A Very Very Large Piece Of Humble Pie
November 24, 2009 by Gary Sorenson
As far as pie goes, if its not pumpkin pie I can live without it. If I do eat pie, the juicier and sweeter it is the better, add ice cream and it’ll get eaten. Toward the bottom of the pie charts is mincemeat pie, but on the very bottom and the most unpalatable is ‘humble pie’. This last hunting trip I got served up a many multi portion of it and its still causing a lot of indigestion.
Theres a turkey under that can and it’s fixing to be our Sunday dinner. Sue does a great job on Mr. Turkey every year.
The hunting trip itself was wonderful in every way and if a certain little six point hadn’t come wondering under my tree stand I probably could have stayed out of the Prilosec. I’m negotiating with myself right now as to how much to tell, but the trouble with telling only half of it means I’ve still got some sour left inside of me.
You can count the wrongs I did if you want but all I know is there wasn’t much that I did right. One thing that became very clear to me is if you go cutting wood, don’t use your jackknife. Or if you milk a cow don’t put on your mitts, and if you hunt in the brush don’t grab your magnum rifle. You get the picture, if there is a job to do, pick out your tools accordingly. Most all my hunting has been in open country so I have used one rifle for 36 years, a left hand 7mm Weatherby. I have found it handles the 139 grain bullet best in long distances so have stuck with it. Neither were good for where I was hunting whitetails in the brush last week.
It looks pretty open, but there are dead limbs sticking out all over.
The third day of hunting found me in a tree stand about 20 feet off the ground in some very thick old growth Fir trees. There really is no ground brush but there are dead limbs from the trees that stick out and the farther up the tree you sit the closer in your actual hunting area becomes. I had just done a little rattling and I could see with my peripheral vision a small buck coming up on my left side behind me. Wrong side for a left hander so I figured I’d wait till he came out on the right side. He never came so I looked back over my shoulder and he was slowly walking away under a canopy of dead limbs. I see a small opening about 15 yards out and he was heading right for it. I shouldered the ‘7′ right handed, arrg – good golly, the scope is on seven power but I manage to find my opening as his head enters the hole. His next step will center his shoulders in the opening but as I pull the slack out of the trigger to the point of ignition, he steps one step to the right. I missed at 15 yards, and now I have to figure out how to work a left handed bolt right handed. Somehow I get it done and he has circled around to the right because my first shot had kicked up dirt in front and to his left. He’s coming broad side at 28 yards and I’m screaming inside, “why didn’t I bring my bow”. I shoulder the ‘7′ again right handed, no – its still on 7 power but I still am able to find him clear as day filling the scope broad side, The cross hairs settle right behind the shoulders and I’m feeling this is too perfect. At bang time he whirls and heads down the ridge while I strain to see him drop. Strange I didn’t see him go down, but I still feel good that he is just over the brow of the hill, cause there is no way that shot could go wrong.
An half hour later I have extricated myself from my perch in the sky and headed to where he was at impact. No blood!? I carefully followed his trail to the brow of the hill about 70 yards away, no blood. I made a plan out how to grid this hill side and went to work. During the next five hours I jumped four other deer, found a 20+ year old tree stand but no blood and no deer. After this time I found myself back at the point the buck was when I shot. I looked up to where my tree stand was and there fifteen feet away was a dead limb sticking out minus one of its appendages. I knew that a 139 grain bullet travelling well over 3,000 feet a second, even if it hits grass will disintegrate, as I have witnessed it. So now I felt better about not leaving a wounded deer in the woods, but now I was starting to bare the weight of having to tell my hunting partners I missed at 15 and 28 yards. It really doesn’t taste any better today then it did that day. Humble pie is like medicine. It might be good for a person but it sure is hard to swallow.
Wolf tracks, the one on the left(ok smarty). They are big animals. We still have our wolf tags as its easier to find tracks then wolves.
Does anyone have any information on slug shotguns for brush country? I’m leaning in that direction for next year as I think it is the right tool for that job. My ‘7′ has been good to me over the years but I think I have come to realize that it has its limits too.
The day we broke camp we had a nice quiet snowfall – made for some nice pictures.
Do you have a story to tell? If so, send us an email and be sure to attach pics if you have any.
I’m not honestly not sure if the slug would’ve helped you out in that situation or not, Gary. I suppose it might contain a little more wallop, and not be so affected by the dead limb.
All of us have had experiences like this, though. It really is too bad you didn’t bring your bow.
And the last picture is absolutely gorgeous.
Ouch, that hurts. I hope your next outing is as perfect as that last photo!
In that type area I would say a slug gun would work just fine. I’ve been slug gun hunting for 17 years now and love it. It looks to me like fairly short shots. If a 1oz. slug can nock down a 150 pound dressed whitetail than it should be able to nock down a wolf.
Check out my blog, I am starting a series on slug guns this Friday. It might help.
http://whitetailwoods.blogspot.com
Check out my site, I think it will help you.
Mini series on slug guns starts Friday the 27th.
Funny I shoot left handed also (Its the only thing I do left handed) and I had a very similar experience many years ago. I was using a model 94 Winchester lever action when I missed my buck shooting right handed.
I shoot a Remington model 870 with a slug barrel, and have taken quite a few deer with it. My son-in-law bought a Remington 12 gauge made strictly for deer hunting, and I think its called a slugster (not sure.) Its all black and very accurate. If hunting real thick brush I will put a buckshot round in first followed by slugs. Test several brands to see which ones shoot in your gun the best.
That last picture is beautiful.
Try Barnes copper bullets–had one go through a small lodgepole a few years ago before killing the elk. They are amazing.
Slugs: grew up in the Alleghenies on the PA/NY border. NY was slugs only. Had a peep sight mounted on a M-12 12 ga featherweight and it was deadly accurate (4″ groups–better than some M-94 30-30s I’ve shot) to 100+ yards. Killed many white tails including some big bucks and never lost one. Nowadays you can buy special rifled shotgun barrels, and they shoot even better.
Note that brush deflection is primarily a function of sectional density, and NOT bullet weight or speed. E.g. a 220-gr bullet in an /06 is far more directionally stable than a 12-ga slug. As you point out, however, the bullet also needs to hold together.
Sounds like a great hunt, even if you did get served a big ol’ slice of humble pie.
Definitely agree that the 7mm was a bit “too much gun” for the area, but honestly, the whole myth of the “brushbuster” bullet has been well shattered. A shotgun slug will still deflect, as will a Barnes bullet… but of course neither of those will fragment on a limb.
A nice slug gun or a muzzleloader would be perfect in that kind of area, though. The Ithaca and Browning pump guns eject from the bottom, and except for the safety, they’re pretty much ambidextrous, by the way.
I appreciate you all stopping by. I’ve learned a bunch the last few days about the shotgun slug that I never had a clue about and Rick I do look forward to your articles.
EcoRover and Phillip, you both bring up the subject of deflection verses fragmentation. I am aware of the problem of deflection and where it happens – close in or near our target makes a difference. Fragmentation is another animal. 30+ years ago my bro. shot an elk that rolled down a hill close to where I was so I walked to within 40 yards of it to find it laying down looking at me. There was grass right in front of it, but I shot anyway, and it was the killing shot. I was shooting 185 gr. and I think Hornady bullets were being used to factory load Weatherby at the time. Shortly after they started using Nosler. Anyway when we skinned that elk out I have no idea what killed it as it was like it had been hit with a shotgun with #8 shot. Just peppered it over a rather large area, but something hit a vital spot. I had always thought the heavier bullets were slower and therefor would hold together better. This is one reason I decided ‘why not go to the 139 gr, its faster, gets better distance and it can’t shatter any worse then the 185 gr.
After my debacle in the above story, to satisfy my curiosity about the scope possibly being off, I picked out a knot on a fairly new windfall about 10 inches in dia. and drilled it. The exit hole was about 4 inches. It blows me away that a bullet that can hold together hitting something solid disintegrates so fully when it hits grass or small limbs. I guess I just don’t understand whats going on and why.
So this is the reason I keep thinking that a slug gun could be my answer (or as Phillip said, maybe a muzzleloader.) I can understand deflection and feel I can live with that, but its this instability of the bullet itself when it comes in contact with the smallest theng that has me in a funk. Great for open country, but its tough on the confidence in the woods.
Thanks again everybody for the imput.