For our opener this past Friday I hunted some private land owned by a client of mine. If that camp was any indication it was a pretty slow opener, but we shot a few bucks.
I sat in my pop-up blind which has been in place for about a month and a half part way down a steep ridge overlooking a thick swamp.
Late morning I finally saw my first deer, a spike. I glassed him as he moved through the swamp for a few minutes and he kept looking over his shoulder like there was another deer with him. I waited as long as I could to see if that was the case, but as he began to walk away I decided I better shoot.
After all the hype here surrounding monometals I finally decided to try them out. I picked up some factory blemished 90 gr GMXs for my 257 AI and using RS-Hunter got ‘em going approx 3475 fps; combined with sub-MOA accuracy the load is perfect IMHO!
I was far above him and he was quartering away headed to my left so I aimed for the offside shoulder and shot. He bucked and ran maybe 30 yds and fell. Given the steep terrain and long walk down I sat and watched him through my scope before leaving my blind. He kicked a couple more times and I put in an insurance shot before exiting the blind.
I didn’t have to get within 30 yds of the shot site before seeing blood. It looked like jack the ripper had been through! I have never seen anything like it! I followed the trail and found the buck with a hole in his ribs that I hadn’t expected from a monometal:
As I dragged him out of the swamp I noticed a wrist-size tree between the final resting place of the deer and my blind with a fresh .257 cal hole drilled through it. Turns out that big hole was the result of my 2nd shot going through a tree, expanding, and taking a chunk out of his ribs as it flew over him. This was confirmed when I butchered him later that afternoon.
Judging by the performance of this bullet I’ve definitely caught the monometal fever. I loved being able to take a shot which cut as wide a swath through the vitals as possible while still saving meat. This will be my go-to load in the Ackley from now on.
I have several more tags to fill, so next up: 130 TSX through my trusty “meat in the pot” ’06!
Thanks all for reading,
efw
I sat in my pop-up blind which has been in place for about a month and a half part way down a steep ridge overlooking a thick swamp.
Late morning I finally saw my first deer, a spike. I glassed him as he moved through the swamp for a few minutes and he kept looking over his shoulder like there was another deer with him. I waited as long as I could to see if that was the case, but as he began to walk away I decided I better shoot.
After all the hype here surrounding monometals I finally decided to try them out. I picked up some factory blemished 90 gr GMXs for my 257 AI and using RS-Hunter got ‘em going approx 3475 fps; combined with sub-MOA accuracy the load is perfect IMHO!
I was far above him and he was quartering away headed to my left so I aimed for the offside shoulder and shot. He bucked and ran maybe 30 yds and fell. Given the steep terrain and long walk down I sat and watched him through my scope before leaving my blind. He kicked a couple more times and I put in an insurance shot before exiting the blind.
I didn’t have to get within 30 yds of the shot site before seeing blood. It looked like jack the ripper had been through! I have never seen anything like it! I followed the trail and found the buck with a hole in his ribs that I hadn’t expected from a monometal:
As I dragged him out of the swamp I noticed a wrist-size tree between the final resting place of the deer and my blind with a fresh .257 cal hole drilled through it. Turns out that big hole was the result of my 2nd shot going through a tree, expanding, and taking a chunk out of his ribs as it flew over him. This was confirmed when I butchered him later that afternoon.
Judging by the performance of this bullet I’ve definitely caught the monometal fever. I loved being able to take a shot which cut as wide a swath through the vitals as possible while still saving meat. This will be my go-to load in the Ackley from now on.
I have several more tags to fill, so next up: 130 TSX through my trusty “meat in the pot” ’06!
Thanks all for reading,
efw
