My wife and I recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary. She has shown some interest in shooting an axis at the ranch I manage in Mason. We have some great deer this year and when I saw this guy growing out I new he would be a great first buck for her. After getting the green light from the boss I got to work putting a hunt together. It took a few trips but she finally got him Saturday evening. It is so green they are not coming out to feed much. I had to pattern him over the last few weeks and hope we could catch him crossing a pasture in the afternoon. A well placed bail of alfalfa in the pasture slowed him down long enough for her to hammer him with my 300 wsm at 177 yards. She made a great shot. To say I am proud of her would be an understatement. His body was absolutely enormous. My scale broke but I would put him over 250. His bases were almost 7 inches with 28 inch beams. I need to find someone to freeze dry the velvet on the antlers now so I can mount him.

Here she is waiting for him to show.


It took some doing getting my timer set on my camera but I finally got this good pic of both of us.

Congrats to both of you!!!

Congrats on a fine trophy

Awesome man!!! Congrats to you both!!!

Well done!!

FANTASTIC!

Congrats on the 10 yr anniversary and the nice axis

Great Job Brother, and Happy Anniversary!

Congratulations to her on her trophy and to the both of you on the marriage. Great photo of the two of you. You set it up perfectly.

Congrats on the 10! for 10 more. Great axis and love the lever action!!

Awesome! Congratulations to you both.

Mighty fine! Great photo and conrats to the two of you.

That should become a tradition! Congratulations to you both. I agree re. weight his body looks huge.

Thank you for the kind words everyone! I truly appreciate them all. We have gone through some pretty tough stuff together during the past ten years. We both found this anniversary to be a pretty big milestone. For you that don't know, our first child was born with severe disabilities and only made it to six years old. It put a huge strain on our marriage but we got through it. We are really trying not to take the good times for granted these days. She feels more like a war buddy than a spouse! thanks again, John

Congratulation on the 10 years. Congrats on a beautiful axis. And condolence on your loss of a sibling. You and wife have endured a storm of things that will make your life stronger. Hope you have many great days ahead. And thanks for posting the great picture of game you and wife.

Time well spent together. Looks like an awesome hunting partner making some awesome memories.

Congratulations , a great trophy and I am sure a memory was made .

Congrats to your wife, very nice axis buck.

Nice!!!