Twice in the last 2 days that is.

Sunday am your old M77 25-06 accounted for an ancient old 3pt Blacktail at 311 yards.  I was very impressed by how the quarter bore did with this buck.  Thru and thru even with breaking both shoulders. I was not the shooter, was my best bud and we were on his ranch.




And last night, while relaxing with my son, I get a call from my best bud.  "Git yer ass up here and shoot that goddamn old forked horn NOW".......OK, on my way.  So, I grab my son, throw on my boots and grab my Grandpa's old M70 7mm mag that he gave me a few weeks before he passed 13 years ago.  I call my bud, he says he's watchin this old forkie chasin does around, he has to be 18" wide, 2" tall eyeguards but is past his prime, want him taken out of the gene pool.  Sure, I'll help, no prob!  Was thinkin how great it would be with my son  to be with me when this happened.  Well, I stopped at the top driveway to go up on the ranch, grab the kid to put him in the front seat, flip in the hubs and off we go.  2nd corner lil peta is asleep, binos on his chest.  We make it up to the top and my bud is pointin down the hill, but I don't see the buck.  I did see the small one that was runnin with him, but no the big one.  So my bud stays with the truck and my sleeping son and I go on a quick walk.  Check all the usual areas where we see the bucks up there and nothing.  I round the last corner, look up the hill and in the grass I can make out a head and horns, nothing more. Not the buck he called about...but.....I laid down in the road, shimmied my way into a good prone position and was ready to wait him out.  Yeah..that lasted all of 30 seconds, I whooped at him, yelled, nothing.  Really wanted him to stand up, he was pushin 270yds or so across the draw and uphill.  So, I took my hat in my right hand, still layin down and tossed it up in the air....he went from bedded to full tilt tearin up the hill before my hat even hit the ground.  I led him, swung thru and kissed the trigger and there was no doubt when that solid whack echoed back across at me.  Perfectly behind the shoulder and exited just in front of the opposite shoulder.  By the time I made it across I could see my truck drivin up to the top of the hill and my bud packing my son down the hill.  To have lil Peta there while we were slidin the insides out was funny to say the least.  He loved it and so did I.  

Oct 30th, 18 1/4" wide by 14" tall 4x4, rough estimated at 6yrs old, my 2nd biggest blacktail of my life, almost a year to the day away from the largest blacktail I've ever taken from last year.

Quoted: GOOD ONE!!  4x4 Blactails are not easy to find, I hope your getting him mounted.

He's goin to the taxadermist on Friday for a European mount.  Havn't even green scored him yet, but I doubt he'll be much over the 125 mark anyways.  Doesn't really even matter, was a great buck in great company after a hard season.


Spambo, I bust my ass for these guys all year long just for this sort of thing.  They are family to me, make me feel welcome and I try my damnest to repay them thru-out the year.  The time I put in there on that ranch and at the jobs helps ensure me that I've got a place like this to hunt, a place like that to go shoot whenever I want.  I make sure to give my bud and his folks/uncle/grandparents handshakes and whatever I can think of to let them know I appreciate it.  Just to let you know, there won't be any backstrap put into my freezer off of this buck.  I'll end up giving it all to them.  It's the least I can do.


Fidel, yes, damn skippy poor deer.  Quarter sized entrance hole, baseball sized exit hole  Even at 270yds a 7mm 150gr Nosler Partition does a good bit of damage on these little local deer (and he was on the larger size bodywise) A 22lr just has too much drop at that range