Success In The Field

The regular season closed on the 15th of January and I had only taken a lone 6 point cull buck, and my son had taken a cull 9 point. That is definitely not enough meat for jerky, sausage (fresh, dried, and pan), hamburger, and jerky. Yes, I listed jerky twice because of how much of it we eat. After the regular season ends we have two additional weeks to harvest doe(s) and spike bucks, and here in the Texas Hill Country that is usually when we have the best weather for hanging an animal overnight since we don't have a walk-in cooler. My wife and I had to feed our cattle so we decided to stay out afterwards for the evening hunt. I dropped her off at the "Ladybug" blind, an elevated box blind overlooking a feeder that had some ladybugs in it the first time she sat there so she dubbed it the "Ladybug" blind. I decided to set up an ambush site on a tree line between two fields that the deer cross to get to the neighbors oats patch. It was right at sundown when I noticed movement to my west. I was prepared to shoot to the east or south so I had to move my BogPod and Cole-Tac Tricorne shooting bag to the opposite side of the tree I was using for cover. It took what seemed like several minutes to reposition because any little movement would draw their attention. I finally settled in and waited for a good shot at a doe that was traveling from my left to right. At about 60 yards she paused and I sent an 85gr Sierra GameKing HPBT from my 6BR SSK Contender into her right side tight behind the shoulder. She took off running to my right but only made it about 50 yards before sliding to a stop. By the time I gathered my stuff there wasn't enough light for any pictures in the field so I took a couple the next morning of the damage.

Entrance in right side.

Exit in left side.

This was the first time I had used this gun/cartridge/bullet combo to take a deer and didn't really know how well it would work. I had used it in the past to take a coyote at 165 yards, but I didn't perform a postmortem, only noting that it was a complete pass through with DRT results.