snow hunting

[duff]

Have to say I am glad for the extended season. Finally had enough free time to get out and stalk this one down. Walked up and saw her head above the brush and had to crawl through the snow to get an open shot. Quite the hunt! Glad there was snow as the blood was sparce despite a direct heart shot. Bullet didn't exit.

[Genesis 27:3]

Very nice! Hoping for the same luck as you on friday!

[firstwd]

Hopefully I'll have the same luck tomorrow.

[raporter]

Sounds like a fun hunt Duff. Grats

[esshup]

I love hunting in the snow. Extra large Haines sweat pants/hoodie over the warm winter camo works great for snow camo.

[BOBinIN]

Just got back from taking one...I was wearing a hazmat white-suit and was totally invisible to the deer with the snow cover. They are extremely easy to see against the snow too. Good luck out there, BOB

[duff]

Thanks guys and good luck out there. They sure do stick out with this white stuff.

[onebentarrow]

Looks like a full freezer. Congrats

[36fan]

Dec 26, 2012 19:05:23 GMT -5 duff said:

Have to say I am glad for the extended season. Finally had enough free time to get out and stalk this one down. Walked up and saw her head above the brush and had to crawl through the snow to get an open shot. Quite the hunt! Glad there was snow as the blood was sparce despite a direct heart shot. Bullet didn't exit.

We need more of story! Range of the shot, caliber, bullet type, and how far was the crawl? You can't tease us and leave us hanging!

[duff]

LOL, here you go. ~ 70 yards, 50 cal Omega, TC shockwave, far enough to get to a good opening probably about 20 yards.

Does that help? There is even more to it than that though. I walked out with just my gun, no reloads, knife or anything. Was not really very hopeful but just wanted to beat cabin fever. First stop is an old barn that overlooks a sink hole with a cave opening. I have noticed they will sometimes bed next to the opening to get the goethermal heat from the cave so I assume and they also cross the back side of the sink hole when passing though so it is a decent option. Sat there for 20 or 30 mins and was getting cabin fever again so decided to take a walk back to another known bedding area. As I was approaching I saw one deer, took a shot and couldn't tell if I hit her or not. All looked like a clean miss but I wasn't sure. Since I didn't have any supplies with me I had to head back to the house and reload. Again I went back to the same spot expecting the deer to be long gone only to pick up on my original post. She was in the same place so I got to a good opening and took what I felt was a very good shot. I didn't see the other 3 deer at all so when they busted out of there after the smoke cleared I thought I was going to have to track a deer because I typically only see 3 does together...Stood on top of the hill and scoped the trail and didn't see any blood. Walked back to the house and hacked around for a few minutes. Grabbed a 44 cal encore and some shells then walked back to the beds to see if I could find any hair or blood...nothing at all. followed the tracks through the snow and was about to give up when I saw pin drops in the snow. Followed them right to the deer and she was bedded down and no flopping or flailing based on the condition of the snow so she ran about 30 yards and bedded down then died. It was a good heart shot so she went fast.

Now you know, the rest of the story!

[dbd870]

Johnny & I had 2 does at ~225yds late yesterday afternoon - we're going to change where we sit and hopefully we can pull off a double: 2 deer, 2 hunters, shoot at the same time! New property for us this season. After the snow we had a boatload of tracks - we knew where they were bedding down and we'd been setting up trying to catch them coming in. Now we know better where to set up.

[36fan]

Dec 31, 2012 7:01:54 GMT -5 duff said:

LOL, here you go. ~ 70 yards, 50 cal Omega, TC shockwave, far enough to get to a good opening probably about 20 yards.

Does that help? There is even more to it than that though. I walked out with just my gun, no reloads, knife or anything. Was not really very hopeful but just wanted to beat cabin fever. First stop is an old barn that overlooks a sink hole with a cave opening. I have noticed they will sometimes bed next to the opening to get the goethermal heat from the cave so I assume and they also cross the back side of the sink hole when passing though so it is a decent option. Sat there for 20 or 30 mins and was getting cabin fever again so decided to take a walk back to another known bedding area. As I was approaching I saw one deer, took a shot and couldn't tell if I hit her or not. All looked like a clean miss but I wasn't sure. Since I didn't have any supplies with me I had to head back to the house and reload. Again I went back to the same spot expecting the deer to be long gone only to pick up on my original post. She was in the same place so I got to a good opening and took what I felt was a very good shot. I didn't see the other 3 deer at all so when they busted out of there after the smoke cleared I thought I was going to have to track a deer because I typically only see 3 does together...Stood on top of the hill and scoped the trail and didn't see any blood. Walked back to the house and hacked around for a few minutes. Grabbed a 44 cal encore and some shells then walked back to the beds to see if I could find any hair or blood...nothing at all. followed the tracks through the snow and was about to give up when I saw pin drops in the snow. Followed them right to the deer and she was bedded down and no flopping or flailing based on the condition of the snow so she ran about 30 yards and bedded down then died. It was a good heart shot so she went fast.

Now you know, the rest of the story!

Very nice. I shot a buck a couple of years ago in snowy conditions. Quartering away shot at 120 yds on the ground, while he was trotting (not running), .50 cal Remington 700 ml, 295 grain Powerbelt bullet. After the shot, he turned around and ran back the direction he came from and jumped a fence and ran into the tree line.

I waited an hour and picked up the "trail". No hair or blood at the point of impact. I followed the snow tracks back to the fence - no blood. He jumped the fence - no blood. Another 10 yds was the first drop of blood ... and he was piled up about 15 yds from where the first drop of blood fell. I hit him a little far back, but the bullet went through the liver, the heart, the left lung, and impacted the shoulder and didn't exit.

Love the snow tracking!

[grey squirrel]

Same here, I shot a doe saturday afternoon. Good shot placement, put it where I wanted. But barely any blood, thanks to the snow I found her. I am confident I could have found her without the snow, but it sure made it nice and easier to see the slight trail she left. T/C Omega, .50 cal, Shockwave 250, still hunting a bedding area, shot was around 60 yds.

[tomthreetoes]

I had never killed a deer in the snow in 50+ deer seasons till this morning. Shot her at about 30-35yds. and didn't really need a blood trail. The Marlin 45-70 1.8" put her down in less than 25yds. I saw several this morning the comming storm had em' moving.

[GS1]

Congrats tomthreetoes!

[duff]

Good job threetoes

[409bullelk]

This was my first time hunting in snow since 76. It was one of the most exciting hunts I been on. Everything clean and fresh, and deer stuck out like a sore thumb.

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[nater]

Got it done on New Years Day. Shot a doe at 10 yards after sitting in the stand 10 minutes. Gotta love dragging one out on a sled through the snow!