Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Rolling buck!

Since I have a job again Saturday is when I get to go hunting. The first Saturday of Oregon�s opener I saw a couple bucks late in the day. They didn�t look as large as Sue wanted. Foolish of me not to try to shoot one since they ranged 238 yards away and I dont' get to hunt everyday. I saw a couple does also before my knees punked out on me. Last year I could go about five hours. This year it is down to about four hours. I guess I am quite blessed since I can still hunt alone at seventy years of age.

The second Saturday I didn�t see anything. That is the first time in eight years I have not seen at least one sighting during a day of hunting.

The third Saturday I saw a deer within minutes of entering the woods. Because of the low light I didn�t see it before it took off. That�s when I saw it well enough to think it was a buck. After a few hours I saw a doe and called it a day.

Yesterday, Sunday, contrary to my normal day of taking Sue shopping, I took her to breakfast and then went hunting. I left the pickup at 11:08AM and walked about 200 yards before entering the woods in �The Main Gorge�. I started up to a place I call �The Other Ridge�. When I entered a clearing partway up I used the Nikon 7X50 and glassed back toward �Doe Tag Ridge�. At 11:25AM I found a doe. From experience I know there are often more deer than one sees at first glance so I slowly searched the area. It paid off. There was a buck with her.

The Leica 1200 showed 276 yards to the buck so I ranged a bush nearby to verify: 274. Since the six pound thirteen ounce Mark V chambered for .257SLR is sighted in for 300 yards I knew I could hold on the heart and be fine. I glanced around and realized there was no chance of laying down for a very steady shot. Too much brush. I placed the rifle in the crotch of a tree only to lose sight of the target due to leaves on the tree. I tried a few places and finally found what may have been a branch broken off when the tree was smaller. The idea of getting closer was not even in the cards. I was half way up one side of a gorge while the deer was on top of the other.

I checked the sight picture and realized the crosshair was moving too much. After resituating myself I liked the hold and waited for the buck to turn from a Texas heart shot. When it did I started to fire. At that time the deer put its head back along its side to scratch or something. So I shot it in the head. I saw it drop at the shot. (Muzzle brakes are nice.)

It took about twenty-five minutes to get to the spot where the deer was when I fired. It was gone. And there was no blood. I looked around and saw a little splatter behind where I thought it was standing when I fired and looked in the direction it indicated. About fifty feet down the hill the buck lay dead. I pulled its head out from under it and noticed one side is a fork and the other has three points. The back to belly measured 15�. This is right in the middle of the size of blacktail bucks I have measured. I took a photo of the deer and then laid the rifle on it and took another photo.

I decided to gut the deer nearer the road. I drug it about ten feet and released it. It started rolling, as expected. It quickly gained speed. Lots of speed. There was no way I could safely keep up. I scurried after it but soon lost sight of it tumbling down the hill; except when it bounced over something. After chasing the trail it made about 600 to 700 feet I came to a level place where I thought it would be laying. It wasn�t there. Anxiety welled up in me. �Did it recover and run off?� I asked myself. �No way! I shot it in the head.� I went across the flat area and down an extremely steep place and looked down. There it was. It had so much momentum it rolled across the flat and went clear to the road below.

I blocked it with the pickup while gutting it. It just seemed reasonable.


Tree in the center of the photo below has a bump on the right side about halfway between the ground and the first branch. It worked for a rest.

they will roll,i shot one on the side of a mountain a few years ago while a friend watched with bino's. when i shot he said ,you missed its running straight down the mountain . he finally caught up with it the bino's . he said 'oh no,its [bleep] and elbows ,he flipping. he musta rolled 200yds and with a inch or 2 of snow it was one heck of a blood trail.

Oh yeah, my "best" roller buck was in 2008, hunting the Cascades here in Washington. Shot a good, wide 4x4 at about 230 yards... Then he rolled, and bounced, and rolled some more. And more.

Took me a long time to get to him, get help, get him quartered, and back to the truck. Dang, I didn't think he'd ever stop rolling into that canyon!

Guy