bailey1474
<strong>SPONSOR</strong>
Well, Lerch and I's deer hunting has been pretty crappy over the past few years. We just haven't seen a true shooter in about 3 years. Despite our woes, we got a chance to cut out of work about 3:00 PM today to go hunting and jumped @ the chance.
After a breif stop @ Lerch's house so he could shower and wash off all of that fufu smell good stuff he wears, we were off the to the woods. On the way down we were discussing how bad our luck had been. We hear stories of guys driving up on deer on 4 wheelers and shooting deer without even aiming everyday. Here we are w/many thousands of dollars in equipment and we can't even get a shot @ a decent buck. Basically, we had about 30 mins of wallowing in our own self pitty.
When we arrived, Lerch parked right next to my stand (a tank battery) and walked about 500 yds to the south over to his spot. Once he got settled in he radioed me to let me know that he was there. I gave him the OK and good luck reply.
I constanly glassed the treeline to the west as well as a group of scattered trees to the north. They were about 500 and 400 yds respectively. As the light started to fade I began thinking about how cold it was going to be sitting on that dang tank in the morning. Just then I caught a glimpse of a deer coming out of the timber into grass field to my west. I confirmed it was a doe w/my 8x36 Nikon binos but continued to watch the area. Another doe come out, then another and another and another. There were now 4 does in the grass and was looking @ them very intently w/my Nikons trying to paint some antlers on them. I then panned to the right where they had entered the field and there he was. All I could see was his head above a plum thicket but I knew he was a shooter immediatly, even through 8x binocs!!!!
I was standing on the platform @ the top of the ladder so I quickly climbed onto the tank and got a range. 471 yds. I then looked @ my chart for my 338 Edge and dialed 9 MOA up. There was not enought wind to worry about so I put the crosshairs on the buck. By this point, I've got one of the worst cases of buck feaver in history!!! The deer is walking right to left so I aimed @ the point of the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. BOOOOM!!!!!
I recovered from the recoil in enough time to see him hit the ground and give that one last effort to live before he lay motionless in the grass w/his long tines shining in the fading light!!!!
My radio then went off and it was Lerch asking "Was that you???" I was so excited that I don't remember but Lerch tells me all he heard was "He's down!!!!! He's down!!!!!" He then asked me if it was the tall buck he had some pics of and I said "Nope, this one's a whole lot better!!!"
When we finally found the deer (in my excitement I failed to mark where he was) he was much larger than I thought!!! His G3s were about 10-12" long!!!! I had hit farther back than I wanted but I knew if I could just put those 300 gr of Pb and Cu into him I'd get him.
The rifle is a 338 Edge built by Darin Johnston. It has a 26" ABS bbl, Stiller Tac 300 action and an HS detachable box. It's only kicking the 300s out @ 2680 but the deer don't seem to mind. It's 3 for three this year!!!!
Here are the pics. He gross scored 162 5/8. The biggest deer I've ever shot by far!!!!! Thanks Lerch for helping me get him out of there.
After a breif stop @ Lerch's house so he could shower and wash off all of that fufu smell good stuff he wears, we were off the to the woods. On the way down we were discussing how bad our luck had been. We hear stories of guys driving up on deer on 4 wheelers and shooting deer without even aiming everyday. Here we are w/many thousands of dollars in equipment and we can't even get a shot @ a decent buck. Basically, we had about 30 mins of wallowing in our own self pitty.
When we arrived, Lerch parked right next to my stand (a tank battery) and walked about 500 yds to the south over to his spot. Once he got settled in he radioed me to let me know that he was there. I gave him the OK and good luck reply.
I constanly glassed the treeline to the west as well as a group of scattered trees to the north. They were about 500 and 400 yds respectively. As the light started to fade I began thinking about how cold it was going to be sitting on that dang tank in the morning. Just then I caught a glimpse of a deer coming out of the timber into grass field to my west. I confirmed it was a doe w/my 8x36 Nikon binos but continued to watch the area. Another doe come out, then another and another and another. There were now 4 does in the grass and was looking @ them very intently w/my Nikons trying to paint some antlers on them. I then panned to the right where they had entered the field and there he was. All I could see was his head above a plum thicket but I knew he was a shooter immediatly, even through 8x binocs!!!!
I was standing on the platform @ the top of the ladder so I quickly climbed onto the tank and got a range. 471 yds. I then looked @ my chart for my 338 Edge and dialed 9 MOA up. There was not enought wind to worry about so I put the crosshairs on the buck. By this point, I've got one of the worst cases of buck feaver in history!!! The deer is walking right to left so I aimed @ the point of the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. BOOOOM!!!!!
I recovered from the recoil in enough time to see him hit the ground and give that one last effort to live before he lay motionless in the grass w/his long tines shining in the fading light!!!!
My radio then went off and it was Lerch asking "Was that you???" I was so excited that I don't remember but Lerch tells me all he heard was "He's down!!!!! He's down!!!!!" He then asked me if it was the tall buck he had some pics of and I said "Nope, this one's a whole lot better!!!"
When we finally found the deer (in my excitement I failed to mark where he was) he was much larger than I thought!!! His G3s were about 10-12" long!!!! I had hit farther back than I wanted but I knew if I could just put those 300 gr of Pb and Cu into him I'd get him.
The rifle is a 338 Edge built by Darin Johnston. It has a 26" ABS bbl, Stiller Tac 300 action and an HS detachable box. It's only kicking the 300s out @ 2680 but the deer don't seem to mind. It's 3 for three this year!!!!
Here are the pics. He gross scored 162 5/8. The biggest deer I've ever shot by far!!!!! Thanks Lerch for helping me get him out of there.
