Getting back

Ran up to the cabin Thursday for a 24 hour hunting expedition. Didn't want to deal with water and power, broken this and fixing that.

It was sunny and chilly when I arrived, temp on the left is the INSIDE temp. Fired up the pellet stove and propane heater, bundled up and headed to the blind. Sat out there for 4+ hours waiting on turkey. No go.

Went inside to warm up and eat some hot food. Back out around 6:30 in hopes of getting a deer. Had about a half moon on snow covered ground. Should be good enough to see.

It was a long wait. I have a great looking buck, maybe 8 points, coming in around 4 am. But I know realistically that I probably won't be able to get up to get after him. So set my sights on the two bigger does coming in a little after 10 pm.

You hear a lot of stuff in the blind, and everything seems amplified. You'll swear there is "big game" coming through the brush. Grunting, snorting, crashing along...  ...usually turns out to be a squirrel. More than once I've thought "oh my god, what the heck is that?" after hearing some god awful noise in the distance. After a couple more times I realize it's just my stomach.

But I checked the time around 9:15 and guessed it was getting to about 10. When I heard a little bleat there was no question.  "Oh, my does are here."  Quick glance out the blind while reaching for the shotgun, they were just walking in.

Now the blind is a bit awkward. The hole they provide to shoot out of is too high to use from a sitting position, and far too low to fire while standing. It's in the middle of the wall (left to right), so you have to move to one side to shoot in the opposite direction.

Add to that, I'm using my beloved Baikal 12 gauge - which I bought as a goose gun. That long barrel needs to be a foot out the window.

I swing around and get a clean bead on the bigger doe, slap the trigger from my hunched over bent leg position. I see her twist and lay on her side as I stumble backward and try not to fall on my ass.

She lifted her head once, and she was done.

I LIKE deer hunting with buckshot. No chasing down animals that can make 50+ yards after a heart shot from a rifle or a crossbow. Literally knock them down. With a good shot, they're not getting back up.

Was up til 2 am dressing her out.  She was somewhere over 150 pounds on the ground, I couldn't counterweight her with my own weight - maybe 170 bundled up. Used the tow strap and the truck to get her in the air.

Sherri is definitely a better butcher than I. I'm too worried about trimming every hint of silver skin and saving every morsel of meat. She gets in there and gets it done.