pearow wrote:
quick 308 hunting story
west texas; December 31(last day to hunt) 0 degrees at daylight. I was gunning for a 10 pointer. Always wanted to kill a 10 point deer; catch a 10 pound bass.
Deer walks out of the mesquite about 140 yards away. I glassed it; counted 11 points; this is my deer. Waited,.....waited,........ it moved down to about 100 yards, turned broadside; Pow! 308..... dead deer!.......Oops! maybe not! It gets up and runs for the mesquite. I wait about 30 minutes because I knew I had a good hit. I follow the blood trail about 25 years into the bush. There it lay, but its head was flat on the ground!
Was the horns buried in the ground?
I ease up, punch the deer; its dead. I reach down, grab the horn sticking up and bend his head back; NO HORNS ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!!!!! What????
I know I counted 11 points
(well, long story short; deer had ran into the mesquite and hit a limb which knocked off the horn as it was dec 31; almost time to shed anyway.) Taxidermist had no problem putting it back on. I mounted it; right alongside my 10 lb bass but for a few seconds I almost had a heart attack!!!!-p-
Great story. I am always suspicious of game that falls in it's tracks. Sometimes they get up and run off. Sometimes I like to see an animal stagger around, then fall over. I pretty much know it is likely dead.
My deer, I knew I spined as that is all I could see over the brush.
I always wonder at what point in the US do they begin to count both sides of the antlers to come up with number of points. IN Nebraska, like Idaho, (and much of the west) we still count one side....4 point or 5 point or 6 point...or perhaps "4x5" or "3x4" if applicable. Not that it matters, just curious.