Several years ago I met a nice old guy I bought a rifle from. It was no different than any other quality transaction I’ve had in the gun world. Well since then I’ve bought 7 other rifles from him. Over that time we’ve become very good friends. I remember seeing this M7 MS and told him if he ever sold it, to let me know. It was one of his top three deer rifles and I felt honored to get to purchase it. I finally decided to take it out starting a hunt with my father on November 1st. That morning I carried a different rifle(I bought from Tom) and had bucks all over me. Just not the right one. So I put my dad there that evening and hunted not too far away on another ridge. We got to our stands about 2:45 and immediately the action picked up. Again little bucks cruising around and checking all the ladies. Then I noticed a much larger deer causally walking down the ridge away from me. I thought oh it’s that one 8 I saw the other day. I glassed him as he was about gone and thought he looks heavier and better than I thought. Oh well....my mind wondered for a minute and then I blew it off. As the afternoon wore on, I continued to see deer movement. I was looking for a heavy horned tall 8 point. About 6:10 I heard a subtle grunt to my left and there he was (the deer I let go earlier). The light was different and so was my mood. I wrestled for a few seconds whether to shoot or not and decided I was going to take this deer. He stopped and I squeezed one off with the Model 7 MS (.308) and he didn’t take a step. Not a move. No tail flipping. No oak leaf shuffle. Stone cold dead. He was still on his belly and back legs tucked under him when I got to him. I was so happy. It meant a lot and I called Tom immediately to let him know his rifle was still doing “ good work”. He was obviously glad to hear about it and I was proud to tell him. I’ve got several more rifles from Tom, but I rarely hunt with a couple of them. This one will come out from time to time. It’s a PERFECT tree stand/woods rifle.
Pics of rifle and deer
https://imgur.com/a/n9WsX7k
