Christmas Evening Doe with the Muzzleloader

[Seth]

I sat in the bottom at dads farm where there "was" turnips and clover, but the deer have pretty well ate it down to nothing. Even so, you could see where there had been a few deer pawing through the snow to get to what little was still left. At 5:10, I noticed a deer head materialize out of the brush to the west of the plot. A few moments later, three does and three fawns stepped out and started nibbling around. The three does were facing me so I had to wait for my shot. After a few minutes, they caught the wind of something that made them nervous and were about to bolt. One of the does turned and stopped for a moment and offered me a shot so I sent a 250gr Hornady SST her way. All I could see after the shot was a big cloud of smoke and few a faint tail flags bouncing off, but I couldn't tell how the deer reacted or which way she even went.

Dad was hunting on the north end of the farm so I waited for him to make it down to me before we started looking for blood, Surprisingly, there was no blood anywhere to found! I knew there was no way I could have missed that deer as I had a great rest and it was 95 yards. A few days before I was hitting a 1.5" circle at 100 yards with my muzzleloader. Dad noticed where it appeared that some dirt had been kicked up in the food plot heading to the north so he started walking up the nearest deer trail that went that direction. He didn't walk very far and found her about 50 yards inside the thicket. She was quartering away more than I thought the bullet entered at the back of the facing lung where it meets the liver and exited towards the middle of the opposite lung. A little piece of her internals was clogging up the exit hole which prevented her from bleeding and kept all of the blood pooled up inside her chest cavity.

I'm probably done for the year after that one. I've still got an any deer tag left, but we don't have any bucks on camera worth hunting. Who knows though. It's too darn cold, even for me, to fish so I may change my mind and go back out a few more times.

[Johnsfolly]

Congrats, she's a good looking doe and a nice bit of freezer meat. Glad you were able to find her. Even with the snow, I haven't seen much evidence of deer in my primary hunting area. May have to decide to hang up the bow or scout some new spots.

[Seth]

This arctic blast really killed the deer movement overall around here. Even the game cam action died off considerably. I think it will really pick up once it warms up a little bit more.

[snagged in outlet 3]

My backyard is a bedding area all the time except when it gets real cold.  Haven't had any back there for two weeks or so. 

[Ketchup]

Congrats Seth. Yep i havent seen much on camera last check. Seen 2 this weekend heading to Tx. that were in the 150" class feeding.  That was southern Oklahoma. 

[Seth]

The deer have really started moving around a lot the past few days. I guess they have had enough of this cold weather crap and food is getting scarce. Dad shot a big doe a few nights ago as well. He wanted one more deer for canning. I took the time to get my deer scraps that I've saved for grinding taken care of since it has been so cold. I've got plenty of lean protein in the freezer ready to go now so no excuses for me to not be eating healthy at least for a little while.