hubby11

Sorry 7.62NATO, I've had the nickname "Hubby" since high school. Has nothing to do with matrimony, just a play on my last name (Hubchen).

pluckit

In Maryland that deer would have counted as a doe. Deer are not checked as bucks unless their spikes are 3 inches long, or longer. How can you even tell if a deer with antlers like that is a buck or a doe at a distance? Or close up for that matter?

Muley Hunter

Binos or scope.

TNHagies

Congrats on the kill 7.62NATO!

I hunted with the 300g DC last year. It's a good bullet.

7.62NATO

To be honest, I didn’t even check and I really should have. He was within 15 yards and I guess I just didn’t pick up on it and only had my scope on 3x. I wasn’t even going to take him because I heard other deer coming (which was why I didn’t check that closely), but when he started poking his nose up in the air, I knew time was running thin before he blew and busted me. So I took the shot right then.

It’s all good. I would rather have not taken such a small buck, but 1) I have two buck tags left, 2) I think he was blind in one eye and wouldn’t have lasted long anyway, and 3) My 5-year-old girl kept asking me when I was going to get a deer.

Thanks TN. What are you using this season?

bronko22000

NATO - first, congrats on the deer. But I'm a bit confused on the shot. You said the deer was quartering hard toward you and you shot behind the shoulder and exited out the abdomen. But you hit the heart? Unless that deer was arranged incorrectly there would be no way you could have hit the heart with that shot. In order to hit the heart qtring toward you depending on how hard, you would have had to either go thru the shoulder or the front point of it and also a few inches lower. I would guess the bullet passed thru the near side lung, then the liver and exited out the other side. Now at that range there may have been sufficient hydro shock (hydra shock) to rupture the heart. But I don't think the bullet could have hit it.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not critiquing you. Just trying to help. Remember you don't always shoot behind the shoulder.
The method I use when shooting at a deer for the location of the vitals is to picture a soccer/volley ball between the shoulders up against the brisket. Aim for the center of the ball and 9 out of 10 you will anchor that deer right were it stands. Now that being said, you need a quality bullet to get thru the shoulder. Anything less you better wait for a broadside or quartering away shot for success.
Again, Congrats on your deer.

Chasam60

I hope for your sake the SST does not fail on the Buck of a lifetime.But,fail it will.Switch to Nosler Partition,Deep Curl,or Barnes.Only my opinion,but one that is based on experience.

TNHagies

250g Barnes TEZ. I try and use a different bullet in one gun each year just for expermentation purposes. My other guns I pretty much stick to the same load every year. The DC worked well, but I seen zero difference in the results from it as I do/did from the 300g XTP.

I've killed 2 button bucks in my life that I didn't know they were bucks until I walked up on them. They still eat great!

gregrn43

Congratulations, gonna be good eating.

mountaineer magic

Congratulations. He looks like good eating but it is a bummer to think you are taking a doe and then find out you have to use a buck tag. Still, a deer is a deer. I think here he would qualify as anterless, but i'm not sure. think I will check on that myself.