My 2K8 Utah Rifle Muley

We had seen a lot of deer in this area on a long hike the day before, and the "old men" (my dad and his friends) were all tired and forgot to wake me up! I got a late start and headed out to a big rock on a point where I killed my 28" 3pt with my muzzleloader last year. I wasn't seeing any deer, and decided to look around one more time before going to do a drive with everyone else. I saw a white butt of a muley down in a clearing below me, that I had previously ranged at 300 exactly. I thought "ah, probably a stupid skinhead" but when I looked in my spotting scope, I saw big horns going out and up. I got down on my bipod with my abolt 25 WSSM, and shot. The first shot hit him in the neck, just below the chin, and didn't exit (see pic of the core). The load I have (115 NBTs, 44 gr. W760) had a rare flier that would always go around 5" high, once in every 10 shots or so, that I didn't have time to work out before the hunt, that may have been the case since he was quartering hard away. The next shot hit him right behind the shoulder, no exit, lungs turned into jelly. he kept walking, back into the flat, where I shot a front leg out just below the shoulder and shot the bottom out of the other. He went down, and started sliding down the hill. I figured he was done, and started getting my stuff ready. I decided to look at him once more in my spotting scope. I couldn't see him! I zoomed out and he was walking towards the trees. I blew the bottoms of both shoulders out, and he went down. He was laying towards me, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn't get up again, so I shot. When I got there I saw that that last shot broke part of his horn off! I pieced him back together though, the taxidermist will fix him up. He is 22 wide, 19 tall, and scores just over 140. Old too, doesn't have very many teeth and his hooves were very worn. The flat just above and to the right of the pic of the hill is where i killed my deer last year. The flat I killed this one in is in the bottom left of the pic, you can't see all of it.

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10,056
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Sooooo...ya had to put 5 bullets into him? :-k Maybe you need a bigger bullet weight next year...but, great Job...nice buck.
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MuleyMadness
Cool buck, and yep he looks older. I like the height and mass on that right side. :thumb
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AGCHAWK
CONGRATS! He sure looks like a great buck.
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Switching bullets now, the ballistic tips were supposed to do the trick. Will be using TSX from now on! Thanks.
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Comm'on dude..... lets get a big game rifle... thats not fair to the wildlife... 270 or bigger.
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Great story! It's good to have enthusiasm when shooting. You really can't hurt them too much. A better bullet is a good idea though. Beautiful buck.
Mark
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.270 or bigger? what do you hunt elk with, a .375? People that say stuff like that have no clue about the true way bullets or rifles work. I'd sooner shoot a deer with a .22-250 and a barnes or partition than a .416 with dangerous game bullets. I have way more than enough energy out to 500-600 yards, for deer. You hit it in the vitals with the right bullet, and enough energy, it dies. Even a .243 is more than potent enough, I killed 3 deer with mine last year, all exited and blew the crap out of them. My dad put a .243 100 grain softpoint through a deer's lungs (a whitey buck) at 400 yards. He went no more than 30 yards. It ain't the caliber, when a bullet can't make it through 6-7" of neck, it failed!
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The Ox
25 wsssm is def plenty for deer its just a 25-06 with a shortnened case i know a lot of people that swear by 243...and 223 and 22-250s for deer its about the shot placemetn i agree! however bullet construction does have a lot to do with it also .... great buck by the way!
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tracker
nice buck!
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NotEnufTags
Congrats on a great buck. Good photos. I love the golden aspens mixed with dark pines. That looks more like a muzzle loader hunt than a rifle. What time of year was it?
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ridgetop
Great buck and story. Also, thanks for the info. about the bullets performance.
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The picture of the canyon was taken from the same spot I spotted my buck from, on the muzzleloader hunt. Take the same pic without all the leaves and that's how it was when I shot him. Now I shoot Berger 115 Grain VLDs. I'm not worried about them failing.
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silvertip-co
Durn nice buck.
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