Filled my tag on Thursday morning around 6:30am. Deer coming from my right side, i used binos to see if it was a buck or doe, buck all by himselfand made his way right in front of me. So I lined up my muzzy behind his front leg shoulder, right at the vitals, zoomed the scope as he progressed to a nice clearing. I made a grunt noise, he stopped in his tracks and looked my way...bang, down he went on the spot. Deer down!! Walked towards him after 10 minutes, only to see he was still moving his head and reat legs..so I stayed back reloaded my .50cal muzzy and walked up to him. I first tried to step on his neck from his spine side but he almost got me with his rack...so I went back to his stomach side, pointed the muzzy at his heart, pulled trigger. He let out a death moan and I could see the last breath exit his mouth & nose. Ok picture time...oh wait... he still moving,WTF. I have 1 muzzy load left..maybe shoot him in the head, maybe just back off and let him expire..so I did that. 20 mins pass and he's not moving.
So a 8 pointer, weighed him pre gut, 180lbs, dressed out at 150lbs.
Took him to check station, NH state biologist was there and asked if I was ok if he could check deers age after he took some samples..ok say I, he pulled out his tool and spreads deer jaw open & he says deer is 2yrs old and weighs 147lbs. All good.
Just got back from butcher with about 75lbs of venison. He told me that my shot broke part of the deers spine..it went in behind front leg/shoulder but deflected up, hit part of the spine and then exited the neck area..yeah, I know, bullet goes in behind shoulder but exits out neck...
That's my 2022 deer harvest tag story.
Good luck to all those of you still trying to fill your tags. Get out as much as you can and keep believing...