Deer Magnet Candace

Deer Magnet Candace

I picked up Candace (my fourteen-year-old) after her dance class. I was a bit hurried, as daylight is decreasing by about one and a half minute per day at the evening end – and we had a bit of a drive and bigger bit of walk to where I wanted to be at dusk.

After parking the rig, we proceeded up a big draw to a place where we could watch the edge of a nice patch of timber, from downwind. As we walked, a pheasant hunter got off a lone shot at something his dogs flushed. As we neared our spot, we encountered some coyote hunters. We enjoyed their calling behind us – getting all the more realistic as afternoon transitioned into dusk. No deer came out. Argh. With Candace we usually get into some action. With about fifteen minutes of daylight left, a couple shots rang out from behind us – evidently the callers had called something in.

The shots were close enough to `bust’ our hunt – so in the fleeting minutes I took us up over a hill that would take us more directly back to the rig – and put us past a good place for deer. The nice thing about the quasi-heavy hunting pressure in the area is that the deer take shots and activity with some stride. With five minutes left I scanned over to an adjacent ridge – and there they were. Three deer had come out to enjoy some evening alfalfa. It took us a minute or so to get to a shooting position. I gave Candace my pack for a rest, and spotted the biggest buck. Range 250 yards. I told her to take her time – `take only a shot you are comfortable with’. The deer milled this way and that, sometimes crossing (bad shot) and then with the biggest buck rear-toward-us. I wanted her to take a shot before the opportunity vanished – but I kept my mouth shut. `Take your time’ … while I knew we were in literally the last minute of legal shooting. The big buck dropped slightly beyond the horizon. I directed her to shoot slightly low of the top of the back. Too low would put the bullet in the dirt in front of the deer; too high would zing on over. Right below the top of the back would put the bullet right in the vitals the way her 260 is sighted in.

At her shot the buck collapsed and disappeared from sight. The other deer, seeing the big guy `lay down', assumed everything was safe, and continued feeding. I got a glimpse of her buck struggling in its last minute of life – I knew it was over – but told Candace to stay ready just in case – and watch. I got out my SAT phone and called home - `Candace just got a nice buck – we’ll be a while’. We waited a bit, just in case.

I put my binos and other stuff in my pack – but kept out my range finder. If we had trouble finding the deer in the fleeting light I could simply reverse-range back to where she had shot from – and get within a few yards. But no need – her four-point beauty was lying easy to find in the field.

Congrats and pictures.

The deer went down in a place I had permission to drive, albeit a bit steep – but it allowed us to load the deer up whole – and take it to town. It was in our yard a little over an hour after being shot. With the help of children and their friends, and to the marvel (or dismay) of our neighbors, I pre-butchered it in the front yard. And lastly, I extracted the intact heart – for the fascination of and dissection by my oldest daughter - currently studying biology.

Candace opted out of the pre-butchering – as she had `studying’. She was only interested in getting a nice buck – and a nice buck is what she got. For her it's just `business as usual'.

She’s my `Deer Magnet’ Candace.

Interesting endnote ... here