Success In The Field

The first deer season of the year opened for me on Saturday, and I decided this would be a great time to take the 5 inch Pre-27 S&W I took in on trade a few weeks back out for a little test run. A vintage gun, and memories of Skeeter Skeltons fondness for this classic weapon were too good to pass up!

Last time I hunted deer with my personal 5 inch M27 I used the classic Skeeter load featuring the 358156 at about 1400 fps. This bullet/load has proven itself plenty of times over the years and I was tempted to take it again, but there are betters way to skin the cat these days. I had a batch of ammo loaded up with the MP Molds 359640 cast with the large HP pin and an 80/20 alloy of wheelweight/lead. These were powder coated and annealed and a load of AA9 shoved them along nicely at 1400 ish fps. I was pleasantly surprised when this load popped 5 shots into a beatiful 1" cluster right on top of the front sight at 25 yards (although this gun is still for sale, results like that make on want to maybe keep it around!!!!!)

I had a perfect blind sorted out for morning. There had been a lot of activity along the runway crossing its front, and if the critters played along shots of 25-35 yards wouyd bve the norm = PERCECT. As dawn broke the morning was still calm and a little muggy but very pleasant, and the first deer ghosted past my stand in the early light far too early to see sights but clear enough to get the blood pumping. The late summer bird life was awake and active, squirells were rustling the leaves making ones ears perk up, a grouse worked his way past about ten feet in front of the blind a little breeze blew straight onto my face as the day blossomed.

About 8;30 a deer jjust appeared, as they so often can, to my front left. This was followed by a second. Two grown fawns from the looks of it. A few minutes later a third and much larger doe followed along. This is what a I had been hoping for a good mature "eating sized " doe to start off the year. They were not hurrying and remained oblivious to my presence as I slowly moved the gun and aligned the sights and waited for the shot.

I don't get around so well at times with the MS, so I really wanted to anchor this deer close to the blind as the drag and recovery would be much easier for me alone. So I waited until she gave me a front shoulder and a slight quartering angle. At 30 yards she did just that and i dropped the hammer. She jumped straight up, obviously hard hit, landing she made three quick bounds and piled up in a heap not more than 30 feet or so from where I hit her! An excellent result. There would be some good eating

Much sweating, grunting, complaning legs, and the use of every curse word i knew plus three I invented on the spot and I got this critter to the truck and to the hanging pole ( Weed wacker has a broken operator thus the excess follage!) Mr. scale said 127 with the insides on the outside - I'll take it.

I know a lot of folks are interested in terminal results so here are few blood and guts details:

In the pictures of the whole deer you can see the ebntrance hole on the onside shoulder. This is the same hole with the hair off. Ended up pretty close to right where I wanted.

Looks like I got the angle right!

The next shot is the entry side with the front leg removed

There is abit of meat loss on the entry side, as one would expcet with this shot - BUT not massive amounts and once the bubbles and goo where romed the blood shot area was not too bad at all.

The off side shoulder also had a good bit of goo and froth underneith but it all cleaned up nicely.

Inside the lungs and the heart were trashed. There was much blood spray at the spot where this deer was standing, and although there was no tracking needed the blood trail was pronounced! It would have been an easy follow up in need be.

All-in-all this was pretty happy morning hunt. The 357 so often desparaged as morginal acquited itself pretty damn fine in my book! And the nearly 75 year old Pre-27 performed like a true Champ - Exactly like Skeeter told us all along it would!!!

Next week starts a doe only season here. I think I am gonna hunt with Skeeter again on that one too - Only tis time it will be Skeeters load in my flat top 44 Special. I just wanted to get this old S&W out on a hunt before someone takes it to its new home!

-Jack