Lifted the curse from my Handi

[MTGlass]

Friday night, took the wife out to dinner; daughter's at a sleep over; son's at a birthday party.  Saturday, o'dark thirty, he's too pooped to party so I took care of the dogs, grabbed a cup of coffee, a left over PBJ, my pack and .280 Ultra in hopes of ambushing an elk.

A while later I'm sitting on a hillside munching my PBJ and glassing.  No elk in sight, but a few deer, probably whitetails, in the fields below me.  Still no elk but three of the deer peel off from the main bunch and head in my general direction.  A doe, a fawn and one, much darker, bringing up the rear.  Hmmm...

I keep tabs on them as they cross a few fences and finally see antlers on the dark one.  As they cross the last fence there's nothing between them and me but a public access road.  Ok, let them cross the road & keep everything legal.  Besides, it would make for a closer shot and a downhill drag.

I set my PBJ aside (never did get back to it), deer are across the road & heading up the hill right at me, Bi-Fur pods are set, hammer back, finger poised waiting for the buck to step from behind a tree.

Crap, there's a truck idling up the road.  Raise the muzzel & freeze.  The deer alert, the truck spots the deer, the deer hightail it directly at me, the truck spots me and grinds into reverse.  The deer sense me lifting my rifle and veer to my left.  The deer pass me, leaving the truck outside my 180.  I swing on the buck, nothing in the scope but ponderosa boughs, blurry fur and a foreleg.  Sitting on my butt, twisting hard left, I take a quartering away shot.

Judging from the blood trail, he made it about ten yards.  It was a liesurely 35 steps from the first blood sign back to my firing position.  The bullet entered low in the ribs, more than halfway back and exited below the right shoulder blade.  Heart looked like it had been butterflied end-for-end with a dull deer antler.

This was my first whitetail buck ever and my .280 Ultra's first time afield.  Overkill for a little whitetail, even this butterball.

Nice little three point though...(four if you count the cheaters)

[cwlongshot]

CONGRATULATIONS!!  Tenderloins and onions are in your future!!

 My 280 is also still a virgin...at least to me it is...  So many handy and so little time... 

CW

[gomerdog]

Nice job and nice story! Congrats! What bullet and load?

[Rustyinfla]

  Congratulations!

    It's nice to see you have people in your area who are aware of others hunting around them as well.

[Slufoot]

Great story, great buck and great shooting!
Congratulations on your very first Whitetail!

GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot

[Datil]

  Congrats Mtglass, Looks Backstrape nfor Breakfast.
 Marv.

[quickdtoo]

Way to go MT, congrats!! 

Tim

[greenjeans]

Great job and story. Nothing like the first one. We call those 8 pointers here in the south.

[the great orator]

I was thinking a good looking 8 pointer as well.

What's with that back leg?  looks like a coyote got to the leg before you did

[PigBoy Crabshaw]

MT, Congrats. Good job and story. Thanks for sharing.-g

[MTGlass]

Thanks Guys!

The most gratifying shot I've ever made, but one of the worst I've ever taken.  I was really dreading gutting a gut shot animal, if I ever found him.  Another stinkin' mulie I'd have let walk.

Load was 50 some uncompressed grains of H4831SC under a 140gr Partition 2nd, in an unfired Remington case with a Federal Standard primer.

That back leg is just bloody on the side where the bullet exited.  I suspect there was quite a bit of red mist on that side too, as the lungs were mush.

A friend suggested an interesting tenderloin idea he learned helping an outfitter cut up clients animals.  Bite size tenderloin chunks marinated in italian dressing over night then wrapped in half a strip of bacon secured with a toothpick & broiled.

Like my daughter's elk, he had been in alfalfa & barley all summer with plenty of rump & kidney fat.

[super mario]

you yanks sure dont know how to count, thats an 8 pointer.   

[Steve P]

Well, the boys from the east and south gave you a rashin' for countin' the points the way you did.  I am sure glad they didn't give you heck for tying that deer upside down in that tree!  You want it to drain out it's nose?  Or were you going to cape it out for the taxidermist? 

We always hang them from the antlers and let them drain down thru the bigger cavity.  Easier to get the game bag over them.

All kidding aside, nice shot on a nice deer.  I am glad that 280 is working for you.  That is an excellent cartridge in an excellent gun.  Your story proves that in the right hands, that combination is as good as any other 280 on the market.

Steve 

[HogFan]

Nice job! Where in MT are you hunting at? I used to live in Great Falls. Really miss it.

[MTGlass]

Speakin' of rashin's, my daughter got a helpin' from a rancher last yer for calling her four point a five point becase of nice eye guards.  At 12, even she knew better than trying to call it a 10 point. 

Us Yanks must be afraid of runnin' out of digits or just modest, besides we can indicate points on a typical rack without setting down our beer.

I never could figure out why some folks lynched their deer.   I learned to let them drain toward the larger vessels in the front.  After skinning up to the ears and removing the hide, I bag the head & remaining hair in an old pillow case then bag the whole carcass.

HogFan, SE of Helena in 380, similar elk regs to the Highwoods east of Great Falls.