Craig (cifish2) and buck he shot at 60 or so yards with his custom JRH 475 L.B. on his North Carolina property... Craig can finish his story..... Good shooting...

Craig, congratulations on your buck, very well done & with iron sights, good job!

Dick

James, thank you for posting the photos. It's been a while since I've been on here. Life finally caught up with me and I had things to take care of. About 5 years ago I purchased a small farm in eastern NC. Spent 2 1/2 years building a home for my wife and I. During that time I worked the land into a small slice of heaven. I'm surrounded by swamp and thousands of acres that have been put into the NC conservancy program. Over the past few years friends and family have hunted my place. This is my first year of really hunting it. Well enough of that and onto the good stuff. Got in my stand yesterday morning around 5:45am in the rain. Shortly after the sun came up I had a small 8 pt walk into range but decided to let him walk. Shortly there after 2 does walked under my stand. Around 7:30 or so a large 8pt I have on trail cam multiple times walked directly under me. I lined him up in my sights and instead of dropping the hammer I slowly lowered it. It's hard being a parent. I let him walk hoping that one of my kids will get him. Saw several other small bucks before my 6 ptr showed up. This buck was big bodied for eastern NC 169lbs on the hoof. His rack is the exact same as it was last year. I compared trail cam from this year to last. This buck came down the side of a large hill on my property on the edge of the swamp I was hunting. He stepped out into the open on a flat spot facing directly at me. I hit him with the range finder 61 yards. Hit him again and it read 67 yards. Must have hit vegetation so I guess he was around 63 yards. Now I've been waiting a long time to christen my custom JRH 475 linebaugh which took 4 years of waiting to get back from Jack. Not his fault. Long story. Anyway, the buck was facing directly at me and looked back over his shoulder up the hill briefly. I took that moment to calk the hammer. Even trying to muffle the sound with gloved hands he heard the cock and locked eyes on me. As you can see in the picture the round entered center neck. The bullet traveled along its spine and exited his back side. I was using factory 480 rounds with the 275gr speer bullets. When he was hit it was lights out. DRT to be sure. On my pod rest at 75 yards these bullets are doing 2 1/2 inch groups. It was worth the wait on the gun. The hard work on the farm. And a blessing from the good man on high. James, thanks again for posting these photos. You're a good man and thankful to call you friend.

Thanks Dick. Ya I hope I can use those iron sights a few more years before age hits my eyes. I felt like a little kid yesterday when I saw him drop. First deer I've shot in awhile. It is truly invigorating when everything you work hard for pays off.

Nice, Congratulations!

You jet pilots must have good eyes cause that was some fine open sight shootin......

I'm glad you got a chance to hunt again. I didn't make it to eastern N.C. last year, and won't again this year. Maybe next. That venison will taste even better, because of the iron sights!

CRAIG: A CULL BUCK, WITH AN OS REVOLVER'S FIRST KILL, ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY, IT DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THAT. CONGRATS!

Huge congrats!!! Awesome!

Congratulations!!

Thanks guys. Looking forward to cooler weather and many more days on the stand.

Great story!

Great shot! Congrats!

Good shootin', Craig. Shortgun kill with irons, doesn't get much better than that!

Well, shooting anything on your own property is sweet! Neat looking buck as well. Well done!!

Glad to see all that hard work paid off. Nice revolver, and nice shot too, congratulations.

Good going!

Awesome! Good shooting and nice buck

The hard work and patience payed off,nicely done!

I am glad you got to hunt yesterday and had a lot of activity. While you were hunting the flat part of our state I was hunting the early muzzleloader season in the mountains of western North Carolina with my CVS Optima V2 muzzleloader pistol. I did not see any deer but my son passed two young bucks. Good shooting and good luck the remainder of the season.

Beautiful gun. Nice buck.

Good times!!

Fine shoot'n, Craig! Good to hear a report on that 275gr speer DC. I just recently acquired a SRH in 480, so I ordered some brass and bullets last week. I decided to try out the 275 DC - felt it would work great on southern whitetails. Do you know what the MV is on that load you're shoot'n? I wasn't planning on hotrod'n the 480, but want to make sure I have enough velocity for the bullet to perform correctly.

Very cool. My brother and I have been improving our family land yearly. From maintaining roads, targeted planting, planting oaks, and game management, we've improved the quality of the land and the whitetails on it.

Good for you and great shot!

Redhawk, thanks and good luck to you as well. KRal, they were factory loads. I haven't had time to reload in the past year or so. Speer claims 1450 MV. They are snappier then the Hornady 325 factory XTPs. They definitely hit harder on my steel plates then the XTPs do. When I get back to reloading I may try loading these bullets in the 475 cases and see if I can't bump them up to the 1600 range. Will be curious to see how they hold up on a larger animal.

Wow! Great shot Craig.

PsTan, I've been doing my research and trying to put myself in the animals world figuring out what they need and want. It's extremely gratifying knowing I'm improving their habitat and providing for some great hunting experiences for my family and friends.

Nice shooting. Thanks for story and pictures. I have 3 weeks to go before our 3 day gun season starts.

Good luck ruger4570.