I killed that buck on opening day of gun season last November, in Nelson County, KY. It was a perfect day, and the deer were on the move. I watched an average 8-pt. chase a group of about 6 does around near my stand early in the morning, but passed on him. I had seen a bigger buck in the same area a few weeks earlier, during our early muzzleloader season (I'm not sure, but I think it's the one I ended up shooting). I shot a nice doe about 11:00 in the morning, field dressed it, and drug it up under some bushes out of the sun. About 3:30, I looked over my shoulder and saw this guy slinking down the hollow behind me. Broadside shot at about 80 yards, he ran about 75 yards and went down.
Rifle was a Marlin XS7 in .243, shooting 95gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip handloads. The harvest photo is below.
That was an excellent weekend for my hunting group. In addition to my 9-pt, one of my buddies killed an 8, another killed a 7, and his son shot a 6 but wasn't able to recover it. However, the next day the kid killed a real nice 8...not bad for the first time he'd ever been deer hunting.
Ready for fall to get here. My goal for this year is to get my dad a shot at a nice wall-hanger.