That's a beauty! Is that a Muley/Whitetail?
The fork splits look like the mule deer from my Colorado days.
I've killed a couple/three whities here in Iowa that have split G-2's. Not all that uncommon.
That deer sure looks like a whitetail to me.
Nice one!
The dude sure does look grumpy though, what gives?
Hey, that’s my smiley face!
Got home late last night and slept in, so here’s the story.
Y’all will have to cut me a little slack here, I’m not a gifted narrator like Travelling Man or our friend DocRocket
.
This is actually the tale of 2 bucks, and unintended consequences, initiated by my need to kill some hogs that have destroyed 2 of my feeders at this location. They’ve not been able to take out the current one, but are making absolute pigs of themselves (Pun intended) and my trail cams were showing very few deer but literally 20-30 hogs visiting the feeder at one time.
So, I figured as there would be an opportunity for multiple shots if they showed up, why not take something with a little pizzazz that I can squeeze off 4 or 5 shots in a hurry, because in all practicality, hogs can move surprisingly fast when sufficiently motivated, and 4 or 5 aimed shots would be all I would have time for.
Enter the 450 Bushmaster. 250gn Hornady XTP’s at 2150fps should be a good motivator not to come back, I thought.
I got into my stand at about 2pm, very pleasant day, and watched the woods come back to life around me. Had a spike, and a small 4 point wander around in front of me eating acorns, as the hogs had vacuumed the corn around the feeder earlier. At around 4pm I saw movement about 120 yards from me in the creek bottom on the far side of the feeder. I could see antlers and glassed the deer through the thick brush. I decided he was a shooter and knew that if he kept moving in the direction he was going, he would walk through a clear spot where I had a shot. Picked up the AR and waited. When he stepped into the partial clearing, I squeezed the trigger and he fell where he stood. Pretty decent (For the area) 8 pointer.
Pretty pleased with myself, I figured that maybe the bonus would be the arrival of the hogs when the feeder went off, about 30 minutes to wait. Filled one of my buck tags, and cut down the hog population by a few. What could be better than that?
The feeder was set to go off at 4:45pm, so I sat back and looked at the buck through the binoculars, closed my eyes for a few minutes, and listened to the sounds of the birds and squirrels trying to make a living.
At 4:20pm, I heard a branch snap in the thick bottom to the right of where I shot the 8 pointer, and thought the hogs were making their way up for dinner. I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t replaced the round that put the buck down, so hastily but quietly ejected the magazine and thumbed in another cartridge. Just as I was about to insert the magazine, a doe stepped out into the clearing, looked behind her and walked a few step and stopped again. I thought I was busted. I slid the mag in as quietly as I could, but even holding the mag release button, there was that “click” as it slid home. The doe looked in my direction and I froze for what seemed an hour, but was only about 30 seconds. Her tail was halfway up, but she never blew or stomped. She was about 20 yards from my stand.
She looked behind her again, and walked a few steps, and then Mr. Big stepped into the clearing. While they were paying attention to each other, I slowly turned to my right and brought the rifle into position. I squeezed off the second shot of the day, and he fell without taking a step. The doe took off without a shot opportunity, but I was more interested in the buck, or course.
It was a good day, especially when I went to that stand with the intention of culling a few hogs. Sometimes things just work out better than you expected, and I’m thankful.
A footnote on the 450 Bushmaster: Obviously, one can’t argue with the results. Both bucks never took a step, as 250gns at over 2400fps has some mojo. Being old school, I like to see 2 holes, and lots of leakage. Neither bullet exited, despite both being broadside behind the shoulder shots. So I have mixed feelings. I would venture to say that if shot placement is not perfect, the chances of recovering a deer without a tracking dog would be pretty slim in the absence of a blood trail. Very little blood from the entrance hole on both deer, and even though they were lung shots, no blood from the mouth on either. I suppose absorbing all of the 2500 ft/lb of energy is what delivered the quick kills.
Just something the think about. I still like the old “small hole going in, and big hole exiting”. makes for easier tracking, especially in an area that has dense vegetation. Anyhoo, that’s my story.
