Went out for a trip to change the chips on my trail cameras on Monday, and it was so nice and quiet in the woods that I decided to sit for a bit in one of my ground blinds made from cut logs and branches. Had a small spike respond to my grunt call, and he was hanging around within about 50 yards for over a half hour, so decided to stay till sunset, which was in about 2 hours. It started snowing, which made it even quieter, with there being almost no breeze at all. At a little after 4, I got chilly, not being dressed for a long sit, and stood up to help warm up. I noticed my rifle, which was leaning against a tree, had the objective side of the scope covered with snow. I cleaned that off and decided to hold it horizontally, so that wouldn't happen again. After another 5 minutes, right when the little voice in my left ear started winning, and I decided to leave, I caught movement out where that spike went, but it wasn't the spike. I could see antlers right away, and sat back down to get a better rest for a shot. He walked towards me from about 100-110 yards out and at about 50-60 yards I had a good lane, so I took a quartering towards me angle shot as he moved through that lane. Deer reacted to the hit and ran straight towards me, stopping at about 20 yards away and stood there. At that point I decided getting another round in the chamber would be a good idea, so I cycled the bolt on my Howa Mini, but the deer just slumped over and fell right there.
I just picked up the meat from the processor yesterday. Anyway, it's first blood for that setup, and I'm happy with the results.
