Hey all... just thought I'd post a pic of a nice buck I snagged here on opening day here in SW Missouri.
I had been in my climber about 15 feet up on a ridge in the deep woods in my hunting area since about first light, maybe 6:15am. It had been a slow morning with not much forest activity other than some gusty winds. I hadn't seen a single squirrel or any other animal all morning. Around 8:30-8:40am, all at once, I caught the fleeting glimpse of a line of five to six does running from my 2 o'clock to my 10 o'clock about 50 yards out through lots of brush. Behind them was a buck with a decent sized body and a smaller rack (common here in this area (due to lack of nutrients or simply total deer numbers, we believe). My heart started pumping and I cursed to myself that I hadn't seen them come up in the draw and over the ridge I was on. I quickly grabbed my grunt tube and let out a few grunts brrrrp bbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp brrrrrrrrrrrrrp brrrrp brrrrp and quickly let go of my call to ready for any potention new shot in the next few minutes or hours. Not 5 minutes after all of this, I spot a deer coming towards me through the thick brush about 45 yards over the ridge to me. Heart REALLY pounding now, I extend my arms a bit and snick off the safety to my Dan Wesson Razorback and settle in a bit just in case I get a good shot. I tell myself.... CHILL OUT, BREATHE SLOWLY... concentrate on what I've been practicing at the range for the last two months... breaathhe...... by now the buck that's coming in is walking slowly and putting his nose down to smell... but he's coming almost directly at me! At about 25-30 yards he stops and turns broadside.... once again, my heart is pounding so hard at this point that I can see it in my vision. He slowwwly takes steps moving to my right, broadside and stopping frequently. I find a hole in the brush and place my front Fiber Optic sight on his front right shoulder and concentrate on both IT as well as the hole in my brush and the buck's movement (and any pauses in that movement). At just the right time, I veryyyy easily start rearward pressure on the trigger and wait on the surprise break and following recoil. At the report of the Doubletap 200gr XTP 10mm load, my 1911 recoils hard and, when it returns to battery, the buck is down hard and has dropped like a stone with this shot to the upper chest lower neck area. Not a perfectly optimal area but apparently, quite effective in this case. I take some more breaths and try to catch my breath and steady my hand due to the rush and sit there another few minutes to calm myself before even ATTEMPTING to pull out my phone and call my hunting partner to let him know of my harvest. I ended up taking one more shot because I saw the buck try and lift his head about a minute after the first shot. The second shot, placed as carefully as the first, impacted in the center of the chest. After about 10 minutes (and seeing no movement) I took my time climbing down the tree I was in and walked up to my deer. The first shot appeared to have exited, however, the first shot did not (at least that I could tell). Honestly, I think I might switch to Doubletap's 200gr Beartooth WFN load as I want all of my shots to penetrate and exit EVERY TIME. While the XTP did a fine job putting this decently sized deer down, I'm concerned that his heavier bone structure might have stopped the XTP short (on the second shot) just a tiny bit. (Normally, I dress, skin, quarter, and butcher my own deer, however, this year I was unable to hang this guy anywhere and had no time to do the butchering so we took him in to be processed. I probably won't find out where the bullet went because of this). Still, it's important to note that the XTP did a fine job. I just want an exit every time, even through bones.
Here are a few pics... hope you enjoy.
