Blindstitch
New member
I went hunting with my dad for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving and 20
years of gun deer hunting. 20 years ago I shot a spike on opening day in
Michigan and this year I was hunting Thanksgiving morning watching doe
and squirrels. We took a brief intermission for Thanksgiving lunch and headed back out.
We arrived at 4pm and there was a doe already there. We snuck into the
blind as she walked around and then away from us and were making bets on
if she would come back in and which way. At 4:53 this buck was walking
down a logging road with snowy trees overlapping the road. All I saw was
legs and I said to my dad "here she comes". Then I saw the biggest
spikehorn ever. All I saw was horns that looked like two bull horns pointing
forward. I got the gun up and the deer turned broadside with the right side
facing me. He wasn't really stopped but by the time I got the gun up he was
quartering away. My dad lowered the side window and with no time to spare
I shot it where I thought I would get a left lung instead of right behind the
front shoulder.
I pulled the trigger and the deer jumped forward into the woods like it was
just trying to get away from the area. I sat there kicking myself because
there were no signs that I even hit it.
A few minutes later a roughed up doe came along and after 10 minutes I
had to go look for blood. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I walked 40
yards into the thick woods following the long jumps from the deer and still
no blood. 40 yards later I found the deer piled up mid jump and still no
blood. But that spike I thought I shot was now an 8 point.
After gutting and skinning the deer we couldn't find an entrance or exit
wound and my dad was joking that I gave it a heart attack. The front chest
cavity was full of blood.
While butchering it we finally found what I believe is the rear copper jacket
of the 140 grain Hornady SST barely under the skin of the left front leg. The
search was complete. We still can't find the entrance wound but the left lung
and other was destroyed.
After weighing the fragment it weighed 53 grains from the original 140 grain
bullet. Where the rest went I have no clue but here's the biggest deer I have
ever shot and I did it with my dad 20 years after he started me in gun deer
hunting.
The gun is an Arisaka Type 38 in 6.5 jap. Sporterized back in the 80's by my
grandfather who was a gunsmith. He built and hunted with this gun for 25
years and then I bought it from his estate. This is the first deer I shot with it
but back in the 90's he did shoot a 16 point off the same property out of my
blind with it.
years of gun deer hunting. 20 years ago I shot a spike on opening day in
Michigan and this year I was hunting Thanksgiving morning watching doe
and squirrels. We took a brief intermission for Thanksgiving lunch and headed back out.
We arrived at 4pm and there was a doe already there. We snuck into the
blind as she walked around and then away from us and were making bets on
if she would come back in and which way. At 4:53 this buck was walking
down a logging road with snowy trees overlapping the road. All I saw was
legs and I said to my dad "here she comes". Then I saw the biggest
spikehorn ever. All I saw was horns that looked like two bull horns pointing
forward. I got the gun up and the deer turned broadside with the right side
facing me. He wasn't really stopped but by the time I got the gun up he was
quartering away. My dad lowered the side window and with no time to spare
I shot it where I thought I would get a left lung instead of right behind the
front shoulder.
I pulled the trigger and the deer jumped forward into the woods like it was
just trying to get away from the area. I sat there kicking myself because
there were no signs that I even hit it.
A few minutes later a roughed up doe came along and after 10 minutes I
had to go look for blood. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I walked 40
yards into the thick woods following the long jumps from the deer and still
no blood. 40 yards later I found the deer piled up mid jump and still no
blood. But that spike I thought I shot was now an 8 point.
After gutting and skinning the deer we couldn't find an entrance or exit
wound and my dad was joking that I gave it a heart attack. The front chest
cavity was full of blood.
While butchering it we finally found what I believe is the rear copper jacket
of the 140 grain Hornady SST barely under the skin of the left front leg. The
search was complete. We still can't find the entrance wound but the left lung
and other was destroyed.
After weighing the fragment it weighed 53 grains from the original 140 grain
bullet. Where the rest went I have no clue but here's the biggest deer I have
ever shot and I did it with my dad 20 years after he started me in gun deer
hunting.
The gun is an Arisaka Type 38 in 6.5 jap. Sporterized back in the 80's by my
grandfather who was a gunsmith. He built and hunted with this gun for 25
years and then I bought it from his estate. This is the first deer I shot with it
but back in the 90's he did shoot a 16 point off the same property out of my
blind with it.
