Lost my first deer in 30+ yrs! (long rant)

toolman · 11-08-2009, 06:11 PM

Well, I guess it was bound to happen eventually, but this sucks! We went out Fri. night and spent the night in the blind and woke up to a spike, forkhorn, and a nice 8 point feeding around my hog trap right at daybreak. I saw the 8 point look up and start walking to the southwest and all of a sudden, there were two other LARGE bucks. The center one of the three was huge and the antlers were at least 8" outside the ears on both sides, so I set my crosshairs on the boiler room and saw him fall, spin around, then he got up and ran for the fence. He tried to go under the barbed wire, but got hung up and then seemed to stop struggling. I lowered the gun because I thought he was done and then heard Michael say "He jumped the fence!". When I got the gun back up, I couldn't see a stinking thing due to the flare from the cheap-axxed BSA scope that I "wisely" installed a couple of weeks ago. I thought I could see him still hung up in the fence and assumed that Michael was watching the wrong deer (sorry little buddy!). When we walked over to the fence, there was no deer, so we started back-tracking to where he went down. I found a bunch of tore up ground, but no blood or hair anywhere. The soft sand out there is just stupid with deer tracks, and not seeing where he ran, we were pretty well flying blind. We crossed the fence onto the neighbors property and searched for several hours to no avail.
After gathering up all of our stuff from the blind, I went a checked my rifle and it shot a 3\4" group- 6" high and 4" to the right @ 100 yds.! This all happened because I had a brand new matte-finished scope in my closet and thought it matched the gun better! This scope is a BSA Huntsman 3x9x40
and it seemed comparable to my Sightron SI when I looked through it in low light, which is normally when i'm shooting. I also had not fired the gun since I sighted it in weekend-before-last, although it has been carried a bit.
So, to sum it up a $65 scope cost me the largest deer I've ever shot at in my life! The Sightron is back in it's rightful place and I think (hope!) I saw the buck back in the neighbors' field later that evening. I hope I just creased his shoulder or spooked him really bad, I hate the thought of an animal suffering over something this freaking stupid!

: stupid:

G. Green · 11-08-2009, 06:20 PM

Man! I feel for ya. Kinda sick in the pit of the stomach! That scope might make a cool pirate spyglass for your kids or grand kids to play with. A feller shouldn't have to check a week old sight-in just cause he carried his rifle unless he dropped it or fell with it.

Chapman87 · 11-08-2009, 06:57 PM

Might be a dumb question but I am curious, did you use the same ammo you sighted in with?

toolman · 11-08-2009, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chapman87

Might be a dumb question but I am curious, did you use the same ammo you sighted in with?

Yes, it's a handload consisting of Win. or Rem. match-prepped and weight-sorted cases, 58.0 gr. of IMR 7828, Win. L.R. primers, and 130 gr. Rem. CoreLokt bullets matched by weight.

Chapman87 · 11-08-2009, 07:44 PM

I guess it was a scope issue. That sucks, I am sure you will find him again.

gunadvocate · 11-08-2009, 07:44 PM

bad luck- sorry to hear it

moosemike · 11-08-2009, 10:21 PM

That stinks man. It happened to me but not on a buck that large.

TargetGunFan · 11-08-2009, 10:39 PM

With a name like toolman I would have expected you to understand that quality has a price associated with it.

Better luck next time.

Da Mc · 11-08-2009, 10:48 PM

Bummer about your scope. Well at least you got the chance to shoot at the animal of your dreams. Here in Hellifornia we still dream of the animal to shoot at. So we stick to paper targets. Trouble is though, still haven't come up with a good recipe to cook them. Ha.

FortyXDM · 11-09-2009, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G. Green

Man! I feel for ya. Kinda sick in the pit of the stomach! That scope might make a cool pirate spyglass for your kids or grand kids to play with. A feller shouldn't have to check a week old sight-in just cause he carried his rifle unless he dropped it or fell with it.

GGreen - I really like that. I been wondering about a name for these cheap worthless scopes and you just came up with one. "PIRATE GLASS" for kids.
I love it.
Sorry about your mishap Toolman, but it sounds like everything came out all right and you were able to share a lesson with the rest of us.

samuel · 11-09-2009, 07:54 AM

Yeah,well on to the next one. ,,,sam.

G. Green · 11-09-2009, 08:06 AM

On a kind of technical note: You see this on training videos of police shootings too. When a critter is hit and goes down sometimes they're down and out, BUT sometimes being down brings back their blood pressure and they get frisky again. So down doesn't always mean finished.

jerry · 11-09-2009, 08:33 AM

Hang in there bud. Your a conciencious hunter & did what you could do.

TeeRex · 11-09-2009, 10:01 AM

You never know you could still see that deer again. At least you feel bad about it and know what went wrong. I have seen people wound all sorts of deer with poor shots and not even care.

cooker300 · 11-09-2009, 06:06 PM

toolman
i HAD that same scope. i put it on my CVA wolf .50 cal sighted it in about 3 months ago @ 75yds shot 2 very nice groups brought the gun home placed it in my vice wiped it down with some rem lube on the outside ran a dry bore swab down it placed it in the gun cabinet and did not touch it again till yesterday took it out to the range just to shoot it some more. and i fired shot #1 it did not hit the target backer of a 22"x24" sheet of paper. so i shot #2 with the same end result. i put the bore sighter in the end an it was showing that it was off by almost 10" high and right.

so now im looking into a new scope from another brand.

toolman · 11-09-2009, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooker300

toolman
i HAD that same scope. i put it on my CVA wolf .50 cal sighted it in about 3 months ago @ 75yds shot 2 very nice groups brought the gun home placed it in my vice wiped it down with some rem lube on the outside ran a dry bore swab down it placed it in the gun cabinet and did not touch it again till yesterday took it out to the range just to shoot it some more. and i fired shot #1 it did not hit the target backer of a 22"x24" sheet of paper. so i shot #2 with the same end result. i put the bore sighter in the end an it was showing that it was off by almost 10" high and right.

so now im looking into a new scope from another brand.

I bought this scope for temporary use on my son's Savage but he never used it because he got a Nikon for Christmas that year. I've got a 4x32 that I use on my .22 occasionally and it's fine, but this one is horrible. I put my Sightron SI back on it and had it re-sighted in three shots-and I know it'll stay there! My next scope will either be a Nikon Monarch, Sightron Big Sky, or a Bushnell 3200 or 4200.

cooker300 · 11-09-2009, 08:00 PM

personally i have had very good luck with the Redhead brand from bass pro.
i have one of there 3x9x40 persuit's on my rem adl 700 270 -and a epic 4x14x40 on my 798 in 300win. and have had no problems with either. and i think the persuit was 99$ and the epic was 150$.

Palladin8 · 11-10-2009, 11:36 AM

Toolman sorry about your luck. Hopefully you will have another chance on that deer.

I learned my lesson the hard way with a cheap scope to. I will never own one again. I had a Tasco World class on my Sendero 25-06 and had it sighted in. The following week I was out coyote hunting with a buddy and missed several easy shots. At first I thought it was me and then when my buddy tried it he couldn't hit anything either. I was off 28" after we tried putting it back on paper. From that day forth I haven't wasted my money on a cheap brand scope.

Archetype_wyo · 11-10-2009, 01:00 PM

Dad has a Bushnell Banner 3-9x40mm on his Ruger M77 .270 and it hold zero pretty well and its darned clear. Hopefully you'll get another shot at that monster.

SwedeSteve · 11-10-2009, 01:22 PM

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Out of all the game you have taken, it still hurts to lose one.

11-08-2009, 06:57 PM	#3
Chapman87 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 417	Might be a dumb question but I am curious, did you use the same ammo you sighted in with? __________________ “THOSE WHO HAMMER THEIR GUNS INTO PLOWS WILL PLOW FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT” T.J.

11-08-2009, 07:44 PM	#5
Chapman87 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 417	I guess it was a scope issue. That sucks, I am sure you will find him again. __________________ “THOSE WHO HAMMER THEIR GUNS INTO PLOWS WILL PLOW FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT” T.J.

11-08-2009, 07:44 PM	#6
gunadvocate Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Knoxville Posts: 319	bad luck- sorry to hear it __________________ "Love my country, fear my government..."

11-08-2009, 10:39 PM	#8
TargetGunFan Cardinal Richlieu Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 2,764 Blog Entries: 2	With a name like toolman I would have expected you to understand that quality has a price associated with it. Better luck next time. __________________ We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -Aesop

11-09-2009, 06:06 PM	#15
cooker300 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Hershey PA Posts: 294 Blog Entries: 3	toolman i HAD that same scope. i put it on my CVA wolf .50 cal sighted it in about 3 months ago @ 75yds shot 2 very nice groups brought the gun home placed it in my vice wiped it down with some rem lube on the outside ran a dry bore swab down it placed it in the gun cabinet and did not touch it again till yesterday took it out to the range just to shoot it some more. and i fired shot #1 it did not hit the target backer of a 22"x24" sheet of paper. so i shot #2 with the same end result. i put the bore sighter in the end an it was showing that it was off by almost 10" high and right. so now im looking into a new scope from another brand. __________________ one shot one kill " I've always been crazy but it keeps me from going insane " Waylon Jennings

11-08-2009, 06:11 PM	#1
toolman Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: abilene,tx Posts: 7,305 Blog Entries: 25	Lost my first deer in 30+ yrs! (long rant) Well, I guess it was bound to happen eventually, but this sucks! We went out Fri. night and spent the night in the blind and woke up to a spike, forkhorn, and a nice 8 point feeding around my hog trap right at daybreak. I saw the 8 point look up and start walking to the southwest and all of a sudden, there were two other LARGE bucks. The center one of the three was huge and the antlers were at least 8" outside the ears on both sides, so I set my crosshairs on the boiler room and saw him fall, spin around, then he got up and ran for the fence. He tried to go under the barbed wire, but got hung up and then seemed to stop struggling. I lowered the gun because I thought he was done and then heard Michael say "He jumped the fence!". When I got the gun back up, I couldn't see a stinking thing due to the flare from the cheap-axxed BSA scope that I "wisely" installed a couple of weeks ago. I thought I could see him still hung up in the fence and assumed that Michael was watching the wrong deer (sorry little buddy!). When we walked over to the fence, there was no deer, so we started back-tracking to where he went down. I found a bunch of tore up ground, but no blood or hair anywhere. The soft sand out there is just stupid with deer tracks, and not seeing where he ran, we were pretty well flying blind. We crossed the fence onto the neighbors property and searched for several hours to no avail. After gathering up all of our stuff from the blind, I went a checked my rifle and it shot a 3\4" group- 6" high and 4" to the right @ 100 yds.! This all happened because I had a brand new matte-finished scope in my closet and thought it matched the gun better! This scope is a BSA Huntsman 3x9x40 and it seemed comparable to my Sightron SI when I looked through it in low light, which is normally when i'm shooting. I also had not fired the gun since I sighted it in weekend-before-last, although it has been carried a bit. So, to sum it up a $65 scope cost me the largest deer I've ever shot at in my life! The Sightron is back in it's rightful place and I think (hope!) I saw the buck back in the neighbors' field later that evening. I hope I just creased his shoulder or spooked him really bad, I hate the thought of an animal suffering over something this freaking stupid! : stupid: __________________ cosmoline is an aphrodisiac!

11-08-2009, 06:20 PM	#2
G. Green Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: NE OK Posts: 1,023	Man! I feel for ya. Kinda sick in the pit of the stomach! That scope might make a cool pirate spyglass for your kids or grand kids to play with. A feller shouldn't have to check a week old sight-in just cause he carried his rifle unless he dropped it or fell with it.

11-08-2009, 10:21 PM	#7
moosemike Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Lebanon PA Posts: 339	That stinks man. It happened to me but not on a buck that large.

11-08-2009, 10:48 PM	#9
Da Mc Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Riverside Cal. Posts: 179	Bummer about your scope. Well at least you got the chance to shoot at the animal of your dreams. Here in Hellifornia we still dream of the animal to shoot at. So we stick to paper targets. Trouble is though, still haven't come up with a good recipe to cook them. Ha.

11-09-2009, 07:54 AM	#11
samuel Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 11,723	Yeah,well on to the next one. ,,,sam.

11-09-2009, 08:06 AM	#12
G. Green Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: NE OK Posts: 1,023	On a kind of technical note: You see this on training videos of police shootings too. When a critter is hit and goes down sometimes they're down and out, BUT sometimes being down brings back their blood pressure and they get frisky again. So down doesn't always mean finished.

11-09-2009, 08:33 AM	#13
jerry Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 13,639 Blog Entries: 1	Hang in there bud. Your a conciencious hunter & did what you could do.

11-09-2009, 10:01 AM	#14
TeeRex Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Central, OH Posts: 375	You never know you could still see that deer again. At least you feel bad about it and know what went wrong. I have seen people wound all sorts of deer with poor shots and not even care.

11-09-2009, 08:00 PM	#17
cooker300 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Hershey PA Posts: 294 Blog Entries: 3	personally i have had very good luck with the Redhead brand from bass pro. i have one of there 3x9x40 persuit's on my rem adl 700 270 -and a epic 4x14x40 on my 798 in 300win. and have had no problems with either. and i think the persuit was 99$ and the epic was 150$. __________________ one shot one kill " I've always been crazy but it keeps me from going insane " Waylon Jennings

11-10-2009, 11:36 AM	#18
Palladin8 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 2,523	Toolman sorry about your luck. Hopefully you will have another chance on that deer. I learned my lesson the hard way with a cheap scope to. I will never own one again. I had a Tasco World class on my Sendero 25-06 and had it sighted in. The following week I was out coyote hunting with a buddy and missed several easy shots. At first I thought it was me and then when my buddy tried it he couldn't hit anything either. I was off 28" after we tried putting it back on paper. From that day forth I haven't wasted my money on a cheap brand scope.

11-10-2009, 01:00 PM	#19
Archetype_wyo Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Buffalo, Wyo Posts: 2,248	Dad has a Bushnell Banner 3-9x40mm on his Ruger M77 .270 and it hold zero pretty well and its darned clear. Hopefully you'll get another shot at that monster. __________________ The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun. —Patrick Henry

11-10-2009, 01:22 PM	#20
SwedeSteve Suspected Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Anchortown, Alaska Posts: 25,529	Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Out of all the game you have taken, it still hurts to lose one. __________________ In the absence of orders, ATTACK !!