We went back to our lease in Comanche Texas for a long weekend leading up to Thanksgiving.
The plan was hogs number one priority and Spike or Cull Buck per Texas Park & Wildlife department. Which normally means a buck with a spike (one single point) on one side and a Spike of Fork on the other side. Which is what she shot last year as her cull buck.
We had seen a 3pt a couple times and he was a regular on game camera. So I had told her he was our target buck.
Saturday morning; just as last year she gets a shot at a hog but hits him poorly (ok maybe maybe not more on that later). He runs without making a noise. We were both wearing ear muffs that had dead batteries from last weekend. So I don't hear a bullet hit.
Just so happens it runs into our deer-ist woods on are lease, which is the heart of our hunting area. So with no blood and short quick look in the direction he ran. Nothing! So I assumed a miss...her first and we back out!
Sunday; most of the day i hear my wife pointing out where the buzzrads are. Which was about where i would have expected the hog to have made it too. Dead in the middle of our best hunting area! I told her no since ruining the area over a hog that was not salvageable.
So right at last light she gets another shot...no sound of a hit, no blood and can't find no sign of him! I can walk the area this one goes so I do a grid search in the direction he went...NOTHING!
I knew without a doubt there was no way she would miss twice, so I suspected it was the bullet.
So I swap out the ammo. Luckily the Berger 130 and Hornady 129 SST shoot exactly the same out to 200yds. I'm running both at the same powder charge in the wife's 6.5 Creedmoor.
The Berger are the 6.5mm 130gr Hybrid OTM. Some how, some way I was in the impression that "Hybrid" meant target or hunting! Wrong!
Monday morning we are sitting, watching a couple bucks behind us when my wife alters me that there is a buck in front of us. I immediately spot a second buck trailing well behind the first.
The next thing I notice is he has a very well developed on his left side and a long spike on the other side. So I told the wife time take him.
I was a little worried because the first buck didn't stop at the feeder, he kept walking. So I told my wife she was going have to take the shot without waiting for him to go to the feeder! Possibly with him still walking.
Just as he is about to enter the the woods he stops and looks at us. She drops the hammer on the him and the 129gr SST does its job! A nice 1x5 freaky developed buck!
The rest of the day is pretty uneventful except we now we have buzzards circling in the direction of her second shot Sunday night.
Tuesday morning nothing of note happend so after the hunt I go check the buzzards out. Sure enough I find him. No blood anywhere. None from either exit nor entrance plus none from the mouth. It was more like he just had a heart attack. But I felt the off shoulder. I could feel the blood under the skin. So I cut him open and found the bullet in the crease behind the shoulder.
I have not had a chance to weigh it yet but it lost most of its weight. And it didn't reach the skin. It was still in shoulder meat.
The plan was hogs number one priority and Spike or Cull Buck per Texas Park & Wildlife department. Which normally means a buck with a spike (one single point) on one side and a Spike of Fork on the other side. Which is what she shot last year as her cull buck.
We had seen a 3pt a couple times and he was a regular on game camera. So I had told her he was our target buck.
Saturday morning; just as last year she gets a shot at a hog but hits him poorly (ok maybe maybe not more on that later). He runs without making a noise. We were both wearing ear muffs that had dead batteries from last weekend. So I don't hear a bullet hit.
Just so happens it runs into our deer-ist woods on are lease, which is the heart of our hunting area. So with no blood and short quick look in the direction he ran. Nothing! So I assumed a miss...her first and we back out!
Sunday; most of the day i hear my wife pointing out where the buzzrads are. Which was about where i would have expected the hog to have made it too. Dead in the middle of our best hunting area! I told her no since ruining the area over a hog that was not salvageable.
So right at last light she gets another shot...no sound of a hit, no blood and can't find no sign of him! I can walk the area this one goes so I do a grid search in the direction he went...NOTHING!
I knew without a doubt there was no way she would miss twice, so I suspected it was the bullet.
So I swap out the ammo. Luckily the Berger 130 and Hornady 129 SST shoot exactly the same out to 200yds. I'm running both at the same powder charge in the wife's 6.5 Creedmoor.
The Berger are the 6.5mm 130gr Hybrid OTM. Some how, some way I was in the impression that "Hybrid" meant target or hunting! Wrong!
Monday morning we are sitting, watching a couple bucks behind us when my wife alters me that there is a buck in front of us. I immediately spot a second buck trailing well behind the first.
The next thing I notice is he has a very well developed on his left side and a long spike on the other side. So I told the wife time take him.
I was a little worried because the first buck didn't stop at the feeder, he kept walking. So I told my wife she was going have to take the shot without waiting for him to go to the feeder! Possibly with him still walking.
Just as he is about to enter the the woods he stops and looks at us. She drops the hammer on the him and the 129gr SST does its job! A nice 1x5 freaky developed buck!
The rest of the day is pretty uneventful except we now we have buzzards circling in the direction of her second shot Sunday night.
Tuesday morning nothing of note happend so after the hunt I go check the buzzards out. Sure enough I find him. No blood anywhere. None from either exit nor entrance plus none from the mouth. It was more like he just had a heart attack. But I felt the off shoulder. I could feel the blood under the skin. So I cut him open and found the bullet in the crease behind the shoulder.
I have not had a chance to weigh it yet but it lost most of its weight. And it didn't reach the skin. It was still in shoulder meat.
