Second day of the hunt was very interesting. We started in a ground blind seeking Axis deer. We saw plenty of white tail. Including a doe and fawn that were feeding less than 10 yards away. A few bucks were starting to follow in early rut. No serious chasing yet though. We came out of the blind at about 930 having seen Axis at long, 300 yards, range. Eric has a few pics of the morning and I was holding the gun. Eric was acting as my guide and gracious host.

We went back to the house to plan for the afternoon. On the way we drove past the Blackbuck herd and figured a stalk was in order.



Below is the view that Eric had as he attempted to watch the stalk. The wind was coming out of the south,right side, perfect. The herd was bedded in the field. Good for limiting their vision and movement, but not so good as they were out of range from the wall. The plan was to have Eric let me get into position and then drive down the road to get the herd moving toward the wall.




Here's the herd. You can see it in the wide shot above.

The walls, made from field stones, reminded me of Gettysburg. Many of these were built in the late 1800's. Eric dropped me off at the west side of the field so I could use the wall as cover. I began crawling the 280 yards on hands and knees, then changed to elbows and toes. This caused my shirt to pull down severely. I switched to a roll cradling my gun as I rolled from elbows to back alongside the wall.



This gives you a better idea of the wall. It was not as tall as I first thought. Lots of low crawl and roll. Eric was very disappointed that he didn't get video of me crawling and rolling down the incline. I was able to peek over the wall on occasion to get an estimate of the distance yet to go. As I got at right angles to the herd a closed the distance to the wall to prepare for a shot.

The ground was rather rough, but no fire ants in my pants.


This is the seen from the road as Eric made his way south of the herd. He hadn't seen me at anytime during my stalk, but figured I must be in position by now.
I was using the Barnes Grey Fox a 45 cal 430 ft/lbs with a 6x scope. Eric had moved down the drive way and the herd was leisurely grazing toward the wall. The first in line was the lesser buck. I watched with my heart pounding from the crawl and the anticipation.


I had the gun loaded with a 303 grain Barnes Bishop from Surefire Casting, thanks Jerry et al. The dominant buck was face on closing the distance that I estimated at 90 yards. I waited and he turned with his right broadside facing me. The problem was he was surrounded by does, no shot. The does moved away as I brought the barrel over the wall, gun previously cocked. As I watched the does clear I lined up a little farther forward than with a Whitetail, essentially centered over the shoulder. He stopped I shot...That didn't sound right...Bap....the slug hit. The antelope goes into pogo stick mode leaping 5 feet into the air for a half dozen jumps.
He limps a little but no significant change. No blood. What happened? Perfect plan, Perfect stalk, Perfect shot...but?

This is one of three gaps in the wall I passed on the stalk. These were elbows and toes crawl areas.


Eric and I retired from the field to figure it out and let everything settle before the afternoon hunt from the blind.

Here's my right elbow a week after the crawl.


We tried to reenact the shot at a wall by the house. Again I got a "punky" sound only this time I could feel the sting of the hammer on my right hand. This was covered by a camo glove that probably interfered as well as keeping me from feeling the hammer brush by. Seems shooting from the wall caused me to rotate my hand into the hammer. Gee, I thought I'd learned that lesson?

Uneventful afternoon hunt, had an Axis bust us an blow for the last 30 minutes of shooting light. Lots of Whitetail moving.

Kent

Belly crawling thru fire ants. Not THAT's all I ask from my clients. Well done Kent!

"note to self ... wear thin driving gloves ... "

Gary

Spectacular post Kent! It's a great hunting story even if the outcome was less than desired. Belly crawling and crawl rash, now THAT's dedication! Too bad about the glove thing...

I'm waiting on installment 3!

The blind we hunted in The A.M.



One of the doe's. The picture is deceptive, she is really no more than 10 yards from the blind....

Eerie, cool pic from the iPhone Eric! Boy that perspective does make it seem like forever to the fawn.

That live oak was tremendous. What a beauty.

Thanks for adding in the pics. Feel free to jump in if I forget to mention or remember incorrectly some details.

Kent

Great pics Kent. That blind under the
Live oak looks like you should have just strung a hammock. Haha. Looks pretty relaxing. The big ones always come in when you doze off - right?

Gary

iPhone

Kent,

Great pictures and neat story.

Good luck, I hope you bag something before you leave.

Lon