Rossi Rifleman

I decided to put my scout scope back on just because I can shoot good with my tang sight but only if I take my time and focus. So after about 10 shots and adjusting the scope I looked to my right and there less than 25 yards is a good sized 6 pointer watching me. I couldn't believe he would just stand there watching. I told him
I'll see him on the 15th and he wandered off.

Well if he learned anything from the encounter, he will stay way back in those woods!

Funny you mention that--the place were I shoot frequently had deer tracks all over my target berm yesterday.

Yep, I've seen it a lot Dennis. Back when I use to do a LOT of handgun shooting, there was a place where a creek cut through a powerline cut that went up a big hill and through the woods for about another 100 yards past the creek. The far bank was a big ol' natural berm that my buddy and I use to use as our range for plinking and target shooting. Sometimes we'd shoot a couple thousand rounds at a time just messing around, practicing our quick draws, tossing up rocks and shootin' um...just messing around.

Anyway, SEVERAL times we'd be shooting and bucks or does would just wonder out into this 100' wide powerline right of way and graze along like we weren't even there. Occasionally they'd stop to look our way, I guess just to make sure we weren't pointing at them and then they'd go on about their business.

Funny thing was, that powerline cut was a natural choke point on the farm and one of my favorite places to hunt. The woods were only like 150 yard wide there and you could see from one end of the cut to the other from anywhere on it, so I could always find somewhere to hunt no matter which way the wind was blowing. But during deer season, deer RAN across that cut. In all the times I hunted it, I never saw one just step out and graze their way across during gun season. If it wasn't gun season, they would stand DOWN RANGE of us shooting and never flinch.

Funny how they always seemed to know. Sometimes I think that we've been scheduling our gun seasons to coincide with the rut for so long that it's become encoded into their genetic makeup and is as much of a natural instinct to be gunshy during rut as it is to breed and feed. But whatever the reason, they sure do seem to know!

jdb wrote: But during deer season, deer RAN across that cut. In all the times I hunted it, I never saw one just step out and graze their way across during gun season. If it wasn't gun season, they would stand DOWN RANGE of us shooting and never flinch.

Funny how they always seemed to know. Sometimes I think that we've been scheduling our gun seasons to coincide with the rut for so long that it's become encoded into their genetic makeup and is as much of a natural instinct to be gunshy during rut as it is to breed and feed. But whatever the reason, they sure do seem to know!

I think the deer have their own web site jdb!

This post caught my eye, and it reminded me of something that happened at an outdoor range at one of the national parks I worked at in my younger years. Several of us were shooting a handgun qualification course of fire, when a large bull bison topped over a tall ridge above our backstop berm and casually sauntered down to investigate the noise. He came within about 25 yards of the firing line. His tail was twitching, which was a sign he was a bit aggravated. Maybe we woke him up from a nap. We all backed off to our staging area for the cover of our vehicles. After about five minutes, he finally turned his back, walked off about 50 yards, and began grazing . We we were able to finish shooting the course, although we kept a wary eye on the bull. I had other experiences with buffalo that convinced me they were just plain curious critters when it came to the doings of humans.

i think the deer is curious if what are you doing there

I've been at my gun club shooting 200 yard range and had ground hogs come out. Less just say it wasn't healthy for them. Lol