TN_Rifle_Junkie
Well-known member
My first hunt was an invite from a friend in Kentucky to go whitetail hunting on his soybean, corn, and chicken farm.
Little did I know, he lived in whitetail central. Monster bucks and does. We scouted for an evening and then made out to the "stand" for a cold drizzly morning of hunting. He knew the property, he had been hunting it since he could hold a rifle. We talked about the property, where the deer come from, what to expect, and what not to do. We saw a coyote and a fox at first light. I was pumped and ready to hunt. I had buck fever.
As the hours passed, nothing was stirring, it was just too wet, and too cold. Buck fever turned into frozen toes, so we packed up and headed to the main house for some target practice and breakfast. We had been friends for a couple years, he showed my around the rest of the farm, and we drove the county on a scenic tour and just BSing about everything like two old boys do.
We decided that it would be better to go coyote hunting that night as the rain had just stopped before nightfall. Man, what an eye-opener. The chicken farm brought the yotes in by the droves. Being my first time, I got skunked, but he laid the hammer down, protecting his flocks (2.5 million birds). He was a man on a mission, if it moved and was a fox or yote, it expired that night.
The next morning, we headed to the "stand" (a wire spool on the edge of a fallow soybean field), and waited. Just after daybreak a large group of does came out of the woods, right where he said they would be the morning before. First one, looking cautiously around the field, then another, until 5 stood tall. They bolted across the field from around 500 to 750 yards away, stopped, and looked around before thinking about entering the next woodline. My friend on his spotting scope and rangefinder tells me 875 yards to the big one in the front.
Having experience in Long Range Shooting competitions, I let one fly (no wind). And watch it sail right over her body. Wind call was perfect, elevation, not so much. He corrects the distance, "750" he says. I take out a MIL of elevation, PEW, I let another fly. The bullet seems to hang in the air forever. I watch it crest and fall, it hits her so hard, I see the ripple of her flesh and she jumps high into the air. He says, "Niccccceeeeee".
After giving here a few minutes to expire, we go back to the truck, load up and drive the mile or so to the nearest entry into his fields. With the heavy smell of fresh manure, the rain from yesterday, and ankle deep mud, we trek out to her. A prefect double lung shot. Final distance you ask, well that was 767 yards,and she weighed in at 118 pounds on the hooks at the butcher shop. Yeah, I was hooked.
Since that fateful Thanksgiving Day in 2015 I have hunted whitetail, blackbuck, oryx, and eastern mountain turkey. I eat everything I hunt and cherish each and every outing. We love wild game so much in my house, that rarely do we buy any meat from a store (except chicken). This year my plans are to go on my first elk hunt in Colorado and put in for multiple draws out west in the coming years. My goals, share my long range shooting knowledge, help new shooters and hunters, and eventually go on a "big sheep", "speed goat", and "caribou" hunt someday.
Little did I know, he lived in whitetail central. Monster bucks and does. We scouted for an evening and then made out to the "stand" for a cold drizzly morning of hunting. He knew the property, he had been hunting it since he could hold a rifle. We talked about the property, where the deer come from, what to expect, and what not to do. We saw a coyote and a fox at first light. I was pumped and ready to hunt. I had buck fever.
As the hours passed, nothing was stirring, it was just too wet, and too cold. Buck fever turned into frozen toes, so we packed up and headed to the main house for some target practice and breakfast. We had been friends for a couple years, he showed my around the rest of the farm, and we drove the county on a scenic tour and just BSing about everything like two old boys do.
We decided that it would be better to go coyote hunting that night as the rain had just stopped before nightfall. Man, what an eye-opener. The chicken farm brought the yotes in by the droves. Being my first time, I got skunked, but he laid the hammer down, protecting his flocks (2.5 million birds). He was a man on a mission, if it moved and was a fox or yote, it expired that night.
The next morning, we headed to the "stand" (a wire spool on the edge of a fallow soybean field), and waited. Just after daybreak a large group of does came out of the woods, right where he said they would be the morning before. First one, looking cautiously around the field, then another, until 5 stood tall. They bolted across the field from around 500 to 750 yards away, stopped, and looked around before thinking about entering the next woodline. My friend on his spotting scope and rangefinder tells me 875 yards to the big one in the front.
Having experience in Long Range Shooting competitions, I let one fly (no wind). And watch it sail right over her body. Wind call was perfect, elevation, not so much. He corrects the distance, "750" he says. I take out a MIL of elevation, PEW, I let another fly. The bullet seems to hang in the air forever. I watch it crest and fall, it hits her so hard, I see the ripple of her flesh and she jumps high into the air. He says, "Niccccceeeeee".
After giving here a few minutes to expire, we go back to the truck, load up and drive the mile or so to the nearest entry into his fields. With the heavy smell of fresh manure, the rain from yesterday, and ankle deep mud, we trek out to her. A prefect double lung shot. Final distance you ask, well that was 767 yards,and she weighed in at 118 pounds on the hooks at the butcher shop. Yeah, I was hooked.
Since that fateful Thanksgiving Day in 2015 I have hunted whitetail, blackbuck, oryx, and eastern mountain turkey. I eat everything I hunt and cherish each and every outing. We love wild game so much in my house, that rarely do we buy any meat from a store (except chicken). This year my plans are to go on my first elk hunt in Colorado and put in for multiple draws out west in the coming years. My goals, share my long range shooting knowledge, help new shooters and hunters, and eventually go on a "big sheep", "speed goat", and "caribou" hunt someday.
Last edited: