As mentioned in my previous post, after shooting twice in the evening I wanted to come back following morning just to check the area and make sure I did not do anything silly such as shooting two different deer. Unfortunately these things happen from time to time at last light or in high vegetation. I heard a few similar stories about people shooting twice to what they thought were the same animal and later finding two deer dead. It was quite unlikely, but I wanted to make sure as I could not see anything suspicious in torch light and could not make myself believe I missed a deer at 40m heart-lungs and neck shot at 100m… š
Windy morning
I got to the forestry quite early. It was still too dark to check the spot I shot the doe previous night so I slowly walked the forestry track pausing in various places. It was a bit too windy to my liking. The wind was picking up and it was unlikely to see any deer in open places.
I sat at the corner of freshly cleared ride and the forestry track, but nothing showed up. I was getting cold so went to the place I shot the doe. I went to the place I was standing taking the shots. I went back to the place the doe was and where she ran, but no pins or paint. Nothing. Only some blood in the place I shot the second time. It looked like the first shot was a clear miss…
It was still early so I thought I could have a look along the forestry edge. I went maybe 100m and spotted something in front of me. I looked through the binoculars and it was a doe already looking at me. I was by the forestry but slightly skylined and the doe must have seen the movement. She soon disappeared but I was sure she was not alone. There was at least another one.
Stalking along the forestry edge would have been difficult and I had better idea to get under the canopy of the sitka trees. It was quite windy and it should help and silence my steps. There was a path running in parallel to the forestry edge. I was hoping to spot the deer before they could see me, if not at the edge of the forestry then crossing the path in front of me.
I soon got to the spot I could see straight 40m of the path in front of me and right towards the forestry edge. Nothing showed up on the path so I thought the deer still must have been feeding near the fence and decided to risk and have a look. I made a few steps and saw the movement between the trees. It was a buck kid. He was quite close, but no chance of a shot through all the branches on the way. I knew there was still a doe and possibly something else. The kid moved away and I was searching for a gap between the branches to get a shot when I spotted a movement to my left. Another buck kid showed up. He was feeding along the edge of the trees and got to my side of the branches so I could get a clear shot.
It was no more than 20m and I had no time to use sticks so I raised the rifle and shot off hand. The deer dropped on the spot and the other kid and the doe ran away.
I gralloched the deer, dragged it to the doe I left previous night, packed them both into a roe sack and went back home.
Video
