Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Deer Lost = using a 243

Boy, that one has been eating good. Ain't he a potbellied little crud? Nice deer and congratulations to the young lady.

Was thinking the same thing myself...

Thanks! He was corn fed

Nice picture

That a DANG NICE BUCK, especially for a FIRST. I assure you my first 'didn't have NO horns'.

Tell her I said, "Congratulations" and many more.
Jerry

I hope that day is soon. You don't know what you've been missing.

Merry Christmas

Muledeer, you mentioned shooting a big buck that doesn't score for crap, but is a real gagger buck. I shot this one a few years ago. He has major cool factor, but only nets 126 B.C. He has 8 scorable points on the passenger side and 2 on the drivers side. He is just short of 31" wide. He was the biggest boddied buck I have ever seen and had a 29" neck. It wasn't even the rut. I was back in the sticks too far in to pack the cape, horns and meat out, so I left the cape. I had a heck of a time finding a cape big enough to fit him for mounting. I bought one out of Northern Canada.

I had him displayed at one of the wild life shows in Salt Lake City. He was on the wall with a lot of truly nice bucks. He was the talk of the show. He is just flat out cool in my book. I have never seen anything like him before or since. Flinch

That buck is a BEAST!

Flinch,

That buck is way cool!

I bet he tasted good too, since it was before the rut.

To tell the truth, these days I'm more interested in a buck like that than a typical deer. What I'd really like to find someday is an OLD forkhorn. I have the skull and antlers from a winter-kiled buck hanging in my garage that would have qualified--not quite 30" wide and well over 5" at the bases.

Flinch, that is neat.

How about a little write up on the whole story?

i thought this was a thread on 243's and 95 grain bt's

i guess i cant read ......maybe i missed something somewwhere

Flinch - that is a great looking buck! Congratulations.

I've seen some out-sized old forked horns here in Washington the past few years. The big 2x2's are untouchable here. Sure are neat bucks. I'd take a big buck like yours in a heartbeat!

Meanwhile, back to the .243 thread...

I agree that is an impressive "trophy" even if it would never come close to a record book score. Surely less of those kind of trophies around than 170 class mule deer bucks.

One of the most unusual and impressive trophies I ever saw was a whitetail buck taken by a friend in the 1980's. This buck had antler bases of 5 3/4", 25" main beams and 14" tines. However that's all it had...main beams and one tine on each side. Just a 4-point, but WHAT a 4-point. Didn't "score" well at all, but everyone who saw it went goggle eyed and started the ohhhh....ahhhh stuff. It was a truely great and unique trophy as is yours.

When I first started hunting, my first several bucks were all killed with the .243 and 100 grain Hornady interlocks. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing better. My sisters, dad and I have used this bullet for 40+ mule deer kills. We only lost one buck. He dropped at the shot and never twitched. When we got over to him across the 300 yard canyon, he was gone. No blood, no nothing. Never found him. I don't know where my dad hit him. My dad is a heck of a shot and I have never seen him miss a deer. It was a real head scratcher.

As far as that big buck tasting good goes, he was the foulest tasting deer I have ever tried to eat. I tried everything to make the meat tolerable. I ended up throwing it away. I notified the DNR about the bad meat and they said, "It happens, just let us know where you are throwing it away, just in case someone calls and complains." I did so and all was well.

I had the same thing happen on a cow elk two years ago. HORRIBLE tasting meat. Again, notified the DNR and all was well when I pitched it. I have only had to do throw away a few animals over many years of hunting, but it happens. Flinch

Flinch,

That's too bad about the meat. I've encountered a few animals that tasted bad for no apparent reason myself, including one muley doe that appeared to be in perfect health.

It's very hard to figure out what went wrong when the animal disappears without leaving any definitive evidence behind!

+1, and I am sure Flinch Sr. did not...Flinch - Lol. Not w/a 243, but at 300 yds...wind or possible brush deflection...

JB would a grazing spine shot do that? Figure maybe a high hold at that range.

Noticed this thread had over 3500 views...shows the controversy over headstamps....

Flinch, you have an impressive track record for sure, and that is a mighty fine buck above - congrats. My first Mulie was the best eating deer I have ever had, killed in Rifle Co...

Thanks BR! Funny you should mention a good eating buck. I helped a fellow campfire member get a 340 bull a couple of years ago near my home. He drew a depredation tag for "any bull" in an area I know well. We looked over a herd of 15 6x6 bulls before he dropped the hammer on one. The unit is a desert area with lots of sagebrush and cedar trees. He gave me part of a backstrap to take home. I was SURE that old bull would be tough and gamey. Out of many dozens of elk and hundreds of deer, moose and antelope, that was the BEST eating piece of meat I have ever had. It was so tender that it melted in your mouth. You just never know.

The cow elk I shot last year was 1.5 years old. I take VERY good care of my meat and am very careful not to get any hair or anything on it when I cut it up. I boned her on the side of the mountain and cooled the meat quick. I trimmed it and froze it the next day. It was so strong and gamey that none of us could eat it.

On another note, I shot a 500+ lb. wild boar a few years ago. Everyone told me to just throw him away, because wild boar, especially that big are NASTY! I hate wasting meat, so I cut a hunk off, went in the house and fried it up. It was delicious! I butchered him up and all the meat was gone in less than 5 months. Everyone loved it. You just gotta love a 12" pork chop on the BBQ. I've never had any that big before or since and he had very little fat on him. Awesome meat!

I've killed a lot of boars and haven't had a bad one yet. Flinch

flinch,im calling B.S. on the 500 # boar, in UTAH? and size of boar ? we have a lot of pigs in south texas, and its rare to find one that heavy, also im very familar, with utah and as far as i know theres no pigs in eastern utah border to border, please enlighten me.rio7

RI07,

Where did Flinch say he killed the boar in Utah?

I live in Montana and have killed a bunch of wild pigs over the years--in places as diverse as California, Missouri, Texas (and not just South Texas) and the Czech Republic.

Ive tried to kill some bores in Utah....