Sorry for the lack of details......
We hunted a small ranch that belonged to my cousin and her husband. They ranched about 22k acres. We were far southwest corner of the state near Keystone. This was basically a DIY over the counter hunt. Season opened on a Saturday, our first day to hunt was actually that Sunday. There were 3 other deer killed on Saturday that were equal to or greater than these. Sunday morning first light we put a stalk on a decent buck leaving the alfalfa pivot. After he went over the top of a hill, we never saw him again. That was the only shooter buck we saw that morning. About 10AM we got word that my cousin’s grandson had a deer down and we went to help. After a good lunch and a power nap we went back out. We drove up to the top of a hill just above a group of trees and didn’t see anything. On the way back down, my buck was with a group of does less than 10 minutes after we initially went through there. He was less than a 100 yards, plenty close for my father in laws .264 Win Mag.
We got him dressed and loaded and we still had good daylight so we headed towards the same pivot from that morning. There was nothing there so we went further west to a windmill. As we approached we could see some deer on the side of the hill. There was a decent buck in the group. We drove slowly towards them using the windmill tower as cover. We topped a small high spot and decided to get out and try and get closer. As soon as we got out, I saw my brother’s buck closer to the bottom of the hill. I almost blew the whole thing because they were still focused on the smaller buck. Once I got their attention and showed them this deer, my brother made a lights out shot from 303 yards with my dad’s 7MM Mag.
Not too long after this hunt, the ranch was sold. This was my 3rd successful and last hunt. Best part of this story for me was when I told my brother he was using our dad’s rifle. I assumed he knew, but he was a little emotional when I mentioned it.
Toddy time after the hunt....
I have some other pics of deer taken on Saturday, but I can’t get them to load for some reason. This is a nice deer as well.