welp.........that was quick n painless
ethan got his second deer at 9am this mornin. we made it back outta the woods in time for him to go to church with mommy.
he made one heck of a nice shot with a good rest. i hesitate to tell how far it was for fear of seeming "full of it".
i know 200yds sounds like a long shot for a 13yr old boy, but he did great.
we had 3 does come out early, and he was askin "can i shoot?". i said, no son they are about 400yds away
. i told him they may come on around the ridge n drop down into the brush n come out again across the valley in front of us. that they did about 40 minutes later.....or at least one of them.
he steadied for the shot....for what seemed like forever. i noticed his heavy breathing, and realized he was gettin a lil excited anticipating the shot. i told him to take a deep breath n steady up. luckily the deer gave plenty of time for a broadside, slightly quartering away shot.
he pulled the trigger as i was watching thru binoculars. the doe bucked her rear feet wildly n bolted for the brush line. it was such a long shot for him, i was really worried that he hit too far back or possibly under the deer.
i just couldn't tell by the deer's reaction.
we climbed up the hillside and found her right where she disappeared at the edge of the brush. a good bloodtrail(i was tickled to find)was easily followed. she had traveled only 30-40yds.
the 80gr plhp bullet with 37.0gr of varget from the .243 m700 rem did the trick. VERY small deer, and 200yds out, the bullet entered just in front of the shoulder and exited with about a large finger size hole between the two front legs. he had hit about 4"-6"farther forward than i woulda liked, but dead is dead.
evidently the bullet did expand although traveling thru only about half the cross section of the deer. i havn't chronied that load yet but intend to soon. shoots great in his rifle, but at the time i tested it in my 15" .243 handgun, it wasn't nearly as accurate in it.
now.......in time, maybe i can get him "handgun converted"
here's a proud daddy's pic of a very happy son.
