Rifle Opener 2018
This was the coldest Rifle Opener we’ve had. Temps dipped down to 24F, and there was a steady cold west wind most of the morning. Shooting was light; there was 1 shot per 3 minutes, but outside of a few blazing minutes here and there, it was dead. The eleventh shot was fairly close at 0711 ET. That was Angus taking his buck.
Angus said he was hunkered down behind the treestand skirt trying to stay out of the wind when he saw the buck’s back. He had sneaked out of the pasture to the north and was travelling across Angus’ front at a distance of 15 yards. As he came past, Angus took a broadside shot. The buck went about 20 yards and piled up in the tire tracks going back to Westwood.
“I was going to let him walk, but the day was so nice and it was just such a perfect shot.” he said.
He went to put the crosshairs on the buck, but the scope was still cranked all the way down to 9X. Angus adjusted the power and then touched off his 30-06.
Outside of counting shots and managing a couple cups of coffe out of the thermos, my only action came as the neighbor to the south took a shot in the 8 O’Clock hour. This made a doe panic and she briefly crossed over the property line before heading back.
SuperCore said he did not even see a bird all morning. We were both freezing our butts off when we came in.
We drove into Lennoxburg with the buck. Turn-out had been light. There was one nice buck next to Angus, but few people had gotten deer in by the time we arrived for lunch. There was a crowd of mostly-skunked mostly-frozen hunters. I can’t tell you how much a plate of biscuits and gravy and a friendly smile restored our spirits.
Angus is going back to town to pipe at an Armistice Day gig tomorrow. SuperCore and I will try warm up a bit more and then head out for an afternoon hunt.
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I can’t remember an opener this cold since the late 80’s – early 90’s. It was so cold, my Tinks #69 froze in the scent wick container I had it in, and the water holes I drove through on the way to my stand had started to refreeze by the time I left at 8:30am.
I managed to shoot a nice 8 point buck in Ohio County at around 6:45am, CST. He was the only deer I had seen that morning, and he came in cautiously out of a bedding area and across a hillside filled with oaks to give me a 50-60 yard shot. I had to take an off-hand right-side shot, as he came from a direction I was not expecting. The Remington .308 dropped the buck where he stood.
I had two bucks milling around this same stand site on Election Day, (11-6-18) when I had my crossbow in hand, but they never offered up a shot. So I knew this stand was where I should be on opening morning.
Congratulations to Angus on his buck, and I hope you and Supercore have success this season as well.