Ran into one of my ranching friends at the range yesterday morning and he said he had more deer to cull. Wondered if I could come out that evening and hunt. Well, let me check my busy schedule.........YES!!

So, I met up with him at the ranch just before 4:00 yesterday afternoon. He said that he'd been seeing a bunch of deer at a dirt road intersection every evening as they made there way towards a huge planted field. Said I could sit in the bushes at that location and maybe get one with a handgun. He took me to the spot and I determined there was just enough brush to build a hide. He threw some corn in the road to stop the deer as they crossed and I set up shop back in the tree line where I could shoot in three directions.

I'd brought two handguns with me on the hunt. The 13" MGM barreled .30-30 AI Contender w/ 4x Weaver for the longer shots.



and the 10" barreled .445 Super Mag G2 Contender w/ 2x Pentax.



Shots were going to range from up close and personal out to about 200 yards. So, I settled in for the wait.

About 5:00 a spike and two 8 points wandered out in the road to my right.



and began slowly wandering down the road towards me.



They wanted to let spikes live this year. So, he got a pass. The two young 8 Points looked promising for the future and walked within about 30 yards as they came down to the intersection.



Then, they circled back around to my right and entered the brush on the opposite side of the road. About 40 minutes later, the spike and two yearling does came back out in the road to my right and began to feed. I glassed the does really hard, but determined that they were too young. Then, looking across the road and straight away, I saw three big does come out of the brush and stop in the road about 164 yards away. One of them was huge for a doe and I decided she.........was my target.

I swapped out the guns and brought the AI up to bat. If she looked as though she was going to cross the road and leave, I'd have taken her. But, she began to feed in the road facing me which saved her. Watching her for several minutes, the group slowly milled their way towards me. Maybe.......just maybe.......they'd come close enough for the Super Mag. I'd taken a deer with the AI, but never one with the Super Mag and I really wanted one.

Once the the group made it to 100 yards, I swapped back to the Super Mag and waited for her to turn broadside. But, being stubborn, she refused and kept her body oriented towards me. Just then, several bucks, including the ones from earlier came out of the brush behind the does and entered the road.

A larger buck I hadn't seen earlier showed interest in my doe and, moving towards her, pushed her my way. She began to get nervous and move back towards the brush on the opposite corner of the intersection. But, at the last minute, turned back to my left. Stopping, she curved her body to where her flank was broadside to me but her front shoulder was quartered towards me. With her ears back in contention towards the buck, I figured it was now or never.

At 64 yards, I let her have a 240gr Hornady XTP on the point of her shoulder. At the impack, she slumped and turned to my right to run. I could visibly see that her left shoulder (point of impact) was not working as the leg hung limp as she ran. Running back into the sparce brush, I saw her stop and then fall over in a violent last surge. She had traveled 54 yards.





I'm exceptionally pleased with the performance of the Super Mag. That sucker hits like a hammer on both ends.





1 - My blind.
2 - Where the spike and two 8 Points came from.
Orange Line - Their route of travel.
3 - Where my Doe came from.
Yellow Line - Her route of travel.
4 - Location of shot.
5 - Where she fell.
6 - Where the spike and yearlings were located.

I I loaded her up and took her to the lodge where the ranger weighed and aged her at 117 pounds and approximately 7.5 years old. Not bad and the second year I've taken the largest and oldest doe off the place.

After er the management paperwork, I took her home to butcher.



Everything worked out perfectly and it was a very exciting hunt. He said that I could come back and shoot another when I had the time. Oh, I'll make time!!!

Autopsy this evening.