A deer was moving from the south to the north, not slowly but traveling. Like I said, I’m a meat hunter and either a doe or a buck was legal on this day so I had to ready myself for a shot. I sat my coffee cup back down in my backpack about the time I could see it was a buck. He crossed a draw and stopped to look things over before he would have crossed the ridge in front of me, I assume. He was at about 70 yards and mostly broadside to me so I steadied myself and squeezed off the TC New Englander. An easy shot for that gun and especially with the rest that the rail on my climbing stand provided. The gun belched smoke and the buck ran towards me, hit hard. He piled up about 40 yards to my left having run about 50 yards after the shot.
I reloaded the 50 cal, just in case, but he was very dead. I sat down and reached into my backpack for the coffee, which hadn’t spilled and was still hot. I finished that cup of coffee then climbed the stand back down the tree. I walked over to the buck to examine him.
I checked his back trail as I always like to see how much they bleed from whatever bullet I am using. Then I took down my stand, secured my backpack to it and drug the deer to where I could get to it with my 4-wheeler. By this time it is nearly 11:00. Home, the work now begins.
This was Saturday. I would clean and quarter the deer, put it in the old ice box that I use to chill my venison before getting it ready for the freezer. I would finish the day watching college football, go to church on Sunday and then back to teaching math on Monday. But that Saturday morning, that one moment in time, I enjoyed one of the most perfect hunts I had ever had the privilege of completing. It was truly a great day.
90 grains of 777 pushing a saboted 230 grain Hornady 45 cal JHP
I bought a 2 1/2 acre place in the early 90’s that backs up to a 35,000+ acre WMA…and that’s 90% of the reason I bought it. I don’t drive anywhere to go hunting now. While I have to share with other hunters I have an advantage as it is literally right out my back door. I’m not an antler hunter, just a meat hunter, but the thrill of the hunt still brings that tingle to my spine when a legal deer is approaching whether it be a buck or doe.
I hunt out of a tree stand some of the time. The year is 2017. I had scouted quite a bit during bow season and knew there were a few bucks using on this ridge about 1/4 mile behind my house. I put my climber on a tree that I thought gave me a good opportunity from which to see one traveling from a bedding area to some post oak acorn thickets where I knew they were feeding. I then went home for supper. I got to the tree just before daylight the next morning, climbed up to a height of about 12 ft (I don’t like heights so that’s high enough for me) and watched the morning come to life. You know how it is. Squirrels keeping me entertained, lots of different feathered wildlife and even some raccoons passing by as daylight took the place of the early morning darkness. I remember making a Facebook post about that time to the tune of reminding my hunting friends to wear their safety harness and then saying something about not caring if I saw anything or not, just being there in the woods and not being cooped up in a classroom was good enough that particular morning.
About 9:45 I poured my 3rd cup of coffee from the thermos sporting the picture of our school’s mascot that I’d received as a Christmas present years before. I had just taken a swig when I caught movement to my left. A deer was moving from the south to the north, not slowly but traveling. Like I said, I’m a meat hunter and either a doe or a buck was legal on this day so I had to ready myself for a shot. I sat my coffee cup back down in my backpack about the time I could see it was a buck. He crossed a draw and stopped to look things over before he would have crossed the ridge in front of me, I assume. He was at about 70 yards and mostly broadside to me so I steadied myself and squeezed off the TC New Englander. An easy shot for that gun and especially with the rest that the rail on my climbing stand provided. The gun belched smoke and the buck ran towards me, hit hard. He piled up about 40 yards to my left having run about 50 yards after the shot.
I reloaded the 50 cal, just in case, but he was very dead. I sat down and reached into my backpack for the coffee, which hadn’t spilled and was still hot. I finished that cup of coffee then climbed the stand back down the tree. I walked over to the buck to examine him.
I checked his back trail as I always like to see how much they bleed from whatever bullet I am using. Then I took down my stand, secured my backpack to it and drug the deer to where I could get to it with my 4-wheeler. By this time it is nearly 11:00. Home, the work now begins.
This was Saturday. I would clean and quarter the deer, put it in the old ice box that I use to chill my venison before getting it ready for the freezer. I would finish the day watching college football, go to church on Sunday and then back to teaching math on Monday. But that Saturday morning, that one moment in time, I enjoyed one of the most perfect hunts I had ever had the privilege of completing. It was truly a great day.
90 grains of 777 pushing a saboted 230 grain Hornady 45 cal JHP
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