I walked away from the house at 6:45 this morning in a steady rain with plans on doing a walk hunt to one of my favorite honey holes and spending a few hours overlooking a good feeding area where I thought a buck might come out when his bed got soggy. I was dressed for the monsoon and had a thermos of coffee in my Filson Surveyors vest under a layer of gore-tex. After I’d walked ½ a mile it was light enough to see a few hundred yards and I stopped in a good spot to watch a large open area but after seeing nothing moved on after five minutes or so. Fifteen minutes later I stopped again for five minutes to watch a saddle where deer cross the ridge but was anxious to get to my final destination so I took off the neoprene glove on my right hand but left the glove liner on so I would be ready for a shot in the dark of the pines and oaks I had to travel through.
Ten minutes later it was raining hard as I approached the spot I’d planned to set up at when I saw a buck 60 yards below me side hilling in my direction. It only took half a look to know he was a shooter and there was no shot if I sat down, it would have to be offhand, so I flipped up the lens caps and waited for him to get clear of a large black oak. At the shot he dipped his head and ran forward about 20 yards and stopped in some small pines but after a few seconds he keeled over. As you can see in the pics he’s not full blooded blacktail but a blacktail/muley hybrid common here. The most prevalent horn configuration for a mature buck in this area seems to be 3x3 so I was happy to find he was a 4x4 and fat as a pig to boot. We do get bigger bucks around here but not very often, this guy would be hard to pass up. The 129gr. Hornady from my 6.5x55 Sako Finnlite went clear through just above and behind his heart which jellied both lungs.
By now the rain was coming down in sheets. I snapped a few pics then gutted and halved him for the pack out. I had a little over a ¼ mile to pack him to a spot where I could get my Polaris to. On the last trip I came within 25 yards of two small 3x3s and a 22" wide 2x2, a good day for bucks for sure! After two trips with the buck and one with gear to the four wheeler trail I hot footed home for the quad. He was hanging in the meat tree by 10:00am.
My favorite way to spend a rainy day!
Ten minutes later it was raining hard as I approached the spot I’d planned to set up at when I saw a buck 60 yards below me side hilling in my direction. It only took half a look to know he was a shooter and there was no shot if I sat down, it would have to be offhand, so I flipped up the lens caps and waited for him to get clear of a large black oak. At the shot he dipped his head and ran forward about 20 yards and stopped in some small pines but after a few seconds he keeled over. As you can see in the pics he’s not full blooded blacktail but a blacktail/muley hybrid common here. The most prevalent horn configuration for a mature buck in this area seems to be 3x3 so I was happy to find he was a 4x4 and fat as a pig to boot. We do get bigger bucks around here but not very often, this guy would be hard to pass up. The 129gr. Hornady from my 6.5x55 Sako Finnlite went clear through just above and behind his heart which jellied both lungs.
By now the rain was coming down in sheets. I snapped a few pics then gutted and halved him for the pack out. I had a little over a ¼ mile to pack him to a spot where I could get my Polaris to. On the last trip I came within 25 yards of two small 3x3s and a 22" wide 2x2, a good day for bucks for sure! After two trips with the buck and one with gear to the four wheeler trail I hot footed home for the quad. He was hanging in the meat tree by 10:00am.
My favorite way to spend a rainy day!
