.280 Remington
Handloader
- Jan 17, 2012
- 646
- 0
As some of you know, this year has been a little up and down. I lost my hunting property last year and was very disappointed, as getting permission in NE is getting harder and harder every year. Luckily I was able to secure a large tract of land to hunt on and I’m very blessed to have it. It took quite a while to find my way around the place and I finally got a pretty good sense of the place during the last two weekends.
Opening weekend was cold and blustery and it sure kept the deer moving. But I passed on quite a few bucks, both WT and muley. Sunday afternoon had me staring through my scope at a giant buck and for lack of a better term I “screwed the pooch” and did not harvest that deer. I was sick, but you just have to get back out there and get after it.
So Saturday, that’s just what I did. I had talked to the LO earlier in the week and he said the “big boy” is alive and well and had been seen on Wednesday. So I leave the house on time and head for my spot. About 15 miles up the road I’m going over my mental checklist of needed items, when I got to “tag”, I realized it was in my other pickup. So I flip around, head back home and grab it, now I’m 30 minutes late. GREAT!
Pulled through the LO’s yard heading for the hills and a good place to glass. Just as I’m pulling through the lane to get to the pasture a single buck and doe head outta there. He’s a nice buck, not a giant, but a very nice deer. At this point I decide, he’s a good “last weekend” deer and I grabbed my stuff and set off after him, following in his last general direction of travel.
Fast forward about an hour and a mile. I got up high and started to glass ( I needed to sit down, WAY to many clothes)! As I glass around the hills, I see a set of antlers gleaming in the sunlight. That’s my boy! I see another vantage point where I may be able to take a shot from, I back out and make my way through the bottoms and up on top once again. I range him at 444 yards. Not taking that shot. So I move back down into a dry creek bed and make my way to the next hill and get a range, 293. Ok I said, I can do this. Put out the bipods and prepare for the shot. Just about ready to shoot and he beds down out of sight. Crap.
At this point I decide “I’m goin in” Back down into the bottoms once again and around the bend and up the next one I go. The wind is PERFECT, but the sun is right behind me and casting about a 25-30 ft shadow. Well, we’ll just see how it goes. I creep up the hill very slow, being very careful of my foot placement and any sounds. Just as I about crest the hill he stands up facing away from me. He had to have seen my shadow. He turns to investigate and finally presents a shoulder. I place my crosshairs right behind the point of the shoulder and let the 120gr TSX fly. Bang Flop! Paced it off, 25 paces!
So I headed back to the truck to get all my gear which was about a 1.5 mile walk. When I get back land owner is there and says “take the side by side and have my boy go with ya.” So Sam and I grab all of my gear and head off after him. Very nice and respectful young man. We are able to drive right up to him in the side by side. We snap some photos and commence to cleaning the deer. He asked a lot of questions and I gave him all the answers as best I could. Talked a bunch about anatomy of the deer and which organs were which. He was very inquisitive, and rightfully so for a 9 year old boy.
So we got him cleaned out and headed back down the hill. We got him loaded in the truck and he was headed off to play with his cousins, but made a point to come back over and shake my hand and say “thank you for taking me along Sir, I really enjoyed it.”
That right there was almost better than shooting my deer, seeing that in this country there are still kids out there that are being brought up the right way. So without further adieu, here are some pics!
My helper for the day, Sam.
If you notice in this photo below, the bandoleer that he is wearing was given to him by a pretty special group of SEALS.
Opening weekend was cold and blustery and it sure kept the deer moving. But I passed on quite a few bucks, both WT and muley. Sunday afternoon had me staring through my scope at a giant buck and for lack of a better term I “screwed the pooch” and did not harvest that deer. I was sick, but you just have to get back out there and get after it.
So Saturday, that’s just what I did. I had talked to the LO earlier in the week and he said the “big boy” is alive and well and had been seen on Wednesday. So I leave the house on time and head for my spot. About 15 miles up the road I’m going over my mental checklist of needed items, when I got to “tag”, I realized it was in my other pickup. So I flip around, head back home and grab it, now I’m 30 minutes late. GREAT!
Pulled through the LO’s yard heading for the hills and a good place to glass. Just as I’m pulling through the lane to get to the pasture a single buck and doe head outta there. He’s a nice buck, not a giant, but a very nice deer. At this point I decide, he’s a good “last weekend” deer and I grabbed my stuff and set off after him, following in his last general direction of travel.
Fast forward about an hour and a mile. I got up high and started to glass ( I needed to sit down, WAY to many clothes)! As I glass around the hills, I see a set of antlers gleaming in the sunlight. That’s my boy! I see another vantage point where I may be able to take a shot from, I back out and make my way through the bottoms and up on top once again. I range him at 444 yards. Not taking that shot. So I move back down into a dry creek bed and make my way to the next hill and get a range, 293. Ok I said, I can do this. Put out the bipods and prepare for the shot. Just about ready to shoot and he beds down out of sight. Crap.
At this point I decide “I’m goin in” Back down into the bottoms once again and around the bend and up the next one I go. The wind is PERFECT, but the sun is right behind me and casting about a 25-30 ft shadow. Well, we’ll just see how it goes. I creep up the hill very slow, being very careful of my foot placement and any sounds. Just as I about crest the hill he stands up facing away from me. He had to have seen my shadow. He turns to investigate and finally presents a shoulder. I place my crosshairs right behind the point of the shoulder and let the 120gr TSX fly. Bang Flop! Paced it off, 25 paces!
So I headed back to the truck to get all my gear which was about a 1.5 mile walk. When I get back land owner is there and says “take the side by side and have my boy go with ya.” So Sam and I grab all of my gear and head off after him. Very nice and respectful young man. We are able to drive right up to him in the side by side. We snap some photos and commence to cleaning the deer. He asked a lot of questions and I gave him all the answers as best I could. Talked a bunch about anatomy of the deer and which organs were which. He was very inquisitive, and rightfully so for a 9 year old boy.
So we got him cleaned out and headed back down the hill. We got him loaded in the truck and he was headed off to play with his cousins, but made a point to come back over and shake my hand and say “thank you for taking me along Sir, I really enjoyed it.”
That right there was almost better than shooting my deer, seeing that in this country there are still kids out there that are being brought up the right way. So without further adieu, here are some pics!
My helper for the day, Sam.
If you notice in this photo below, the bandoleer that he is wearing was given to him by a pretty special group of SEALS.
