I finally decided to drop the hammer on a buck on my ranch that that I had been passing up yesterday. Used a .454 Casull Freedom Arms revolver and dropped him on the spot with a handloaded Hornady 250 grain XTP. Distance was 10 yards. Man it's hard to place the bullet at that distance through a four power scope. He is a mainframe ten pointer with three kickers and gross scored 165 6/8.

Nice buck!

Very nice buck and great job taking him with the revolver.

Is you ranch holding up okay or still pretty dry?

Congrats on bagging a super buck. I hear you about the 4x at close range. I've since switched to variables, but even a 2.5x at that distance would be tough. Open sights are generally not an option for me as my eyes just don't want to cooperate.

Anyway, congrats again on a nice handgun trophy...

Thanks everybody. Charles, we are in pretty good shape right now. We have cleaned all of the tanks out so they will hold a lot more water. A couple of them filled up again in August but we could sure use another frog stranglin rain. The deer are in great shape as my partner shot one last week that field dressed 186 pounds. This one dressed 162. They are loaded with fat. Some of the bucks didn't make the jump in antler size that I wanted but that's life in South Texas. How's your deer looking this year?

Glad to hear your pasture is in good shape. It we get a real El Nino there will be some good rains this winter.

I got off the lease this year to put the money toward other hunting in the future. I was down there a couple of weeks ago picking up some gear and it is still a bit dry, although not as bad as in the summer. I will probably get one trip down with the kids for does or hogs but I need to plan that soon before they kids fill their schedule up!

I am going through a bit of withdrawal but I'll get through it.

Hey M16, Really nice Deer.

1. When you got ready to shoot, were you concerned about the Deer hearing the "cocking" at 10yds?

2. Is it a Freedom Arms?

3. What kind of groups are you getting with it?

When they are that close, I put some resistance against the Cylinder as it revolves into battery with my Left Fingers. I just use the Fixed Sights on all my Handguns and go to the Rifle once they are out there aways.

I know they can be extremely difficult to kill up real close like you did. Congratulations on a fine Deer.

quote:

1. When you got ready to shoot, were you concerned about the Deer hearing the "cocking" at 10yds?

Yes, I had the gun in my lap so when he turned my left hand held the cylinder while I pulled the trigger and cocked the hammer with my right. I was going to pass on the deer and by the time the decision was made to shoot he was too close. The gun is a Freedom Arms .454 with a ten inch barrel and is Magna-ported. About the best I can do off the bench on a good day is around two inches at a hundred yards. I do believe the gun will shoot better than that

very nice buck---congrats.....chris

quote:

that I had been passing up yesterday.

Hey M16 GREAT BUCK!! You texas guys sure are spoiled. 165 gross and this is a buck you were passing up? Why? Is it a trophy ranch?

I'd like to see some of you guys try to get excited about hunting in South Georgia Swamps. On average there are 4 bucks in the entire state this year that will gross over 165.

If you ever need me to come pass some bucks up, let me know. I'm always available.

M16,

Good luck in Los Cazadores! I just went to their site to enter before heading to my lease in Texas and saw your picture.

M16:

Help me out here. Not disputing your numbers, just trying to practice. Here's how I would have scored your buck, just looking at the pic. Where did I go wrong? thanks

beautiful deer, BTW.

mass 32
beams 44
spread 17
G-1 7
G-2 12
G-3 20
g-4 14
nontyp 6

total: 152

quote:

mass 32
beams 44
spread 17
G-1 7
G-2 12
G-3 20
g-4 14
nontyp 6


total: 152

I happen to have the score sheet right here
Mass 30 6/8
Beams 50
Spread 17 4/8
G-1's 10 1/8
G-2's 15
G-3's 20
G-4's 13 6/8
Nontyp 8 5/8

Total 165 6/8

You missed the beams but so did I. I kept passing the deer up but took some video friday. After showing it to some others they said he had 24+ inch beams and would easily go in the 160's.

need to re-calibrate the ol' eyeballs (again)!! thanks and congrats

quote:

Originally posted by M16:
... The gun is a Freedom Arms .454 with a ten inch barrel and is Magna-ported. About the best I can do off the bench on a good day is around two inches at a hundred yards. I do believe the gun will shoot better than that

Hey M16, Now that is something to BRAG about!

Good gosh what outstanding groups for even a regular old woosie cartridge, let alone a 454.

Continued good hunting and clean 1-shot kills.

M16,
Excellent buck with great character... and we are still three weeks from the rut! Good luck on the rest of your season... check with our favorite gundealer to see the whitetail buck his wife shot Monday. Nice buck for the Berclair area. Maybe some good bucks will be killed this year regardless of the drought. I'm headed to western Oklahoma on the Kansas border for whitetail the end of this week. Let you know how that one goes!
Good Hunting,
Russell

Passing up?????

Are you spoiled out there or are HUGE bucks just that common?

Anyway, Congrats on a Great Buck!!!

quote:

check with our favorite gundealer to see the whitetail buck his wife shot Monday.

Ha! Ha! I was just in there last week tuesday and he was telling me how there weren't any decent deer on the place. He had taken up a crossbow for excitement. Good for her! Good luck on your Oklahoma hunt. Is that the one that was advertised on this forum? I was interested and probably would have gone except for his special pricing for me only.

quote:

Are you spoiled out there or are HUGE bucks just that common?

We are very spoiled. While bucks this size are not exactly common he would only qualify as a medium size deer for the area. It was a very dry year and antler size is down. I was hoping for a good wet year and that this buck would have gone in the 180's but it didn't happen. My ranch has six miles of low fence so I decided to take him before he had a chance to head over to the neighbors during the rut like he did for a week last year.

quote:

Is that the one that was advertised on this forum?

Sure was. I've been semi-burned once before doing something like this but... hell sometimes the beckoning of big bucks draw me like a moth to the flame!

I'm sure you'll have a great hunt.

quote:

to ALL who want to know its $2250

M16 its $5550 for you

This is what I was refering to. I didn't care for the marketing style. Otherwise I would have given it serious consideration.

Nice deer..

Wonder how old he was? Did you age him?