11/25/2016
This is the Muley God Blessed me with on opening evening, Nov. 12th about 4:20pm. After the 445yd shot on this guy, he disappeared over the top of the side hill he was standing on. When Carmen and I got to the top of the hill, there was only a very slight blood trail. We searched and searched, but the dark got the better of us and we left it until the next morning. It was a long night of re-watching the shot and reaction of the deer in my head and questioning if I should have ever attempted such a long shot on such a wonderful animal. Carmen and I went out to the blind early as she still had an open tag to fill. About 7am Sun. Nov. 13th I saw the landowner out riding his horse looking for the deer, so I left the blind to go help search for more blood and or the deer. We searched and searched, but to no avail. Leroy left to go do some chores and I continued to search, that is when I heard the distinct sound of a suppressed rifle coming from the direction of our blind; Carmen had shot herself a very mature mule deer doe at 200yds, very proud of her for deciding and making such a shot without me in the blind. I broke off the search to go help her take care of her deer. Just as we got her deer back to the blind, my friend Tom showed up to help with the tracking of the buck from the night before. We searched the wooded draw/creek bottom below where he was shot which has water and thick cover but had no luck. Jim who was along and I decided to walk the fence line one more time looking for any sign of where he may have gone, and low and behold, there he lay 50yds off the fence line in some uncut millet, the only thing not blowing in the wind was 6” of his antler sticking up. He traveled 200yds, jumped a fence and another 50yds before he ran out of gas. It was a good hit, double lung just above the heart, but the damage from the 200gr Barnes LRX traveling 2865fps at the muzzle (2200fps when it reached him) was minimal at best (I will be trying some more fragile bullets for next year). Thanks be to God for giving me this opportunity.