So this morning I decided to go face the cold and hunt for a little bit. Even under cover of darkness, as I got near the pop-up, I heard the all too familiar snort/wheeze of a spooked deer. Figuring that this morning was shot, I trudged on to the blind and settled down to freeze/wait for the feeder to go off.
My feeder is set for 6:50 and the last deer I had come in to it with me there (a small buck, opening day) showed up promptly 5 minutes later. Almost like he was on of Pavlov's dogs. Today I had to wait until about 7:30 and three does decided to come in for a quick nibble.
As is often the case with the deer I have hunted, the mother doe held back and let the babies go in first. Motherly instinct to feed the kids first or self preservation? I did't have a shot at the mother since she remained mostly hidden behind some scrub, so I leveled down on the larger of the two kids. I figured that the bigger one had been born maybe last spring. The smaller was noticeably smaller, almost half the size.
Quartering at about a 20 degree angle from me, she stopped and put her head down for some corn. Calm down, breathe, align the sights, and squeeze the trigger. The Glock recoiled, and along with the familiar ring in my ears, I saw her do a high kick before she and the other two decided to leave stage right.
Knowing I had a good sight picture and feeling confident it was a good hit, I waited about 2 minutes and tried to listen for her to crash. I can't say I heard it, but something told me she wasn't going far....
I exited the blind and went to where she had been when I fired. After looking around for a minute or two, I found NO BLOOD. Not good...I could see the freshly made tracks of her departing, so I followed, sure to find either some sign along the trail. I followed....nothing. I kept going, looking for the nastiest place a deer could run to die, which seems to always be where mine end up. Approximately 40 to 50 yards along the trail they took, I saw her laying by the end of a downed branch. It appeared that for whatever reason, instead of just jumping the branch, she tried to go around. That's when she started to lose her footing and I found the first evidence of blood, and not very much at that.
Happy to have found her I went to get the truck. As I exited the trees along the trail, I alerted two other does the were coming in to the feeder from the south, but they abruptly turned and ran at about 50 yards. Oh, well...next time.
The Glock I used was the 40 MOS 10mm. I prefer open sights for hunting for now, while I have good enough eyesight. Once that changes, I will look at a red dot of some sort. I used a single round of Sig Sauer 180 grain V-Crown ammo. I hit about 4" back from the right armpit and upon field dressing, I discovered that I had destroyed the liver and part of the lungs, but the heart was transplant viable. I can't fault the ammo for less than a precise shot. The expanded bullet broke through both rib cages and came to rest under the skin on the off side. Recovered weight was 177.3 grains and expansion was just under 11/16 of an inch or about .68 cal. I've had the same type of penetration happen with .44 Magnum ammo fired from a Marlin, so definitely no complaints on penetration. I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of blood, but I imagine that was from the less than great shot placement. Although, during youth gun, my daughter shot a gnarly horned 8 point with a 30-30 at the same range from the same blind, scored a through and through hit on the lungs and heart, and he did't leave a blood trail either.
I've decided that this year I will be handgun hunting only during firearms season. I feel that the 10mm is a good caliber for deer and will probably continue to use it this season to try and put it through the paces. If you have been on the fence about handgun hunting, or just want more of a challenge than putting crosshairs on a deer, I'd suggest you give it a try as well.
My feeder is set for 6:50 and the last deer I had come in to it with me there (a small buck, opening day) showed up promptly 5 minutes later. Almost like he was on of Pavlov's dogs. Today I had to wait until about 7:30 and three does decided to come in for a quick nibble.
As is often the case with the deer I have hunted, the mother doe held back and let the babies go in first. Motherly instinct to feed the kids first or self preservation? I did't have a shot at the mother since she remained mostly hidden behind some scrub, so I leveled down on the larger of the two kids. I figured that the bigger one had been born maybe last spring. The smaller was noticeably smaller, almost half the size.
Quartering at about a 20 degree angle from me, she stopped and put her head down for some corn. Calm down, breathe, align the sights, and squeeze the trigger. The Glock recoiled, and along with the familiar ring in my ears, I saw her do a high kick before she and the other two decided to leave stage right.
Knowing I had a good sight picture and feeling confident it was a good hit, I waited about 2 minutes and tried to listen for her to crash. I can't say I heard it, but something told me she wasn't going far....
I exited the blind and went to where she had been when I fired. After looking around for a minute or two, I found NO BLOOD. Not good...I could see the freshly made tracks of her departing, so I followed, sure to find either some sign along the trail. I followed....nothing. I kept going, looking for the nastiest place a deer could run to die, which seems to always be where mine end up. Approximately 40 to 50 yards along the trail they took, I saw her laying by the end of a downed branch. It appeared that for whatever reason, instead of just jumping the branch, she tried to go around. That's when she started to lose her footing and I found the first evidence of blood, and not very much at that.
Happy to have found her I went to get the truck. As I exited the trees along the trail, I alerted two other does the were coming in to the feeder from the south, but they abruptly turned and ran at about 50 yards. Oh, well...next time.
The Glock I used was the 40 MOS 10mm. I prefer open sights for hunting for now, while I have good enough eyesight. Once that changes, I will look at a red dot of some sort. I used a single round of Sig Sauer 180 grain V-Crown ammo. I hit about 4" back from the right armpit and upon field dressing, I discovered that I had destroyed the liver and part of the lungs, but the heart was transplant viable. I can't fault the ammo for less than a precise shot. The expanded bullet broke through both rib cages and came to rest under the skin on the off side. Recovered weight was 177.3 grains and expansion was just under 11/16 of an inch or about .68 cal. I've had the same type of penetration happen with .44 Magnum ammo fired from a Marlin, so definitely no complaints on penetration. I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of blood, but I imagine that was from the less than great shot placement. Although, during youth gun, my daughter shot a gnarly horned 8 point with a 30-30 at the same range from the same blind, scored a through and through hit on the lungs and heart, and he did't leave a blood trail either.
I've decided that this year I will be handgun hunting only during firearms season. I feel that the 10mm is a good caliber for deer and will probably continue to use it this season to try and put it through the paces. If you have been on the fence about handgun hunting, or just want more of a challenge than putting crosshairs on a deer, I'd suggest you give it a try as well.
