We're out at our land (as usual) for Thanksgiving. I really wanted to get out and hunt in the evening as rain was forecast for the rest of our time here so we moved Thanksgiving dinner to 6pm.
Well, I ended up not getting Thanksgiving dinner until 10:30pm because I shot a nice 10 point whitetail and it was late by the time we finished skinning and dressing him. He was nicely matured and as big as he was going to get. He came into a clearing boldly by himself although he had a harem of doe around him. This guy was probably king of that area where I was hunting but we have some immature bucks that I've seen that will take his place next year. The population is starting to flourish around here and I'd like to think it's due to good management. This has never been a particularly deer-rich area compared to much of Texas. Still isn't but it's definitely getting better.
He was tough too. My shot was a tad forward of where I wanted to place it and it shattered his shoulder and exited the upper chest. I think it probably went through lung and possibly severed an artery..not sure, there was a lot of blood up there. Even with a shattered shoulder this old boy was able to run, jump a barbed wire fence, and then run another 40 yards or so (probably on pure adrenaline) but died quickly after that and I feel good about the shot.
He actually had an irregular 11th point on one side at some time but it had broken off. It was between the normal G2 and G3 tines. We didn't do the measuring and figuring but we're guessing the green score would probably be low 130s.
Here are some pics:
Fittingly on Thanksgiving, before I saw this guy I saw a big ol Tom Turkey. I'll go after him in April.
Oh yeah, the gun used was a Remington 700 BDL in .30-06 mounted with a Simmons whitetail classic. Round was Remington Core-Lokt in 180gr. I know that's overkill, and to be honest Core-Lokt is not my first choice of ammo but I had faith in it to take a whitetail (especially in 180gr). I would have rather used 155 or 165gr but I just never found the time to buy some and get out to the range to sight it in. The Core-Lokt were the last ones I shot at the range and I knew they were dead on so that's what I went with.
brad cook
Well, I ended up not getting Thanksgiving dinner until 10:30pm because I shot a nice 10 point whitetail and it was late by the time we finished skinning and dressing him. He was nicely matured and as big as he was going to get. He came into a clearing boldly by himself although he had a harem of doe around him. This guy was probably king of that area where I was hunting but we have some immature bucks that I've seen that will take his place next year. The population is starting to flourish around here and I'd like to think it's due to good management. This has never been a particularly deer-rich area compared to much of Texas. Still isn't but it's definitely getting better.
He was tough too. My shot was a tad forward of where I wanted to place it and it shattered his shoulder and exited the upper chest. I think it probably went through lung and possibly severed an artery..not sure, there was a lot of blood up there. Even with a shattered shoulder this old boy was able to run, jump a barbed wire fence, and then run another 40 yards or so (probably on pure adrenaline) but died quickly after that and I feel good about the shot.
He actually had an irregular 11th point on one side at some time but it had broken off. It was between the normal G2 and G3 tines. We didn't do the measuring and figuring but we're guessing the green score would probably be low 130s.
Here are some pics:
Fittingly on Thanksgiving, before I saw this guy I saw a big ol Tom Turkey. I'll go after him in April.
Oh yeah, the gun used was a Remington 700 BDL in .30-06 mounted with a Simmons whitetail classic. Round was Remington Core-Lokt in 180gr. I know that's overkill, and to be honest Core-Lokt is not my first choice of ammo but I had faith in it to take a whitetail (especially in 180gr). I would have rather used 155 or 165gr but I just never found the time to buy some and get out to the range to sight it in. The Core-Lokt were the last ones I shot at the range and I knew they were dead on so that's what I went with.
brad cook
