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Gee, I'm sure you guys know how much it bothers me to steal Bubba's thunder. Pffft. 
Horrible conditions today: snow going out, clay roads turning to soup, wind blowing 35 mph. Ugh! But I braved it all to find my deer after two days of hiking in rough country and seeing almost nothing. Shot this big boy at about 70 yards on the fly. First shot hit the hill in front of me. Wind was blowing too hard to be steady for offhand shot so I sat down. But that put me too low. Thought I could just make the bullet clear the hill so I took the shot. Two bucks almost identical were standing looking at me. This one was slightly larger. Bullet didn't clear the hill and sprayed me with dirt. They took off running for the top of the box canyon and I got him on the run with second shot. He was hit exactly where I put the cross-hairs. A bit forward but I figured he would run into the bullet. You can see entrance wound in lower neck just beside my rifle. That deer dropped like he was hit with a sledge hammer and rolled to the bottom of the canyon, dead on arrival. Disappointed he's only a 4x4. Guess I wouldn't have shot him if I'd known he was so puny. Seriously, it is hands down the largest bodied deer I've yet taken. A real whopper. VERY fat. Not skinned yet but I don't think any meat was lost. Exit wound was just ahead of left front shoulder. I was very pleased with that shot. Barnes TSX 165 gr 30-06.
I dragged that big buck up out of the canyon and over a small mountain to the road. Then we loaded him onto my buddy's side-by-side for a photo op. Yep, you guys know I hate technocrap so much I'd never use one to remove an animal.
That fancy machine sure made a hard job easy. Actually, a piece of cake. Rod complained: "I drove all the way out here with this thing for such an easy job? Next time make it more challenging." Deer fell only about a mile from the Jimmy but the cattle had tromped the bottom of that box canyon to the point of being pretty much impassible for foot travel. It would have killed me to pull that buck down through there. A real mess. Pulling him up the side of the box canyon would have been a better option ... but only slightly. The buggy went around a reservoir, down the neighbor's fence line, up over a low saddle, then down a long coulee to the side draw leading to box canyon. Crawled up through those cattle tromped craters like a dream. It was a longer route but much safer than going up over the canyon wall or down through the bottom.
Tomorrow we get my brother his deer.
Horrible conditions today: snow going out, clay roads turning to soup, wind blowing 35 mph. Ugh! But I braved it all to find my deer after two days of hiking in rough country and seeing almost nothing. Shot this big boy at about 70 yards on the fly. First shot hit the hill in front of me. Wind was blowing too hard to be steady for offhand shot so I sat down. But that put me too low. Thought I could just make the bullet clear the hill so I took the shot. Two bucks almost identical were standing looking at me. This one was slightly larger. Bullet didn't clear the hill and sprayed me with dirt. They took off running for the top of the box canyon and I got him on the run with second shot. He was hit exactly where I put the cross-hairs. A bit forward but I figured he would run into the bullet. You can see entrance wound in lower neck just beside my rifle. That deer dropped like he was hit with a sledge hammer and rolled to the bottom of the canyon, dead on arrival. Disappointed he's only a 4x4. Guess I wouldn't have shot him if I'd known he was so puny. Seriously, it is hands down the largest bodied deer I've yet taken. A real whopper. VERY fat. Not skinned yet but I don't think any meat was lost. Exit wound was just ahead of left front shoulder. I was very pleased with that shot. Barnes TSX 165 gr 30-06.
I dragged that big buck up out of the canyon and over a small mountain to the road. Then we loaded him onto my buddy's side-by-side for a photo op. Yep, you guys know I hate technocrap so much I'd never use one to remove an animal.
That fancy machine sure made a hard job easy. Actually, a piece of cake. Rod complained: "I drove all the way out here with this thing for such an easy job? Next time make it more challenging." Deer fell only about a mile from the Jimmy but the cattle had tromped the bottom of that box canyon to the point of being pretty much impassible for foot travel. It would have killed me to pull that buck down through there. A real mess. Pulling him up the side of the box canyon would have been a better option ... but only slightly. The buggy went around a reservoir, down the neighbor's fence line, up over a low saddle, then down a long coulee to the side draw leading to box canyon. Crawled up through those cattle tromped craters like a dream. It was a longer route but much safer than going up over the canyon wall or down through the bottom.Tomorrow we get my brother his deer.
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