Busted by a Doe!

Fremmer · November 19, 2006, 01:11 AM

I was skunked the last two times I went hunting, and I wanted to try one more time before the season ended.

I was invited to hunt in a new area on a friend’s property. His house is located on about 5 acres in the country. I got to his house well before sunrise, and I had some hot coffee while visiting with my friend and his wife.

A long ditch runs along the side of my friend’s property. The ditch has trees and thick brush along each side. The ditch is about 6 feet deep with a small creek running down the middle of the bottom. My friend has a small square hay barn about 40 yards from the ditch. It has open doorways on two sides. The deer have been moving through that ditch, and hanging out in an area near the hay barn.

After 3 cups of coffee, I loaded my rifle and I left the house when the sun started to rise. I walked very quietly to the hay barn, which was only about 30 yards away from the house. I climbed up into the hay barn. There was a doorway overlooking an area with some thick brush to my right, and another doorway across the barn that overlooked the ditch. I quickly looked out of the doorway to my right first, and I didn't see any deer. Then I started walking across the barn toward the doorway overlooking the ditch. As I approached the doorway, I paused and took a quick look along the edge of the ditch. As I scanned the trees and brush along the edge of the ditch, I noticed a peculiar white spot among the other green and brown colors. I suddenly realized that the white spot was the muzzle and neck of a nice fat doe that was standing along the edge of the ditch staring directly at me!

It was totally unexpected. I’d been in the hay barn a total of about 45 seconds, and I was still about four feet away from a chair that was right next to the doorway.

I couldn’t move; all I could do was stand there motionless. That doe had me busted cold. So I stood there like a statue and stared right back at the doe. I certainly couldn’t raise my rifle. The doe was only 40 yards away, and I knew by the way the doe was staring at me that she would bolt from even the slightest movement. I could see the steam rising from my breath in the cold air as I exhaled and tried to control my breathing. The doe and I were locked in a mutual stare-down.

We played the staring game for what seemed like forever. Finally, the doe looked down at the ground and walked a couple of steps in front of a tree. The moment the doe’s head was obscured by the tree, I raised my rifle, found the tree through the scope, and flicked off the safety. The deer stood behind the tree for a moment, and then walked a couple of steps beyond the tree, standing broadside to my position. I could just see her head and front half of her body; the rest of her was behind the tree. Just as I put the scope reticle right onto the center of the doe’s shoulder, she looked up again in my direction, and another smaller doe walked up behind her from the ditch, and the smaller doe also stopped and looked in my direction. I knew that if I waited much longer, both deer would get nervous enough to run away, so I held half a breath and slowly squeezed the trigger.

The instant the rifle fired, the smaller deer turned and ran like heck. The larger doe that I was aiming at seem to stand there for a half-second, and then she disappeared from my view, and I heard the sound of something crashing in the leaves in the ditch. About ten seconds later, two other deer that were also in the ditch nearby bolted away.

A couple of minutes later, my friend came out to the hay shed. He asked me what had happened, and I told him that I’d taken a shot at a doe, and that the doe had disappeared into thin air the second after the shot. He told me that he and his wife were worried when they heard the shot, because I’d just left the house, and they wanted to make sure that I hadn’t fallen or had some other accident.

We waited in the barn for a little while, and then climbed down from the barn and walked over to the spot where the deer had been standing when I took the shot. I looked over the edge of the ditch, and the doe was laying motionless on the leaves at the bottom of the ditch a couple of feet away from the creek.

She was a good-sized doe. The round went exactly where I’d aimed. The .308 tore through and broke the on-side shoulder, punched through two ribs on the on-side, ripped through both lungs, and exited between two ribs out the doe's other side. The on-side shoulder joint was completely destroyed; that leg would freely move any direction. Here's something I've never seen before: the entrance wound through the ribs on the on-side was the size of a silver dollar, and the exit wound between the two ribs on the off-side was significantly smaller. It looked like the deer fell down in the ditch when it was hit and died on the spot. The Field-dressed weight was about 100 pounds, but it sure felt heavier than that while I was dragging the doe back up the side of the ditch.

The warden was surprised when he examined the doe's jaw. The doe was pretty large, but the jaw and teeth indicated that the the doe was only about 1.5 years old.

You never know when you'll see a deer. I have to admit that this doe completely surprised me. Thank goodness I took that quick look before walking any closer to the doorway. This time, I didn't even have a chance to sit down before I had to take the shot!

Foxman · November 19, 2006, 03:51 AM

Great story, glad you got your doe. Sometimes you play the statue and they still go, othertimes it works out neat like yours, well done.

mete · November 19, 2006, 06:47 AM

Excellent . When the exit hole is smaller than the entrance hole it indicates that the bullet is too fragile [in my view] .I had that happen twice with my 45-70 with 300 jhp [ 2" in ,1" out] so I swithced to Nosler Partition.

22-rimfire · November 19, 2006, 10:01 AM

Nothing beats a barn as your hunting stand. Did you remember to bring coffee with you out to the barn? My brother hunts on his own property and essentially goes back to the house for lunch or if he gets too cold. Sure makes for an easy "drag".

Things can happen very quickly hunting. You can hunt for days, not see a thing, and then one day you sit down at your spot and 5 minutes later your deer walks right up to you. Tis hunting.

Glad you were successful.

Had a small buck walk up to me yesterday to within 20 feet. He came in on my blind side that I can't see anything past about 20 feet (all trees and brush). I had just quietly shifted positions a bit to better cover that direction (due to wind shift) and layed my gun down.... I look up and there is this little buck walking slowly right at me. I knew he had me as his path would have litterally taken him right into me. I was on the ground. In the back of my mind, I really didn't want to shoot a 4-point anyway. That deer taught me another lesson, it could have been the biggest 12-point and I would not have had a prayer to get a shot off. That would have been a tragedy in my book. Keeps hunting fun and challenging!

Foxman · November 19, 2006, 06:49 PM

It sure is hunting, went out a few years back and walked all over the world, saw nothing. Came back to the truck and was just putting stuff in looked off to the the front passenger side and about 80yds off were a buck and a doe watching me real casual like.
Well I came over all thumbs, but eventually managed to get the rifle up over the hood and got clear shot at the buck, seemed like ten minutes before I managed to steady up enough to squeeze one off, and was lucky enough to hit it right in the lungs, ran about 40-50 yds and dropped dead.
Since then I keep looking all the way back to the truck and try to concentrate even when I'm getting tired. I also have practiced plenty on off hand shots, just in case.
It does good to take a break and sit and just relax every so often, nobody can concentrate 110% all the time and thats what it takes to hunt succesfull, just when you ease off you get busted by the deer an then you cuss yourself for the rest of the day!

Fremmer · November 19, 2006, 08:38 PM

Thanks for the responses.

My favorite part was waiting for just the right time and then making a precise off-hand shot. I like to try and use some type of a rest if possible, but this time I couldn't do more than get ready to shoot from right where I was standing. Something gets me really excited when I make a good off-hand shot, even if it was only 40 yards away; I only had 1/3 of the deer to shoot at because the rest of her was behind that tree.

I spent a lot of time this summer shooting a Daisy pellet gun at cans and rabbits that were typically 40 or 50 yards away from a deck in a big back yard. Turns out that I can hit a can at 40 yards off-hand using an air rifle with a rough trigger and hit a deer at 40 yards using a Remington .308 with a pretty good trigger.

I can't complain about the performance of the bullet. The 165 Sierra Gameking btsp worked perfectly. It did a number on the shoulder, and the entrance wound was wicked. The round did leave an exit wound, and the deer dropped dead right there. Can't ask for any more than that.

Greybeard · November 19, 2006, 10:20 PM

"Quote": " When the exit hole is smaller than the entrance hole it indicates that the bullet is too fragile [in my view] "

Hmmmm ... ? ?

' Had it happen last January on an old doe. 240 grain XTP from 7 1/2" .454. Probably running around 1800 fps at 40 yards. My first thought was that the big hollowpoint must have grabbed and twisted the hide to make entry hole about the size of silver dollar. Exit hole much smaller with very little blood.

Fat White Boy · November 21, 2006, 01:39 AM

Frem- You need to come out west and hunt. I want you to go to Colorado, Nevada or someplace. Shoot a deer that will dress out at 250 pounds on a ridge 300 yards away and instead of falling on the front side of the ridge, it falls on the backside of the ridge. If it had fallen on the front side of the ridge, you would only have to go down a 9000 foot mountain and haul the deer back up and back over the mountain to camp. Since it fell on the back side of the ridge you will have to rent a horse from a local rancher, taking 3 days to hike in, find the deer, field dress it and pack it out...

Sheesh! Sitting in a barn, drinking coffee, shooting a deer after 30 seconds? I want to hunt with you!!!...

Fremmer · November 21, 2006, 09:58 AM

I would love to hunt in Colorado! I'm glad it was just a 6 foot ditch instead of a 300 foot mountain. I'm not too sure about trying a 300 yard shot. 200 yards is about my limit right now.

That was the first time that I'd hunted inside a structure like a barn. I didn't even have time to sit down. There was one thing that was not fun about the barn, though. It had a wood slatted floor, but the sides were sheet metal. So when I fired that .308 standing in about the middle of the barn, I found out the hard way that a .308 fired inside a structure with steel walls is loud!

Fat White Boy · November 22, 2006, 12:56 AM

I'll bet that did ring your bell!

Socrates · November 26, 2006, 08:13 AM

About a month ago, went up to a friend's house, and, did some shooting. I left early, because he was going deer hunting in the morning. As I'm driving off his property, about 100 yards from his house, a beautiful 6 point buck is standing in the road, looking at my headlights. I had pistols, but no permits. I was going to call him, but, figured the deer would be scared off, anyway. Deer got out of the road, and I drove home.

I called him after a couple of days, and told him about the deer. He hadn't had any luck hunting. He said that some car had hit the deer, really hard, shattering his rack, and killing him. By the time they found him, he was bloated... WHAT A WASTE...

S

FirstFreedom · November 29, 2006, 07:55 PM

Nice job and good story! You did well in staying still. I thought you were gonna tell us that it recognized you even though you were still - if it had done so, it would have been due to seeing your predator eyes - next time, in that situation, for good measure, you might want to slowly close one eye, so that you don't show "predator eyes". Congrats!

Fremmer · November 30, 2006, 09:45 AM

Hmmm....predator eyes....I've never thought about that. When I realized I was busted, I was too afraid to even blink. I'll have to think about that.

My "predator eyes" were red from not enough sleep. Still not as scary as the eyes on Springmom's mounted hog head, though.

springmom · November 30, 2006, 01:30 PM

Not MY hog head. That is Archerandshooter's hog head. My pig didn't have much of a lower face after I shot her....

Springmom, who likes the pork from both of 'em!

November 19, 2006, 01:11 AM	#1
Fremmer Senior Member Join Date: June 19, 2005 Location: Nebraska Posts: 3,482	Busted by a Doe! I was skunked the last two times I went hunting, and I wanted to try one more time before the season ended. I was invited to hunt in a new area on a friend’s property. His house is located on about 5 acres in the country. I got to his house well before sunrise, and I had some hot coffee while visiting with my friend and his wife. A long ditch runs along the side of my friend’s property. The ditch has trees and thick brush along each side. The ditch is about 6 feet deep with a small creek running down the middle of the bottom. My friend has a small square hay barn about 40 yards from the ditch. It has open doorways on two sides. The deer have been moving through that ditch, and hanging out in an area near the hay barn. After 3 cups of coffee, I loaded my rifle and I left the house when the sun started to rise. I walked very quietly to the hay barn, which was only about 30 yards away from the house. I climbed up into the hay barn. There was a doorway overlooking an area with some thick brush to my right, and another doorway across the barn that overlooked the ditch. I quickly looked out of the doorway to my right first, and I didn't see any deer. Then I started walking across the barn toward the doorway overlooking the ditch. As I approached the doorway, I paused and took a quick look along the edge of the ditch. As I scanned the trees and brush along the edge of the ditch, I noticed a peculiar white spot among the other green and brown colors. I suddenly realized that the white spot was the muzzle and neck of a nice fat doe that was standing along the edge of the ditch staring directly at me! It was totally unexpected. I’d been in the hay barn a total of about 45 seconds, and I was still about four feet away from a chair that was right next to the doorway. I couldn’t move; all I could do was stand there motionless. That doe had me busted cold. So I stood there like a statue and stared right back at the doe. I certainly couldn’t raise my rifle. The doe was only 40 yards away, and I knew by the way the doe was staring at me that she would bolt from even the slightest movement. I could see the steam rising from my breath in the cold air as I exhaled and tried to control my breathing. The doe and I were locked in a mutual stare-down. We played the staring game for what seemed like forever. Finally, the doe looked down at the ground and walked a couple of steps in front of a tree. The moment the doe’s head was obscured by the tree, I raised my rifle, found the tree through the scope, and flicked off the safety. The deer stood behind the tree for a moment, and then walked a couple of steps beyond the tree, standing broadside to my position. I could just see her head and front half of her body; the rest of her was behind the tree. Just as I put the scope reticle right onto the center of the doe’s shoulder, she looked up again in my direction, and another smaller doe walked up behind her from the ditch, and the smaller doe also stopped and looked in my direction. I knew that if I waited much longer, both deer would get nervous enough to run away, so I held half a breath and slowly squeezed the trigger. The instant the rifle fired, the smaller deer turned and ran like heck. The larger doe that I was aiming at seem to stand there for a half-second, and then she disappeared from my view, and I heard the sound of something crashing in the leaves in the ditch. About ten seconds later, two other deer that were also in the ditch nearby bolted away. A couple of minutes later, my friend came out to the hay shed. He asked me what had happened, and I told him that I’d taken a shot at a doe, and that the doe had disappeared into thin air the second after the shot. He told me that he and his wife were worried when they heard the shot, because I’d just left the house, and they wanted to make sure that I hadn’t fallen or had some other accident. We waited in the barn for a little while, and then climbed down from the barn and walked over to the spot where the deer had been standing when I took the shot. I looked over the edge of the ditch, and the doe was laying motionless on the leaves at the bottom of the ditch a couple of feet away from the creek. She was a good-sized doe. The round went exactly where I’d aimed. The .308 tore through and broke the on-side shoulder, punched through two ribs on the on-side, ripped through both lungs, and exited between two ribs out the doe's other side. The on-side shoulder joint was completely destroyed; that leg would freely move any direction. Here's something I've never seen before: the entrance wound through the ribs on the on-side was the size of a silver dollar, and the exit wound between the two ribs on the off-side was significantly smaller. It looked like the deer fell down in the ditch when it was hit and died on the spot. The Field-dressed weight was about 100 pounds, but it sure felt heavier than that while I was dragging the doe back up the side of the ditch. The warden was surprised when he examined the doe's jaw. The doe was pretty large, but the jaw and teeth indicated that the the doe was only about 1.5 years old. You never know when you'll see a deer. I have to admit that this doe completely surprised me. Thank goodness I took that quick look before walking any closer to the doorway. This time, I didn't even have a chance to sit down before I had to take the shot! Last edited by Fremmer; November 19, 2006 at 10:41 PM.

November 19, 2006, 03:51 AM	#2
Foxman Senior Member Join Date: August 13, 2005 Posts: 466	Great story, glad you got your doe. Sometimes you play the statue and they still go, othertimes it works out neat like yours, well done. __________________ Better the man suspected of being a fool keep his mouth shut, than to open it and remove all doubt.

November 19, 2006, 06:49 PM	#5
Foxman Senior Member Join Date: August 13, 2005 Posts: 466	It sure is hunting, went out a few years back and walked all over the world, saw nothing. Came back to the truck and was just putting stuff in looked off to the the front passenger side and about 80yds off were a buck and a doe watching me real casual like. Well I came over all thumbs, but eventually managed to get the rifle up over the hood and got clear shot at the buck, seemed like ten minutes before I managed to steady up enough to squeeze one off, and was lucky enough to hit it right in the lungs, ran about 40-50 yds and dropped dead. Since then I keep looking all the way back to the truck and try to concentrate even when I'm getting tired. I also have practiced plenty on off hand shots, just in case. It does good to take a break and sit and just relax every so often, nobody can concentrate 110% all the time and thats what it takes to hunt succesfull, just when you ease off you get busted by the deer an then you cuss yourself for the rest of the day! __________________ Better the man suspected of being a fool keep his mouth shut, than to open it and remove all doubt.

November 19, 2006, 10:20 PM	#7
Greybeard Senior Member Join Date: April 7, 2002 Location: Denton County Texas Posts: 686	"Quote": " When the exit hole is smaller than the entrance hole it indicates that the bullet is too fragile [in my view] " Hmmmm ... ? ? ' Had it happen last January on an old doe. 240 grain XTP from 7 1/2" .454. Probably running around 1800 fps at 40 yards. My first thought was that the big hollowpoint must have grabbed and twisted the hide to make entry hole about the size of silver dollar. Exit hole much smaller with very little blood. __________________ www.dentoncountysports.com A Private Palace for Pistol Proficiency

November 30, 2006, 01:30 PM	#14
springmom Senior Member Join Date: October 26, 2005 Location: Houston area Posts: 1,823	Not MY hog head. That is Archerandshooter's hog head. My pig didn't have much of a lower face after I shot her.... Springmom, who likes the pork from both of 'em! __________________ I will not be a victim home on the web: www.panagia-icons.net (my webpage) www.nousfromspring.blogspot.com (Orthodoxy) "I couldn't hear you. Stop firing the gun while you're talking!" Frank Drebin, The Naked Gun

November 19, 2006, 06:47 AM	#3
mete Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2004 Location: NY State Posts: 6,575	Excellent . When the exit hole is smaller than the entrance hole it indicates that the bullet is too fragile [in my view] .I had that happen twice with my 45-70 with 300 jhp [ 2" in ,1" out] so I swithced to Nosler Partition.

November 19, 2006, 10:01 AM	#4
22-rimfire Senior Member Join Date: February 19, 2005 Location: Tennessee Posts: 5,323	Nothing beats a barn as your hunting stand. Did you remember to bring coffee with you out to the barn? My brother hunts on his own property and essentially goes back to the house for lunch or if he gets too cold. Sure makes for an easy "drag". Things can happen very quickly hunting. You can hunt for days, not see a thing, and then one day you sit down at your spot and 5 minutes later your deer walks right up to you. Tis hunting. Glad you were successful. Had a small buck walk up to me yesterday to within 20 feet. He came in on my blind side that I can't see anything past about 20 feet (all trees and brush). I had just quietly shifted positions a bit to better cover that direction (due to wind shift) and layed my gun down.... I look up and there is this little buck walking slowly right at me. I knew he had me as his path would have litterally taken him right into me. I was on the ground. In the back of my mind, I really didn't want to shoot a 4-point anyway. That deer taught me another lesson, it could have been the biggest 12-point and I would not have had a prayer to get a shot off. That would have been a tragedy in my book. Keeps hunting fun and challenging!

November 19, 2006, 08:38 PM	#6
Fremmer Senior Member Join Date: June 19, 2005 Location: Nebraska Posts: 3,482	Thanks for the responses. My favorite part was waiting for just the right time and then making a precise off-hand shot. I like to try and use some type of a rest if possible, but this time I couldn't do more than get ready to shoot from right where I was standing. Something gets me really excited when I make a good off-hand shot, even if it was only 40 yards away; I only had 1/3 of the deer to shoot at because the rest of her was behind that tree. I spent a lot of time this summer shooting a Daisy pellet gun at cans and rabbits that were typically 40 or 50 yards away from a deck in a big back yard. Turns out that I can hit a can at 40 yards off-hand using an air rifle with a rough trigger and hit a deer at 40 yards using a Remington .308 with a pretty good trigger. I can't complain about the performance of the bullet. The 165 Sierra Gameking btsp worked perfectly. It did a number on the shoulder, and the entrance wound was wicked. The round did leave an exit wound, and the deer dropped dead right there. Can't ask for any more than that.

November 21, 2006, 01:39 AM	#8
Fat White Boy Senior Member Join Date: March 18, 2005 Posts: 1,276	Frem- You need to come out west and hunt. I want you to go to Colorado, Nevada or someplace. Shoot a deer that will dress out at 250 pounds on a ridge 300 yards away and instead of falling on the front side of the ridge, it falls on the backside of the ridge. If it had fallen on the front side of the ridge, you would only have to go down a 9000 foot mountain and haul the deer back up and back over the mountain to camp. Since it fell on the back side of the ridge you will have to rent a horse from a local rancher, taking 3 days to hike in, find the deer, field dress it and pack it out... Sheesh! Sitting in a barn, drinking coffee, shooting a deer after 30 seconds? I want to hunt with you!!!...

November 21, 2006, 09:58 AM	#9
Fremmer Senior Member Join Date: June 19, 2005 Location: Nebraska Posts: 3,482	I would love to hunt in Colorado! I'm glad it was just a 6 foot ditch instead of a 300 foot mountain. I'm not too sure about trying a 300 yard shot. 200 yards is about my limit right now. That was the first time that I'd hunted inside a structure like a barn. I didn't even have time to sit down. There was one thing that was not fun about the barn, though. It had a wood slatted floor, but the sides were sheet metal. So when I fired that .308 standing in about the middle of the barn, I found out the hard way that a .308 fired inside a structure with steel walls is loud!

November 22, 2006, 12:56 AM	#10
Fat White Boy Senior Member Join Date: March 18, 2005 Posts: 1,276	I'll bet that did ring your bell!

November 26, 2006, 08:13 AM	#11
Socrates Junior member Join Date: January 5, 2005 Location: East Bay NorCal, People's Republik of Kalifornia Posts: 5,866	About a month ago, went up to a friend's house, and, did some shooting. I left early, because he was going deer hunting in the morning. As I'm driving off his property, about 100 yards from his house, a beautiful 6 point buck is standing in the road, looking at my headlights. I had pistols, but no permits. I was going to call him, but, figured the deer would be scared off, anyway. Deer got out of the road, and I drove home. I called him after a couple of days, and told him about the deer. He hadn't had any luck hunting. He said that some car had hit the deer, really hard, shattering his rack, and killing him. By the time they found him, he was bloated... WHAT A WASTE... S

November 29, 2006, 07:55 PM	#12
FirstFreedom Junior member Join Date: May 31, 2004 Location: The Toll Road State, U.S.A. Posts: 12,451	Nice job and good story! You did well in staying still. I thought you were gonna tell us that it recognized you even though you were still - if it had done so, it would have been due to seeing your predator eyes - next time, in that situation, for good measure, you might want to slowly close one eye, so that you don't show "predator eyes". Congrats!

November 30, 2006, 09:45 AM	#13
Fremmer Senior Member Join Date: June 19, 2005 Location: Nebraska Posts: 3,482	Hmmm....predator eyes....I've never thought about that. When I realized I was busted, I was too afraid to even blink. I'll have to think about that. My "predator eyes" were red from not enough sleep. Still not as scary as the eyes on Springmom's mounted hog head, though.