2024 grip and grin

diggler1833 said:

Punched my first tag of 2024. I've not had a buck shrink on me from 27 yards before, but he did.

More than likely, I got a bit too excited with the new season jitters and tried to add 20" to him. Either way, he did me a favor of running from the woods and into a pasture to die. I lost him on the run, and then couldn't find him in the open pasture at first. Blood trail wasn't great as I buried the NAP Killzone into his offside shoulder. It was otherwise a great hit, went through both lungs and clipped the top/rear of the heart from a slight quartering away.

I started to worry when I couldn't find him out in the open. That would mean he'd have ran at least an additional 100 yards into the thickest of brush here at the ranch. Since he went out into the pasture, I couldn't hear him running/crash from my stand either.

Stood on my pond berm to get a better vantage point, and found him right below me at the water's edge. Went about 60-65 yards total.

Was thrilled that I didn't have to try to track this buck in the dark through that brush. I shot him about 50 minutes before sunset, and started my search 30 minutes later after I walked back to the house. My first ever doe here I shot during rifle season in the evening (many years ago), lost her in that same brush patch, and finally found her by luck early next morning only 15 yards in.

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I have one stud that cruises through the ranch regularly this year (so far). I was hoping that it was this guy, but when I got up on him I realized that it wasn't even close.

Rookie mistake...my old ass got way too excited when I saw antlers. I've done that with a rifle several times, just not with a crossbow before.

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If you don’t get a bit excited when you draw on buck, it’s time to hang it up, lol. A dead buck and full freezer is always a win

Just got back from a double pronghorn hunt. Old lady drew her antelope buck tag she has waited 10 years for. We went out and scouted a day, looked over 40 plus bucks and made her hitlist. Number one buck was solidly on private that we didn't have access to and she wouldn't ask, so be it. Opening morning we checked on him and he was still there chasing does. We went looking for more bucks, found them and put a stalk on two different ones that we couldn't judge from the truck. She passed on them both after getting close enough to really see what they had going on. Her number two buck wasn't the tallest and didn't have the most mass or biggest prong, but he was beautiful and checked her boxes. After swinging back by and seeing that number one was still on the same private we went off to find number two. We found him in the afternoon and she decided to make a stalk on him before somebody else did. After a 1200 yard stalk we were in position. I razzed her just a bit while we were waiting for him to come if she really wanted to shoot him on day one. He walked into the scope at 210 yards and the the 260 went psssssht. Down he went with a hole in his heart. His does ran straight at us, got to 60 yards wheeled around and left their man. We brought him home and stuck him in the garage fridge, hide on, and headed out east to fill my doe tag. We spent the night and did a stalk at first light. The only doe in the group was skylined so I didn't shoot. Second stalk I was sure would fail, and it did. Third one worked out perfect. Spotted a group , circled around to get a "big" hill between us. Crept up the hill and the group came into view at 340 when I crawled over the crest. The 260 went psssssht and down she went. Loaded her up and headed home. I'll get them both butchered up and do the euros tomorrow. I told her she should mount hers but she just wants a euro, which Im fine with. Her critter after all. Definitely a change of pace hunting lopes than the pounding miles at altitude I did for elk last month.

Finished up the euros of the pronghorn and her buck.

zeroz said:

Finished up the euros of the pronghorn and her buck.
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Did you boil them or use beetles? They both look good.

Boil. It comes out good enough for me. You lose the intricacies of the nasal cavity but whatever. Its so fast and I dont have to deal with keeping beetles alive and the stink that I've heard they create.

Backpack hunt in CO
Unit I have hunted for years and had prior success in.
Steep and long pack in an area with no roads.
Much gratitude to my 2 hunting partners who worked their tails off helping me get the meat to coolers.

Also, that is a SH PX rifle.
Everything on it, down to the Unknown Munitions ammo I purchased with the used prefit, with the exception of the Hawkins direct mount rings, the Hawkins Hunter mag, and the MKM caps and throw lever came from the PX.
A true Hebrew Deal rifle that made our departed friend @Foul Mike proud. Would love to get to share the story of this hunt with him and hear his great laugh.





200 yds, quick kneeling off hand shot.
Went 12 yds

First buck!

Middle boy couldn't quite connect on his 4pt. Buck fever took over and he pulled high and right.


Oldest boy tagged one. Not as big, but had kickers so added some character.

Not gonna lie
I saw "Grip and Grin" and thought this was some homo erotic woke shit..
Glad I was wrong
Anyway, been a good season.