Well I have had a tough season, the property I usually hunt my dad owns and use to be a great place to hunt but the hunting pressure has gotten out of hand. I quit hunting out there and figured I would try another place that I haven't had very good luck out of the past several years. I put out a game camera hoping to see a legal deer on camera (one with an unbranched antler or one with a inside spread of 13"s or greater)... I went back to check the game camera 4 or 5 days later and was surprised to see a good deer on camera. He was a heavy 9 point with tall tines but looked like he was just legal as far as width but definitely mature deer. I hunted him a couple mornings but every afternoon for a week and I thought my season was over because I went on call for work for the very last week of deer season. A couple days went by and I got curious so I went out there to check my game camera and sure enough he was there 2 afternoons in a row so I decided I would sneak out there and hunt. Well I get out in the stand with my Encore 308 and sitting there and to the right of me there is a road and all the sudden I catch movement on the road and look up to see a good deer trotting away from me. he is in the road but there are a bunch of overhanging branches that are in the way of shooting plus i'm not one to pull the trigger on a iffy shot. I tried stopping him twice and then I finally yelled "HEY" at him and that got his attention and he stopped right before jumping the property fence(he was about 125 yds) he was facing directly away from me but turned his head to the right where I had no shot. Luckily he turned his head back to the left still facing away from me and the only thing that was open was a small part of his neck so I put the cross hairs on the white patch on his neck and started a slow squeeze. It seemed so perfect that the deer seemed to drop before I realized the shot went off. I got down and he was a little bigger than I thought. I shot him using my Encore and my MGM 308 barrel that I bought from Mark Hampton. He scored 131 3/8
which is a great deer for around where I hunt. I know yall see Texas on tv shows and in south and west Texas that is the good deer hunting you see and hear about. Also I have been deer hunting for close to 20 years and this is my best deer ever. Thanks for looking and pics to come shortly.
