Well like always I spent the first week of rifle season at the lease and now I am back with a few pics. With the warm weather mature bucks were very few and far between.

Opening morning I saw these two bucks but passed on them (pics were not taken opening morning). The first one I have named “Mr. Brows” due to his nice brow tines and the other buck is a 9 point that I have seen on a few occasions. Both are nice mature deer but not what I was after.



Opening morning another hunter and forum member took this nice 10 point. I am actually posting a pic he took because after blood trailing this deer for a long time I didn’t have time to take any pics of my own and still be able to make it out to my stand in time to hunt. I think we assembled the best blood tracking team in the history of deer hunting to find this deer and I was proud to be a part of it.


That afternoon another hunter took a 9 point that another hunter had passed on that morning but he left before I got to see it or take any pics.

Sunday morning I saw one of the coolest things I have ever seen. When walking back to my ATV I looked out across a valley and saw something running up the hill. I picked up the binos and could see it was a herd of goats on the other ranch. They ran for a little ways then stopped and looked back down the hill. That’s when I noticed two very large Coyotes dragging off one of the little goats they had caught just seconds before. They probably drug the goat about 30 yards then proceeded to rip it apart while I watched. Nothing I could do though since it was on the other ranch. Very cool to see that in real life though.

Monday night another hunter and forum member took a 8 point but I never got to see it or get any pics of that one either.

Next morning my Dad shot this 10 point. Wasn’t able to get any good pics of it because it was getting really warm and we needed to get the deer to town before it started to spoil. He said he came out about 7:30am running a Doe and had to make a quick decision on him or he would have been gone. One shot with the 270 Weatherby Mag and it was lights out right where he stood. Not sure how old he was but he had a very large body for that area and his knees were starting to callus . At first I thought it was the same buck I had camera pics of back in September but its not because this deer has much longer G-4’s.


Here you can see how big his body and neck were.


Wednesday morning I got in the stand well before daylight. After awhile I could start to see some movement under the feeder and could make out 3 black pigs. I must have been sick in the head because usually I would jump at the chance to shoot pigs but I really didn’t want to screw up my hunt since I was looking for a specific deer . I figured since there wasn’t any corn on the ground yet they would move along and that’s exactly what they did after a few minutes. Then about 20 minutes later they came back and that really ticked me off . This time I picked up the 6.8 and sent a 110 grain Accubond into the front shoulders of the pig I call “Little White Feet” due to her 4 white feet. She dropped right there and then I started looking for one of her little friends to join her on her journey to hog heaven. They weren’t dumb enough to hang around or come back though. That Accubond sure made a mess under that feeder though !!!!! On a positive note this was the first taste of blood for the 6.8 and I couldn’t be happier with the results.


Here you can see why I named her “Little White Feet”. I wont be getting any more game cam pics of her anymore .


Friday afternoon another hunter took this really TALL 8 point. One of the best 8’s I have ever put my hands on in fact. Pictures don’t do this deer justice at all.

This morning I got up and told my dad we were going to go home after the morning hunt. There were several reasons I was ready to go but that’s not important right now. The good thing is one last morning is all I needed to close the book on a buck I have been watching for 3 years now. First time I saw him he was a main frame 10 with 5 little sticker points but was only a 3 year old so I let him go. Last year we had a really bad drought and he lost all his stickers but still had his twin crab claw clean 10 frame. I figured if he was let go another year he might grow them again this year. Well this year for what ever reason he didn’t grow the stickers OR the other G4 but he put on lots of mass. At 5.5 years old I figured it was time to take him out……….only problem was I couldn’t ever find him. Well like I said I decided to give it one last try this morning before heading home and guess who showed up!! This morning I had a really nice mature 8 and 7 point fighting and trying to kill each other near the feeder. I guess with all the noise it got his attention and next thing I know he is 20 yards to my right dead down wind of me watching the fight. About the time I reach for the 6.8 ARP he starts trotting over to the fight and I had to let one fly at about 70 yards just before he entered the wood line. It was a very rushed shot and I didn’t feel good about it at all. Meanwhile a couple of the other deer went back to feeding and acting like nothing had ever happened so I figured that couldn’t be good because if my buck was hit then he must have went a pretty good ways otherwise those deer wouldn’t be standing there with a dead deer near by……………..WRONG!!!! I got out of my stand and walked 10 steps before seeing his white belly not even 20 yards from where I shot him. The 110 Accubond had found its mark crashing through both front shoulders before exiting. I am starting to really really like this round a lot!




It was a week filled with mixed emotions but at least it ended on a positive note. Hope everyone else had a great opener.

Nice buck cut the tongue off next time and it will look better

That last one is one of the prettiest bucks ive ever seen

Great pictures and another fine chapter in the story book.

Thanks JCB and Congrats on your 2fer with the 6.8 ARP.

I am really glad that rifle has worked out so well for you.

Great write up Justin

great write up, really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing.

Very nice deer.

as always

Great story and great buck but x 2 on the tongue.

good write up and that 6.8 put in some work,and to top it all off you got a good buck.

Thats what im talking about..that was awesome..GREAT DER JUSTIN!..im in the blind rigbt now looking at your post..pix..no piggies yet..about to decide withe big ten showing up to take my lights down and just have this place for deer only..except for after season is over..thats a great buck..congrats!!!

Great recap of the week! Really like that highbeam 8 in the first set of pics. Congrats on a really great looking buck with very nice mass. He has a great cape also.

Awesome pics and stories!

2

NICE!

Great dog catchers on that last one! Beautiful buck

Great write up and nice buck. Congrats

Congrats!

Congrats bud!

congrats

Thanks everyone.

Cant wait to do it again this weekend!!

Nice deer ! Glad someone had a good weekend me and my dad just lost our hunting spot and had to move 6 feeders/stands ! Congrats 6.8 is my most favorite round yet

Great write up and nice buck. Congrats