James's 1999 Deer
Not huge but a nice, tasty buck. Technically a 3x4, shot at 75 yards with my 7mm Rem. Mag. shooting handloaded 150g Nosler Ballistic tips, right through the heart.
I caught movement across from me, this deer coming toward me through the trees. I knew I wanted to take this deer but he had to step out before I had a clear line of fire. I had my rifle up and was ready to fire as soon as he was clear. Trouble was it took the buck 10 full minutes to feed toward me and get in the open. I've never had such a bad case of buck fever in my life! Not that he was some sort of giant trophy but I'd only shot 2 deer in my life and both of those happened so fast I didn't have much time to think about them. As he kept easing my way my heart continued to do the Mamba, my arms began to shake, and my breathing was getting louder and louder. He eventually fed to about 75 yards away and stopped and stared at me. I'm sure he heard me hyperventilating. Thankfully he finally got tired of staring and strolled out from behind the last small pine that was blocking his vitals. Off went my rifle and he dropped so quick I lost sight of him. Walking over to the spot, he lay right where I shot him and my season was over. Funny part of this story is my lovely wife had hunted all day with me the day before (opening day) but refused to get up this morning and decided to stay in bed. She was quite suprised when I arrived back at the cabin by 10:30 that morning, hands bloody and a smile on my face.
