"Tales of Whitetails " by Archibald Rutledge
 

For all the deer hunters on this site, you may want to give this book a look see. It is edited by Jim Casada and contains 35 of Rutledges greatest deer hunting stories. As another member suggested, Rutledge has been known to kill the same deer many times, but even though he was such a prolific writer, his stories are always entertaining as well as meaningful. My favorite tales are the "Hampton Hunts" which took place at Hampton Plantation during his Christmas breaks from school.

And remember.......he hunted his deer with his Parker.

Charles Matthews

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I know about that.... I miss the same deer over and over in my dreams (nightmares) far, far too often.






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I just bought hunting and home in the southern heartland. America's greatest game bird is great too

Oh my gosh. Mills Morrison has caught the social network disease. He must be put in rehab, sooner better than later.

I've been in gun rehab all year and am ready to get off the wagon.

There are two deer in my life I still ponder on a regular basis !

The first was a 10 point whitetail I had within 15 yards of me the first year we had a ML season in Virginia must have been about 1985 or so . It was light enough to see and legal but I had never hunted with iron sights . So when I saw the deer I put the gun up and looked and looked and looked unable to see the BLACK front sight . By then the deer was looking at me and I eventually fired but the front black sight was below the rear black sight and I shot under that buck .

The other was on the Blackwater NWR about 6 years ago . It was my first year using the Savage 10ML 50 cal . I had sighted it in at the range at home to be 1" high at 100 yards and it routinely kept three shots in an inch . Got it sighted in , waited a few days went back tried it for several shots everything perfect . Went back a couple days after that full steam ahead . So when I got home I didn't clean it as it had only had 3 shots fired thru it since the last cleaning . And in the past it had routinely stayed good for 9 shots without needing cleaning . Bear in mind I was using 42 grains of Vihtovourri N-110 a smokeless powder . So I loaded that bad boy that night and left for the Blackwater at 1AM . Was up my tree and situated by 5:30AM a good 75 minutes before legal shooting time I think .
I was up there awhile after legal shooting time when I saw a nice 6 point Sika Stag about 125 yards away in the open marsh . So I got in position and just as calm as could be touched off and at the shot he acted strange so I reloaded and just as I was ready to send another to him the thing turned and walked behind the only pine tree within 75 yards of him . So I waited and waited for him to walk out I could have seen him in any direction he decided to go , so after about 30 minutes I got down and went to find him . Got over to that tree and saw no Sika Stag , looked for hair none of that , I'm color blind so me seeing blood and in a wet environment is slim at best . Anyway I started making circles looking for him ever widening . Looked for three hours with no luck . It pissed me off so much I got all my stuff together went back to the truck and drove back to Virginia .
The next day I went to the range and put a target up at 100 yards . Shot the load that was in the barrel then reloaded and sent another one down range . Walked down and looked at the shots they were touching but five inches to the right and 3-4 inches high . When I fired at that Stag the reason he acted so strange was I most likely grazed him right across the brisket . If he had headed in the other direction and I made the same shot I woulda hit him right in front of the diaphragm .
So at the range I took the gun apart cleaned it etc . Loaded it and fired it to foul the bore same as always then reloaded sat down shot twice and again they touched but ........................ they were right back where they should have been left to right was perfect and 1" high !
I will remember that one if I live to be 227 :crying: