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That's really loud


Finagler 6853 Life

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So there I was, sitting in my deer stand, it is dark, cold and really windy. My deer stand is a homemade little tin shack, about 4 x 4 x 6 feet high. Plexiglas windows that hinge inward (rest on the back of your head while you are shooting. They can be fixed in the up position but who has time?) I've taken numbers of nice deer in the past. I really had intentions of going out to sit, contemplate the vagaries of life like Alpo does, maybe take a nap, chew on a cigar, drink some coffee, eat some pogey bait and jerky. I had my 5 gallon bucket stool, a pad on it, a propane heater so I was set. If it really got cold, I'd go to the cabin I have in the woods and do nothing. Seems like I'm getting better at that. If a really nice sized buck would come along I'd take it but didn't think there were any around. After opening weekend I'd look for a good sized doe as the herd is getting bigger and could stand to be thinned out some.

Do being the genius that I am, I figure since I'm really not looking to shoot something, why carry a big heavy rifle. Why not carry your S&W 29 with the scope mounted on it? Just in case a big one comes out, you should carry something. You shot a buck with it before out at around 80 yards and you have a nice shoulder holster for it which will keep your hands free. That way you can loligag, goof off and still say you went hunting. Or as I have recently termed it, hiking with a gun.

It is still dark thirty but I can make out shapes. Where my stand is, about 20 yards off is a buck scrape. So there I sit. I'm trying to pay attention, turning my head slowly so not to draw attention to myself, backed into a corner of the stand so I can check all windows. It is at that twilight when everything looks like it is moving. You can see shapes but can't make out details. Out of the corner of my eye something moves. I turn to see what is clearly a deer, a buck, sniffing at his scrape, sniffing at his licking stick overhead and then licking it. He must have done this for a good minute and a half. Seemed like half an hour. He then looks at my stand. He can tell something is out of place. I freeze. I can see antlers but I can't make out details, how big, how many points but his rack looked inside the ears so I already determine I don't want to take this one but am content to sit and watch this performance as I have never seen this before. He stamps a few times, blows once or twice trying to get a reaction. After a bit, he turns and walks away. That was fun. I'm warm now.

So I settle in, have some coffee, eat something and it becomes clearly light out. All the mysterious shapes that could have been deer or things moving in the dark are now clearly, downed logs, tree branches and trees swaying in the wind.

So I sit there fighting with my attention deficit thinking of all the things I could be doing but am out here for the SIL and daughters boyfriend if they need some assistance. I'm going to tough it out. After all, it is only quarter past 7 am. From my left, I see something. Slowly turn and focus on a couple of doe meandering past me about 20 yards off. They are walking one behind the other, stopping to put their noses down, look around and then check behind them. When I see them looking behind them I know they are watching for something so I turn my attention on that area. By golly here comes a buck. I can't make out the size well as he is moving through the trees but I get my pistol out just the same. He stops briefly on the same path the doe took and I can see that this buck is bigger than the one I saw in the dark but I can't make out the number of points. He is intent on following the does that were in front of him. I lift up the window, poke my pistol out and give a grunt to get him to stop and look around. It is so windy and his attention is so focused, he doesn't hear me and keeps moving. He is moving from left to right through the trees so I change windows to get a shot that will put him in a shooting lane and I don't have to fight with the other window and the trees he is walking through.

He steps out into the shooting lane/ tractor trail, I am resting my arm on the window sill, gun just barely outside the TIN shack, holding it with two hands, practicing gun control, plexiglas window laying on the back of my head. Have you ever shot a pistol with a scope? You can't hold it at arms length or you loose the field of view or it becomes very small. At least mine does. You hold it about 12 inches from your face, arms bent so the entire scope has full field of view of what you are looking at. The muzzle is about 20 inches from my face.

I have him in my scope and I let go. BOOM!!! The most immediate thing that came to my mind was SON OF &(%@#! THAT'S LOUD! The buck just stands there as he is looking around trying to find the source of the noise. I'm thinking to myself, sugar, (that isn't the exact term but I'll keep this family friendly) I have to shoot this again. This is going to hurt. So I let go with another, BOOM! Yup, it hurt. Now my ears are ringing. Loudly. Something told the buck to get moving so he starts quartering up the hill a few yards, pauses, BOOM! Frog, that hurts. I can see now when he is moving that his off front leg is not moving well but he continues to go up the hill. He pauses again, I don't want to do this, BOOM! The buck reaches near the crest of the hill, pauses, BOOM! Go down you rat bugger (again, not my actual words). He turns and walks about 10 yards and I see him flop down to the ground.

My ears are ringing and painful, my pistol is empty, (hammer down on an empty chamber. Safety first) I'm digging in my pockets for more rounds, trying to keep my eye on where the buck went down. The thought comes to me, why are you watching him? If he gets up you can't do anything anyways. Reload the gun. So I get the gun reloaded, no movement do I see so I sit down to let him expire if he hasn't already. My SIL texts me asking if I was the one shooting. I told him buck down, and that I was going to sit a while so not to stir things up and screw up his hunt. It is 7:25 am. I drink some coffee, eat some pogey bait and jerky. I get out a cigar and begin to dress it out for a good smoke. I sit back, relax and listen to my ears ring and ignore the pain. I made a mental note to myself that next year I'm going to wear ear plugs while hunting. I can't hear deer run through the woods anyway.

After about a half an hour, I got out of the tin shack, which I learned reverberates sound really good, start to look for the trail up to the buck, find the trail, good blood sign, find the buck about 20 yards from the tractor trail. Nice 10 point buck. A couple of tines were broken so he was doing some defending of turf with other bucks. Good to know. The beams weren't particularly impressive. The antlers were outside the ears and the body was big, so it was a good buck. I found that I had hit it twice. Don't know where the other 3 shots went but I got my deer.

So if you are going to go hunting with a pistol or a rifle for that matter, take my advice use ear plugs. I'm going to. A 44 mag is really loud. My ears are still ringing, two weeks later. Always did a little but it is more now. At least the pain has subsided.

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Great story with all the details.

Made me feel like I was out hunting in the cold with you.

Yes, 44 Magnums are super loud, especially in an enclosed area.

Thanks for taking the time to let us experience your adventure.

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Great story, I could relate to a lot of it! Somehow the first shot isn't nearly as loud as follow ups. I usually don't even hear my rifle when hunting.

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Had a lady Major fire a privately owned S&W 29 inside a bunker in Dalat.

 

She never did that again. Seven people rendered deaf in a split part of a second. If she had only shoved the muzzle outside the port a few inches....

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Glad to hear you got it. I used to hunt with a 7.5 inch 44 mag and I always wore plugs. I would leave one in my bad ear and when I heard something, I would sneak the other plug in my good ear. It worked well as I was using my custom molded one for cowboy and easy to get in. If I got a shoot or two off, I would be able to still hear if I came up short. Did not hunt for the last 2 years, and that will probably be on hold until I find a place to hunt in Alabama or decide to pay for out state permits for Illinois (over $400) so I can hunt on my farm in Southern Illinois.

 

Maddog McCoy

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We were having dog problems a few years back. My father asked me to bring my "deer rifle", a 742 carbine in 30-06, in so he could shoot a dog that was really becoming a serious problem. I did. I showed him how to load, chamber and where the safety was.

He shot the dog. He was sitting in the drivers seat of his pickup with the windows rolled down and shot the dog out of the passenger window. The whole gun was inside of the truck when it went off. It took him over a week to get most of his hearing back.

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I hunt out of plywood blinds. I get that muzzle as far out as I can now. It will rock ya for sure! Got to sit with my daughter while she shot another nice buck this year. A big 10 point. Old fella. Pretty cool to be an observer.

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Archery hunters don't have that problem, so I am told.

Sure don't. Though I can tell you from experience that having a string break right as you are about to take that trophy buck is about the loudest sound I ever heard. I can still hear that every time I close my eyes and think of tasty venison.

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Was standing about 5 yards off to the side, totally distracted, when the 105 howitzer received a fire mission. I don't ever want to do that again.

Try that with an 8". That's why I say "WHAT?" a lot.

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Was standing about 5 yards off to the side, totally distracted, when the 105 howitzer received a fire mission. I don't ever want to do that again.

A 106 Recoilless Rifle will do that for you also.

Edited by Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172
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My step daughter shot a buck this year from the door of their blind. She was half in, half out and shooting through a window, muzzle was inside the blind. The ear that was in the blind rung and hurt for several days. A .243 is pretty loud!

 

Last year I had a lightning bolt hit the ground about 10 feet from my car. My right ear wasn't happy for several days.

 

A 105mm is also pretty loud. I was going out to the Wichita Mts on a road that borders Camp Eagle at Ft Sill. Soldiers touched off one, firing over the road. I think they deliberately waited till we were in front of it. Fortunately they had significant elevation!

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Oh my goodness ....

... well enough written I felt I was there ...

Good job taking all of us along with you!

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Was standing about 5 yards off to the side, totally distracted, when the 105 howitzer received a fire mission. I don't ever want to do that again.

 

 

Gets your attention doesn't it. Been there done that

Edited by Henry T Harrison
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I had a hearing test done two years ago. The doc gave me my results and asked me what kind of pistols I shot. He said that the test can show if a person shoots handguns tend to reduce hearing equally while a longgun will reduce hearing in the weakside ear. A rifle will reduce high pitch hearing while a shotgun will reduce medium pitch hearing.

 

Smart guy.

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I enjoyed the story as well. Christmas Eve 1971, bunker line around PhuBai combat airbase, rats are scrambling around in the trash on the floor of our bunker. Fire mission, one 30 rd magazine of .45 through an old M3a1, grease gun. My ears are still ringing. Started a mad minute that covered half the bunker line. OD came around and asked did you fire. Yes sir when everybody else did. No rat kia to show for it either.

Imis (including then)

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My story pales in comparison to you guys that served in the military. A friend of mine who was a captain in the artillery, when we went elk hunting,t last thing he would do is ask if you had anything more to say because he was giving fair warning that he was going to turn off his hearing aids and going to sleep. He was dead as a doornail without them.

My ears still ring and my wife is yelling at me more often than before. Must have done some real damage.

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