This year was a bit different. About three months ago I had a stroke in my right eye, and lost it. Master eye, unfortunately. So I practiced with a pellet gun indoors for a few weeks, switching sides.
When the time came, I used my go-to big gun, a Remington 700 in .300 Weatherby, 200 grain Nosler Pt at 3165. Waaaay too much for a 200 pound mulie, but I wanted to find out if I could handle the recoil from the port side.
I wasn't really too fussy as to what I took, I was more for the pot that any trophy under the circumstances, so I took aim at what I thought was the biggest spike I'd ever seen, and pulled the trigger. The deer flinched, ran about 130 yards through the open field and piled up. About what I'd expect from that rifle/bullet combo with a high lung shot. The exit hole wasn't much bigger than the entrance hole, and there was minimal bloodshot meat, which might surprise some of you reading this. But that's the way of the big partitions on lighter animals, even at high velocity. My 7x57 with the 139 grain Hornady or the .06 with a 150 grain Sierra would drop them probably in their tracks.
The surprise was that the "spike" was a dry doe with small antlers, only the second such critter I've ever seen. Weighed in at 190 pounds after field dressing. Not bad, eh?
So take heart if you get injured. If you want, there is always a way!
I'll enjoy dropping in from time to time - already enjoyed reading some of the posts!
Moltogordo (yeah, I'm pretty big - about 285 or so.)
