# My NC deer story. Pretty long. Had to share.



## Robert A. Langager (Feb 22, 2002)

Hey all,

Just wanted to share the story of the buck I shot last night here in NC. Not the biggest, but the biggest I've shot. I am a misplaced Nodaker here in NC now. I would much rather shoot birds, but any hunting is better than staying home. I do want to clarify a few things first, so to keep the flames down. Here in NC the season is 2.5 months long and you can shoot 6 deer. You can use bait, shoot over feeders, run 'em with dogs, use buckshot, pretty much anything goes. If you want to hunt here on the east coast, you better know somebody or lease. I do the latter and have a small, 270 acre, lease of hardwoods and pines with 5 other dudes. Do I like to lease, no, but have no choice. Anyhow, here it goes!

I guess I will have to tell the WHOLE story. Last wednesday I shot a small doe out of my tower stand on our lease. Only got 25 lbs of meat off her, NC deer are so small. Anyhow, she came out with her kid and a friend and they frolicked under the stand for quite a while, so very close. I had passed on 2 does earlier that evening and decided it was time to put some meat in the freezer. She got out to a whopping 30 yards and I pretty much just pointed and shot. It was a bad shot and I was not happy with myself. I had all day but was maybe too cocky after the previous long range coyote shot. As soon as I shot I thought "I hope I missed" over and over. But nope, right through the guts, maybe a little lung action, but overall a poorly placed shot.

I tracked her for about 75 yards following the small blood/stomach-content trail. I kept hearing noise in front of me so I decided to mark the spot and get some help. We came back and spread out with flashlights and a shotgun with 00 buck, legal here. We found the deer dead about 20 feet past where I had stopped. For it being my first deer with the new rifle, it didn't feel very rewarding at all. But, meat is meat.

So, been hitting it pretty hard this week as I wanted to put up at least 50 lbs of meat for sausage. I passed on at least 20 small does and one very small 6 point this week. After the Thursday morning hunt I did some scouting around on the lease. The permanent stands were getting boring, plus we want to keep the feeders active for late season, after the acorns are all gone. I found a stellar spot that had sign all over it and went out last night with the climber. I drug a smelly tampon with Tinks #69 on it behind me. It was very close quarters, so I brought the .44 mag out, in addition to the heavy barrel Savage .308, for any super close doe shots. 2 small does came out and I had a bead on one with the .44 for a while, maybe 10 yards, but I passed.

Just at the tail end of shooting time I heard a racket as Mr. Buck came my way with on a mission. He finally appeared, all I could see was a dark blob. I put the scope on him and saw he was a he. I LOVE the Sightron, it makes night into day. Anyhow, he came out at a pretty good clip and stopped dead right where I passed with my stinky tampon and put his nose to the ground. That is when he met Mr. Ballistic Tip right through the front shoulders. He dropped on the spot, end of story. It was a whopping 20 yard shot. I'm not really a big fan of the shoulder shot, it is a bit wasteful, but I didn't want any doubts with this guy.

That was the most exciting and satisfying deer hunt of my life and it totally made up for the gut shot doe last week. The new rifle is great, but really heavy. The reloads I worked up are doing the trick. The scouting really paid off and made the hunt all the better. The best thing about it is the fact that from the time he appeared to the time he died was maybe 3 seconds. I had time to get ready as I heard him coming, but it was all reflex from there. I don't know if he was following my Tinks as the wind really wasn't blowing his way. Another 10 feet and he would have dissappeared into the trees. I had to decide fast, and when he hit the brakes, I just put the cross-hairs on the shoulder and hit the trigger. No time to think, just time to act. Although the shot wasn't that challenging, the whole hunt really rocked.

He is in the freezer now. Gonna take a break for a week or so. There is still a lot of season left here. It ends on Dec. 31. 2 down, 4 to go.

Here are some pics. The exit hole is showing. Ballistic-Tips are wierd. I can see how some people don't like them. The bullet entered about the same spot on the other side, went through the shoulder, hit a rib, broke up and took out the neck/windpipe with one chunk and the lungs with the other. The way the entrance/exit holes line up you'd think it went straight through, but it did not at all. It hit something hard, broke and bounced up, hit something else hard and bounced down and out. Strange!

Sorry that this is so long. Just had to share!

Robert

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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Good story and pictures Robert! :beer:


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## fishless (Aug 2, 2005)

Congrats :beer:


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