Thanks guys. She is happy and has talked about it all morning...which of course is what really matters.
David, your rifle has a significantly higher "cool factor". She shoots left handed and fell in love with this rifle when we bought it in 99 (I had the stock shortened an inch for her and the boys and re-blued it before i knew better). This is the first animal for her with it...finally. Load was 150g Accubond and 44g RL15 which chronographs 2650 in this rifle. Scope is a 3X Leupold.
The USAFA hunt is basically a 2 day private land guided hunt put on by the USFWS on the Academy. We scouted for 2 weeks prior and saw 5 deer that were significantly larger than this one but the Thurs before the Sat opening, the rut came to a screeching halt and the big deer we had been seeing on a daily basis vanished. This deer was right in that "should I shoot or wait" zone but given the change, the hunting pressure (14 other hunters), and it's still a really nice deer, she took it. She had already passed 4 other 4pt deer that AM. Like i said, she's happy so thats what matters.
Congrats to all of the Savage hunters and their fantastic successes. It's a warm feeling to see people confident enough to use rifles and cartridges that are every bit as capable as the newest fad stuff.
