Thankgiving 2011 (my first 'solo' hunting experience)

The following is a letter I wrote to my hunting partners after returning from a family Thanksgiving trip in October on the island where our cabin is.

~~~~~~~~

Well, I just got back yesterday from spending 3 days on the island.  It was really a Thanksgiving trip with the family but I was able to sneak in 2 hunting forays.

My dad and I went for a 4 hour walk when we first got there and came across over 20 deer while we were walking (all on the logging road side of the island).  All were does as far as I could tell (some were spotted too far away for me to tell with my naked eye).  Still, it boded well for my next morning's hunting trip.

I got up a 6am the next morning and headed out.  I was up at the cliff area I wanted to be at before first light.  As dawn broke I spotted a doe only 50m in front of me.  I sat there for another 45min and saw 4 more does.  I decided to try a different area along some logging roads.  No dice.  I then tried to take a high ground path and came across 5 does - but no bucks.  I kept looping around and by the time 10:30 rolled around I had seen 20 deer of which I could positively identify 17 of them as does (3 others I only saw their tails as they bounded away).  My turn around time had been reached, so I unloaded my rifle and made my way back to the cabin.  What was interesting was that my extended family, who I was not exactly sure how they honestly felt about my hunting, was disappointed that I came back empty-handed.  Not in a bad way, they just wished that I had been successful.  I had assumed that they would have been secretly on the deer's 'side'. 

The next morning dawned and my plan was only to go out for 2 hours (turn around time 9am).  Again, this trip on the island was meant to be a family trip - not a hunting trip.  At 6am, as I was walking up the hill, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be funny if the only deer I saw that day would be the buck that I would shoot.  Well, by 8:45am I hadn't seen a single deer.  The rain had come down very heavily over night and was lightly coming down as I was hunting.  I began to deduce that they deer must have moved into the heavy bush to get out of the rain. I was at the very far side of the cliff area and was within 5 minutes of turning around when I looked down below me and saw a deer looking back up at me with what appeared to be a reasonable sized rack on him.

I hate to admit it, but my binoculars were broken so I used my scope to confirm whether the deer was a doe or a buck (finger off the trigger area).  He was indeed a full-sized 2x2 buck about 70m away and about 10-12m below my position.  He was facing about 2/3rds away from me looking over his left shoulder at me.  Immediately, I dropped to one knee.  I looked just ahead of my position to see what would be a great rest for my rifle.  But, I thought about all the shots I had practiced from my kneeling position over the summer and decided that I was very comfortable from this shooting position.  Besides, I couldn't be sure how long he would stay still in his position before leaping away.  I aimed just below his left shoulder blade, and slowly squeezed the trigger.  Boom - the buck dropped without taking a single step.

I got down to him, checked that he was dead, unloaded my rifle and took off my pack.  I picked up some grasses and put them into his mouth and then took out my tag and clipped it.  It took me the better part of about 30-40min to gut him and then began the long process of dragging him out of the cutblock and all the way to the cabin (about 2km).  I am awfully glad for the P90X workouts I have been doing as that was a hell of a grunt (he would have weighed about 140-150lbs).

I hung him and it wasn't until I skinned him that I realized how much damage my 6.5 x 55 SE bullet did.  The bullet entered just below his left shoulder blade, but it must have hit bone and deflected upwards just under his right shoulder socket area.  The damage to the area was complete.  I ended up having to cut out a large area of shot damage which is a little ironic considering that part of the reason I switched to a 6.5 X 55 SE was to ease up on the damage that my 7mm Rem. Magnum was doing.

He was skinned and hanging in the rain and wind by about 12:00, but unfortunately, I had to take him down and halve him to get him into a big fish cooler as we heading off by 2pm.  When I got home I put him in my neighbour's fridge that he wasn't using and aged him for a few days.  I then butchered him by myself on my kitchen counter over the space of a few hours.  

Without a doubt, this was the most powerful, and complete,  hunting experience I have had to date.  

Cheers,
BB

Hunting Year 3 - November Trip 2010

A letter to Tom:

Hi Tom,

I don't know if you remember me, but I took a course from you a couple of years ago and I sent you an email last year about my first successful hunt -  where I went over to the island and shot a large buck (for a columbian blacktailed deer) and a small doe during the anterless season.  This year I went back again - but this time it was just me and a friend who was brand new to hunting.

I had time in the 'off season' to get a bit better with my 7mm Rem Magnum and was feeling quite a bit more confident about hitting pie plates at 100m from a hunting position 9 times out of 10.  My friend bought a Stainless Browning X-Bolt in 30-06 and had a chance to put about 40 rounds through it at the rifle range in Squamish.

Our plan involved us leaving for the island during the antlerless season for 3 days and two nights.  We got off the boat, set up the cabin, got our gear organized and were ready to hunt by noon.  I had been 4 times to the island with my family during the summer and had had the chance to scout out the area quite well.  Almost every time I went out by myself in the summer I was able to spot deer.  I had picked a ridge looking out onto a wetland area where I had seen deer come down to feed early in the morning.  We setup there and spent 2 hours watching - nothing.  However, sitting so still served to heighten our senses (sight, smell, hearing, even feeling the change of wind direction on my face).  We moved further down into the wetland area and I sent Neil along what is known as the 'blue trail'.  I moved parallel to him about 100m away.  After about 20 minutes I spotted what I thought was a smallish doe about 30m away.

I thought quickly back to what my wife had asked for as I headed out that morning - she wanted one smallish deer and one large deer.  I thought about where Neil was in relation to me.  I looked past the deer to see where my shot would go should I miss or pass through her (into blowdown right behind her).  I raised my rifle, took aim behind her shoulder and fired. 

The shot was a good one and she didn't even make one step - she just collapsed.  I moved quickly towards her and saw that she was still breathing.  I chambered another round, put the muzzle of my barrel a few inches behind the base of her skull and fired again.  I unloaded my rifle, opened the action and set the rifle down on the mossy forest floor.

I bent down and collected some ferns for her mouth and took off my back pack.  Neil had found me and just at that moment it started to pour with rain.  I turned her over to find that she was a he!  He was an immature buck whose antlers were not yet fully showing.  I picked him up and moved him under a cedar tree to take shelter from the rain and then clipped my tag.  We gutted the deer, saving the heart and one kidney (I couldn't find the other one), and then carried him back to the cabin.  We hung and skinned him while having a beer.  By the time we were done it was about 4pm and as we had had a beer and darkness was coming by about 5:30ish, we cooked up his heart and kidney, had dinner and settled down for the night.

The next morning we got up early and tried our luck at the same location.  After an hour of being still on the ridge we moved back down in the wetlands.  I was just softly speaking to Neil about how invisible the deer are when I spotted a good sized doe about 30m away in the bush.  I pointed her out - it took him a moment to see her.  I was about to tell him he might want to take a knee as I saw him raise his rifle.  Not wanting to interrupt him, I just kept my eyes locked on the doe and waited for him to fire.  He shot and immediately the doe bounded away.  I lost sight of her almost right away in the thick woods and we started to make our way to where we last saw her.

I took my pack off and looked for any obvious sign that she had been hit.  I then set out in the direction I last saw her go.  It ended quite quickly (in about 20m) with some blowdown.  I got on top of the blow down but couldn't see anything. I asked Neil how he thought his shot went - he did not seem confident that he hit.  We went back to where we last saw her and looked carefully for any sign that she had been shot.  There was nothing.

I put my pack back, did up the straps, but couldn't shake the feeling that Neil had hit.  I started to think 'where would I go if I had been wounded'?  It seemed to me that she started quickly towards the blowdown, but would not have gone right as that would have been back in our general direction.  I turned left and spotted her about another 20-30m away lying on her side - almost invisible on the forest floor.  It had been a gut shot that had passed clean through her with no expansion of the bullet.  Even after gutting her I still couldn't tell exactly what the cause of death was.  Maybe shock.  Still, I was very happy that I had spotted her and to be fair to Neil - no meat was wasted as a result of his shot.  My 7mm Rem. Magnum blew a good chunk of bone and muscle off of the antlerless buck that I shot the day before.

We dragged her back to the cabin and got to work skinning her.  We were done by about about noon but both had come to the conclusion that that was enough deer for us.  Last year I harvested 2 deer that I shared 50/50 with my hunting partner.  That, combined with 1/8th of a cow from Vancouver Island fed my family through the winter and into the fall.

We spend the rest of the trip exploring the island.  We saw many tracks, but no more deer the rest of the trip (but we were also not being terribly quiet while moving around).  It is a fascinating island as the western side has been logged, but the eastern side (where the cabin we stayed at is located) is completely off the grid and has no road system - only deer trails winding their way through the dense mixed forest.

The next day we returned to the mainland.  Neil dropped me off at home and then drove up to Squamish and hung the deer at his place.  I came up on Thursday and butchered.  It was the first time that I had butchered without supervision and it went very well.  We boned out both deer and had next to no waste as a result.  I made a curry with some of the 'stew' meat on Saturday for my family and it was fantastic.

As a result of this latest trip I have made a decision to sell my 7mm Rem. Magnum and buy a Sweedish M96 sporter 6.5mm x 55SE (off of Tradex).  I did a bit of research ( http://www.chuckhawks.com/swedish_mauser.htm) ( http://www.chuckhawks.com/remarkable_trio.htm)  and it seems to be a very good round and exactly what I want for hunting blacktail deer.  It shoots flat, has about half the recoil of the 7mm Rem. Magnum, and has lots of killing power for blacktail deer and even larger animals (mule deer and maybe an elk one day).  While they do hunt moose in Sweeden with that round, being a school teacher I can't imagine that I will ever get the time off to hunt a moose.

Anyway, I just wanted to send you an email to say that I am passing on what I learned from your class as best I can recall.  I hope this email finds you well.

Cheers,

Fair Chase (my 10 commandments)

I feel that I have come far enough along in my hunting experience to begin to firm up some of my convictions. I will list these among my own 'Fair Chase' doctrine and personalize them.

1) I will only take a shot when I am at least 90% sure that I can make it. This would mean that I have practiced the shot ahead of time and can consistently (at least 9/10 times) hit the target. My current limitations would look something like this (given normal conditions - ie. no major wind, normal heart rate, etc.) for a 20cm x 20cm target:

Standing: 25m
Kneeling: 75m
Sitting: 100m
Prone: 125 - 150m

2) I will do everything in my ability to track down an animal that I, or one of my fellow hunters, may have wounded. This will include immediately stopping my hunting. I will commit to at least 45min of looking for a sign that the animal was hit and a much longer period of time if there is evidence that the animal was wounded.

3) During antlerless season, I will do my best to make certain that my target is full grown.

4) I will butcher my own deer.

5) I will only hunt with those I trust, like and share similar 'Fair Chase' attitudes.

6) I will do my best to be a role model for hunters among non-hunters.

7) I will try to help out new hunters in any way I can.

8) I will make muzzle control the most important safety consideration and demand the same of my hunting partners.

9) I will always keep myself open to learning new things about my quarry at all times.  In the summer I will go looking for deer and learn from their movements and behaviours.  During hunting I will learn from my success and more importantly, from my mistakes.  I will always be a student.

10) I will do my best to be an ambassador for hunting.  I will be open to debating and explaining why I hunt and will do my best to be open to engage in the spirit of discourse anyone who wishes to discuss hunting.