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That is a big buck and heavy rack. You grow 'em big in Alberta.

My son Cooper and I with my last season's buck

A fine 10-pointer. Well done. Where is that?

Mad Mac wrote:A fine 10-pointer. Well done. Where is that?

I got this buck in St. Clair county Alabama. The pic was taken in my yard soon after I got home from that hunt.

91bravo wrote:

Mad Mac wrote:A fine 10-pointer. Well done. Where is that?

I got this buck in St. Clair county Alabama. The pic was taken in my yard soon after I got home from that hunt.

That is indeed a beautiful buck! Kudos to you for getting your son involved with hunting. :) One of my fondest memories growing up was the day I shot my first buck during early archery season. My dad was there with me and helped me haul the buck back to the van in our deer cart. It was a 12-pointer--which was very unexpected because we had never seen the buck before in our woods. We joked and laughed and enjoyed each others' stories from the hunt. I will never forget that night.

Thanks for sharing, Jonny. This brought back some good memories.

-Michael

SpyderNut wrote:

91bravo wrote:

Mad Mac wrote:A fine 10-pointer. Well done. Where is that?

I got this buck in St. Clair county Alabama. The pic was taken in my yard soon after I got home from that hunt.

That is indeed a beautiful buck! Kudos to you for getting your son involved with hunting. :) One of my fondest memories growing up was the day I shot my first buck during early archery season. My dad was there with me and helped me haul the buck back to the van in our deer cart. It was a 12-pointer--which was very unexpected because we had never seen the buck before in our woods. We joked and laughed and enjoyed each others' stories from the hunt. I will never forget that night.

Thanks for sharing, Jonny. This brought back some good memories.

-Michael

Wow, a 12 pointer is mighty nice for a first time archery kill. I shot a few does before I had an opportunity at a buck when I first started bow hunting. Yes, I have my boys starting off with squirrel hunting first. Their ADHD and maturity level hasn't quite gotten to hunting deer just yet! Lol

91bravo wrote:

SpyderNut wrote:

91bravo wrote:

Mad Mac wrote:A fine 10-pointer. Well done. Where is that?

I got this buck in St. Clair county Alabama. The pic was taken in my yard soon after I got home from that hunt.

That is indeed a beautiful buck! Kudos to you for getting your son involved with hunting. :) One of my fondest memories growing up was the day I shot my first buck during early archery season. My dad was there with me and helped me haul the buck back to the van in our deer cart. It was a 12-pointer--which was very unexpected because we had never seen the buck before in our woods. We joked and laughed and enjoyed each others' stories from the hunt. I will never forget that night.

Thanks for sharing, Jonny. This brought back some good memories.

-Michael

Wow, a 12 pointer is mighty nice for a first time archery kill. I shot a few does before I had an opportunity at a buck when I first started bow hunting. Yes, I have my boys starting off with squirrel hunting first. Their ADHD and maturity level hasn't quite gotten to hunting deer just yet! Lol

Thanks! I was pretty excited, that's for sure. :D The only decent buck we'd even seen that season was an 8-pointer. Getting the 12-pointer at age seventeen was beyond my wildest dreams. It was a special moment because I got to share it with my dad. :)

Well, I did not use a knife, but there is a good picture of one at the end
and I just have to tell somebody this story.

This morning, I see some buzzards. Never a good sign for a cattleman. While driving toward them, Spunky, my Rat Terrier, takes a shortcut across my neighbor's pasture. Out comes a coyote on an interception path. Spunky sizes up the situation and heads for the truck. I open the door for her and get out. Coyote keeps coming, which is very unusual. I go around to the passenger side and pull out my ranch hand's 270. Coyote stops about a hundred yards away, turns around and begins casually trotting away. I miss an easy shot.

Drive to the buzzard party and sure enough, the remains of a dead calf. The momma cow is not far away, watching helplessly. I back the truck under a tree where I can keep overwatch on the remains, about 200 yards. Low and behold, 30 minutes later, there is the coyote. She sees me and turns to leave. I yell, "Hey." She stops and stares. I miss.

Insert alibi. A couple of weeks ago, I "helped" my ranch hand by replacing the scope rings on his Remington 770 with low rings and mount the scope farther forward. He likes the new setup and we fire one shot to see if we have minute of zipcode accuracy and make a mental note to shoot some paper targets at 100 yards later to get final zero. Never got around to that.

Grab a hamburger, return to the ranch with my new Ruger American Compact in 243 and a camp chair and settle in under the tree. We had seen three coyotes yesterday and then this one today. Lewis and Clark called them Prairie Wolves when they first saw coyotes on their expedition. There is no way of knowing if a coyote killed the calf or which coyote it might have been, but I am disturbed by the boldness and lack of fear shown by this one.

After about an hour, out steps the coyote, but farther away. She looks straight at me then starts milling around. The little 90 grain .243 bullet slams her to the ground. 280 yards according to the Measure My Land App on my iPhone.

It was a heck of a day for me, and Spunky. Very pleased with the Ruger and relieved the coyote is taken care of.



Notice how the coyote has serrated teeth similar to the Spyderedge.

Spunky began barking from her picture window overwatch at 7:30 this morning. Two coyotes were crossing above the rim of the clay pit, 290 yards from the picnic table.

A 55 grain V-max bullet from the 220 Swift knocked down one and the other ran off. There was a light rain, so I ducked in the house to look through the spotting scope to make sure she stayed down.

To my astonishment, the other coyote returned. It seems that coyotes mate for life. Spunky and Boomer were going nuts while I settled on the picnic table for the second shot.

Hunting Rusa with my son and a good mate.
Stretch2 came in handy.
Mate was impressed with the knife.
I've given the details to his wife. :)

Well done, young man.

At least New Zealand has sensible laws when it comes to sound suppressors.

Izzy's first coyote.
She spotted it from the back porch
and sounded the alarm.



274 yards with a vintage Winchester Model 70 220 Swift,
topped with a period correct
Lyman All-American 6X fine crosshair scope,
sending a modern Hornady Varmint Express 55 grain V-Max
at 3680 feet per second.

Izzy is crouching timidly
in a naked classic 1998 Jeep Wrangler TJ Sahara,
social distancing the coyote.
After she was sure it was dead
she stood over it, barking in triumph.
Good girl.

In all the excitement, I forgot my Spyderco.
Next time, maybe coyote tacos.