Before you start thinking moose, what I call Bullwinkle is a whitetail deer that has a set of antlers on it like a moose. Anyway, I had gone down into a little hollow where 3 small hollows converged into 1. I had only deer hunted once down in there once before, seeing nothing but turkeys. I hadn't been seeing any deer in any of my usual spots, so I thought this place was just as good as any. Since I really didn't know where I was going to hunt, I had decided to just sit on the ground and not worry with a tree stand. It was our rifle season and I had a Stainless and Camo Thompson/Center Encore rifle in .223 Rem. The rifle had been my step-dad's. He had just recently passed away and I really wanted to get a deer with the rifle since he had really liked that little gun. For deer, it's on the light side, but I don't care what it is, you put a whole through both lungs and the deer is going down!
I picked out a tree on the side of a hill where I could see pretty well if anything came up into or out of the two small points or the opposite hill. After sitting there a little while and listening to all of the squirrels (guess I didn't quite thin them out enough during squirrel season prior to this), I kept hearing something in the leaves that didn't sound exactly like a squirrel. Looking over to my right, I could start to make out the head of a doe coming down one of the points. She was still in a bunch of thick stuff, so there wasn't any way that I could shoot just yet. Normally, I like neck shots on deer because it ruins less meat and they anchor the deer right there. I knew though with the .223 that a neck shot was pretty much out of the question. I didn't figure the little 55 grain bullet had enough "uumph" behind it to do what I needed it to do to the neck. I had a good shot at the doe's neck, but had to wait until she stepped out a little more so that I could have a broad-side shot at her lungs. She stood there for a little while and picked around, but just as soon as she started moving again, she must have caught just enough of my scent to make her stop. With the way that the hills are down in there, the wind swirls, making it difficult to hunt the area unless there's gale-force winds! The doe quietly just turned around and went dead away from me, not offering a shot. CRAP!
After sitting there about a half hour longer, I heard something running behind me, but it was coming around to my left. I stood up to get a better view and saw that it was a coyote. OH BOY!!! With the way the coyote was running, and the lay of the land, I would see him for just a second and then he would drop down out of sight. I started grunting and whistling trying to get him to stop, which he never did. CRAP!
I sat back down and thought of a bleat can I had. I flipped the can a couple of times, in hopes that the coyote would come back. All the sudden on the opposite hill, here came Bullwinkle down the hill at a trot! OH CRAP!! He hit the bottom of the hill and stopped, just as I shouldered the rifle. I could see his left ear and that half of his rack. It was tall, thick, and extended 2-3" out past his ear. I thought, "Come out past that tree just a bit and you're mine!" No such luck! Just as quickly as he had came down the hill, back up he went, only this time he was angling away from me. I layed down, throwing my pack in front and resting the rifle on it. I watched him through the scope going away, hoping that he would stop and give me a shot. No such luck. I lost sight of him as he hit the top of the hill. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!!!!!
I flipped the bleat can a few more times and grunted on the call a few times, hoping that he would come back to check it out. He never did. But, it's like they say, he didn't get that big by being stupid! LOL! That was the last time I saw him. I made 8 more trips out in and around the area, but he wasn't to be seen. To my knowledge no one down there has gotten him, so maybe he and I will tangle again next year. I'm going to stick to the ridges and hill tops to help control my scent though.
So that's the story of me almost getting Bullwinkle. I didn't get a deer, but I still had fun that day, as irritating as it was! LOL!!!
Big58cal
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