Got my big one

ericbc7 said:

View attachment 619123View attachment 619124While not the biggest body buck I have ever taken this one has the biggest rack.
On last Friday of ND rifle season I was at our cabin to fill my tag after missing a beautiful buck on the first day of the season. After watching the activity for an hour or so I saw a group of 3 does to the SE and would check on them every 10 min or so and they wandered closer to my position in the wheat stubble. I spotted this guy to the east about 1300 yds eyeing those does and set up and ranged the does. He saw them and started over and I started to get hopeful and started to range him over and over as he got closer. At about 800 yds my sig rangefinder started to stop ranging as battery level dropped probably due to cold as it was no longer in my pocket. Last range I had on the does was 630 yds but they were wandering somewhat closer and I thought they might be close to 550+-. I dialed 500 and waited and range finder stopped giving me anything - change batteries every season! When I thought this big guy (to me) stopped at about 500 and turned broadside it took the shot with my suppressed Tikka 7mm mag. Nothing- he just stood then and looked around, 2nd shot he started moving and 3rd shot I heard the whack and he dropped, unfortunately he got up and started moving away with injured leg. Several shots later he disappeared in the pines and I knew he would lay down. I went back to truck and got my 45-70 with green dot and started tracking the blood trail and after a bit of a walk, I saw his horns about 60 yards away and he saw me and stood up and started hustling out of there, I hit him with the 420 gr cast and he went down again and got up again and one more and he stayed down.
I regret the first shot didn't end things but am glad he didn't get away. 5x5 perfectly symmetrical. Turns out he was almost certainly the buck we missed on opening day. Good luck everyone.

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ericbc7 said:

View attachment 619123View attachment 619124While not the biggest body buck I have ever taken this one has the biggest rack.
On last Friday of ND rifle season I was at our cabin to fill my tag after missing a beautiful buck on the first day of the season. After watching the activity for an hour or so I saw a group of 3 does to the SE and would check on them every 10 min or so and they wandered closer to my position in the wheat stubble. I spotted this guy to the east about 1300 yds eyeing those does and set up and ranged the does. He saw them and started over and I started to get hopeful and started to range him over and over as he got closer. At about 800 yds my sig rangefinder started to stop ranging as battery level dropped probably due to cold as it was no longer in my pocket. Last range I had on the does was 630 yds but they were wandering somewhat closer and I thought they might be close to 550+-. I dialed 500 and waited and range finder stopped giving me anything - change batteries every season! When I thought this big guy (to me) stopped at about 500 and turned broadside it took the shot with my suppressed Tikka 7mm mag. Nothing- he just stood then and looked around, 2nd shot he started moving and 3rd shot I heard the whack and he dropped, unfortunately he got up and started moving away with injured leg. Several shots later he disappeared in the pines and I knew he would lay down. I went back to truck and got my 45-70 with green dot and started tracking the blood trail and after a bit of a walk, I saw his horns about 60 yards away and he saw me and stood up and started hustling out of there, I hit him with the 420 gr cast and he went down again and got up again and one more and he stayed down.
I regret the first shot didn't end things but am glad he didn't get away. 5x5 perfectly symmetrical. Turns out he was almost certainly the buck we missed on opening day. Good luck everyone.

Click to expand...