Last spring I had Wayne York rechamber and rebore a 22 Hornet to 25 Remington. I haven't had much luck finding an accurate load for it until last week, so I decided to take it mule deer hunting today. The load included 117 grain Hornady SST's and Reloader 15. Grouped 3 rounds into less than an inch. Five shot groups opened up to more than an inch, but still good enough.
With a doe/fawn license in my wallet, kissed my wife good-bye about 6:30 this morning, drove about 20 minutes to a place I had hunted before, and still had to wait for it to get light enough to shoot. Hunted a sagebrush/bitterbrush ridge with several steep gullies. Put the stalk on the group of 5 or 6 that included this doe. She spotted me at about 150 yards, so I dropped as flat as I could. She continued to stare at me for 2 or 3 minutes then suprisingly curiousity got the better of her. She started high-stepping toward me until she was about 70 yards away still facing me. Then she turned broadside and began bounding at a right angle to me. Soon she stopped broadside at about the same distance. By that time I had a good rest over my day pack. One round through the lungs, through and through. She ran maybe 25 yards and piled up. Gutted her out, cut her in half, and used a pack frame to pack her out the quarter mile to my pickup.
This image might give a good idea of the terrain.
