DeerCamp
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2021/22 turned out to be the year of 'what the heck just happened??" hunts.
We had a target doe on our hitlist this year. She was very aggressive and nervous, always alerting other deer and also had button bucks fawn twins.
TX300mag reminded me that we should try and remove this doe from the herd to keep the BBs around for the future.
Of course, as soon as we started specifically hunting this deer, she ghosted us. But she showed back up during the private lands hunt. Wife called me after I heard her shoot. She was ecstatic! She finally got her shot, and the deer went down immediately.
Gets a little weird from there. I walk up on the deer, and immediately think "Is this a button buck?"
You can see from the pictures below she had two dark bumps where the pedicle would usually be, and her tarsals were solid black. I raised the leg and was pleasantly surprised to find lady parts.
I wish I had done that before I asked her "Are you sure you shot the right deer?" - ha. Yeah, if you are married you can picture the look I got exactly.
I found a post from Dr. Grant Woods discussing this phenomena. Said it's rare and can occur if the doe is very dominant.
To make it even weirder, she told me the doe had been quartering to her, and was stomping at the blind (I told you she was ornery) and she aimed mid-torso. But we see the doe has a giant gunshot wound in her neck, just behind the ear. Wife immediately starts second guessing her shooting and I offer to check the zero of the rifle.
But then we notice an entry hole right in the middle of the chest. When I skinned her, I was able to trace the bullet from the chest, ricocheted upwards, travelled through 5 vertebrae in the neck, and exited behind the ear. Her shot was exactly where she was aiming. Never seen that happen before. (For reference, was a 7mm-08 with 140gr federal fusion)
Even better, with this deer gone, other deer immediately started showing up that we hadn't seen in a while or only at night. Coincidence? Maybe.
Seemed like an appropriate way to wrap up a year of strange hunts.
We had a target doe on our hitlist this year. She was very aggressive and nervous, always alerting other deer and also had button bucks fawn twins.
TX300mag reminded me that we should try and remove this doe from the herd to keep the BBs around for the future.
Of course, as soon as we started specifically hunting this deer, she ghosted us. But she showed back up during the private lands hunt. Wife called me after I heard her shoot. She was ecstatic! She finally got her shot, and the deer went down immediately.
Gets a little weird from there. I walk up on the deer, and immediately think "Is this a button buck?"
You can see from the pictures below she had two dark bumps where the pedicle would usually be, and her tarsals were solid black. I raised the leg and was pleasantly surprised to find lady parts.
I wish I had done that before I asked her "Are you sure you shot the right deer?" - ha. Yeah, if you are married you can picture the look I got exactly.
I found a post from Dr. Grant Woods discussing this phenomena. Said it's rare and can occur if the doe is very dominant.
To make it even weirder, she told me the doe had been quartering to her, and was stomping at the blind (I told you she was ornery) and she aimed mid-torso. But we see the doe has a giant gunshot wound in her neck, just behind the ear. Wife immediately starts second guessing her shooting and I offer to check the zero of the rifle.
But then we notice an entry hole right in the middle of the chest. When I skinned her, I was able to trace the bullet from the chest, ricocheted upwards, travelled through 5 vertebrae in the neck, and exited behind the ear. Her shot was exactly where she was aiming. Never seen that happen before. (For reference, was a 7mm-08 with 140gr federal fusion)
Even better, with this deer gone, other deer immediately started showing up that we hadn't seen in a while or only at night. Coincidence? Maybe.
Seemed like an appropriate way to wrap up a year of strange hunts.
