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12/15/2001	Doe	Lancaster, SC	7mm mag Rem	Afternoon	250 yards
I intended to hunt all day with Ted today, but major problems at work had me up late last night and working into this morning. I called Ted and told him to go on without me for the morning hunt, and that I'd meet him for lunch at Gus's in Lancaster. At around 10:00am, I called Ted to tell him we were still on for Gus's, but that I'd be a little later than expected. I asked him how he'd done that morning, and it turns out that he had done a little bit of still hunting and had taken a doe from the very woods where I myself had still hunted back on the 6th. For the afternoon hunt, we were going to have to go without our four wheelers. Arnold's driveway would be blocked all night, so we wouldn't be able to get them out to use them. We decided to take Ted's Jeep and drive it up onto the lease so that we would be able to hunt in our fields. I chose a climbing stand on the power lines, while Ted went to another climber close by. To my dismay, when I walked up to my chosen tree, I found that the climbing stand had been stolen out of there. We've had several incidents of trespassing this year, but this is the first real problem that they have caused us. It's war now, I'm calling the sheriff on Monday to see what we can do about this. Fortunately though, Doug had placed another climber in the vicinity of the one I wanted to hunt from, so after sitting frustrated for a half hour I decided to just hunt out of his. This made for a much longer shot down to the field. From the original location, it was about 150 yards from the stand to the wheat. From Doug's stand, it was 250. I got in the stand and got settled. Almost immediately, and this was at 4:00pm, I saw a large doe enter the field, followed by two smaller does. I took aim on the big one and fired. Click. In my frustration, I had forgotten to chamber a round! I quickly worked the bolt and jacked a cartridge into the hole. By this time though, the big deer was gone, and only the two smaller ones were left. One of them presented me with a perfect broadside opportunity, so I took aim again and fired. Another miss. I saw the dirt splat up behind the deer. I had aimed a little high, since the shot was so long, but I guess I shouldn't have. To my surprise though, the deer was still just standing there, so I took careful aim and fired once again. This time, I saw the deer drop, and was glad that my slump was ended. I could tell that the deer was still alive, so I took another quick shot, but missed again as the deer crawled out of view. I called Ted on the radio and told him I had one down. I climbed quickly to the ground, gathered all my gear, and walked down to the field. Although I found no blood, I almost immediately saw the deer lying dead just 15 yards from where I had shot it. I called Ted again, and he said that he was on the way with the Jeep so that we could load it up. Once he got there and we got the deer loaded on the Jeep, I took a couple of test shots at a tin can with my rifle. The first missed, and the second nipped the left hand side of the can. So, I'm shooting about an inch or more left at 50 yards. That would really be exaggerated at 250 yards, and I did hit this deer pretty far back, so it looks like I'll be headed back to the range one more time to try to figure out what is wrong with this rifle!

12/15/2001

Doe

Lancaster, SC

7mm mag Rem

Afternoon

250 yards

I intended to hunt all day with Ted today, but major problems at work had me up late last night and working into this morning. I called Ted and told him to go on without me for the morning hunt, and that I'd meet him for lunch at Gus's in Lancaster.

At around 10:00am, I called Ted to tell him we were still on for Gus's, but that I'd be a little later than expected. I asked him how he'd done that morning, and it turns out that he had done a little bit of still hunting and had taken a doe from the very woods where I myself had still hunted back on the 6th.

For the afternoon hunt, we were going to have to go without our four wheelers. Arnold's driveway would be blocked all night, so we wouldn't be able to get them out to use them. We decided to take Ted's Jeep and drive it up onto the lease so that we would be able to hunt in our fields. I chose a climbing stand on the power lines, while Ted went to another climber close by.

To my dismay, when I walked up to my chosen tree, I found that the climbing stand had been stolen out of there. We've had several incidents of trespassing this year, but this is the first real problem that they have caused us. It's war now, I'm calling the sheriff on Monday to see what we can do about this.

Fortunately though, Doug had placed another climber in the vicinity of the one I wanted to hunt from, so after sitting frustrated for a half hour I decided to just hunt out of his. This made for a much longer shot down to the field. From the original location, it was about 150 yards from the stand to the wheat. From Doug's stand, it was 250.

I got in the stand and got settled. Almost immediately, and this was at 4:00pm, I saw a large doe enter the field, followed by two smaller does. I took aim on the big one and fired. Click. In my frustration, I had forgotten to chamber a round! I quickly worked the bolt and jacked a cartridge into the hole. By this time though, the big deer was gone, and only the two smaller ones were left. One of them presented me with a perfect broadside opportunity, so I took aim again and fired.

Another miss. I saw the dirt splat up behind the deer. I had aimed a little high, since the shot was so long, but I guess I shouldn't have. To my surprise though, the deer was still just standing there, so I took careful aim and fired once again. This time, I saw the deer drop, and was glad that my slump was ended. I could tell that the deer was still alive, so I took another quick shot, but missed again as the deer crawled out of view.

I called Ted on the radio and told him I had one down. I climbed quickly to the ground, gathered all my gear, and walked down to the field. Although I found no blood, I almost immediately saw the deer lying dead just 15 yards from where I had shot it. I called Ted again, and he said that he was on the way with the Jeep so that we could load it up.

Once he got there and we got the deer loaded on the Jeep, I took a couple of test shots at a tin can with my rifle. The first missed, and the second nipped the left hand side of the can. So, I'm shooting about an inch or more left at 50 yards. That would really be exaggerated at 250 yards, and I did hit this deer pretty far back, so it looks like I'll be headed back to the range one more time to try to figure out what is wrong with this rifle!