Shot this buck on November 8th in the evening at 320-350 yards. My brother and I were hunting for a doe as we figured that bucks wouldnt be moving around too much. Our original plan was to sit and watch in a canola field but we decided to go sit in a river bottom. We'd only been there for a short while when I heard branches cracking and thought i heard grunts coming our way. I got out my buck roar and grunted a little bit with a few short pops and quietly listened for a minute... Soon the sounds were getting closer fast and a nice 5x5 came charging into view about 30 yards away grunting and stomping and the whole bit! Suddenly a very loud snort wheeze and roar could be heard about 80 yards behind him and turned him inside out and made him run over the riverbank out of view. I snort wheezed and grunted back and another nice 5x5 bigger than the first buck, with a dark head and horns came into view just enough that I could see his head but couldn't get a shot! He obviously was a smart old deer and held up in the thick stuff just out of reach and only exposed his head to look around for the other deer. He soon got tired with standing around and not seeing what was grunting at him so he pointed his head west and headed up the valley.
I tried calling him back and thought i succeeded when I heard leaves crunching and coming back towards us fast... We had a small ridge in between us and the bottom of this hill and I assumed that he was travelling below the ridge and was gonna pop his head up quick and look over at us, but nothing happened.. the sound kept getting closer and louder and soon was only a few feet away! I was shaking really bad and just waiting for this deer to pop out when a damn chicken suddenly appeared in my scope!
I whispered to my brother and told him that maybe the buck was heading up to the field to chase does before it got dark, and he agreed so we packed up quick and made our way back up the trail. We came out of the opening we went down in and there was 2 does in the adjacent field where the buck looked to be headed. I was a little trigger happy from the buck encounter so I opted to shoot a doe because legal light was ticking away... Then all of the sudden the buck popped out of the bush running full out at the does! Head down and roaring and grunting the whole way! (we were still a good 450 yards away but could hear this easy). I made my way quickly to a fence post and got lined up on him, still a good 350ish yards... I was debating if it was the same buck but when he put his head up and skylined his antlers I knew for sure it was him. Safety off and I let the first shot go... Missed! Too low! He put his head up and looked directly at us as I chambered another one and shot again,. A solid "whump" could be heard as the bullet connected and he hunched up and staggered a few feet and turned in a circle presenting his other side to me. I fired again and an even louder thump could be heard and he buckled down on the spot!
I was ecstatic, to the point of acting like a mental case as my brother pointed out lol! We made our way back to the truck quick and went to recover him, we found him with an almost perfect behind-the- shoulder shot from the second round, and then a neck hit with the 3rd. (I was shooting a Remington 700 .30-06 with 165 Gr. Core lokts.) We bagged him, tagged him, threw him in the truck and headed on home to take pics in the yard. Now heres hoping for a big mule to wrap up the 2011 season!
Finished mount
I tried calling him back and thought i succeeded when I heard leaves crunching and coming back towards us fast... We had a small ridge in between us and the bottom of this hill and I assumed that he was travelling below the ridge and was gonna pop his head up quick and look over at us, but nothing happened.. the sound kept getting closer and louder and soon was only a few feet away! I was shaking really bad and just waiting for this deer to pop out when a damn chicken suddenly appeared in my scope!
I whispered to my brother and told him that maybe the buck was heading up to the field to chase does before it got dark, and he agreed so we packed up quick and made our way back up the trail. We came out of the opening we went down in and there was 2 does in the adjacent field where the buck looked to be headed. I was a little trigger happy from the buck encounter so I opted to shoot a doe because legal light was ticking away... Then all of the sudden the buck popped out of the bush running full out at the does! Head down and roaring and grunting the whole way! (we were still a good 450 yards away but could hear this easy). I made my way quickly to a fence post and got lined up on him, still a good 350ish yards... I was debating if it was the same buck but when he put his head up and skylined his antlers I knew for sure it was him. Safety off and I let the first shot go... Missed! Too low! He put his head up and looked directly at us as I chambered another one and shot again,. A solid "whump" could be heard as the bullet connected and he hunched up and staggered a few feet and turned in a circle presenting his other side to me. I fired again and an even louder thump could be heard and he buckled down on the spot!
I was ecstatic, to the point of acting like a mental case as my brother pointed out lol! We made our way back to the truck quick and went to recover him, we found him with an almost perfect behind-the- shoulder shot from the second round, and then a neck hit with the 3rd. (I was shooting a Remington 700 .30-06 with 165 Gr. Core lokts.) We bagged him, tagged him, threw him in the truck and headed on home to take pics in the yard. Now heres hoping for a big mule to wrap up the 2011 season!
Finished mount
