Good evening Africa Hunting friends. I have been a member for several years now and occasionally post hunting reports. I have been to Namibia twice and am going again in April with three friends at Uitspan Hunting with Tiene and Michael Duvenhage. I cannot wait! This report is different in that it is about a humble whitetail deer hunt on my small swamp behind my home in Wisconsin. But as I begin I would like to dedicate this report to my new friend, Kawshik Rahman, from Bangladesh. I have been so impressed by his contributions to our AH community that I wanted to thank him in this way. And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I am intentionally copying the format of our friend. So dear readers let us begin.
The hunt begins with some notes about equipment for my hunt. The Courtney Safari boots worn during parts the hunt were graciously provided for me by our good friend Ridgewalker. Some may remember that I was agonizing over whether to spend the money on high quality Courtney boots or to be frugal and go with much less expensive brands. Well, Ridgewalker contacted me and had an extra pair in my size and sold them to me at a very inexpensive price. Thank you again—you are incredibly gracious!
The next piece of equipment involves an emotionally meaningful Barlow folding knife. My uncle Herman (son of German immigrants) often took my brothers and me on hunting excursions as a youth. It would be for rabbits or pheasants on a routine basis. But, later in life as Whitetail deer numbers increased in our area of the state of Wisconsin he also took us deer hunting. The last time I saw this Barlow knife it was being used to field dress a deer. I was able to inherit this knife when Herman’s son Ken passed away. It is precious to me.
The third item I would like to mention is my Remington 700 with Leupold scope in 270 Winchester caliber shooting Federal premium 150 grain Nosler Partition bullets. The reason I mention this is because many of the forum members helped talk me through which rifle and ammunition to use in my hunting context of very thick cover and short range. Thank you for your help. It worked to perfection.
After this extensive introduction the actual hunt is quite simple. I hunt from a homemade tree stand located along a creek in my cattail swamp. The afternoon of opening day I had decided to take a doe for venison if the opportunity arose. I have not taken a doe in years as I was always waiting for a buck to come through. But this year I decided I wanted some good venison. In the late afternoon shortly before dark a large doe emerged from the thick cover along the creek. It was about 75 yards away and standing in about the only place where I could get a clear shot. I had a good rest on the edge of my stand and took aim at a slightly quartering towards me shot. The Nosler partition did its job and the doe was down within 5 yards. I climbed out of my stand and found the deer right away. I used my Uncles Barlow knife to field dress the doe, dragged it to a lane and walked out to get my car to get the deer home—only a half mile away. My nephew Karl, brother Kevin and I butchered the deer a few days later. I enjoyed my first steaks a couple of days ago.
I am writing this to illustrate that great hunts are not only the exotic ones. This day happened to be my 63 rd birthday. I had a fantastic time. Many of you helped me to have this wonderful day. Thank you for being supportive of my many questions. You are good friends.
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