Well I wasn't expecting much this year due to my new job and the training schedule but I finally got a break and was able to get out. The morning came and gone with only two does appearing below me in a big open meadow. At around 9AM, I had a small forkie come out of the brush line around 300 yards and watched him as he traveled down below my hill side for water. I decided to give it a half hour more before I started a slow walk up the ridge line about 600 yards away. Just as I got up to check out the oak dotted meadow below me, I caught movement 200 yards ahead of me. As I put my binos up, I can clearly see that it was a nice 3X3 so I drop my pack and sit down between two sage brush.
The buck continues to walk further ahead and begin to walk up a ridge 400 yards away to its bed. All of a sudden I hear snorting and bounding sounds of a deer next to me and see that the small forkie made me. That caught the attention of the 3X and he stops to look at the bounding forkie. I get a range on him and my leupold range finder shows he's 425 yards away. Now I have shot paper at 500 and so I figured this would be a great opportunity to put lead on a real deer. I place my crosshairs on my vortex viper scope right on his back and wait for the wind to die down. Now all this time, I'm having some major buck fever and cant seem to get the gun to stay still. I'm stuck in a sitting position with this heavy rifle and I cant get the scope to settle down.
I sinch down on the sling and finally get the rifle to stop moving. I line up the scope and squeeze a round off only to see the rough hit a rock in front of the deer. The buck flinches but just sits there looking at the forkie. I chamber another round and this time I didn't realize a dead branch was right in front of my barrel and again I squeeze another round only to have shattered branch blow back at me :-\
To my amazement, the buck is just sitting there like nothing is going on. I look around and find a small bench with a opening in some thick sage. I belly crawl to the spot and get into a really comfortable prone position. This time I made sure my barrel was sticking out past the sage and get the buck lined up still at the 425 mark. I wait again for the wind to die down and take a deep breath. Just as I released my breath half way, I squeeze the trigger on my trusty 700P in .308 and send one down to the buck. I clearly see he's hit really good and he collapses about 5 yards from where he was hit. I was so relieved, I hollered a "thank you Lord" as loud as I can and sat there in amazement.
Now two days prior me and my 7 yo son was there and we couldn't make it count so I was super bummed that he wasn't there to witness this hunt. I'm hoping I can get him out for a fall turkey in a few weeks.
The buck continues to walk further ahead and begin to walk up a ridge 400 yards away to its bed. All of a sudden I hear snorting and bounding sounds of a deer next to me and see that the small forkie made me. That caught the attention of the 3X and he stops to look at the bounding forkie. I get a range on him and my leupold range finder shows he's 425 yards away. Now I have shot paper at 500 and so I figured this would be a great opportunity to put lead on a real deer. I place my crosshairs on my vortex viper scope right on his back and wait for the wind to die down. Now all this time, I'm having some major buck fever and cant seem to get the gun to stay still. I'm stuck in a sitting position with this heavy rifle and I cant get the scope to settle down.
I sinch down on the sling and finally get the rifle to stop moving. I line up the scope and squeeze a round off only to see the rough hit a rock in front of the deer. The buck flinches but just sits there looking at the forkie. I chamber another round and this time I didn't realize a dead branch was right in front of my barrel and again I squeeze another round only to have shattered branch blow back at me :-\
To my amazement, the buck is just sitting there like nothing is going on. I look around and find a small bench with a opening in some thick sage. I belly crawl to the spot and get into a really comfortable prone position. This time I made sure my barrel was sticking out past the sage and get the buck lined up still at the 425 mark. I wait again for the wind to die down and take a deep breath. Just as I released my breath half way, I squeeze the trigger on my trusty 700P in .308 and send one down to the buck. I clearly see he's hit really good and he collapses about 5 yards from where he was hit. I was so relieved, I hollered a "thank you Lord" as loud as I can and sat there in amazement.
Now two days prior me and my 7 yo son was there and we couldn't make it count so I was super bummed that he wasn't there to witness this hunt. I'm hoping I can get him out for a fall turkey in a few weeks.
