I did my part in preserving wildlife by shooting a deer today. We had permits on land held by the owner as a Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit, (CWMU). He is allowed to sell buck tags to high rollers, mostly from out of state, and then he has to allow a few cheap guys like me to draw out on a lottery basis to hunt does. The number of doe tags issued is based upon the previous year's deer census. The game biologists determine how many deer the land can support and in that way the herds are maintained with adequate food and range. Our license fees are used to support the Division of Wildlife Resources who look after the animals and try to restrain and control the crazies out there. The hunting area is near East Canyon Reservoir.
I use a .338 Lapua. It is favored by a number of countries in the European Union as the sniper rifle of choice. It propels a 250 grain slug at 3200 FPS. It has an effective range of 1000 yards. The gun was developed for the Navy Seals in the '90's and was designed in Finland. Currently the ammunition is hard to find and not available at the local outlets. I would imagine like a lot of other things it is being used up in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My animal is at the butcher and will be processed into little white packages. The hide will be tanned for the advent of some mission style furniture making in the future. Chairs and a couch are scheduled when we have enough of them. My Peruvian friends will be cooking the heart as they have an incredible recipe for this called Antecuchos de Corazon.
Que bueno!
