Big new ... problem
11-11-2007, 07:09 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 973
Big new ... problem
I went to the range yesterday. I was pleased with the performance of the XTP's and will be entering the deer season with confidence.
100 yds, open sights
Cabela Hawken
300 .430 XTP
90 RS
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The clean barrel shot is lower left, 2" from POA. The next 4 on the fouled barrel are a 1.5" group 3" from POA.
The "problem" developed when I arrived home. I pulled up to my shop to unload my stuff. The wind was blowing. When I put the truck in park, I thought I saw movement in thick cover 50 yards away. Bone. I turned off the ignition and stared at the spot. Yes, it was an antler. I dug binoculars from my range box and when they came into focus, there stood a giant. The kind of rack that lodges in your brain and can stay for a lifetime. I figure he was bedded there, heard my V8 and stood to find the source. With the engine now silent and the wind blowing, he hadn't pegged me. For fifteen minutes I studied him through the binos. 9 points on a massive chocolate frame with G's-2 and 3 over 12 inches. He would gross in the high 150's.
He raked his antlers on brush but I had no look at his body. Just that giant head. Suddenly, he was gone. I thought he may have bedded down. I waited. 15 minutes turned into 30, then 45. I made a couple of phone calls to guys who would care about my perdicament. I couldn't decide whether to start the engine and back out or get out and go about my business. I didn't want to spook him but I had chores to do. I opted for the latter.
I kept an eye in that direction as I unloaded my gear. Then I took my cell phone, activated the camera, and headed toward the house on a trail which would take me within 30 feet of him. I didn't see him and I didn't stop.
After lunch, I avoided going down the trail circling west 100 yards and walking out to my goose blind to see what I would need to repair the roof and brush the blind. When I headed to the shop and climbed the steps to go in, I could have sworn I saw the face of a deer from within the thicket. I grabbed the binculars and peered around the corner and there he was, those big ears locked on me. He had let me walk within 20 feet of him. I loaded up my tools and spent an hour or so brushing the blind. When I returned, he was gone.
A man can spend a season waiting on a deer like this and allow some bucks to pass which would be the buck of a lifetime for someone else. I've done it too many times before, and only once was I rewarded with the deer I waited for. It is a problem and a good one, but I won't be waiting for a "ghost" and the look of intensity in his face told me that's exactly what he is.
100 yds, open sights
Cabela Hawken
300 .430 XTP
90 RS
The clean barrel shot is lower left, 2" from POA. The next 4 on the fouled barrel are a 1.5" group 3" from POA.
The "problem" developed when I arrived home. I pulled up to my shop to unload my stuff. The wind was blowing. When I put the truck in park, I thought I saw movement in thick cover 50 yards away. Bone. I turned off the ignition and stared at the spot. Yes, it was an antler. I dug binoculars from my range box and when they came into focus, there stood a giant. The kind of rack that lodges in your brain and can stay for a lifetime. I figure he was bedded there, heard my V8 and stood to find the source. With the engine now silent and the wind blowing, he hadn't pegged me. For fifteen minutes I studied him through the binos. 9 points on a massive chocolate frame with G's-2 and 3 over 12 inches. He would gross in the high 150's.
He raked his antlers on brush but I had no look at his body. Just that giant head. Suddenly, he was gone. I thought he may have bedded down. I waited. 15 minutes turned into 30, then 45. I made a couple of phone calls to guys who would care about my perdicament. I couldn't decide whether to start the engine and back out or get out and go about my business. I didn't want to spook him but I had chores to do. I opted for the latter.
I kept an eye in that direction as I unloaded my gear. Then I took my cell phone, activated the camera, and headed toward the house on a trail which would take me within 30 feet of him. I didn't see him and I didn't stop.
After lunch, I avoided going down the trail circling west 100 yards and walking out to my goose blind to see what I would need to repair the roof and brush the blind. When I headed to the shop and climbed the steps to go in, I could have sworn I saw the face of a deer from within the thicket. I grabbed the binculars and peered around the corner and there he was, those big ears locked on me. He had let me walk within 20 feet of him. I loaded up my tools and spent an hour or so brushing the blind. When I returned, he was gone.
A man can spend a season waiting on a deer like this and allow some bucks to pass which would be the buck of a lifetime for someone else. I've done it too many times before, and only once was I rewarded with the deer I waited for. It is a problem and a good one, but I won't be waiting for a "ghost" and the look of intensity in his face told me that's exactly what he is.
11-11-2007, 07:41 PM
#2
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
RE: Big new ... problem
Well since he is in the area, start checking the property for scrapes as well. A bruiser that size would make a big scrape normally. If you can start finding his trails, you might be able to set up for him this season and make a score.
Other then that, it is always a pleasure to just see a deer like that...
Other then that, it is always a pleasure to just see a deer like that...
11-11-2007, 07:43 PM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Idaho
Posts: 11,703
RE: Big new ... problem
yeoman
Ya know I think i know exactly how you feel... Saturday my hunting partner and I were out checking a spot for elk (opens the 21st for cow late season elk) Well abot 40 minutes into the walk a really rainy walk.... I looked up the hill in the undergrowth and I distinctly remember thinking what the heck is a round bale of hay doing up there (we were adjacent to some hay fields). Then it dawnedon me it is an elk.... Got the glasses and looked at my bale of hay... it was an elk with no head or but visible... I watched for a few seconds and she raised her head up but at the same time on the edge of lens I saw some other movement... One of the biggest elk I have ever seen a 6x7 @ about 75 yards.... his but was at me and when he dropped his head to feed you really could not see him, but when he brought his head up and those polished white tips on his rack just stood out... huge rack... it had to be 4' high. He moved them around like they were toothpicks - It was beautiful watched him for what seemed like 10 miutes, even put the White up 3/4 times and dropped the scope on him the last time I ran the scope up to 9x power dropped the crosshairs right behind his right shoulder - man I could have made that shot all for not because it was the wrong date - regular elk season was long over... I worked my way by then and down the ridge to a saddle - walked out of the up onto the next ridge and standing right in the opening there must have been 10/15 cows and calves... they stood and looked at me for a second then trotted off down the side of the ridge... dang wrong date I really wanted to turn my watch a bunch of times and get the date to change.... Well at that point I radioed my hunting partner and said let's get out here be fore we really spook them - he said he couldn't move he was in the middle of a bunch of elk and did not want to spook them. I just turned and walked out through the hay field - which made it one heck of a long trip back to the truck... he got out about a 1/2 later said they just walked off and left him sitting there.... Now the big question - will they be there Wednesday morning?
It was a big bull, and I have shot some big ones but this was a BIG one... like it should have been in Yellowstone...
Ya know I think i know exactly how you feel... Saturday my hunting partner and I were out checking a spot for elk (opens the 21st for cow late season elk) Well abot 40 minutes into the walk a really rainy walk.... I looked up the hill in the undergrowth and I distinctly remember thinking what the heck is a round bale of hay doing up there (we were adjacent to some hay fields). Then it dawnedon me it is an elk.... Got the glasses and looked at my bale of hay... it was an elk with no head or but visible... I watched for a few seconds and she raised her head up but at the same time on the edge of lens I saw some other movement... One of the biggest elk I have ever seen a 6x7 @ about 75 yards.... his but was at me and when he dropped his head to feed you really could not see him, but when he brought his head up and those polished white tips on his rack just stood out... huge rack... it had to be 4' high. He moved them around like they were toothpicks - It was beautiful watched him for what seemed like 10 miutes, even put the White up 3/4 times and dropped the scope on him the last time I ran the scope up to 9x power dropped the crosshairs right behind his right shoulder - man I could have made that shot all for not because it was the wrong date - regular elk season was long over... I worked my way by then and down the ridge to a saddle - walked out of the up onto the next ridge and standing right in the opening there must have been 10/15 cows and calves... they stood and looked at me for a second then trotted off down the side of the ridge... dang wrong date I really wanted to turn my watch a bunch of times and get the date to change.... Well at that point I radioed my hunting partner and said let's get out here be fore we really spook them - he said he couldn't move he was in the middle of a bunch of elk and did not want to spook them. I just turned and walked out through the hay field - which made it one heck of a long trip back to the truck... he got out about a 1/2 later said they just walked off and left him sitting there.... Now the big question - will they be there Wednesday morning?
It was a big bull, and I have shot some big ones but this was a BIG one... like it should have been in Yellowstone...
11-11-2007, 08:02 PM
#4
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 973
RE: Big new ... problem
Caugad - one of my self imposed rules is to limit my travel into timber and tangle to post season only, other than to recover a deer. These big bucks treasure sanctuary above all else and I give them that. Hopefully, that will be enough.
Sabotloader - sounds like you found yourselves a honey hole! I look forward to hearing the story and seeing the pictures later this week! Is your opportunity to shoot a bull with MZ still ahead or already over with?
Sabotloader - sounds like you found yourselves a honey hole! I look forward to hearing the story and seeing the pictures later this week! Is your opportunity to shoot a bull with MZ still ahead or already over with?
11-11-2007, 08:23 PM
#6
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 973
RE: Big new ... problem
Hey Mike, I thought you were going to start taking a camera along. At 75 yds. there would have been some great shots for us to see here. Be sure to get some in the field of your cow elk later this week.
11-11-2007, 08:51 PM
#7
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Idaho
Posts: 11,703
RE: Big new ... problem
yeoman
Yep i had it with me... but it was in my back pack... I thought about trying to get it out but it is a simple Olympus - without a lens zoom - it has a 5 power digital zoom but - I didn't think I could get it out with spooking the bunch - I was really wishing I had my 1x10 Olympus with me around my neck so I could have taken that pic.... but did not happen...
So I'll have to spend a few days working on finding the big buck but it will not be on the breaks where we found these elk... I just hope the 21st get here in a hurry and everybody else stays out of there...
Yep i had it with me... but it was in my back pack... I thought about trying to get it out but it is a simple Olympus - without a lens zoom - it has a 5 power digital zoom but - I didn't think I could get it out with spooking the bunch - I was really wishing I had my 1x10 Olympus with me around my neck so I could have taken that pic.... but did not happen...
So I'll have to spend a few days working on finding the big buck but it will not be on the breaks where we found these elk... I just hope the 21st get here in a hurry and everybody else stays out of there...
