Awesome pics JD, looks like a fun day in the field! Cool moose, I've seen the same thing near Lloyd. Great big bulls in a zone with no season

Skeeter, with the way that gun is shooting I wouldn't want to be the buck that crosses your path at 200yds!

Yesterday I got up at 4:00am and headed down to High Prairie to go hunting with the buddy that took me out last year when I was a non-resident. He shot his buck about two weeks ago (nice double beamed 6x4)but has still been seeing plenty of nice bucks in the fields around home.
He had one in particular in mind for me to go after. It was an average framed 5x5 (so he thought) with palmated beams and tines. He had estimated it would go somewhere in the 150's. That sounded alright to me so we headed out at first light to try and catch him coming in from the fields.

the arearecently received a good dump of snow which seemed to change the deerpatterns a little. We were both a little disappointed to sneak in on what looked to be a completely empty alfalfa field at first light. We decided to hang around sincemy partnerwas confident the deer were in a different field a little further out and would still filter past us. Sure enough a few does showed up followed by a 120ish 4x4 and a nice 145ish 5x5. we tried to get in position for a better look but with daylight gaining on them the bucks got nervous and galloped into the bush before we could get close enough for a good peak at them. The next few minutes provided some entertainment in the form of ayoung (100ish) 5x5 chassing and harrassing his four smaller companions before they all moved off to the bush fo the day.

Unfortunatley,my partnergot called to work in the afternoon and was going to miss the evening sit. He instructed me to go to the same spot and see what came out.

I arrived the field with about two hours of light left so I hunkered down behind a bale and tried to keep out of the wind. It wasn't long before the 5 young basket racks came out and started feeding and acting likethe bunch of rowdy teenagers that they are. With legal light running out i stood up behind the bale and glassed the field edge in front of me. After checking my watch and seeing just two minutes of light left I looked back to see two deer walking towards me from roughly where the two bucks had entered in the morning. I grabbed my rifle and sprinted 50 yards to the next bale and deciding that I didn't have time to reposition for a broadside I got the bipod ready and waited. the deer were walking straight at me and by now i could tell that one was a good buck. I lined up on him but as I did he passed behing an old row of bales that had been left in the field. PANIC! Without time left to move I waited and hoped he would pass by one of the openings between two bales. No sooner had i found the lowest opening than he stepped into it and put his head down to feed. He turned his head just enough that I could tell he was the palmated buck that my buddy had seen. That was all I needed to make up my mind. He was quartering towards me offering onlythe base of his neck and near shoulder. He dropped instantlyas the shot from my .280 passed through his spine and down into his lungs exiting through the ribs just in front of his diaphram. It was only after I ran up to him that I realised he had all the extra points and double main beam. Final tally is 10x10 scorable points. I'm not sure what he'll score as his typical frame is only about 120. He is a very small bodied deer and looks young. I can only imagine what he would have looked like in like in ayear or two.

Here are some pics I took this morning. I'll post field pics when they are sent to me.