Deer Adventures at The Farm
May 26, 2010
I've been working up some loads with the recently released IMR 8208 XBR powder for my Encore in 270 Winchester and, I believe, have been pretty successful. With the availability of the 25/06, 280 Remington and 30/06, I see little need for the 270 Winchester (sorry Jack) but I acquired enough once fired brass that I now have enough to wear out several barrels. I also bought some 130 grain Remington Core-Lokts at a fire sale price and, being the frugal sort, I've felt the need to use them. Surprising, to me at least, accuracy as illustrated in the photo of a sub 1 inch 200 yard group has been quite adequate.
This time of year, especially during soybean years, deer come through my property browsing on various plants including soybeans and my fruit trees. In the fall, if my trees aren't protected, and sometimes even if they are, the bucks come through and rub them until they die and so, this year when I found my cherry trees being dined on, I got some nuisance permits.
Yesterday was hot and I decided to get my rifle and sit out on my stool looking over the back 50 to see what would show up. During the summer, when on my stool, it's rare that I don't see some wild animal show up in the course of the evening. Yesterday, the first visitors were a couple of feral cats and a couple of raccoons probably looking for bird eggs out in the field.
It was starting to get fairly dark when I saw movement of a larger animal at the edge of the field and when I glassed it saw it was a doe probably a good 300 yards away and heading toward the far corner of the field which I know to be about 400 yards distant. It was hard but I held my fire. If I had shot it then, it may have jumped over the fence into the next field and I wouldn't have been able to retrieve it.
In the course of time, the doe moved to the middle of the back field and came a bit closer and I finally decided to take a shot. You would be surprised to find you can see adequately for shooting with a good scope, a full moon and no artificial light. I estimated the range to be about 300 yards so held just a little bit over it and fired using my homemade shooting sticks for support. It was bang, flop, dead right there.
I know that 116 of my paces is equal to about 100 yards on level ground; this is fairly consistent and does change a little bit depending on whether I'm going down hill or up. I stepped the distance off at 310 paces which would translate into about 267 yards. The next day, I got out the Garmin 196 GPS and got a real measurement; 280 yards.
My wife, aka Sweetsums, is a city girl who believes she lives in a very remote place since it takes her 15 or 20 minutes to get to a major mall and 35 minutes to downtown Columbus, OH in her "Benz." The night's adventures from her point of view were as follows and taken from an e-mail to a couple of her friends:
"Tales from The Farm...05/26/10
I was peacefully watching the American Idol finale and MJ was out behind the barn on his stool watching for farm critters on the Back 50!!! Suddenly at dusk I hear a serious boom...just one! Shortly thereafter MJ appears to get the deer tag for tree damage and the search light since it is now getting dark.
He takes off at great speed on foot to tag this deer half way back in the field. I suggest the ATV but that of course takes a few minutes and he was having none of that.... He is back in short order... the deer had dropped where hit and now the job of calling THE LIST of supposed takers for any deer anytime day or night!!!
He leaves messages (not a good sign) and now takes the ATV keys to go collect his kill....I am now put into play (in my nightgown) to get the camera and take pictures of the Hunter and his very nice hefty Doe with one shot in the neck....This is a wonderful specimen for eating for SOMEONE other than the hunter and his wife that is!!
At 11 PM a taker for this fallen one is on the phone and apologizing (are you kidding) for calling so late (just got home from a horse show)....things are quickly looking better...he will be here in 45 minutes.....YEA!!
I went to bed and the happy hunter put all his toys away while waiting for the deer recipient...Peace returns by midnight...on The Farm!!!"
May 29, 2010
Upon arriving home late from work, I took a light to see what was going on in the back 50. The probing beam pick up the reflections of eyes; one pair belonging to a feral cat and the other to a deer.
Well, it was time to get the gun; the Thompson/Center Encore in 270 Winchester again. I went to the woodpile which as served me well in the past. This time it's overcast and so dark I need a light. I finally get the light pointing where it's supposed to; usually Sweetsums does this for me but she's away visiting grandkids tonight. I try to get a good rest on the woodpile. If the crosshairs on the scope are wobbling around I know the rifle isn't steady enough. I finally get a steady hold between a couple pieces of wood and BAAaaang! Another doe in the bag with a neck shot at a GPS measured 145 yards.
I'm liking these neck shots; DRT (Dead Right There) with no tedious tracking.
June 1, 2010
This evening finds me back on my stool with my 270 Winchester looking over the back 50 a bit after 7 PM. As usual, there are a couple of raccoons looking for edibles in the field and a feral cat makes a trek starting at the far right corner of the field, to the left and then down the left fence line. There was even a white misplaced dog that showed itself briefly in the field just behind mine.
Periodically I glassed the borders of the field with my binoculars. I've always been amazed at how deer just seem to appear with no noise or warning. Around 9:30 PM I glassed the borders of the field again. It was too dark to see much without the binoculars. When I made a sweep to my left, lo and behold, there were two deer along the fence line.
I turned my stool around to face the deer. The nice thing about night, dark and being 202 yards away is that you don't have to be too stealthy. I centered the crosshairs of the scope on the neck of the deer furthest to the right and fired. The deer went down immediately but then its head came up so I knew it wasn' dead.
The downed deer was a large buck with antlers in velvet. Unlike the baby deer I've seen in such places as South Carolina, this was a large Ohio deer. The measurement from the bottom of the chest to the top of the shoulder was 15 inches and the height from the bottom of it's hooves to the top of the shoulder was 41 inches. Knowing those dimensions should make it easier to range deer in the future using mildots.
There are those who believe that single shot rifles are a handicap because of no fast second shot. It may come as a surprise to some that a single shot rifle CAN be reloaded. In about the same time as it takes TV hunting personalities to take the safeties off their bolt action rifles, I had another round in the chamber and sent another bullet into the deer's neck which finished it.
Matthew, the recipient of what is now a total of 3 deer, came to pick up the buck and called a truce. He requested no more deer for now because their freezer is full. I told him to eat fast.
July 4, 2010
Sunday, July 4, finds me out on my stool again checking out the back 50. I'm using an Encore again but this time with a 28 inch fluted stainless Pro Hunter barrel chambered in 300 Winchester Magnum and topped with a Leupold Mark 4 4.5-14X50mm scope with their Tactical Milling Reticle. Though there is no prohibition against it, I usually don't shoot on Sunday out of respect for my neighbors but, it being the 4th of July with fireworks going off, I can't; see that a little shooting will bother anyone.
The barrel and load for this rifle happen to provide excellent accuracy with sub 0.5 MOA 3 shot groups at 100 yards being easily obtainable. Several days before, I set up a target at 400 yards just to see what the bullet drop was at that range. I have have run a ballistics program on the load and know what the 200 grain Nosler Accubond should do leaving the barrel at 2,850 fps but want to know if that is really happening. It turned out that the ballistics program was pretty close in it's predictions.
I've seen the buck that stepped out into the field several times. Since he is making a habit of visiting me, this will be one that will be rubbing my fruit trees this coming fall so I decide to take it out. I estimate the range at 300 yards and, with my gun resting on shooting sticks, put the 1 mil mark high (1 mil being 3.6 inches high at 100 yards would make it 10.8 inches high at 300 yards) on the neck and fire. As I recover from the recoil, I see no movement in the field and assume I've connected with my target.
I tramp out in the field looking for the deer. It's getting dark now and you would be surprised at how hard it can be to find a deer in an open field in the dark even when you know where to look. Fortunately the soybeans aren't too high so I finally locate it at a GPS measured 298 yards from where I shot. It was another neck shot with the usual bang, flop, DRT results.
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© Martin J. Lohne 2010. Written 5/30/10. Additions added on 7/11/10.