Well I wanted to hijack DavidAK's "Couple of Deer Pics" thread, but I decided I better start my own.

This is my monster buck:



Probably the smallest buck with horns I've ever shot. I was hunting with the kid on the weekend before Halloween. We were calling in lots of deer, but no bucks. I finally got on this one the last day. The kid wanted to duck hunt, so I went off by myself. This buck was "herding" three does. One of them was interested in the call.

Here I am getting ready to field process the deer - i.e. skin and bone it out.



Unlike David and his brother, I am not studly enuff to carry even a small one out on my back. I'm 43 and have a bad disk in my neck. Takes me about 1 to 1.25 hours to get the meat into bag and into my Quikpacker frame pack. Had a couple of 100 foot uphill climbs that would have made dragging out of the question too.

This buck dropped on the spot with my .338 and a 250 gr partition at about 75 yds. The bullet took the top half of the heart out.

Shot a doe the previous day with the 375 Taylor. The kid was inpressed with the way the 300 gr partition "opened" her up. The deer ran off and we did not find it on the first cursory loop. Went back to where I thought I shot it. There was a chunk of liver about the size of a silver dollar and a piece of liver the size of a 50 cent piece. I knew she didn't go far. Sure enuff, she zigged instead of zagged.

Snow on the ground now and heading out for 5 days of rut hunting starting on Thursday. "Work is for people who don't hunt." Good thing I have a boss who likes to hunt.

MM

It's bigger than the doe I got on Montague last week! I was using my 350 rigby, pushing a 250 gr hornady rn to 2700 fps, shot in the neck and not much connecting the head to the body after the shot.

The young ones are definately good eating, though the backstraps and tenderloins were barely enough for a meal. My kids wiped out the seconds before I got a chance.

I'm definately looking forward to hunting blacktails next year!

Congrat's on your fat spike! I like the effort you put into undressing your buck-keeps the crud to a min.

Interesting cartridge selection for deer hunting between you & Paul H-.338, .375 Taylor and the .350 Rigby. Myself I'll be using my .375 H&H when I go to Juneau over Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the pic's-Ron