Well, after having some trouble with filling my second tag with my pistol during gun season (story in the handgun hunting forum), I finally got another yesterday.
A buddy of mine, and I made it into the woods around 1330hrs. We walked about a mile through muddy cut corn fields to a little overgrown field that is usually loaded with deer a day or two into the firearms seasons. The only problem is that the five inches or snow that we got about two weeks ago has now all melted, and the river is now flooding, which in turn flooded the overgrown field. We still hunted from the south edge of the field north for about 150yds., and got to a point that the water was going to go over our knee boots. Well, we decided that if we wanted to have a chance at a deer, we needed to get our feet wet if we wanted a chance at a deer. After trudging through the water that was just under knee high, we found a dry spot so that I could dump out my boots. We then started still hunting further down the field. We ended up seeing a group of about 15-20 leave the field heading west, then come back east about 20 minutes later. I saw them as they came back in the field, but it was too far away, and too much brush to get a shot. We sat down for about 30 minutes or so at a point about halfway down the field next to a ditch that would have been a little under chest high that was full of flood water. We figured it was time to go when the rain clouds got a little to close for comfort, considering the area we were in. This was a little over an hour till closing time for the day. We headed back to the truck, and decided that when we got back out , we would go to the woods on the other side of the river, and one would still hunt one side, and one the other. Well, I had all intentions of harvesting a yearling that I've seen every time I walk down the drive that is on the north edge of the woods. Just so happened that he didn't want to show himself. I turned around when I got to the end west end of the woods, and saw my buddy. Turns out he did the same, because the water in the field in the river bottom got too deep for him to come to the drive and meet up with me. At the east edge of the woods, there is an old barn that is full of round bales of straw, and like they say in the hunting rags, if deer are pressured, they sometimes hide in the most unlikely spots. I figured it couldn't hurt to at least check it out. As I got parallel to the southwest corner of the barn, I saw a deer standing about 250yds away in the cut corn field that I had just walked by(its north of the drive). I figured that if I could get to an old fence post that is in the ground next to the barn, I would have a good rest to shoot from. Just so happens, the deer saw me, and took off at a dead sprint for the woods, so I did a short jog to the fencepost. Looking through my scope, I followed the deer, hoping he'd stop, which he did. I held about 6 inches or so above his shoulder, and squeezed it off. The deer folded like a sack of potatos. Turns out, where he was standing, I didn't need that much holdover, as it took out the top of the shoulder, and hit his spine...regretfully, he needed a finisher. Ended up being 140yds. from where I shot to where he was standing. I'm kind of glad that it hit him where it did, because when I started walking to him, the rain cut loose, which might have washed away a blood trail. Anyhow, it's not the biggest I've ever gotten, but it's the first with my stainless huntsman, and I'm mighty proud of him. I used a 240gr xtp, 80gr. T7, and a 4x simmons pro-diamond scope, I also changed out the straight stocks for a set of monte-carlo ones for a better cheek weld. Sorry about the long post, but thanks for reading.
~~~Amos
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