I've been out a few times this week for Iowa's late muzzle loader season hunting with my Ruger SRH 44mag and finally got some does to come in just right for me this morning.

My wife's family ground I hunt, which is about 40 acres of CRP and another connecting piece of about 12-14 acres that has a pond and is mostly timber around it. It works best to have wind from the W/NW or North since I usually approach it from the South and East side off of our access road but with the winds out of the South this morning I came in off of the North side from the adjoining property which I have permission to be on. I set up next to a huge oak tree that had fallen down a few years ago looking to the East and South watching for something to cross the gravel road from the bean and corn fields to the East coming in to bed in our CRP ground.

Just around sunrise I caught 4 does coming in from the East just like I had hoped for. The first 2 were smaller does that were on a rather quick pace into the CRP and luckily the next 2 does were the larger ones and they slowed to a walk out in the CRP field. They were about 75-80 yards out in front of me. I set the Ruger on one of the many branches that were part of the fallen oak tree and got a really nice steady hold and put the crosshairs just behind and down from the one deer's front shoulder trying to go for a heart shot. BOOM! I could tell from the deer's reaction that I hit her and watched her run up the hill with a couple of the other doe's and she slowed to a stop and I watched her lay down. Great! She's done I thought.

Well ............ here's where the real story begins.

I waited for about 15-20 minutes and crossed the fence and slowly walked to the area I thought she was standing when I took the shot and I eventually found just a little bit of blood. Very little.

I've shot other deer in past years right in the boiler room and had very little blood at first so I wasn't overly worried yet. As I walked up the hill in the grass I got about 2/3rds of the way to where I thought I say her lay down and all of the sudden, she raises her head and we get into a stare down. I tried to unholster my gun and she got up and bolted to the SW up over the hill towards the pond/timber area of our ground and she was running at a pretty fair speed. DANG! I must not have hit her as well I had hoped.

I jumped her one more time in the area just before the timber at the edge of the CRP ground and watched her run into the small timber. I decided to circle around that timber to the West side slowly as I figured she bedded right back down in the middle of that timber somewhere as I knew she was hit but didn't know how well obviously.

I sat in a spot looking to the East into that timber for while hoping to catch some movement but never did so after another 15-20 minutes I decided I'd slowly walk into that timber and see if I could find her or see if she was still going to get up again. I did finally get her up in the far NW corner of that timber and she jumped the fence going North and slowed to a painful walk about to go up over the crest of this small hill next to a big evergreen and I didn't want to continue this chase any further so I drew the 44 and pulled an off-hand standing shot at her and her butt was about all I could see. BOOM! She crumples to the ground.

The way she went down hard this time, I just knew she was done for good now, right? LOL ....... nope. I got to about 10 yards away from her and she tried to stand up so I put the crosshairs just behind her front shoulder one more time and BOOM! She's down for good now thankfully!

From the spot where I first shot her to where I finally put her down was close to a 1/2 a mile! After a close inspection of the bullet holes I found that I missed her vital/heart area by a mere 2-3 inches or so. The next shot went in just under her pooper on the right side and angled into her rear quarter and pretty much destroyed her right hip. The last shot was right thru the center of her boiler room right behind her shoulder and put her down for good.

Here she is after my nephew helped me pull her out to an area where I could put her in the back of my truck and I had him snap a quick pic on my phone for me.

Nice job on first blood. Nice doe.

Nice big doe. Congrats on the first!

Congratulations, and thanks for sharing!

Congrats! Nothing like that first one with a handgun!

Nice job with the .44 -- Congrats!

Congrats. Nice doe!

Nice looking doe.

What bullet were you using?

Love me some SRH!!! Nice looking deer too!

I did use a S&W 460XVR last year and got a couple deer with it. That's what got me hooked on handgun hunting.

I did trade that gun off and decided to go to a 44MAG this year. The 460 was great but just a little too loud for my tastes.

This was my very 1st handgun kill last year ......... handgunhunt.com

Just a couple of inches can make a big difference,no matter the caliber. You hung with it though and finished what you started,way to go!!! Congratulations on some fine eating .

Sometimes it aint pretty,you got it done, WTG

Sweet - congratulations! You stayed with it and put her down for good. We've all been there regardless of what you hunt with...

Using factory Hornady 240gr XTP ammo.

Thanks!

Did you happen to recover any bullets?

One yes. The one that busted up her hip. I thought about taking a pic of it but I haven't yet.

Thats a nice nanny! Congrats

Congratulations on breaking in the SRH!

Where was the initial shot relative to your aiming point? Hard surfaces can have some "funny" (strange) effects on shot placement.

Great looking doe! She was a tough one, wasn't she?

Congrats fellow Iowegan!

Congrats.

congrats