On December 19th I set out with my smokepole in hand in search of a mature mule deer buck in SD. The week prior I spotted some nice bucks the day before season but as luck would have it, the opener was a nasty day with gusting winds, blowing snow,and temperatures well below zero. As I returned on the 19th I had hopes of finding one of the bucks that I had seen the days prior. I was able to find a buck that I had a chance at earlier in the season and quickly began to trudge through the snow in hopes of closing the distance to the buck. Little did I know is that I would come across a much bigger buck in the process......[/align][/align]I first spotted him at close to 500 yards away, actually he spotted me first and he made sure he put some extra terrain between him and I....when I saw him there was no question that he was a shooter. I didn't have to ask myself if he was a buck that I had wanted! There was no question. So the search began; I finally located the buck after following his tracks over numerous ridges and through many draws, trudging through knee deep snow as I went with temperatures hovering around the 0 degree mark. I finally was able to catch up to him and watched him from 300 yards as he and a spike and doe dug through the snow in search of food. They continued over one more ridge and into a draw. I was sure that he would not leave the next draw. He was relaxed again and went about his normal routine. As I neared the top of the ridge where I last saw the buck I took off my pack and began crawling through the snow paying careful attention that I didn't fill my barrel with snow in the process! When I neared the crest I spotted the deer feeding unaware of the audience they acquired. I pulled my range finder to my eye and read 186 yards. I felt comfortable in the prone position as I readied for the shot. I had sighted the muzzleloader in at 150 yards so I knew I needed to hold a bit high. The fiber optic open sights settled on the buck but he turned away and was now facing directly away. I watched him for 15 minutes before he finally turned and was broadside. The sights became steady again as I cocked the hammer and began to squeeze the trigger. A puff of smoke obscured my veiw. When the smoke cleared I could see him laying on the ground! He dropped in his tracks! I quickly gathered my gear and set off to take a look. [/align][/align]I new he would surpass the 180" mark but didn't truely know how big he was until I got him packed out and back to the truck. After putting the tape on him three times I kept coming up with numbers over 190"! The official scoring will take place in 60 days to come up with the final score. He could quite possibly be the biggest typical mule deer killed with a muzzleloader in SD and be within the top few typical mule deer bucksever taken in the state of SD![/align]
Congratulations on an outstand mule deer!!!! And a great write up may I add. That is some outstanding shooting. Open sights at that distance. WOW!! my hats off to you on that shot.
What kind of rifle, projectile and powder charge were you shooting. Also where did the bullet hit, and did it come out at that distance?
That must have been a lot of packing to get that hog out of the back country.. Again, congratulations.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Very, very nice. Congratulations indeed. Nice buck and great story and an excellent shot.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
186 yards, with irons, DRT...I love it. Few deer as gratifying as the couple I've done that with, but none of mine could hold a candle to ONE SIDE of that buck!!! I bet you were so excited it wasn't even hard to drag him. Congrats!
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white shooting system .50cal
cva optmia elite .50cal
ruger M77 30-06
ruger M77 .257 roberts
ruger M77 300 win mag
rem 700 30-06
rem 700 7mm rem mag
rem 700ML .50 cal
Pics of my SD Muzzleloader buck
Outstanding marksmanship!
