Friday morning was "right" - cool, good weather, and they were moving. I started out the morning blistering a coyote at 50 yards, which didn't offend the deer in the slightest - within minutes I was watching a small six aggravating does in the cutover again. It disappeared into a stand of thick pine saplings and I moved my attention to other areas of the vast cutover. After a bit, I scanned the same zone where the small six had disappeared, and thought, huh, there he is again. Then I realized that this deer, while the rack was similar in form, was MUCH bigger, and the rack had good mass. I was sizing him up as he moved back through the intermittent cover, headed generally away from me about 250 yards out.
Within a minute or so, I decided I was going to take him if I got a clear shot. But he didn't oblige and chased a couple of does and then disappeared into thicker cover. For about the next 45 minutes or so, I was distracted by other deer, even sizing up a decent 8 that walked across the clearing from me.
Then, scanning to my left front, I saw a deer's ears flicker in the pines and dog fennel. I watched, thinking it would be a doe, and was surprised to that the big buck had worked it's way back to within 175 yards of me undetected. I assessed it to be a big six, with a tall rack, and that, yes, I was going to shoot it. I put the binos down, picked up the 7 Mag, and found the buck in the scope. It stopped and offered a slight quartering away shot - I put the crosshairs so the bullet would hopefully punch the offside shoulder and pressed the trigger. The suppressor cracked and I was rewarded with that loud "THWOP" you really only hear well with a can on the gun. The buck disappeared from view. I knew it was down.
I went to find it after only a couple of minutes - I had to be at work, so time was of the essence. I was shocked by the SIZE of the deer - it had the look of an old man, swollen neck, and I got the impression of an older, mature buck. 7 points... 205 pounds per the processor. I wish I'd had the jaw bone pulled.
Sorry for the poor quality pics.
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