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10/28/2006	Doe	Liberty Hill, SC	Remington 7mm mag	6:00pm	120 yards
Pete Tschantz and I were hunting at Liberty Hill together today. We had already chosen stand #8 for Pete for the evening hunt, and after we got Pete settled in his tree I went over to stand #1 where I would be hunting. I had a good feeling about my choice of stands, and I was also pretty sure that Pete would see some deer in #8. Once I had climbed up into my stand, I called Pete on the radio just to confirm that we were within range of each other, then, having plenty of time to kill, I stretched out on the bench seat of the stand and took a nice two hour nap. I woke up at about 4:30, organized my gear for a minute or two, then settled in for the hunt. It was quiet most of the afternoon, but about 20 minutes before dusk I saw a deer emerge about 150 yards down from my stand. I saw it was a doe, and as I watched it in my binoculars two more appeared. They were headed my way. I swapped my binoculars for my rifle, and as I watched them one of them cut off into the woods and did not show herself again. The other two continued walking toward me, and I watched the bigger of the two through my scope, waiting for a shot opportunity. The smaller deer finally turned broadside to me, and after an agonizing wait the larger of the two deer did likewise. Their body language told me that they were not going to stick around, so I snicked the safety off of my rifle, took a breath, let it out and fired. I heard the whop of the bullet striking the deer, and as she ran it looked like she was definitely hit. With darkness falling, I quickly lowered my gear to the ground, climbed down the ladder, and raced for my truck. Getting it started, I drove down to about where I thought the deer had been and I immediately found scuff marks in the road where she had run into the woods. I also found a small bit of half-chewed cud, but found no blood. I spent 10 minutes looking around, walking about 10 yards into the woods, before finally deciding to go pick up Pete. This would give my deer time to die, if necessary, and two sets of eyes are better than one. It was pitch black when we got back to the place in the logging road where I had shot at the deer. I told Pete that we probably wouldn't find any blood and that our best bet was just to look around for the deer itself. We searched the area for about 20 minutes before Pete hollered to me that he had found her. She was laying dead not 40 yards from the truck, but due to the angle of the shot she left no blood trail. The bullet exited the stomach; always a tough tracking job. Knowing about the situation with my back, Pete offered to drag the deer for me, which I gratefully accepted. We paused for pictures, then loaded her up on the truck and headed for the processor. Oh! Pete did get to see a nice seven pointer over at stand #8, but no does. Still, it was great knowing that he had finally seen a deer in the woods on our lease.

10/28/2006

Doe

Liberty Hill, SC

Remington 7mm mag

6:00pm

120 yards

Pete Tschantz and I were hunting at Liberty Hill together today. We had already chosen stand #8 for Pete for the evening hunt, and after we got Pete settled in his tree I went over to stand #1 where I would be hunting. I had a good feeling about my choice of stands, and I was also pretty sure that Pete would see some deer in #8. Once I had climbed up into my stand, I called Pete on the radio just to confirm that we were within range of each other, then, having plenty of time to kill, I stretched out on the bench seat of the stand and took a nice two hour nap. I woke up at about 4:30, organized my gear for a minute or two, then settled in for the hunt.

It was quiet most of the afternoon, but about 20 minutes before dusk I saw a deer emerge about 150 yards down from my stand. I saw it was a doe, and as I watched it in my binoculars two more appeared. They were headed my way. I swapped my binoculars for my rifle, and as I watched them one of them cut off into the woods and did not show herself again. The other two continued walking toward me, and I watched the bigger of the two through my scope, waiting for a shot opportunity.

The smaller deer finally turned broadside to me, and after an agonizing wait the larger of the two deer did likewise. Their body language told me that they were not going to stick around, so I snicked the safety off of my rifle, took a breath, let it out and fired. I heard the whop of the bullet striking the deer, and as she ran it looked like she was definitely hit.

With darkness falling, I quickly lowered my gear to the ground, climbed down the ladder, and raced for my truck. Getting it started, I drove down to about where I thought the deer had been and I immediately found scuff marks in the road where she had run into the woods. I also found a small bit of half-chewed cud, but found no blood. I spent 10 minutes looking around, walking about 10 yards into the woods, before finally deciding to go pick up Pete. This would give my deer time to die, if necessary, and two sets of eyes are better than one.

It was pitch black when we got back to the place in the logging road where I had shot at the deer. I told Pete that we probably wouldn't find any blood and that our best bet was just to look around for the deer itself. We searched the area for about 20 minutes before Pete hollered to me that he had found her. She was laying dead not 40 yards from the truck, but due to the angle of the shot she left no blood trail. The bullet exited the stomach; always a tough tracking job. Knowing about the situation with my back, Pete offered to drag the deer for me, which I gratefully accepted. We paused for pictures, then loaded her up on the truck and headed for the processor. Oh! Pete did get to see a nice seven pointer over at stand #8, but no does. Still, it was great knowing that he had finally seen a deer in the woods on our lease.