JD Jones of SSK Industries just recently announced the winner of the 2010 Handgun Hunters International Big Buck Contest, Mule Deer category, by personal letter. It will soon be announced in THE SIXGUNNER.

Pat Smith, of New York, captured the honor by killing this heavy antlered mule deer buck with his Contender while hunting with Gregg Richter, of Little Gun Outfitters.



The Prize:
Pat now has his choice of any T/C factory Encore or Contender Pistol.

Many thanks to Thompson Center Arms, for sponsoring this contest, for all these years.

Pat told me he is having a hard time choosing. Help him decide!!

LOL

Congrats Pat!

Congratulations Pat. Well done sir.

Larry

Nice

Congratulations to Pat, and to you, Gregg.

Congratulations on a great buck and a new handgun!
I would have a hard time deciding too Pat!!

Congrats to you both--nice deer

Perfect!!!

"Pat told me he is having a hard time choosing. Help him decide!!"

Oh that is a dangerous thought... ... ...

What calibers does he have now???

i've seen a pic of him before....somewhere. nice job!

nice job!

I think I recognize his picture also. I think he was on the HHI hunt and I want to say he won the drawing there and received a T/C.

I think. Yikes.

6.5x55 swedish .It's my next want also!

6.5x55 swedish .It's my next want also! Nice deer Pat!

excellent...

Very nice buck, congrats!

Congrats to Pat and you also Gregg!

Thanks guys for the nice compliments!



Whoa there, hold your horses. This is the first T/C that Pat has won; you have him mistaken for someone else.

Beautiful buck!

Hi guys, you saw this same picture of me a few months ago when Gregg posted it at the end of our hunt. Yes, my son Link and I have been on a couple of the HHI Antelope hunts. Nope, never won anything beside a Virginia Dragoon at a very early silhouette match (pre IHMSA). I and Dennis Lawrence, of SSK, hunted with Gregg last November and we both harvested nice Mule Bucks. The biggest secret was Gregg's access to private ranch land in Colorado. We did go on some public land, but there were lots of guys wizzing around on 4 wheelers.
I used a G2 Contender with an early 6 groove 30 Herrett barrel re-chambered to 30 Bower Alaskan by Mike Bellm. The 30 Bower Alaskan is actually a 307 Winchester (rimmed 308)Ackley Improved. I used a 150gr Hornady SST over 46.5 gr of 2700 fired by a Remington 9 1/2m primer.
I'm very happy with and would like to thank Thompson/Center for their continued backing of the HHI big buck contest and of the HHI Antelope Hunt. Truly dedicated sports people.

Good Job!!

Nice deer. As for new pistol 6mm BR.

Hey, Congratulations Pat... Nice Buck, and to you to, Gregg!

Nice!

Nice buck Pat!!! Greg good guide job! Hey I may have to get in on some of that hunting next!!

Let me know ASAP as the deadline for applying for licenses is closing in!

PS: It's my post so I can bushwhack it

How is that Encore that you won at the HHI Antelope Hunt shooting (if you have it all completed that is, I know you were having custom work done to it

Oh its just fine. I got it dialed in and waiting for this summer. My buddy who owns a farm has a predation license to remove a given number of deer off his farm. He has offered for me to do all the work. I have accepted. The deer here are like rats. His farm lost an estimated 60k worth of crops last year. That hurt them pretty bad as it is a small farm.

Back on track, no hijacking!!! Sorry!

What a nasty job, wonder if it's worthy of the TV show: Dirty Jobs?

But I am sure that you can handle it, Craig!

The good thing is the DNR guys have changed the laws on predation tags. Up till last year you had to let them lay where you shot them and couldn't touch them .Complete waste. I think they changed it so the meat can go to soup kitchens etc. I won't feel so bad now that the meat will be used for a good purpose! Some laws are just plain stupid!

I may be off base but is it not "DEpredation tags" that you refer to?

Colorado has similar methods of dealing with the problem of too high numbers of a certain wildlife species causing certain damages.

Truthfully I'm not sure. The wildlife officer who came to the farm, kept replying to them as predation tags. I'll have to check that out.

I would talk to the Warden and get his card. You might be able to work something out if you are giving the meat to the needy. Besides, he is the one that is going to write you a ticket...

Not trying to stir the pot but cfish according to our local warden you have to be the landowner/immediate family member to do the shooting.We just had a discussion on it for our place we hunt.Not the case where you are?

I am part of the family! I knew that as well!

Sorry for the confusion,didn't realize the buddy was a brother,sister,mother or father

Ya last time I said I had family with land I had PMs flying out of the wood work wanting a place to hunt!