Anyway, I've been meaning to post my deer hunt from SE montana. We had a very adventuresome trip this year.
It's hard to know exactly who to trust, but most of our local contacts told us the deer population was down from when we were last there 3 years ago and we definitely saw less game than usual.
On day 2 we were hunting a ranch that we were unfamiliar with. We found a decent 4 point buck and I was able to get in range, but he just wasn't quite big enough to shoot so early in the hunt.
As the day progressed, it became very windy. We started checking pockets for deer bedded out of the wind. Soon after employing this strategy, I spotted a large group of deer. There were a couple small bucks, a medium 3 point and my deer. He was bedded 200 yards away, but as I got ready, they all jumped up. I shot him low in the guts as he ran and the 185 grain ttsx ripped a nasty gouge out of his belly. Then at just over 400 yards, I put him down with a spine shot. He dropped, but I had to put another in his boiler room with the 338.06 ai. Not exactly the maiden voyage I had fantasized about for this new rifle, but it worked. I did have one of my cousins backing me up with his .300 mag, but he missed both of his shots.
I was laying on the top of the hill in the back ground when I shot.
His forks are pretty crappy, but he measured a touch over 26" wide and was pretty tall. Not as mature of a deer as I would have hoped, but I was very happy with this guy.
Plus, since I killed my buck early I could concentrate on other game
Here is my cousin and his 2x4 buck.
My other cousin with his odd little 3 x drop. He shot this on our last day. He usually holds out longer than any of the rest of us.
And finally my other goofy cousin with his tall 3 point and an elk shed we found. Not a lot of elk in this area, but the ones that are there can grow pretty big. This 3 point was really a pretty cool buck.
I also shot a white tail doe, but it was -16 that morning and my camera would cooperate.
All in all a great trip, but the 1000 mile drive home had about 950 miles worth of snow covered roads!
