MeatBuck
Hammer Time Executive member
| Share your 2022 successful big game hunt stories here. | |||
Hunted Saturday through Friday only taking one full day off. Had a couple close calls not resulting in a shot and I missed a buck across canyon one morning. Nothing to write home about but meat is the general goal on my first tag. Friday morning we got to our glassing point at daybreak. A short walk. Maybe 30-40 minutes in I spotted one of the two bucks we were looking for. He bedded shortly after and we continued to glass around for the other buck and any other deer. Ended up seeing a pair of grey foxes and a 4pack of coyotes along with a couple other deer. Eventually the sun came up and the buck started to get his head in the sun. We could make out a small three point rack from 350yds. My buddy who had been tempted by this deer on the last hunt, decided he was not going to pass a good broadside shot this day. Especially since we were positioned so that the shooting mat would be of use on this one. Eventually I roll out the mat and he gets laid out on his pack with my .243. Was a good opportunity to test the 70hh on another animal so I held on to the 270wsm and 156hh on this one. (His gun would not group with the factory hornady gmx loads he had so it did not make this hunt.) I would spot the shot for him when the buck stood. The second buck never showed so when this guy stood up and began to feed my buddy got ready. I triple checked the elevation call and made an adjustment to it. No wind. The buck took his time getting into the open but when he did he turned downhill to the left and put his head in a bush. Body in full sun. Shadow at the crease of the shoulder and hind. Good aim point in the pocket. Shoulders were broadside but hind was slightly quartering too with hind Farleg forward. He said he was going to take the shot so I got still and watched intently. Shot went off and I jumped a bit but could see the deer the whole time and heard the pop. Deer walked downhill in the direction he was facing about 3yds and bedded back down. We could not see that because it was behind a bush. The other buck sprung out but immediately was calmed by the actions of the other buck. That alarmed me. Generally if the deer dies or is acting sick the other deer will leave. This guy just went to feeding and then bedded again. Buddy said everything felt good so we trusted that and both went to look. Dropped a few items in the bottom to lighten our loads and headed up the other side towards the deer. When the angle was right we pulled out binos and looked behind the bush. I could see the outline of a deer but we slipped up to 155yds and checked again. Still unsure of the bucks condition we readied a round and began making some whistles and squeaks. Nothing. While I was out of binos I saw a flash in the hole but my buddy saw a quail fly by so figured I had seen that. Now I’m in need of something definitive so I bark louder. Immediately in the binos I see a head and neck pop up. A quick verbal exchange and a follow up shot was sent through the neck. A quick moment of panic as the second buck stands in front of the hit buck then springs out of there. Unsure which deer it was I kept eyes in the hole and he kept on he live deer. Each of us could clearly see which was which and the hit buck was still in the hole. Dead. Wasn’t until we got to him did we see the first hit. About 10” back in the paunch and exit was off hind. No bone hit. Second shot under half the distance of the first taken in seated position resting on side of tree, hit home. We could only figure the bipod must have snagged the pack during recoil and took the first shot off it’s mark. The elevation was perfect. Guts were obviously popped so first thing we did after dragging him out of his hole in the poison oak was get it out of him. No field photos but after we got home and hosed him out I snapped some of the entries, exits and whatnot. Posted them in the thread “better 243 1-10” twist bullet selection” or whatever I called it. Some meat loss goes without saying but not sure the extent as I just cut out what I could see and popped him in the meat fridge to cool. No shanks or petals to this point. I will shoot gun soon to see if it’s off. My son did bump it on his thigh a couple hunt before but I wasn’t convinced his thigh muscle could knock it off. Knee or something harder I would’ve checked zero. Second shot hit mark so  . Anyhow. All’s well that ends well. Buck number one down. 5 to go.Update. I shot rifle, it was still on. Can only figure the bipod snagged on the pack during recoil and caused the poi shift right. | |||
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My son and I both punched a tag with stick and string. My son's was opening day, very hot 105 degrees. In the evening around 5pm we both slipped into our tree stands. Both perched above multiple trails leading from a jungle of a thicket next to a creek. Around 7:05 they started funneling through on the trails but cutting short of mine, mostly towards him. Our tree stands are only about 50yrds apart. His buck forked horn in velvet came out with 3 does and 4 fawns. Pausing at 20 yrds for a great shot right where it needed to be.  mineThe last day just at sunset. Sitting in a different stand we have never killed anything out of, a doe popped out and a forky in tow. He heard me draw and paused in a awkward angle at only 10 yards. Waiting for him to take a 4 or 5 steps to present a better shot but wouldn't stop, shot him on the move. Connected where I hoped to, he was a easy trail to follow spraying blood immediately. Both deer only made it about 80 yards.  | |||
We had more success here too. 375yd 156hh. Will do both write ups when I get the chance. Came home from hunt yesterday to water standing in my man cave from the 2”+ rain we got in just a few hours. Dealt with that and now butchering my buck so I could fit my boys buck in the “meat fridge”. | |||
Weather was as cool as it’d been all season 80s and cloudy for most of the day. Had only seen one doe before I made it up to the top. A light shower came on and I tucked under a manzanita bush for a while to wait it out. After it cleared I hit the main ridge and worked it to the west. The brush had grown up a bit from the burn but I sat an old glassing spot for a few minutes looking off the backside of the ridge down towards a creek. Hadn’t glassed long before I saw what looked like a deers head down in a small isolated oak patch. A minute or two of intensive eyeballing and it finally moved. And along with the ear movements I could make out what I thought to be antlers. Mind you this was 750yds out and I was looking through a canopy of oaks, through a small window between two tree trunks. I kept staring and he finally showed me enough bone to get my gears turning. I had to move in closer for a shot, but where? It’s a sea of chemise brush around knee to waist high between me and him. I used my rangefinder and started shooting different spots that looked like they’d work to cut distance and hopefully provide a place for a shot. He was bedded so I had some time but the clock is always ticking and they can ghost out in the blink of an eye. I picked up and headed down hill. The first place I tried cut down the shot to 460ish but when I got there I could not see the buck. I made small adjustments around that hill before finally picking him up again. No shot opportunity. So I backtracked up the hill and got to a secondary knob to the west. This one was 440ish from the buck. He was still obscured by the oaks and even more so than before because of the elevation loss from moving in. But I figured if I messed around any longer he might walk away and I’d have no opportunity. Again I had to make small adjustments moving 5 yds here and there trying to put him in a hole in the trees big enough to shoot through. I picked a hole that looked like it would provide enough height and focused all my micro movements on putting the buck in that window. The best I could do was put his head in full view. The only way it would work was if I set up the gun and was ready to fire when he stood. And hopefully he would stand where I could see vitals. The oaks I had to shoot through were 298yds and I could not get my rangefinder to shoot the buck beyond them. I set up my bipod as tall as it would go and pulled my pack up under the butt end for stability. It just wasn’t quite high enough even with my squeeze bag so I shoved a rock under the pack and had it perfect. I dialed for 440yds zoomed to to 32 and waited. Started to get eye fatigue so I busted out the eye patch. Now I was set. Just needed him to stand. Just a few more minutes passed before I watched him nod off and lay his head in the oat grass. At this point I could see he had a 3x3 rack and I was fully committed to the shot. No sooner did he lay his head down, it popped right back up and he shook his head and I knew he was going to stand soon. I got ready to shoot and he stood up. All I could see now was shoulder and guts. My heartbeat kept moving the dot from shoulder to guts and back. I knew time was fleeting and gathered myself. Breathe went out and I went still. The dot steadied on that shoulder and I sent it. I’d kept one ear plug out to listen for the pop and just after seeing what looked like he took the hit and lurched forward I heard the report of the hit. He was gone in an instant and there was no further evidence to follow from there. No crash, no flash of hide through the tree tops. Just silence. All signs pointed to a good hit but I wouldn’t know without taking a walk. I gathered up my gear. Put a fresh load in the mag and I picked a route I thought would be easiest to get to him. Time of the shot was 12p. Took me a bit to get down to the oak patch and of course it looked completely different from down there so my first order of business was be quiet and ready to shoot just in case. Second was get my bearings and find the tree his was bedded beside. Took me probably 5-10min to clear the area to where I felt I could look for a dead deer not a live one. It was open enough to see a deer laying dead or otherwise and when I saw nothing I got nervous. Finally I found the hole I shot through and put what I thought was the spot of the shot in it. From there I turned around and looked at the landscape trying to find his bed. A shed antler distracted me for a moment but I quickly realized it was laying just above his bed. I went to the bed and found his tracks. Clearly see the direction they were headed and by the scuffing could tell it was hit. No blood there. I followed the now bounding tracks down the hill slightly about 7-8 yards before a spot of blood caught me eye. I continued in the direction of the deers travel path but turned up nothing for a few steps. Went back to the blood and realized he had turned a hard left. Back in blood and tracks I could see he was doing the “which ways up” dance. But there was no buck. The tracks lead to a kinda thick green bush but upon inspection there’s was no buck inside. I kept on the track, now 15yds from the hit. It’s wide open beyond the bush, just one small downed pine and my mind started to wander downhill. I stood for a few seconds staring into what looked like a miniature Grand Canyon. The kind of place you dread finding your buck. Especially solo. I snapped out of it when I glanced back to my left and couldn’t believe what I saw. The little joker had piled up under the downed pine and had a big oak branch laying over top of him. He was no more than 5 yds from me at this point. I had been looking too hard and not hard enough at the same time. Snapped a few pics and then checked for phone service. I was supposed to have my buddy out that afternoon to finish load development on his rifle. So just before I dove off the top to try to get my shot I buzzed my ol lady and told her what was happening and if she didn’t hear from me by 2:30 to buzz him and tell him what was going on. Well luckily I had service down the canyon but super spotty. I ended up going up the hill a bit and letting him know the deal. He offered to run up and help me pack meat so I took him up on that offer. Thankful I headed back to the buck to snap photos and break him down. Hung quarters around in the trees to get a crust in the wind. A couple times I lost cloud cover and had to move meat to shady side of tree but when it clouded again I got another light shower. Was nice. I had just gotten my pack loaded up and started to walk back up the canyon when my phone rang. My buddy was up at the top and ready to take some meat off my back. Timing was perfect so I only had to take the full load a couple hundred yards before I met him. We chatted our way back out of there and just after sunset we were back to the trucks. The 156hh landed forward on the shoulder and exited middle low off shoulder. Heart was ripped, ribs on each side were busted. Exit hole oblong shaped. No petals found.        | |||
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Riceman. What broad heads you guys shooting? G5 My son uses deadmeat 1.5in And of course dads gotta use a bigger one  I use megameat 2in.Both of these 3 blade. Pse bows mine momentum, his stinger. | |||
Albert bear. Attachments: | |||
No rain forecast for opening day so we would get at least the full day to hunt before having to worry about that. Alarm went off ten to six and we started rustling around and getting dressed. My son (14) and I shared the back of my old 4runner which makes it a little tight in there as he’s not the little boy he used to be. Took a while but we finally got up and out of the rig and started getting boots on and packs ready. Being the first day we took a bit longer to get ready than we thought so it was shooting light by the time we were all ready to head to the glassing point. A 30yd walk. We have three glassing points that we hit each morning. The first by camp there just to make sure we don’t have an obvious deer or bear on the open hillside across the canyon. Spend 5-10 min there generally then we stroll the road down to the end where there’s a big rock that opens up some more country including some of the canyon on our side. Then when we’re satisfied we head to our final rock and best shooting position to spend the day. At our second stop I told them to hang out for a minute while I took a peek from the rock at the closer country on our side of the canyon. The rock is tight (and jagged) for three guys and a fall would likely be death or would make you wish you were which is why I decided to take a peek alone. We have had a deal going all season that whoever spots the buck can shoot or pass to whoever else. Well after about two minutes of glassing I see a bucks head facing away from us and quickly lock in his location to my memory and then head back to the landing to tell the guys and grab my gun, about a 15yd walk. I hadn’t really looked the buck over too well before asking my boy if he wanted to shoot it. He said yes and the three of us went back out onto the rock carefully and quietly. I made sure my son knew to be extremely careful while getting ready for the shot. I laid out my pack on the edge of the rock and set up a glassing pad under my ***. Then my rolled up shooting mat went under the gun butt. When I got the rifle setup on the pack and looked for the buck he was bedded. I told the guys we had plenty of time and I switched places with my son so he could settle in behind the gun. We swapped places and I shot a range back towards the bucks location but he was gone. Quickly switched to binos and picked him up heading up the ridge. Back on ranger I got 360yds. He had gone maybe 30yds uphill and was now feeding around near an obvious marker, a burnt downed tree. My son was not seeing him so I told him to look for the downed log. Just then the buck turned broadside and stepped across the log. My son clearly saw that and got him in the scope. I asked if he was steady but he was not. The gun butt was floating around too much so I snagged out my squeeze bag and stood it up under the gun butt. Now he was locked in. I dialed up for the shot. Minimal adjustment since I run a 300yd zero but it just made it easier for my son to use the dot instead of holdover. The buck hadn’t gone anywhere in that time and was still broadside. His big gray body was an easy target now. I told my son to put it on the shoulder and squeeze one off. He got steady, my buddy and I got locked into our binoculars and watched as a massive hammer trail eclipsed the buck. Then the loud report of the hit came back. The buck stumbled forward and downhill a few yards before losing his feet and coming to rest behind a small oak bush. I zoomed out the scope so he could pick the buck back up quickly as he ran another round into the chamber. My buddy stayed on the buck and could see he was head up. I told my boy to shoot again but the oak bush covered the vitals. I told him to shoot through it. Zoomed him back in and he let another one fly. Again a massive hammer trail covered the buck and again a loud report of a hit came back. The buck flopped downhill and started to get momentum in a bad way. He was headed for a steep rocky drop off I started verbally muttered “no, no, no...” Luckily he snagged up on another oak bush with a burned tree coming out of it. We could see his head and antlers on one side of the tree and his body on the other. He looked done for. We took a minute to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere and then gave some celebratory fist bumps. It had been maybe 20 minutes since we left camp. Since it was so early and camp was so close we decided to go eat breakfast and drop everything from our packs that we wouldn’t need for the packout. We stripped layers of clothing as well since we wouldn’t be cold sitting in the shade glassing all morning. We knew we had work ahead. We did hunt our way down to the buck just in case but didn’t turn up anything. As we worked down the ridge he was on it got steep and rocky. We knew we had to find the log first but looked for an obvious white belly as well. We came to the log first and found his tracks but no blood. We knew his path of travel was nearly straight downhill in the direction of the rock my son had shot from so we eased that way. Didn’t take long to find him from there. I got to him first and snapped some photos of our predicament, I mean of my sons giant bodied 18” wide 3x3. He had heavy horns with a bit of velvet still on. But boy was he in bad spot. We helped my son get down to him and made a plan to drag him up to the top side of the bush/tree he was hung up in. Was no easy task as footing was poor, the hill was steep and the buck was huge. We managed to get him into a decent position to snap field photos since I knew that was our only chance. We also roped him off to ensure he didn’t go down the hill accidentally while doing photos and eventually quartering him. After a short photo session I started clearing oak brush away from the bucks body so I could attempt to work him up. I was standing with my belt buckle touching the bucks side in the photos. That’s how steep it was there. Luckily for me, since I hate heights, there was another tree and bush there on the downhill side to hopefully catch me if I slipped. That’s what I told myself anyhow. Took a while but I was able to get the quarters off with the occasional hand from my buddy holding a leg up. He shuttled quarters up to a “flat” spot and bagged and hung them to crust. My boy took it all in and helped get items from our packs that we needed but I made him stay up the hill a ways after photos just for safety. The first hit from the 156hh ended up being closer to 375yds and landed in the liver and popped the gut sack.  No tenderloins would be had from this one unfortunately. The second shot about 365yds buzzed right over the bush I wanted him to shoot through and hit high shoulder and took a small portion of backstrap with it. A Cns drt hit. However the heart was undamaged and made a yummy lunch back at home.  . Each shot left two petals just under the hide at the exit of the shank. Three “snails” and a petal is what I’m calling them.This would be my sons first packout so he took the loose meat and head while my buddy and I split the quarters. Was steep and loose the first 100 or so yards but once we hit the ridge top it was smooth sailing. Then a couple hundred yard side hill back to camp. Distance wise it was easy but footing was slightly technical. Back at camp my boy and I messed around and built a meat pole while my buddy went back to glass for the evening. I knew with rain coming in overnight we would want the pole there to drape a tarp over the meat sacks but I elected to wait on the tarp until rain actually came in so the meat could have good air circulation for as long as possible. Well the tarping was done hastily in a drizzle just before midnight in my shirt slippers and underwear. .The next morning the rain broke just long enough for my buddy to get a little glassing in and my son had just got headed down to meet him when the rain kicked up and my buddy returned to camp. We spent the better portion of that day under the tarp or sleeping in the rig. Was evening time when we heard a truck coming down the road towards camp. It was muddy and slick by then and my son watched as the truck slid off the road and then attempted to get back on only to nearly roll off the hillside. A tree pinned the passenger door shut and voices started up. Then some yelling. “Hello in camp!” “Anyone in camp?” My son waived him off from yelling any further and the two old men started down towards us. I had to get out of bed and dressed before I could assess the situation. As I put my boots on one guy explained what happened and asked if one of us could try to use our rigs to pull them back up onto the road. My buddy and I knew our little lightweight Toyotas didn’t have the weight needed to do any good in that situation so I instructed the guy who looked to be in the best shape for a hike to walk the road back up and try to get cell service. Told him he’d better pack his rifle just in case. He took a walk and we walked up to look at the truck. We decided to chop a dead pine tree out of the way in case the truck slid off or if we were able to get the truck pointed downhill to where he could drive it down. If we had a way to anchor the topside rear tire to a truck or tree we could’ve gotten the nose pointed downhill but as it was the truck just kept inching sideways and looked more and more like it might roll so we suspended efforts and went back to our tarp shanty to wait for the other guy. His brother was hunting in the area but with spotty at best phone service we thought it was a long shot. Not long after we retired our efforts we heard two shots from the direction the man went. I said “hope there’s not a third shot” as that would potentially signal distress. Luckily there was not and soon after a big shiny new ford truck broke into sight and the man waiting with us recognized it to be the mans brother. They stopped short of the disabled truck and walked down towards us. Three of them. One guy admitted to missing a small three point buck twice on the ride down to us and we chatted a bit about the current situation at hand. It was decided that they would return with either a professional recovery service or at least some chains or straps to attempt a self recovery. The next day while glassing we heard someone up by camp and went to make sure nobody was messing with the guys truck. Turned out it was him and a man with a tow truck. We chatted for a bit before letting them get to work. We went back to glassing and upon returning to camp for the night noticed the truck was gone. A very good outcome to what could’ve been a nasty situation. Two more days of hunting yielded no more bucks and the only bears seen were a sow with a cub the evening my buddy glassed alone. Thought the carcass from the buck may have brought an opportunity to fill a bear tag but it did not. All in all was a successful trip. Three of our six buck tags were now filled and we each had one tag left. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it happen on my sons first tag so had to eat that one. But he has a bear tag and my buddy and I each have a buck tag left. Hopefully there’s more stories to write up from those. Attachments: | |||
 Forgot to add (for those who read and remember my 2021 4x4 story) I believe the buck my son killed was the sparring partner of my buck. And if you recall I hunted all of about ten minutes for that buck. The difference being I had to sit it out in the truck due to the rain on opening day and killed him the next morning when it cleared. | |||
| Very nice buck. Congrats to your son! | |||
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Congrats to your son , you & your mate Cheers |
Hope he shares the photos and story. They would be MONSTERS here!!!!! | |||
I was shooting a 6.5 creedmoor X-bolt pro with a Leupold VX6 3-18x44. 123 AH at 2925 fps MV (impact velocity was ~2250). The shot hit a few inches lower than planned, but went through the heart. The bullet went in behind his left shoulder and exited his chest cavity low on the far side near his sternum. The bullet somehow stayed inside the skin and came out through the far side leg "elbow". I couldn't find any petals or the shank. The lungs were bruised, but still intact. No other internal organ damage that I could detect. Thanks again for everyone's help here on the forum (esp gltaylor) and people's willingness to share and collaborate. Attachments:
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We were on the South slope of a east west ridge line, near the top, glassing the North slope finger across a canyon when we spotted some elk. The one I was interested in was in a small opening facing us straight on. I got set up with some Trigger Sticks. It was about 8:00am and the sun was giving me a fit because of glare. I finally got settled in and took a shot. I didn’t hear a wack. The elk were standing there like nothing had happened. After coming off recoil I asked my guide if he saw any impact which he hadn’t. I took another shot, complete miss but this time the guide saw the vapor trail. He said the elevation looked good but the bullet went left of the target. It was calm where we were sitting and we saw no wind on the foliage across the canyon. Then I felt a slight breeze on my right cheek. There must be wind out in the canyon. I held a little right based on what the guide saw on the vapor trail and set up again, I could hardly believe the elk were still there. I finally got back on my elk only to see him hidden behind a tree. After about 20 minutes of waiting he stepped out into the small clearing, broad side to us. I got set up on him again and when things looked right I pressed the trigger. I asked the guide if I got him because I didn’t hear any smack. He said he heard the smack and that the elk went straight down. We waited for a few minutes and saw no movement so we drove to the other side of the canyon via a side by side and walked down to my elk. I forgot to analyze the wound channel because I was so focused on the antlers. I do know that the bullet went through the left shoulder, lungs and exited the right shoulder. I remember the guide saying it took out the lungs. I am very happy with the outcome.   | |||
| Nicely done! | |||
| Nice bull, congrats | |||
| Good job and nice bull! | |||
Great Bull and congrats on your first elk! i love unique that right side and forked 3rd is so cool...I bet you were a little excited. Tom | |||
 He isn't a trophy but it's meat in the freezer. I shot him with my 260Rem. using the 110HH with a muzzle velocity of 3140FPS heart was gone and lungs were shredded shank went all the way through. EDIT: As I was cutting up the front shoulders I found a petal in the off hand shoulder so the petal went all the way through the chest cavity and into the far shoulder I would have never thought a petal would have made it that far through the deer. | |||
I admire horns like the next guy! But truly your trophy is providing for the family. That comes first, besides you are letting that big guy get bigger for next year and you gotta good idea of a starting place to find him congrats sir! | |||
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