Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors I failed my 99......

After buying and setting up my new-to-me EG .300, I was determined to slay a nice Blacktail buck with it this year. I probably hunted 10 full or mostly full days. I saw a legal buck on every day, except one IIRC. There was rain, lots of wind - the gusty stuff...and of course the fog our valley is famous for. About a week ago I had a nice 3 point with great eye guards in my sights. Thinking I could do better, I let him and his buddy walk.... I now wish I'd whacked him... oh well.
I was actually taking two rifles on each trip and using the one most suitable for the terrain and method planned. So the 99 went on walks in the timber and while sneaking around in thickets. "Killer", my Kimber 6.5CM went on the stand sits where shots could be expected to start at 250-ish and go out to 350/400 yards. That's what happen the other day. The buck walked out, looking mature and with a nice thick rack. He was in full, bright morning sun facing me head on at a ranged 363 yards. I was sitting in my quads foot well glassing, parked in a poison oak patch on an otherwise open meadow. I dialed and got ready. When he gave me a broadside opportunity I shot and heard the bullet strike. He started down the hill towards me, all humped up and hurting. When he came out in an open spot in the trees, I got two more shots that didn't hit??? I was puzzled about that. They were good shot opportunities and I should have hit..? Then the fog rolled in and I couldn't see a thing!! That gave me time to think.... Hey Stupid! He's getting closer and your dialed for 360....need a bigger clue? When the fog rose I was able to glass him up in his bed - lucky there! He's now at 280 yards and I killed him right there.
It turns out that he isn't near as big or mature as he looked on that sunny hill side - the 3 point with eye guards was bigger. But he's still a nice buck and I was happy with him. The quad ride in was pretty steep and I knew I needed to load the front end down for the trip out. It worked out fine. I took that picture after driving to the top of the hill. So, in a way, I failed both of my goals... a mature buck with the 99. But I'm happy with the results anyway. Now I have a year to play with the EG and get more comfortable with it's abilities and mine with it....

Great story. Congratulations!

Good job!

Well done! Thanks for posting.

Congrats. Always enjoy dead deer pics.

Congrats! I’m gonna be taking some 99’s out this weekend!

Well done , deer hunting montana next week with my savage 99

Nice deer and great story.

Great post! There's always next year!

Now that’s having fun…..

Dood. Nice hunt. I'm jealous.

Great buck. Great story. Glad you got your buck!

However, the 300 Savage is perfectly capable of killing at 300 yards. Sighted in at 200 you hold 12" high at 300. It's an easy hold. I killed an nice buck antelope not that many years ago with a 300 EG at 298 yards as measured by a laser. Things get a little dicer past 300 yards though and the hold gets a little trickier.

I've shot the EG at 200 yards and would feel confident with it to 300. Beyond that, the heavy trigger and 4x scope become a handicap...in my opinion. That it will kill, is without doubt.

The Kimber is a better tool for any shots exceeding 300 yards, for me. It wears a SWFA 3x9 and has a #2 trigger. A Leica range finder tells me how far it is and the drop chart tells me how much adjustment is needed. All that works in my favor....and I still don't get it right every time!

We have a steel plate range set up to 400 yards to practice on. I'll shoot the .300 there this winter and spring just to see how it does.

I'm agreeing with you. Your 12 inch hold at 300 become more like 30 inches at 400.

Unless you have memorized the ballistic tables and know exactly how far you are shooting and there is no wind and no elevation and temperature factors and so on and so on, it gets a lot trickier.

Nice buck, cool pics, Love those 99s. thumbs up