Thread: First deer (and some priceless shooting experience)

Was up on a farm I have access to over the weekend. Took my son for a dawn hunt. Up at four, on the ground before 6. 3km walk up the farm. Nothing seen. Not even a goat. We're heading back for a rendezvous with the wife and a friend for 10am when my son spots a mob of goats disappearing into some bush.
I sent him down screaming and yelling into the bush to see if any pop out on the far slope.
Sure enough, a few did and I dropped one at 180m. We headed to to the car, my son pretty chuffed. Me not so much because the first shot took the jaw off the goat. A LOT of wind drift.
After an Easter egg hunt at the farm my mate and I set off back up the farm after goats. We got close to some goats high up the farm but they skyline themselves and disappear over the ridge into some bush. 2km walking later we settled on a spot high up shooting across a bowl onto a farm track. It was a goat superhighway. Being a bit shaken by my earlier miss I didn't want to shoot out past 200, but only one goat came out that close at 220m and I missed, despite being really confident of the shot.
I forgot about wind drift, the wind blowing directly from our right.
A pair of white goats appeared at 260m. Figuring I needed the experience shooting distance, I carefully lined up the shot.
"Goat down" says my friend. "Wait, it's up".
I'd shot it in the hind leg. I'd been meaning to ask my friend to tell me when the wind died down for a second.
Wind drift strikes again. The goat was heading for the bush so I took another 2 shots without apparent effect, even when it had got to within 220m. It disappeared into the bush.
Then goats were popping out everywhere. We watched for a while then I was about to suggest we go down the gully after the wounded goat when my friend said "deer!"
A group of 5 fallow had popped out from somewhere just above where I'd wounded the goat, 260m or so.
I carefully lined up a shot, forgetting to adjust for drop, and fired a shot... into the ground by their feet. They scattered, one heading up the farm track, the rest heading into the bush.
The deer on the farm track decided it had gone the wrong way and made its way back into range. 240m. I lined it up.
We'd talked earlier about how a deer had a larger vital zone than a goat so I was more confident stretching out a little. After all, I can shoot 1.5 MOA@200m at the range.
"Good hit" said my spotter. "I could see the flesh ripple where it hit, just behind the shoulder."
We watched the deer stagger off the track into the bush. We waited 15 min to see if any more would come out, then headed down into the gully.
The wounded goat hasn't gone far and was easy to find, thank goodness. I took care of it while my friend found the deer. It had managed to stagger 10m into the bush before expiring and rolling down a bank. Luckily a small manuka stopped it from rolling off a 20m cliff just below.
Butchery took ages so we didn't get back to the car until 8pm. With a short stop at the farmhouse to let them know where the goats and the deer carcass were, I was home by 10, with a pack full of meat.

There's a few lessons I'm taking from this.
1. Wind drift was much more than I expected. The ballistics for my goat rounds had 6cm of wind drift at 240m and 10mph wind but the deer shot was more like 30cm off, from a good rest and the 2 goats a similar amount at singular ranges. I'm pretty sure the wind wasnt 60mph!
2. Range practice only takes you so far. Shooting in the field is so different: never level, and often windy, and targets usually move.
3. Always check wind, always double check drop. I need to make a mental checklist before I take each shot.
4. Having a spotter is invaluable. I didn't even spot the deer, and having someone watching the impacts is super useful.
5. From 200m away and elevated, something that looks like a really solid backstop sometimes isn't. We were both disturbed to see that the fallow were standing on the top of a ridge with bushes behind. The backdrop looked like they were about 2m down from the top and safe to shoot.



Identify your target beyond all doubt because you never miss (right?) and I'll be missed.

Another good honest story and congrats on 1st deer.

As far as takeaway lessons, number 2 is the most valid and applies to number 1, the 30cm won't all be wind.

There are plenty of people who can win best shooter on the range but not in the field, conversely there are plenty of people who can win best shooter in the field but not on the range. The takeaway from this for me is that although there is significant cross over, these two activities are ultimately seperate skill sets that can only be fully mastered through practice in each and not in one or the other.