Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting That didn't take long

Haven't seen anything to get excited about for the 2 months of bow season, pretty well resigned myself to a couple freezer does and tag soup on the buck tag. Yesterday afternoon a nice heavy 10 walks through the clover patch checking does and leaves. Figured he knew rifle season was this morning and was doing final checks before holing up for a while.
This morning I watched a few doe and forkies work through the patch on the way into the heavy timber. I thought the morning was pretty well done since this patch is close to the house and they don't stick around long. About 45 minutes into the season I noticed a couple more does wandering into the other end of the patch from the neighboring creek followed by a nice buck, maybe the same one as the afternoon before. Got the old Ruger M77 Tang Safety 250-3000 on him and waited for him to turn from facing directly away. When I got what I wanted, I slipped a bullet through the ribs aiming for the far shoulder. He dropped straight down and I never saw him move. I was trying a Speer 100 gr Hot Core this year to see how they compared to the 100 Hornady Interlocks I've always used and had good luck with. Load was 35 gr H4895.
When I skinned him out, I found the bullet between the shoulder and hide. It seperated when I pulled it from the hide but was intact when I found it. Weighs 66 grains after taking out a couple ribs on each side and centering the far shoulder. An example of 1 so not definitive, but promising for sure.
Rack was kind of narrow at 17 1/2" inside spread, but real heavy with a broken G2. After not seeing anything for two months I wasn't going to turn him down.
As he fell

With the old pre-warning Ruger M77