Dangit! I spent the last couple of days at the lease. Took the GF and her and that .22/.250 laid the smackdown on some critters. Wednesday morning about 7:25 I heard a shot. I wasn't sure it was her or the guys next door. Then at 7:30 another shot. I thought well, the pigs must've showed up and she was waylaying them. About 9:30 I head over to pick her up and since she's not standing on the road waiting for me, I knew something was up. Sure enough I look over at the feed pen and she's standing there waving at me. I can see two critters laying dead in the pen. As I round the corner for the pen I can see that she's killed two javelinas. I started backing in the pen and she says,"Wait, before you back into the pen, can you help me drag this cull up the hill?" 
Sure enough she had whacked a small spike while I was driving over to get her. He was dragging his right rear leg and couldn't hardly bend it. Turns out she killed the javis with the first shot. The second shot a huge hog came into the feeder and she shot (or shot at cuz I never found any blood or the body).
When skinning out her spike i found the right rear knee joint was completely frozen up. Unmoveable. I don't know what happened to him, but I'm glad she took him out. He'd never have made it.
Wednesday afternoon we went to a canyon where I had seen about 11 Barbado sheep on the hillside. They were directly below my feeder on top of the mountain. They've been a pain in the arse. About 15 of them camp out on my feeder, eat all the corn, run the deer off, etc. We found 3 of the bunch and I knocked one down at 293 yards with my .223.
Thursday morning I went back up top to my feeder in hopes that the rest of the sheep would show up or a cull 5 I'd been watching or even one of the several spikes I had seen. One spike in particular appeared to be 3 years old and was much bigger body wise than some of the other bucks Id seen in the area. I figured his spikes to be about 8 inches long. The wind was howling out of the north. Didn't seem to bother the critters cuz when the feeder went off at 0700, here they came. 4 spikes, including the large one, and a couple of does. I watched them until about 0815 and it appeared that they were all about to leave when the cull 5 shows up. Now the dilemma. Which once to take. The spike had been in the area for at least two years and body size was about the same as the 5 pointer. The spike moved to the left and started walking away from the feeder headed towards the canyon they bed down in. I followed him with the cross-hairs hoping he would stop. He did. I settled the crosshairs of my Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .257 Bob just behind his shoulder and squeezed it off. The 90 grain Barnes X bullet hit him and he took off running. I watched him run into a mountain laurel and then disappeared. i waited about 15 minutes before looking for him. I found a blood trail, followed it for about 45 yards and found him piled up just off the ledge to the canyon. I went and picked up my GF and she helped me drag him back up the ledge. Here he is:
I never did measure those spikes.
I hope everyone has a good end to their season.
Sure enough she had whacked a small spike while I was driving over to get her. He was dragging his right rear leg and couldn't hardly bend it. Turns out she killed the javis with the first shot. The second shot a huge hog came into the feeder and she shot (or shot at cuz I never found any blood or the body).When skinning out her spike i found the right rear knee joint was completely frozen up. Unmoveable. I don't know what happened to him, but I'm glad she took him out. He'd never have made it.
Wednesday afternoon we went to a canyon where I had seen about 11 Barbado sheep on the hillside. They were directly below my feeder on top of the mountain. They've been a pain in the arse. About 15 of them camp out on my feeder, eat all the corn, run the deer off, etc. We found 3 of the bunch and I knocked one down at 293 yards with my .223.
Thursday morning I went back up top to my feeder in hopes that the rest of the sheep would show up or a cull 5 I'd been watching or even one of the several spikes I had seen. One spike in particular appeared to be 3 years old and was much bigger body wise than some of the other bucks Id seen in the area. I figured his spikes to be about 8 inches long. The wind was howling out of the north. Didn't seem to bother the critters cuz when the feeder went off at 0700, here they came. 4 spikes, including the large one, and a couple of does. I watched them until about 0815 and it appeared that they were all about to leave when the cull 5 shows up. Now the dilemma. Which once to take. The spike had been in the area for at least two years and body size was about the same as the 5 pointer. The spike moved to the left and started walking away from the feeder headed towards the canyon they bed down in. I followed him with the cross-hairs hoping he would stop. He did. I settled the crosshairs of my Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .257 Bob just behind his shoulder and squeezed it off. The 90 grain Barnes X bullet hit him and he took off running. I watched him run into a mountain laurel and then disappeared. i waited about 15 minutes before looking for him. I found a blood trail, followed it for about 45 yards and found him piled up just off the ledge to the canyon. I went and picked up my GF and she helped me drag him back up the ledge. Here he is:
I never did measure those spikes.
I hope everyone has a good end to their season.
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