As a young kid I always wondered in amazement at the stories my Dad, brother and cousins would tell of their hunting trips. Too young to go along at the time, I had to wait impatiently at home for them to return. Sadly, once I was old enough, my brother had left home, cousins moved away and parents divorced, so I never got my chance to hunt. Never having owned a gun of my own, but using my brothers Cooey model 600 .22LR whenever I could, I taught myself to shoot; gophers and other rodents were very scared around my place, but big game is what I always wanted to hunt.
Many years passed and finally, after marriage and a child I “got around” to getting my P.A.L. and bought my very own rifle, a Remington 597 which I customized and “accurized”. Shortly after that I got my first handgun and before I knew it, I had my 6th, and enjoy target shooting a lot.
This summer I finally found the hunting rifle I wanted, and sold off 4 handguns to get it, being a lefty (for rifle and bow only) it was slim pickin’s on rifles, but feel I got everything I wanted in a Remington 700LH SPS Varmint in .308, tough to find, but I got one. After some range practice at different yardages and shooting positions, I felt like any deer that wandered into my cross hair was done for.
My neighbor Jones, an avid hunter, the wonderful stories on CGN, and many deer magazines schooled me on the basics of stalking and deer behavior. I spent many hours this fall watching local deer and was ready to go.
Season opened November 10th here and I spent that day and the next waiting patiently for a deer to show up. Not just any deer, but the one from my game camera I had in the bush 1000 yards from my house.
First buck I was after, 5x5
I was determined to wait for this buck and although I was informed by a few people that I wasn’t likely to get him, and should shoot whatever I could get my sights on, I passed on 2 does that opening week waiting for him. He never showed.
That Friday (the 14th) my neighbor, back from a successful hunt with his son and regular hunting partners, near the Saskatchewan border, but still in Manitoba, asked if I would go back to his favorite hunting area and hunt with another first timer, a nephew of his wife, Nick. I happily agreed and we left at 1AM Saturday, arrived in Kola, Manitoba at 5:30AM and setup in the dark for our hunt. They were positioned about 350 yards away from me and we sat in wait.
At first light I saw a deer far off to my right, 1000 yards from me at least, closer to them and coming in fast to the sound of Jones rattling those antlers. Once the deer was directly in front of them, Jones yelled out and stopped the buck, giving his young apprentice Nick, a chance to shoot. Now, he did shoot and he did bag a great looking buck, but Jones said he has never seen a guy shake that much before! The rifle barrel was all over creation, but when he pulled the trigger a high neck shot bought him down quickly, even though the lung area was the intended target!
Jones and Nick pictured with Nick's First deer
We hunted the remainder of the day, I got no opportunity, but was really glad to be along for the experience and was overjoyed (but a little Jealous) at Nick’s successful hunt.
Having to work all week was killing me, I wanted to be out hunting, not shooting out the window of my truck (which I saw someone do out west) because that isn’t hunting to me. I told myself, if that is what it takes to bag a buck I don’t want one.
So Wednesday, my father in-law calls and tells me he has a picture of a buck he saw in his yard, just 100 yards from the front window, he walked along the edge of the bush with a doe in tow. I stop in for a look at the picture, and he is sweet, even better than my first intended target.
Father in-law's pic of the buck in his yard
I decide to take Friday afternoon off from work, and wait for this buck, all to the dismay of my boss, but I think he saw what it meant to me. From 1pm till 4pm I sit in the freezing cold having underestimated the wind and temperatures, I came under dressed, but was determined to wait it out. Finally, I spot a doe through the trees in the back field some 200 yards off and rattle a bit; she bolts for the bush…. I lay the antlers down and don’t pick them up again. About 4:45pm a very large doe we hadn’t seen in the area, calmly crosses a path between the in-laws and the neighbor’s property. The shooting lane is 15’ wide and I have time, but I pass, as I really want that buck.
A few more minutes pass and I am beginning to regret that choice, then suddenly a young doe trots by on the same path, I go for the scope and just catch the tail end of something hot on her heels, and they both vanish into the trees to the west. “I think that was a buck” I tell myself. Less than a minute passes and the young doe blasts out of the trees on the same path, heading back east, behind her the larger doe and then sure enough… it was a buck chasing them! No time to get a shot off in that narrow corridor, but excited to see some action, my spirits rise.
Just then, a doe and her fawn bolt from the same area but come closer to me, running 150 yards to my left, I follow them in my scope. They turn back 180 degrees and at a full run head back the way they came, I continue to follow but as they cross the narrow corridor I was watching earlier, something else catches my eye. There he was, standing 100 yards dead ahead, slightly quartering towards me watching the doe run past. I steady my cross hairs and aim for the closer shoulder, just to the inside and BANG the Remington barks out and he rocks on his heels.
He hops on three legs for a few quick steps, slows his pace and turns a small circle looking back at the bush. He stops; waivers once or twice and collapses. I scream out like a little kid that just got the best X-mas present ever. I get down off the roof and walk over, my father and brother in-law who had been watching out the window and got a first rate show, came running out with a camera. I am jumping and yelling “I got him… I got him! That’s the buck from your picture!”
Well, too late to make a long story short, but that is my first hunting season in a nutshell. It won’t be my last. I plan to have a head mount done on this beautiful buck and treasure him forever. I had to share this as soon as I could and there is now way I will sleep tonight. -Steve
Added info: Unofficial B&C score - 124 6/8 typical points
My first buck 100 yards Remington Core Lokt Express 150gr .308
Me, Bucky and the Remmy
Fills the ford pretty well
My Wife Gloria, Me and Bucky
Buck hung up, entry wound visible above shoulder
Many years passed and finally, after marriage and a child I “got around” to getting my P.A.L. and bought my very own rifle, a Remington 597 which I customized and “accurized”. Shortly after that I got my first handgun and before I knew it, I had my 6th, and enjoy target shooting a lot.
This summer I finally found the hunting rifle I wanted, and sold off 4 handguns to get it, being a lefty (for rifle and bow only) it was slim pickin’s on rifles, but feel I got everything I wanted in a Remington 700LH SPS Varmint in .308, tough to find, but I got one. After some range practice at different yardages and shooting positions, I felt like any deer that wandered into my cross hair was done for.
My neighbor Jones, an avid hunter, the wonderful stories on CGN, and many deer magazines schooled me on the basics of stalking and deer behavior. I spent many hours this fall watching local deer and was ready to go.
Season opened November 10th here and I spent that day and the next waiting patiently for a deer to show up. Not just any deer, but the one from my game camera I had in the bush 1000 yards from my house.
First buck I was after, 5x5
I was determined to wait for this buck and although I was informed by a few people that I wasn’t likely to get him, and should shoot whatever I could get my sights on, I passed on 2 does that opening week waiting for him. He never showed.
That Friday (the 14th) my neighbor, back from a successful hunt with his son and regular hunting partners, near the Saskatchewan border, but still in Manitoba, asked if I would go back to his favorite hunting area and hunt with another first timer, a nephew of his wife, Nick. I happily agreed and we left at 1AM Saturday, arrived in Kola, Manitoba at 5:30AM and setup in the dark for our hunt. They were positioned about 350 yards away from me and we sat in wait.
At first light I saw a deer far off to my right, 1000 yards from me at least, closer to them and coming in fast to the sound of Jones rattling those antlers. Once the deer was directly in front of them, Jones yelled out and stopped the buck, giving his young apprentice Nick, a chance to shoot. Now, he did shoot and he did bag a great looking buck, but Jones said he has never seen a guy shake that much before! The rifle barrel was all over creation, but when he pulled the trigger a high neck shot bought him down quickly, even though the lung area was the intended target!
Jones and Nick pictured with Nick's First deer
We hunted the remainder of the day, I got no opportunity, but was really glad to be along for the experience and was overjoyed (but a little Jealous) at Nick’s successful hunt.
Having to work all week was killing me, I wanted to be out hunting, not shooting out the window of my truck (which I saw someone do out west) because that isn’t hunting to me. I told myself, if that is what it takes to bag a buck I don’t want one.
So Wednesday, my father in-law calls and tells me he has a picture of a buck he saw in his yard, just 100 yards from the front window, he walked along the edge of the bush with a doe in tow. I stop in for a look at the picture, and he is sweet, even better than my first intended target.
Father in-law's pic of the buck in his yard
I decide to take Friday afternoon off from work, and wait for this buck, all to the dismay of my boss, but I think he saw what it meant to me. From 1pm till 4pm I sit in the freezing cold having underestimated the wind and temperatures, I came under dressed, but was determined to wait it out. Finally, I spot a doe through the trees in the back field some 200 yards off and rattle a bit; she bolts for the bush…. I lay the antlers down and don’t pick them up again. About 4:45pm a very large doe we hadn’t seen in the area, calmly crosses a path between the in-laws and the neighbor’s property. The shooting lane is 15’ wide and I have time, but I pass, as I really want that buck.
A few more minutes pass and I am beginning to regret that choice, then suddenly a young doe trots by on the same path, I go for the scope and just catch the tail end of something hot on her heels, and they both vanish into the trees to the west. “I think that was a buck” I tell myself. Less than a minute passes and the young doe blasts out of the trees on the same path, heading back east, behind her the larger doe and then sure enough… it was a buck chasing them! No time to get a shot off in that narrow corridor, but excited to see some action, my spirits rise.
Just then, a doe and her fawn bolt from the same area but come closer to me, running 150 yards to my left, I follow them in my scope. They turn back 180 degrees and at a full run head back the way they came, I continue to follow but as they cross the narrow corridor I was watching earlier, something else catches my eye. There he was, standing 100 yards dead ahead, slightly quartering towards me watching the doe run past. I steady my cross hairs and aim for the closer shoulder, just to the inside and BANG the Remington barks out and he rocks on his heels.
He hops on three legs for a few quick steps, slows his pace and turns a small circle looking back at the bush. He stops; waivers once or twice and collapses. I scream out like a little kid that just got the best X-mas present ever. I get down off the roof and walk over, my father and brother in-law who had been watching out the window and got a first rate show, came running out with a camera. I am jumping and yelling “I got him… I got him! That’s the buck from your picture!”
Well, too late to make a long story short, but that is my first hunting season in a nutshell. It won’t be my last. I plan to have a head mount done on this beautiful buck and treasure him forever. I had to share this as soon as I could and there is now way I will sleep tonight. -Steve
Added info: Unofficial B&C score - 124 6/8 typical points
My first buck 100 yards Remington Core Lokt Express 150gr .308
Me, Bucky and the Remmy
Fills the ford pretty well
My Wife Gloria, Me and Bucky
Buck hung up, entry wound visible above shoulder
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That is a heck of a buck.
