Wife' NOT so long range buck

[Bigeclipse]

My wife and I went for a stalk through the woods last weekend after a nice snowfall. We came upon what appeared to be a buck bedding area as there was a recent melted bed surrounded by rubs all over the surrounding trees with no other beds in sight. This bed was in the thickest briars I have ever seen (about a 30 yard circle around the bed) perfect spot for a buck to hide. My wife says to me "I'm going to set up on the hill (which is about 200 yards away) tomorrow morning, he WILL be mine". I never laughed so hard. So anyways, the next morning we sit in our spots until 9am or so. She texts me "you see anything?" I was about 400 yards away and only saw a doe. So I told her no. She texts me "I'm going to stalk down to where we saw that buck bed, it will take me over an hour to get there quietly" I told her ok. Well about 30 min later I hear a gun shot. She calls me saying she shot a buck but it was only a larger 3 pt. This is her second buck to date. So I congratulate her and say I'll grab the quad and be over. When I get there to my surprise this buck was not the 1 year old deer I thought she described. It dressed out at 156lbs which is what our 2-3 year old bucks weigh. I checked his teeth and my guess is he is 2.5. Anyways, she had made it about 70 yards from her stand when she saw this buck sneaking towards that thick briar area. She told me he just looked up at her when she knelt down. So once she got him in her crosshairs she fired. He was about 60 yards away in front of her. Perfect shot behind the shoulder with her 243 win. She was disappointed to see it was only a 3pt but I explained to her that she should be proud because not only did she successfully stalk a deer, it was older than a yearling and a heavier one at that! Anyways I just thought it was funny she said the day before that she would get this buck in the morning and she did!

 

[Brewer]

Very nice. and the buck looks good too... lol couldn't resist. My wife went hunting with me one time abtou 10 years ago. I was spraying coversent on while she was putting her lotion on. a nice buck came into view and she wanted to watch it, but I shot it. it was just to much for her. that was the last time. I'm glad that you guys can hunt together!!

 

[gohring3006]

She did a great job, I don't judge a successful hunt by how far or short the range, or how big the rack. Just use the size of the smile on her face.

That's how you judge the hunt..

 

[Dgd6mm]

Good job, good story.

 

[Bigeclipse]

thanks guys. The smile on her face was priceless. We brought the deer to the butcher and another local had a nice 10 point hanging. Well, that ten pointer appeared to be the same age and actually weighed about 5 pounds less dressed out. When my wife realised that is the rack her buck should have had she was somewhat dissappointed again...BUT I tried to explain to her again that the simple fact she was able to stalk within 40 yards of a semi-mature deer as opposed to a yearling is really impressive. The other people at the butcher shop said the same thing to her. We are going to have the head euromounted.

 

[roninflag]

Beautiful . She can be proud. where is this? what load in her .243?

 

[Bigeclipse]

Beautiful . She can be proud. where is this? what load in her .243?

This is in upstate New York. She was using factory federal fusion 95 grains. The weird thing about this bullet is 6 out of the 10 deer she has shot over the years (8 does and 2 bucks) did not pass through (all were under 275 yard shots, most under 200). All were perfectly mushroomed found on the offside just behind the skin. All deer but one dropped within 10yards of where she shot them. The other buck she shot was the one that made it further than 10 yards and was actually chasing a doe and was almost in a full jog about 80 yards away. She probably shouldn't have shot but she hit perfect right behind the shoulder. The buck made it about 50 yards but I think it was due to it already running. We almost did not find the buck as it died literally inside a bush and there was zero blood. This got me contemplating if she should step up to a larger caliber bullet like a 7mm-08 which will get her higher chance of pass throughs.