T Bone
Well-known member
Pre-season scouting found 2 nice bucks. One was a wide 4x4 that was killed by someone else.....The other was a heavy, tall 5x5 that lived mostly on private land. As the rut picked up he started wandering on public to hit a scrape.
Thursday the 9th in the a.m. I sat on a hill above the scrape. He stuck his head out of the timber and crossed onto public. He was a lazered 287 yards, he just needed to step clear of some branches and I'd take the shot....He never stepped clear, instead he walked back onto private while being shielded by the scrape tree.
Friday the 10th in the a.m. It snowed a foot overnight and was still snowing hard. I hiked up and sat on the same hill hoping he'd show himself. Visibility was bad. I sat for an hour and saw a couple does/fawns browsing around. It's still snowing hard when deer break directly below me. They'd been bedded about 100 yards away the entire time. Two bucks, running directly away to the private land. The larger buck looks to be the big 5x5. I lead him by a few feet and the 270 cracks. The thwack of the bullet hitting was the loudest I've ever heard! Deer instantly goes down.
The smaller buck stops and sniffs his dead compadre and beds down beside him! I watch for 10 minutes and start moving down to the deer. The little buck moves off about 50 yards and watches.
Dead deer in the "V" of the tree. Curious young buck to the right. Private property line at the fence.
I arrive at the deer and quickly see I've killed the wrong buck....With the snow, sharp downward angle, and the hurried situation, my judgment errored. Oh well, it was still fun.
View from the deer to the ridge I was sitting on.
Bullet impact was about 6 inches in front of the pelvis, it took out about a foot of spine, liver and lungs. Found the bullet just under the hide on front of chest. 130 grain Hornady SST handload. Perfect mushroom and a darned fine bullet IMO. I'll have to take a picture and weigh it.
Thursday the 9th in the a.m. I sat on a hill above the scrape. He stuck his head out of the timber and crossed onto public. He was a lazered 287 yards, he just needed to step clear of some branches and I'd take the shot....He never stepped clear, instead he walked back onto private while being shielded by the scrape tree.
Friday the 10th in the a.m. It snowed a foot overnight and was still snowing hard. I hiked up and sat on the same hill hoping he'd show himself. Visibility was bad. I sat for an hour and saw a couple does/fawns browsing around. It's still snowing hard when deer break directly below me. They'd been bedded about 100 yards away the entire time. Two bucks, running directly away to the private land. The larger buck looks to be the big 5x5. I lead him by a few feet and the 270 cracks. The thwack of the bullet hitting was the loudest I've ever heard! Deer instantly goes down.
The smaller buck stops and sniffs his dead compadre and beds down beside him! I watch for 10 minutes and start moving down to the deer. The little buck moves off about 50 yards and watches.
Dead deer in the "V" of the tree. Curious young buck to the right. Private property line at the fence.
I arrive at the deer and quickly see I've killed the wrong buck....With the snow, sharp downward angle, and the hurried situation, my judgment errored. Oh well, it was still fun.
View from the deer to the ridge I was sitting on.
Bullet impact was about 6 inches in front of the pelvis, it took out about a foot of spine, liver and lungs. Found the bullet just under the hide on front of chest. 130 grain Hornady SST handload. Perfect mushroom and a darned fine bullet IMO. I'll have to take a picture and weigh it.
