Congrats!
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CongratsComment
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Nice job brother. Can’t wait to hear the story!
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Headed in to drop hunters off and I’ll tell it in a bitOriginally posted by Tshelly View PostComment
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Sitting on a hill with a spotting scope... I have a rifle too just in case lol.
So I’d been seeing multiple “shooter type deer” on the section I have leased in Gray County. It’s a big oddly shaped green field with several property line interruptions. Most of the land up here is section land that is a perfect square or rectangle. For whatever reason this one has several narrow fingers and strips in it that are a different land owner. The shape of it allows you to hunt the middle rather than just the edges. Most of the deer were coming out in and living in a corner that there just isn’t any way to get into without blowing all of the deer out. I’d learned during bow season how pressure sensitive this place is when they planted it and moved all of my deer to another pasture we have almost 3 miles away so I was being extremely careful.
Morning hunts when the bucks are sure to have been in the field all night are absolutely out of the question, wind is always tricky due to the shape, and the blind is actually set up for bow hunting.
I’d been watching it with Shane’s spotting scope from the county road and noticed a shift happening. Where the majority of the bucks had been hanging out on the southern end of the field I was seeing more stuff take place up on the north side near a narrow strip of timber running east and west. I CAN shoot there but dang I’d rather not if I don’t have to. It was a poke and I knew it was stretching the edge of my capabilities so I brought along the Caldwell field pod and studied up on the wind direction. There’s an airport somewhere in McClean which is less than 10mi away so I googled the airport and was able to get real time wind speeds to calculate the hold. I also text my buddy Freddy Haltom who is a world class long range shooter for some wind holds and I was ready to go.
Deer started rolling in and back to my north west I saw a group of deer where I had never seen them before and was kind of taken back by that. I’ve deer hunted up here 42 days this year, was here every weekend of dove season shooting birds and scouting, and every weekend of turkey season except one. To say that I understand what they’re doing would be a vast understatement. If I find a 3 day old buck track crossing a county road I feel like I can tell you his favorite color and political preferences. I don’t have any trouble admitting that I was caught completely off guard with the deer where they were.
Right in the middle of the group of 12 or so deer was a larger bodied mature buck. 1 quick glance through the binos confirmed he was probably a 4 year old 20” wide thin horned mediocre tine length 8pt but my East Texas was showing and I needed to feed that dog inside me that has to kill one and he fit the bill well enough. I moved my shooting sticks, and got the gun hooked up but I was in a pretty weird position. This open country gets me and I can never just look at anything and tell you how far it is. Your glass and range finder are your best friend. I couldn’t get a range on him. Looking back I think my beam was hitting the turret on my scope but whatever the cause I couldn’t range him and he took a doe back to the west behind a group of trees.
I was pretty deflated over it and even more deflated when 3min later a doe stood right where the buck had and I got a range of 176yds... 176 doesn’t even matter. I could’ve put it on his shoulder and let him have it. I was pretty aggravated and looked back where another group of deer had been and I see a big black looking blob by the stretch of timber. I grab the binos and I see a huge bodied big framed deer... GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!!
I move the field pod over to that window and start getting ready for the shot. Once the gun was in place I started trying to shoot the range... I can’t pick him up! Finally the doe he is with and him come together and make a big enough target to get the range and it says 537yds... Damm that’s a poke! I shot it again, 537... I dialed the scope to 500, refreshed the wind at the airport, 8.1mph at 90°. Thats right at 15” of wind drift. I get back in the scope, he gets broad side, I adjust the hold and touch the trigger.
The microseconds that pass on a long distance shot are the loudest silence you’ll ever hear. I was recovering from the recoil as I see him fall through the scope and hear the meaty smack of the bullet simultaneously. OH MY GOD I GOT HIM!!! I still had absolutely no idea what he was other than a super mature and big framed buck. I was absolutely through the roof... and I see him trying to get up.
I get hooked back up and I’m shaking uncontrollably at this point, send it! Airball, high and left, Send it again, low! One more shot in the chamber. Calm down and focus! He gets all 4’s under him and can only lift his head but he’s completely broad side and I touch the last round in the gun off. SMACK!!! It anchored him. I jumped out of the stand and SPRINTED (I don’t run fellas...) to my truck. I was completely gassed when I got the and was doing 60mph across the field to get to him When I rolled up he was toast. The bullets had hit so close together that actually just made 1 big hole and you can’t shoot one any better.
He’s a big old 6pt. Both brows were broken off clean with the base and he’s a deer I’ve never seen before. 17.25 wide, 21” beams, 10.5” 2’s, and 5.25” bases. Just a big old bruiser and I’m absolutely tickled to death with him just like he’s a 200”er! A friend of mine that I met up here had also killed a buck and needed a place to hang him. His was a very nice 4.5 year old 8pt and you can clearly see the body difference. I have no idea what he’ll weigh but it’s 30lbs bigger than anything that’s been hung there this year. I finally killed a buck!
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Donkey. Love an old deerComment
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I just looked at the pics. The other deer that I was trying to shoot showed up last night at the feeder.
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That's a long poke!!!! If a deer is 500 yards away from me I would never know he's there. lol Good shootin big guy!!Comment
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Man that's genuine mule!! BIG Congratulations on airing one out!! If I ever get back into gun hunting again, that's what I want to do, long range killin'!! Much respect sir!!Comment
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Awesome!
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That would make 2 of us, lol.Originally posted by JSAPP View Post
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Good buck
I really enjoyed this threadComment
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Originally posted by Texas452 View Post
He has 2 more tags. It’s not over yet. This was just the appetizer
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Great story! Congrats!Comment
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Hunting
Wow that's some very nice Bucks. Congrats to you guys.Comment
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