As many of you know, I was in Minnesota for the opening weekend of rifle season to hunt with my 77 year old Uncle, my Dad, my Brother, and my Cousin. We were in an intensive harvest unit so we each could have an either Buck or Doe tag and a bonus Doe tag so we had potentially 5 buck tags and only 3 of us bought the bonus tags so we had 3 doe tags as well. This "Party" hunting takes some getting used to, but I managed. Opening morning found me in my stand with a fresh blanket of snow and my Contender Pistol in my hand. I'd always wanted to take a deer with my pistol and I thought since the longest shots from my stand are about 100 yards, I'd give it a try. Wouldn't you know it, right at first light I see a deer moving through the brush about 120 yards down the ridge from me. I put the binos on it and saw it was a nice buck which got my heart going and adrenaline flowing. He was on a trail that would lead him at about 85 yards from my stand. My heart was pounding. I cocked the hammer on the pistol, switched it to "Fire" and tried to find the buck in the scope. Now a pistol scope DOES NOT have the field of view that a rifle scope does and holding it at arms length while looking for a deer standing in the brush is QUITE the challenge let me tell you. I managed to find the deer in the scope, held on his chest, and squeezed the trigger. BOOM!! I had center punched my first Ironwood Tree with my pistol!! NOT what I was hoping for. The buck jumped at the shot took a dozen or so hurried steps and stopped to try to figure out what had happened. Now is when things got interesting. My pistol is a break action single shot and I had just used my "Single" shot. I had to break open the action, pull the spent round, fish a fresh one from my pocket (with gloves on), put it in the pistol, close it, cock it, put it on "Fire", find the buck AGAIN, and then shoot. All while being quiet, not moving much, and under the direct observation of the buck. Oh Boy!! I managed ALL that, and settled back on the buck. I squeezed the trigger and the buck dropped at the shot. I was amazed. I'd pulled it off. I'd taken a nice respectable 4 X 4 buck with a pistol.
I had so much fun taking my first deer, a buck, with a pistol that I had to try to do it again. I had a doe tag and there were more buck tags in the party, so back into the stand I went, beaming with excitement at what had just happened. About 2 hours later, I heard a couple muffled crunches behind me. I looked down to my right below the stand and here stood another 4 X 4 buck RIGHT BELOW MY STAND!!!! I cocked the hammer, rotated around, and drew down on him. He started to walk straight away from me so my only shot was right between the shoulder blades from above. He was all of about 10 yards away, so I held right there and squeezed the trigger. He fell at the shot and I had taken my SECOND buck with my pistol. I was elated. BOY was this weekend starting off in the right way!!!!
That was the end of the excitement for Saturday Morning, so we gathered up the critters and headed to the trucks to grab some lunch and warm up.
Saturday evening was beautiful, but no deer were spotted. It was however, a great day. Sunday morning rolled around and we found ourselves in the RAIN. That stunk. I'd given up the pistol for the rifle as rain, clouds, and mist don't bode well for pistol scopes. Shortly after sunrise, I heard my brother shoot and shortly thereafter a couple does tried to sneak by me. The lead doe stopped with her chest right between two ironwoods and I settled the cross hairs. She streaked away at the shot and we found out later that she piled up "Conveniently" in the 4 wheeler trail about 40 yards away. My brother, it turns out, had taken a "Super Monster" by his standards and I couldn't have been happier or more proud for him. (Grin) Not really, but I just have to rib'em a bit. He was very happy to have the meat for the freezer and his sons were giddy when he brought it home, which is a fantastic thing in and of itself.
That made 3 bucks and one doe so far. Not Bad for our bunch. Monday morning dawned clear and a CRISP 13 degrees with frost on the ground. It was Awesome. Unfortunately, no deer were sighted and after a hearty lunch, it was on to the afternoon hunt. The afternoon wore on and no deer were moving. Which was fine as I was entertained by a myriad of other creatures. I saw my first flock of bluebirds and I do mean a flock. There must have been 60 of'em in one herd. THAT was cool!!! The squirrels were busy sounding like deer and the trumpeter swans were complaining that the slough they were on had frozen over. The geese were talking and the ducks were whistling overhead. There was about 20 minutes of shooting time left when I heard two "Heavier" crunches in the leaves. I turned over my right shoulder and WOW. There stood a magnificent 10 pointer, 40 yards away, who had absolutely NO CLUE I was there. I eased my rifle to fire and began to slowly swing around to get on this Big Buck!! He took 4 or five steps to his right and put his nose to the ground directly away from me. I took the opportunity, quickly brought the rifle to my shoulder, and acquired him in the scope. He was behind some brush and I looked for an opening. Fortunately for me, he had stopped quartering away from me with about 4 inches of space between two trees and his chest was clearly visible. I thread the needle and put a round right into his chest. He jumped, Mule Kicked, and raced across the ridge top. He lost altitude after about 30 yards, dug his head into the ground, did a somersault, and came to rest within sight. What a rush!!!! He's the biggest buck I've taken in MN and one of the biggest to be taken off the property. I couldn't be happier!! I guess I was holding the "Golden Ticket" this year and was sitting in the "Magic Stand". WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!! With the weekends successes, we all decided we had plenty of deer and left the two bonus doe tags unfilled and my uncle holding the last buck tag to use later if he wished. The freezers are full and I still have a MT elk and mule deer to chase. I might need more freezer space.
I had so much fun taking my first deer, a buck, with a pistol that I had to try to do it again. I had a doe tag and there were more buck tags in the party, so back into the stand I went, beaming with excitement at what had just happened. About 2 hours later, I heard a couple muffled crunches behind me. I looked down to my right below the stand and here stood another 4 X 4 buck RIGHT BELOW MY STAND!!!! I cocked the hammer, rotated around, and drew down on him. He started to walk straight away from me so my only shot was right between the shoulder blades from above. He was all of about 10 yards away, so I held right there and squeezed the trigger. He fell at the shot and I had taken my SECOND buck with my pistol. I was elated. BOY was this weekend starting off in the right way!!!!
That was the end of the excitement for Saturday Morning, so we gathered up the critters and headed to the trucks to grab some lunch and warm up.
Saturday evening was beautiful, but no deer were spotted. It was however, a great day. Sunday morning rolled around and we found ourselves in the RAIN. That stunk. I'd given up the pistol for the rifle as rain, clouds, and mist don't bode well for pistol scopes. Shortly after sunrise, I heard my brother shoot and shortly thereafter a couple does tried to sneak by me. The lead doe stopped with her chest right between two ironwoods and I settled the cross hairs. She streaked away at the shot and we found out later that she piled up "Conveniently" in the 4 wheeler trail about 40 yards away. My brother, it turns out, had taken a "Super Monster" by his standards and I couldn't have been happier or more proud for him. (Grin) Not really, but I just have to rib'em a bit. He was very happy to have the meat for the freezer and his sons were giddy when he brought it home, which is a fantastic thing in and of itself.
That made 3 bucks and one doe so far. Not Bad for our bunch. Monday morning dawned clear and a CRISP 13 degrees with frost on the ground. It was Awesome. Unfortunately, no deer were sighted and after a hearty lunch, it was on to the afternoon hunt. The afternoon wore on and no deer were moving. Which was fine as I was entertained by a myriad of other creatures. I saw my first flock of bluebirds and I do mean a flock. There must have been 60 of'em in one herd. THAT was cool!!! The squirrels were busy sounding like deer and the trumpeter swans were complaining that the slough they were on had frozen over. The geese were talking and the ducks were whistling overhead. There was about 20 minutes of shooting time left when I heard two "Heavier" crunches in the leaves. I turned over my right shoulder and WOW. There stood a magnificent 10 pointer, 40 yards away, who had absolutely NO CLUE I was there. I eased my rifle to fire and began to slowly swing around to get on this Big Buck!! He took 4 or five steps to his right and put his nose to the ground directly away from me. I took the opportunity, quickly brought the rifle to my shoulder, and acquired him in the scope. He was behind some brush and I looked for an opening. Fortunately for me, he had stopped quartering away from me with about 4 inches of space between two trees and his chest was clearly visible. I thread the needle and put a round right into his chest. He jumped, Mule Kicked, and raced across the ridge top. He lost altitude after about 30 yards, dug his head into the ground, did a somersault, and came to rest within sight. What a rush!!!! He's the biggest buck I've taken in MN and one of the biggest to be taken off the property. I couldn't be happier!! I guess I was holding the "Golden Ticket" this year and was sitting in the "Magic Stand". WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!! With the weekends successes, we all decided we had plenty of deer and left the two bonus doe tags unfilled and my uncle holding the last buck tag to use later if he wished. The freezers are full and I still have a MT elk and mule deer to chase. I might need more freezer space.
