One Less

[Tom Flanigan]

Nice video Stan. I don't know if we were allowed to shoot at night. I never asked. What I would do is drive to various fields in the evenings and shoot from the hood of the Jeep. I could usually take two deer from a field before they would dissappear into the woods. They would invariably run at the shot but some would stop at the wood line and look back. My favorite gun for this shooting was, as I mentioned, a .243 (later stolen). The .243 with 100 or 95 grain handloads usually put them down on impact if you shot high on the shoulder. I always aimed for the shoulder since some shots were long. They usually ran a bit if you shot lower on the shoulder or in the heart. I learned to place my shots higher.

There was an area next to the farm house that was thick and the deer were always in there. I shot this area in the morning with a high powered rifle till my friends wife complained that I was waking her up. I then went to a .22 magnum. I only took shots within 50 yards and aimed for the shoulder. Deer would usually only run about 50 yards or so. I never lost one. I picked my shots carefully. I'm not suggesting that the .22 magnum is a deer load but with shots well placed by a careful person, they did the job well.