RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
Not a really long range shot, but pretty long for a first time hunter.
Took this young man out yesterday when he got out of school as his dad is out of town. Hiked into one of my favorite spots for whitetail and set up on a ridge to watch the thick brushy basin in front of us. Not long after starting to glass I found this little 3pt buck. He was right at 400y. We found a good spot to set him up on my rifle because I was just not sure of the drop with his rifle.
Got a couple of backpack tucked in on a short stump and the rifle laid in nice and steady. The rifle is a Sako action .338 Lapua imp with a 30" Lilja barrel braked with a medium Pain Killer turned down to min dia. Topped with Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20 moa-moa. Rifle is shooting 285g Hammer Hunters at a vel of 3117fps. As we got set up the deer disappeared into some brush. I assured him that if we waited long enough he would reappear. Sure enough about 15min later he worked back out into a clear spot. 408y now still good for the 2moa that I had dialed. I told him that as soon as he turns broad side to go ahead and click the safety off and start the squeeze just behind the shoulder. BOOM...deer drops without so much as a twitch. We hiked our way down, across, and up the other side of the basin to find this nice buck. Got the pics, cleaning, and tagging done. Then drug him to a road that we could get a game cart to. 10:30 last night we had him hung up in his garage. I am a bit sore today, must be getting old.
Bullet performance was perfect. No meat damage and dropped on the spot. Here are some pics.
Happy young man.
Exit wound 2-3"
Shot was about 3" high of aim point, not a bad shot. Completely took out top of lungs.
Entrance on the right side of pic and exit on the left. Very good expansion of a big bullet in a short distance.
Steve
Took this young man out yesterday when he got out of school as his dad is out of town. Hiked into one of my favorite spots for whitetail and set up on a ridge to watch the thick brushy basin in front of us. Not long after starting to glass I found this little 3pt buck. He was right at 400y. We found a good spot to set him up on my rifle because I was just not sure of the drop with his rifle.
Got a couple of backpack tucked in on a short stump and the rifle laid in nice and steady. The rifle is a Sako action .338 Lapua imp with a 30" Lilja barrel braked with a medium Pain Killer turned down to min dia. Topped with Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20 moa-moa. Rifle is shooting 285g Hammer Hunters at a vel of 3117fps. As we got set up the deer disappeared into some brush. I assured him that if we waited long enough he would reappear. Sure enough about 15min later he worked back out into a clear spot. 408y now still good for the 2moa that I had dialed. I told him that as soon as he turns broad side to go ahead and click the safety off and start the squeeze just behind the shoulder. BOOM...deer drops without so much as a twitch. We hiked our way down, across, and up the other side of the basin to find this nice buck. Got the pics, cleaning, and tagging done. Then drug him to a road that we could get a game cart to. 10:30 last night we had him hung up in his garage. I am a bit sore today, must be getting old.
Bullet performance was perfect. No meat damage and dropped on the spot. Here are some pics.
Happy young man.
Exit wound 2-3"
Shot was about 3" high of aim point, not a bad shot. Completely took out top of lungs.
Entrance on the right side of pic and exit on the left. Very good expansion of a big bullet in a short distance.
Steve
Everything hurts today, but would do it over again tomorrow.
