Finally put another buck on the wall.

DakotaFire101

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
183
Location
Hartford, SD
Hello all, I figured I'd share my story here because I'm sure there are several who may relate to it. I'm a full time machinist and part time rifle builder. Hopefully in the next year I'll be able to go down to just running my rifle building business full time. Between all that and becoming a father this year I still managed to get out for the opening and the closing weekend of west river deer season here in South Dakota. I had a special buck tag this year and spent the first weekend at my buddies ranch in fall river county. A "confused" hunter did what we call "stretching the fence" and shot an absolute tank of a mule deer that I had glassed earlier in the morning and was making a move on. (Deer was on private land that I could hunt and hunter shot it from the public land) the deer out there are so thin in numbers I would've felt greedy and guilty if I settled for any of the other smaller bucks we saw that weekend so I decided to head home. Two weeks later I headed to a different ranch in Haakon County and immediately was seeing deer. I probably glassed up 25 different shooter bucks in the first day alone. The second morning I walked back to a spot i had a close call with a nice buck the afternoon prior and before I got close to where I thought the deer would be I see white butts shining in the morning sun. I dropped to the ground and quickly confirmed that the buck I was after was present, ranged him at 558 yards, dialed up the correction and let a 180 berger hybrid fly out of my 7mm magnum. I don't remember hearing the rifle bark but I can clearly hear the slap of the bullet as it sank perfectly into his upper shoulder. The buck dropped and I jumped into the air whooping and hollering with excitement. This is the first mule deer I've deemed big enough to shoot in 8 years and by far the biggest I've ever taken. My baby boy loves to sit and look at all the mounts I have on the wall and babble at them and I very much look forward to seeing his face light up when I hang this guy on the wall
IMG954176.jpg
 
Hello all, I figured I'd share my story here because I'm sure there are several who may relate to it. I'm a full time machinist and part time rifle builder. Hopefully in the next year I'll be able to go down to just running my rifle building business full time. Between all that and becoming a father this year I still managed to get out for the opening and the closing weekend of west river deer season here in South Dakota. I had a special buck tag this year and spent the first weekend at my buddies ranch in fall river county. A "confused" hunter did what we call "stretching the fence" and shot an absolute tank of a mule deer that I had glassed earlier in the morning and was making a move on. (Deer was on private land that I could hunt and hunter shot it from the public land) the deer out there are so thin in numbers I would've felt greedy and guilty if I settled for any of the other smaller bucks we saw that weekend so I decided to head home. Two weeks later I headed to a different ranch in Haakon County and immediately was seeing deer. I probably glassed up 25 different shooter bucks in the first day alone. The second morning I walked back to a spot i had a close call with a nice buck the afternoon prior and before I got close to where I thought the deer would be I see white butts shining in the morning sun. I dropped to the ground and quickly confirmed that the buck I was after was present, ranged him at 558 yards, dialed up the correction and let a 180 berger hybrid fly out of my 7mm magnum. I don't remember hearing the rifle bark but I can clearly hear the slap of the bullet as it sank perfectly into his upper shoulder. The buck dropped and I jumped into the air whooping and hollering with excitement. This is the first mule deer I've deemed big enough to shoot in 8 years and by far the biggest I've ever taken. My baby boy loves to sit and look at all the mounts I have on the wall and babble at them and I very much look forward to seeing his face light up when I hang this guy on the wall View attachment 333510
Dang, Good story, Really Nice Buck, Great looking Rig, EXCELENT SMILE!!!
A picture is worth a thousand words for sure!
Congrats!!!!
 
Nice buck! I cashed in my Special Buck points this year as well, hunting just west of where you shot yours. That's beautiful country and loaded with deer, especially if you have access to some private land!
 
Hello all, I figured I'd share my story here because I'm sure there are several who may relate to it. I'm a full time machinist and part time rifle builder. Hopefully in the next year I'll be able to go down to just running my rifle building business full time. Between all that and becoming a father this year I still managed to get out for the opening and the closing weekend of west river deer season here in South Dakota. I had a special buck tag this year and spent the first weekend at my buddies ranch in fall river county. A "confused" hunter did what we call "stretching the fence" and shot an absolute tank of a mule deer that I had glassed earlier in the morning and was making a move on. (Deer was on private land that I could hunt and hunter shot it from the public land) the deer out there are so thin in numbers I would've felt greedy and guilty if I settled for any of the other smaller bucks we saw that weekend so I decided to head home. Two weeks later I headed to a different ranch in Haakon County and immediately was seeing deer. I probably glassed up 25 different shooter bucks in the first day alone. The second morning I walked back to a spot i had a close call with a nice buck the afternoon prior and before I got close to where I thought the deer would be I see white butts shining in the morning sun. I dropped to the ground and quickly confirmed that the buck I was after was present, ranged him at 558 yards, dialed up the correction and let a 180 berger hybrid fly out of my 7mm magnum. I don't remember hearing the rifle bark but I can clearly hear the slap of the bullet as it sank perfectly into his upper shoulder. The buck dropped and I jumped into the air whooping and hollering with excitement. This is the first mule deer I've deemed big enough to shoot in 8 years and by far the biggest I've ever taken. My baby boy loves to sit and look at all the mounts I have on the wall and babble at them and I very much look forward to seeing his face light up when I hang this guy on the wall View attachment 333510
Hope you can get the rifle building off to full time ! Nice buck.
 
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