I hunted the third rifle season which turned out to be unseasonably warm. Short sleeves, 70 degrees in November at 9,000 feet. Who would have thought?

On the fourth day of the hunt I saw this guy walk out of a patch of oak brush and bed down in a small sage flat 435 yards away facing me. I was above him glassing from a large rock knob looking over several small ridges. I thought I could shoot him from where I was but closer would be better. You never know how it is going to turn out but since he just laid down I figured I had a little time.

I managed to climb through about 70 yards of oak brush which put me on another flat above and only 253 yards from the buck still bedded. I got prone resting on a small sage bush and centered the crosshairs on the front of his left shoulder as he was quartered to me. Took a few deep breaths and squeezed the trigger.

I heard the impact and he never moved. Hit him just above the shoulder angled toward the off hip. The bullet didn't exit and probably came to rest somewhere in the paunch.

He is only 26" wide but has really nice forks! Hunting public land on a relatively easy to draw tag I have no complaints.

Shot him with a .270 (gasp I know) model 70 featherweight in a McMillan stock I picked up from the fire. 130 Partition did the trick.

Andy

That is an awesome buck! Nice job, congrats!

dandy

Nice buck! Congrats!

Excellent. I don't anyone who would not want be be in your shoes with that trophy. The 270 is a killer. I've shot one since 64. It has never failed me.

Nice buck

Heck of a buck!

That is a perfect buck - one like I've been after and have yet to find - congrats to you.

The cape on that buck is about as nice as you could ask for!!

Man that's a gorgeous deer. Love that big typical build, way to go!!

Congratulations!

"only 26" wide" - gotta love that...

Really nice buck there. Dang. I'm just a tad jealous... Thanks for sharing the story & photo - that's GREAT!

Guy

I would love to get a buck like that! Congrats.

Nice clean typical there!

Love the chocolate colored antlers.

Beautiful muley regardless, and taken off public land only adds to the accomplishment. Well done!

Sweet!

Beautiful buck and great photo - well done!

Classic all the way around!


ddj

Beautiful buck friend.
Amazing thing how the .270 kills stuff.
Over the years we have developed bigger rounds, and somehow the idea has come about amongst hunters with little field experience, that the 270 is no longer suitable for big game.
Fortunately, where I hunt, the deer and elk don't read and still fall over dead when I shoot them with my inadequate .270.

Great buck and story! Like the part about getting the gun here on the 'fire-I wonder has there ever been a "shot this with a (whatever) that I bought on the Campfire". I think it would go at least 13 pages....

Good going!

Very nice, great looking deer. That warm weather was really something this year.

Beautiful buck.


Travis

Nice buck and great story. I would love to whack one bedded down like that. Good job!

Yeah, just a baby....grin


Nice buck!

Gorgeous buck; congrats & thanks for sharing. I am turning green here...

+1 Andy. Sweet!

Great buck,Andy! Nice job on the stalk as well.

All the right gear,too.

Agree with Cobrad.....Typical boring, reliable, results from the 270 Winchester and 130 Nosler Partition.Seen it too many times over the years,and as recently as yesterday in fact.

LMAO when I hear some of the goofy comments on here about the "inadequacy" of the 270 Winchester,and guys running from bullet to bullet,crunching numbers and looking for imaginary DRT's.....just shoot a Partition.The DRT's will fall in place.

Considering the unseasonably mild temperatures back then, you did well enough, Andrew. That's a pretty oak-brush buck.

Great buck! Good story!

Congrats/Well done!

Jon

Thanks for all the kind words. It felt good to knock that buck down. After I came back from Wyoming antelope I only had a couple of days to hunt Oregon blacktails before I left for Colorado. I whiffed on a really nice blactail that still stings! Maybe next year...

I started hunting with a tang safety Ruger .270 that was my grandfathers. Since then I have played with a lot of other calibers but always find myself right back where I started. I wish somebody would have convinced me that 25 years ago as I could have saved a lot of money!!

Andy

Great deer Andy... congrat's!

Really a nice buck, Congrats.

That is a great buck.

Great buck!

And Partitions work.

Love those front forks and how hard his mains turn in. Really a pretty buck!

nice buck! Nice to know the 270 winnie still works well!

That's a great buck, I would have been real happy to get one like that.

Man, that's a beauty - Congrats!

Very nice! Congratulations!

Beautiful buck Andy! Sorry about the missed blacktail, but really, how big of a taxidermy bill can a guy handle in one fall?!

My goodness dude, I hope you washed the milk out of that baby's mouth. I think I can see the remnants of spots on that cape. Maybe it was a shadow off those incredible antlers though...

Partitions sure do suck . . .

Nice buck. Factory fodder or HL's?

Just picked up a .264 WM and thinking the 140 NPT might be the one-bullet-does-all-the-killin' for me.

Handloads with Nosler seconds. I usually run the 140 Accubonds but this gun shoots partitions better.

Nice buck and great stalk.

Very nice, I have to get to CO someday.