It's been a tough year, but I finally scored on this North Georgia 8 pt. buck this morning. I shot him at about 40 yards with my 6.5" S&W 629 Classic topped with an Ultradot. My handload consisted of 23 grains of 296 under a 240 grain Remington JSP, lit by a Federal LP primer. I hit him in his left shoulder and he dropped in his tracks.

Nice buck Darrel, congrats and good shot. Looks like pretty decent horn mass for its size!

Those high shoulder shots really do drop them in their tracks; literally!

Sweet!

Nice work Darrell!

Nice buck!

Awesome deer! Good job, way to hang in there.

Very nice Darrel,congrats.

Great job on another great buck! Those mountain bucks are hard to come by.

Nice work Darrell! That one was earned for sure!

Congrats! That's a fine buck, Darrel.

Congrats! Filled tags are nice, esp with a handgun!

SWEET.

Fine animal and good shooting.

Very nice Darrell. Congratulations!

Congrats. Nice buck

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all of your positive comments!

Darrell,

Nice buck, and with a hand gun to boot.

Nice buck, good shooting!

well done
nmhunter

Great job Darrell! Congrats on a nice buck with your revolver.

good job, great looking trophy!1

Congrats, You will have great memories of this hunt.

that's a good looking buck Darrell! glad to see you got one in a tough year

Great buck, and congratulations on a successful mountain hunt. N Ga deer seem tough to find.

Nice job, Darrell!! Congratulations! You have set a great example here!

Congrats Darrell !! It's been a slow year down here.

Dar, Almost missed this. Thas truly is a nice GA buck.....

Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it!

Darrell, I couldn't help but notice your day pack and shooting stick, did you get him while still hunting?

BB, the short answer is "no". Here are a few more hunt details...

I took this buck on the Cohutta wildllife management area in North Georgia. Cohutta is a very rugged, remote wilderness area in North Georgia with low deer densities and limited road access. Due to the limited access, if you kill an animal the best way to get it out is to skin and debone it in the woods and transport the meat out in a backpack.

After hunting without seeing a deer all week, I decided to go to a different area on the last day of the hunt. There was a truck parked at the entrance of the area that I wanted to hunt so I decided to go to yet another area that I had previously scouted. This change in plan made me late and I arrived at the new spot well after daylight.

I took a stand on the ground and this buck made its way up the ridgeline toward me around 9:00 a.m. apparently cruising for does. I used the tree that I was sitting against as a shooting rest and I took a kneeling shot. The deer went straight down and all four feet went up into the air. He then began sliding slowly down the mountain. As I approached him he was still moving so I put another bullet through his spine between his shoulder blades. I then skinned and deboned the meat and brought meat, head, and antlers out in my backpack.

I hunted uphill from the truck, so it was a downhill pack! While I have killed several hogs on Cohutta in recent years, this is my first Cohutta buck since 2005. It is a physically and mentally demanding hunt, but it is a much anticipated annual event.

Awesome Darrell. I usually go out with a backpack and my shooting stick just like that too. Always feels good getting away from the roads. congrats again!