TackDriver284
Handloader
- Feb 13, 2016
- 2,633
- 2,386
Deer season ended this past Sunday, but the last two weeks is open for does and spikes.. A friend invited me to hunt on his 17,000 acre ranch. Set out to meet the ranch hand at his ranch gate at 6:15 am. I brought my trusty 6.5 x 284 loaded with 143 ELD-X pushed by H4831sc. The rifle never tasted blood, so it's time to do it. It was 33 degrees this morning in the low valleys of the ranch, its pretty hilly. The ranch hand gave me a number to call him when I harvest something or if I needed anything, he pointed down a road and gave me instructions on where the feeder and blind is located and he left the area to do his chores on the huge ranch. Parked my truck 100 yards from the 4 x 6 fiberglass blind, lugged my rifle and carry on bag with some necessities up the blind ladder with the aid of a headlamp. Settled in a chair, and opened the front windows and felt the blast of the Artic air, chambered the 6.5 x 284, set the safety / chamber half cocked and settled her in a corner. Still dark and fumbled around in bag for my rangefinder and my phone, had forgotten to put it on mute. Dawn broke and I could barely see the feeder straight ahead surrounded by some barbed wire to keep out the hogs, ranged the feeder at 175 yards. Dialed the elevation turret on the ATACR to 1.5 MOA, and waited patiently for the sound of the feeder motor,,,,finally it goes off at 7:30 am. Five minutes later two silhouettes appeared at the tree line, one was a basket 8 pointer and a long horned spike, they both eagerly trotted to the pen, and was nibbling on corn. I brought up the six point five, and examined the antlers on the 8 and the spike, I wanted to make sure it was a spike and not a 3 - 4 pointer since deer season ended. I felt I was ready, lined up the crosshairs on the spike behind the shoulder but it kept running away towards the tree line because it was getting bullied by the bigger buck. Waited for the spike to come back and it did only to get chased off again, 10 minutes later, it came back and was facing my direction, and did not want to waste time waiting for him to go broadside for a clean shot, it was a little quartered to the left so I lined up the crosshairs under the right ear to angle out the base left rear skull, squeezed gently and the ELD-X found its mark and it DRT. Called the number on the Sticky Note and it was a different ranch hand who answered and said he was on his way. I cased the 6.5 and walked to the truck, and drove back up and loaded the truck with my bag, and locked up the blind. Drove over to the pen and indeed the ELD -X entered a little low under its right ear and exited on the left rear base of its skull. It had left a 1.5 inch hole on the way out, and I was going to take a picture of the exit at camp because it was covered in dirt but had forgotten to do so. I said a Thank You Lord for this fine animal. This should fill the last gap I have in my freezer. The ranch hand arrived in 20 mins from driving from the other side of the ranch. We greeted with a fist bump and we hoisted the spike on the back of my truck and drove about 20 mins deep into the ranch to where the ranch house is located. The ranch hand was very nice that he completely skinned and gutted the spike for me, and declined my offer to give him 100 bucks for his services. We chatted for about 30 mins while the meat is cooling off on the hoist and we quartered the deer and packed them in the chests. He escorted me out on the north side of the ranch where the highway is close by because where we came from was a 8 mile drive where the gate is. Tomorrow I will start processing the meats / bag them and in time to watch the NFL Championship game on Sunday and relax. Sorry the last picture is pretty messy. In the first picture, you can see the blind far off in the distance.
