Hope the pics attach ok. Went out today and played hide and seek with some white tails, looked lilke there was a four or five point in the group. Wind was blowing and it was clear and cold, and I snuck around and plotted and schemed, but when I finally got to the top of the ridge where they had been 40 minutes earlier, POOF! They were gone. Darn things.
So the shells went back in the box, the gun went behind the seat, and I drove around some new area kinds of scouting it out. All of a sudden there were a bunch of does, maybe 10 or 12, and this nice little four point buck. I knocked donuts off the seat, spilled coffee, cussed, dropped shells, but finally got three rounds in the mag and got out. The buck was standing broadside maybe a bit over a hundred yards away and I nailed him. He turned to run up the hill and dropped.
The entrance hole was maybe as big as a silver dollar (the old kind
) and the exit hole was twice as big. I was using a 100 gr. Nosler ballistic Tip out of a 25-06 over 54 grains of IMR 4831, chronied at about 3300 fps. The bullet hit right behind the elbow and exited darn near the exact same spot on the other side. When I cut his throat there was no blood, as he bled out inside the chest cavity.
The Division of Wildlife folks offered to test for chronic wasting disease for free in the particular unit I was licensed for, as there was a terrible infestation of that strange disease about a decade ago. The wildlife people are gathering data to see if the occurance has diminished. The guys taking the lymph nodes called another wildlife person to look at the head, and they were fairly sure this buck may be a hybrid, white tail/mulie cross.
Fun day! Game processing outfit is gonna make him into cheddar jalapeno summer sausage. Yum!
I apologize for the pictures. I never get photos before I get the knife out and get all bloody.
Your opinions of the genetics is welcome!