549 yard Buck

[Qzilla]

I will keep this one short and sweet. I found this buck on Friday morning and let him walk in hopes of finding one of our truly monster deer we have in the panhandle. The more I thought about it the more I kicked myself in the pants. I went back Sat morning to find him. He was in a mesquite flat with a doe and was rutting in a severe way. Well he finally stopped for just a few seconds, just long enough for my buddy to range him and for me to adjust and squeeze the trigger.

Exact yardage was 549 as verified by the Swaro range finder. I killed him with a single shot and he took about 4 steps only to make a circle. I hit him just slightly further back than I would have liked. I am not sure if it was me or if I mis-read the wind? I wanted heavy bone but, I guess the lungs will work.

He is a 6.5yr old deer that dressed over 200lbs and scores just over 160". The drought hurt us this year and normally I would not have even shot him but, he was mature and not broken and I am out of time to hunt North this year. I am now headed to S. Tx and hopefully I can make it a trifecta!

the 338 Edge was flawless. Anytime you can kill a whitetail in the rut at that sort of range you have must have had good equipment. The 300gr SMK seem to be flawless if I do my job! Thanks again Shawn!

I am very bad at photoshop but I tried to circle where I was sitting when I shot him. This picture is from the kill site back up the bluff. If you look you can see the circle in the horizon.

Here is the buck with a couple of views.

With my best friend! No, not the one that ranged for me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[arthurj]

Man, you must really have some biggin's around to have to settle for that! Nice deer, nice shot.

 

[nolo263]

nice buck and rifle.. excellent shot..congrats

 

[Buffalobob]

All the bucks that I saw during the season here would not have all together added up to that many points if I had killed every one of them nor would they have outweighed it. I just can't find any sympathy for you haveing to settle for that deer.

 

[älg]

That´s a nice buck.- I wonder how nice the big ones are ¡¡¡
Good shooting.-

 

[screech]

Dammit. Dont you hate when you have to take one for the team and shoot one that small. Come on little budy. Show us one of the big ones next year. Thats a nice buck. I only saw one big buck in that range this year and I had taken a single shot topped with 5.5-22 power and he jumped up at 40 yards and disapeared after pulling up my rifle. Of course he happened to be in the only spot you can see 40yrds. then rest you're lucky to see the end of you're barrel.

 

[winmagman]

Man, I'd settle for that one any day. Nice deer. Does pique my curiosity as to just what the big ones look like.

 

[Qzilla]

Guys, don't get me wrong it is a great deer. I just hunt hard and I have done a lot of work to have the places I have. In normal years we just shoot a lot better deer than I have so far in Kansas and in the Panhandle. If I did not think he was a great deer I would not have shot him. I understand drought and tough hunting luck. I can very easily walk away without shooting anything but, I am a serious hunter and when I had the opportunity to harvest a mature 160 class deer I decided to.

Here are what some big deer look like and they are all still alive on one of my places except for the one that is obvisouly dead!
Big Deer I shot 2 years ago that is 25" inside and is in the low 170's.

This buck was 4.5yrs est. at the time of the picture and has 16 scoreable points. He is still alive and should be 7.5 now if I can find him. The deer beside him is 6.5 and is still a main fram 9pt that goes about 160 and then he has double forks and 4 kickers, once again if I can find him you will see close up pictures.

Nice 160" droptine deer that is still walking. He is in te 170's now.

Closest thing I have seen to what should be a typical 180" deer. This is a July picture and I have never seen him again. IF he does not grow anymore he will be in the high 160's. He has huge beams and tons of mass.

Another solid 160" deer with a double main beam

This deer is in the 28" range. He has a double beam that is about 18" long, a common base G2 and 4 sticker points.

Hope you enjoy. I have plenty more but I do not want to clog the place up. Any yes I took all the pictures and no I do not understand why I did not shoot some of them? Some were "too young" and some were not in season I guess.

 

[Spino]

Nice deer & great shot! Looks like you have a great deal of disciplin. It helps if you already have a nice wall hanger. I like to say "Let'em go so they can grow".. What part of South Tx. are you going to hunt? Yea I know about the drought I shot a 163" deer last year and Freer Deer Camp told me that if there hadn't been a drought the deer would of probably had another 10" added to the score.. Best of luck to you. I head out Sunday for the rest of the week. You know the RUT!!

 

[Mountainsheep]

Qzilla,

Congratulations on your shooting and a mature buck to be proud of. It appears you have some fantastic areas to hunt, good for you, I think maturity really makes a trophy, JMO. Best of luck on bagging one of those giants.
Dave

 

[zingdingo]

Nice buck, but no sympathy here either.

The radial flutes sure give your smith's work away!

 

[ejwiser]

OMG, this post should be renamed 'deer porn'. Congrats on the kill, 550 yards with a 160" buck in the crosshairs is not an easy feat.

 

[Guest]

I just may be bad at taking pictures, but it seems like you not only shoot deer well with a rifle, but with the camera too!! That one picture with your baby looks great!! Big ol' smile on that future shooter! Congrats on the deer, and can't wait for pictures to come in the future of the deer in the pictures, laying on the ground!!!

-Gunslinger