Buck hunting that is.

I got him Saturday night after a full day of rain. The rain decided to let up around 5pm so around 5:30 or so I sat at the edge of a pipeline that's about 60yds wide and goes for about a mile or two. It is up and down hills/ridges the entire way.

I sat in a fall down near the top of one of the steepest hills wanting to see if a buck would cross the pipeline in the steep valley.

Well, he did. Around 5:45....only about 15 minutes of shooting light left, I was looking at the tree line on the opposite side of the pipeline and then looked down to the bottom. This buck was already 1/3 of the way into the pipeline and about 90yds away. I knew he had a big body and I thought the rack was pretty decent so I decided that I would tag him.

Since I was sitting in a fallen tree...I had a good rest. I settled on him and squeezed off a round from my .50 cal Omega.

Through the smoke, I could see him do the mule-kick and begin his death run (an all out sprint) across the pipeline and up a grass lane as far as I could see.

Once I got to where I shot him and started to track him, it was dark. 5 minutes into it, my headlamp died. I got on the radio and got 2 of my hunting buddies to come look. Of course, one of their lights goes out too (ARGH). We looked for about 15 minutes, in the dark with just one tiny working flashlight, before deciding to come back after our Sunday morning hunts since it was going to be cold out.

We started looking for him at about 10:15 and found him at 10:20. LOL. I had been standing about 20ft from where he was laying but since I didn't have a light, I could not see him.

His rack was smaller than I thought, but his body was bigger than I thought. Body-wise he was a TOAD!!! I had him weighed at the processor and he weighed 204lbs field dressed. We also guessed his age to be 5+. He barely had any teeth left.

Here are a couple pics.