The mule deer hunt was very short this year! After getting out in the hills at 6:00 AM, we hiked a couple hours up into the hills and looked at various draws that were productive in past years. My nephew missed a shot at a little forked horn, so my other nephew and I split off to check another draw. After looking the draw overy pretty thoroughly, we were about to move on, when suddenlt out of what seemed like a deserted draw, about 10 does began to exit the far side.
I dropped to a seated position, and flipped up the vernier on my Ballard just in time to see a nice 5x4 buck move up the far side. I had sighted in the Ballard for 200 yds, and it appeared that he was about that distance, so I held right on his shoulder. Unfortunately he was probably closer to 150 yds, as I touched off a 245 gr. .38-55, and it ended up breaking his back. I reloaded and held a little lower, and finished him off with a second shot.
The mulie turned out to be about 200 lbs. on the hoof, and I was very fortunate to get a shot at a buck of this size, as most in this area run 50 lbs. less on average.
It took three of us a couple hours to drag him out, and we had him skinned and bagged before noon!
This may possibly be the first time this old schuetzen rifle has ever been used to hunt with. I was pretty pumped to use the old gal, and even get a good buck at the same time. I feel truly blessed to have such an opportunity, as this isn't just a nice deer with a great old gun, but my best deer ever!
