Time for us to hunt.

Karen and I drew gun tags for Deer in the Whitehorse unit. This is the first time I have applied for a gun tag in many years. A friend of ours has permission to hunt on a ranch close to Jordan Valley and has graciously allowed us to join him for the last two years. Karen got a nice forked horn Buck last year, and I was hoping that we could do at least that well again.

Neither Karen or I are trophy hunters. A buck with nice horns is a nice bonus, but not necessary. Meat is our goal. Our friend Paul only wants big bucks, so it works out quite well. Since we aren't picky we generally get first choice. The one pictured below would have been too small for Paul to shoot. He is a four by four however.

We saw these two and three smaller bucks hiding in some willows across the creek. Zaylon, pictured with Karen, and I went after them. They got away from us without presenting a shot, moving into another bunch of willows at the edge of a large open field. Karen and Paul were just 50 or so yards on the other side of them at the edge of an open field, but couldn't see them. As we neared the Deer, I saw the one above in the willows, and shot him in the shoulder. He disappeared and the one that Karen shot busted out of the willows running across the open field. Paul took a shot at him, but missed. When he tried to load another shell, his gun jammed. By this time the deer was out about 250 yards. Paul told Karen to shoot, and she hit him just before he got into the cover at the end of the field. Needless to say, I was impressed at the shot, even though I didn't know that Karen was the one to make it. I was much more impressed when I found that it was her shot that hit him.

If you enlarge the picture, you can see that little spot of blood on his shoulder. That is the entrance wound. The bullet actually cut the aortia on the top of his heart. The 243- 100 grain bullet did not exit the hide on the other side and was intact although expanded fully. All the energy of the bullet was expended in the deer, but it did not knock him down, he did not bleed externally, and for a long time I couldn't find him. I had just about convinced myself that I had missed, and as strange as that may seem, it appeared to be correct. I finally found him by following the route that he had to take after my shot. I had a discussion with someone (who I can't remember) who preferred a  "heart shot" over my preference of a "Lung shot". One hit there generally does not go anywhere at all. and they all run, though not too far with a heart shot.  So whoever that was - I told you so! This deer was walking so I didn't have much time to choose where I shot.

Both of these deer are as fat as butterballs and in great condition. I am ecstatic at getting this over with this fast. Now we can get back to the serious business of Hawking!