Well, it's a couple days early, but close enough.

Spotted him 5 minutes into legal shooting time, hunting in a climber on a tree I'd never hunted before. Would never have seen him without binoculars, but he was clear as a bell in my Leupold.

63 yard shot with my Ruger M77 Compact in 260 REM. 140 gr Hornady SP Interlock.

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It's not rocket surgery, for crying outside!

Beautiful deer, beautiful gun and excellent photography! Well done, my friend...well DONE!

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Ask me about QDMA.

Great job, nice looking buck! I don't have any experience with animals other than those here at home, but I see this guy isn't nearly as filled out as ours are. Of course, I do live in central Alberta, and suppose a longer hair coat could cause an illusion there.

I notice two empty shells in your shell holder there...did he cause you some grief?

As above - nice deer and photos. Might need to stand a little closer to the razor next time, though!

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NRA Certified Police Firearms Instructor
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"Firearms only have two enemies - rust and politicans" author unknown

Dang! I knew I should have taken the shells out!

Actually it was only minor grief. First shot broke his shoulder, but because of the angle only took out one lung. He wasn't going anywhere, but I gave him the coup de gras. I can't blame the caliber for not being a DRT. Bullet placement is everything, and being off by only a few inches can make a big difference.

And yes, Tennessee deer are very much smaller than northern deer. A really big doe will barely make 100 pounds dressed. This buck will probably dress around 140. The largest I've killed in Tennessee (approximately 50 deer between my son and I) was only 175.

Or did you mean "filled out" as in winter coat? We only get 10 inches of snow a year here, and January's average temp is 35 F. It was actually 31 degrees and spittign snow at dawn today, but it was near 40 when the pics were taken.

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It's not rocket surgery, for crying outside!

Nice buck Jake. I killed a fat doe with my 260 this year and I love the 129 Hornady SP. I bet those big horns got you looking more towards his head and not at his ribs and that's why you were w few inches to far forward. LOL.

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"I don't drink or smoke, I spend my money on gunpowder and gasoline."

It wasn't so much buck fever from the horns as it was fear he'd jump into the brush to the left of the trail.

I had to bend my knees a bit to shoot under some of the twigs from the tree in front of me, so I didn;t have a good rest.

Listen to me! I got the darn deer, and I'm still making excuses!

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It's not rocket surgery, for crying outside!

You have to, to stay in practice! That way when you screw up, I won't have to try to make excuses for you!

Just FYI, I'm not a big bore enthusiast. They have their place, sure, but I personally don't see why I would need to shoot a deer with a .300 Magnum. That said, I also believe in being overgunned rather than undergunned. While I have no experience whatsoever with the .260, I don't see why it shouldn't be a great deer round.

I have no problems faulting you rather than the caliber!

Nice buck

Yup, further south they don't have to get as heavy. Where I hunt (down in south-west MS), medium sized doe carcass (no hide, head, guts, or legs below the knee joints) are around 60 to 70lbs and large doe carcass are about 90lbs. Medium buck carcass (like the one I got earlier this week) are around 100lbs. Occassionally, big bucks will come in at 220lbs+ on the hoof and I've seen a couple taken that were around 250lbs or so on the hoof.

Holy ****. I had a mule buck this year (he was big, mind you...even for here) dressed out just as you described at, I believe, 307 lbs.

I shot two yearling does the day after Thanksgiving. The processed meat (all bones removed) was less than 50 pounds total.

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It's not rocket surgery, for crying outside!

No wonder you folks get so many tags down there! You need em all to keep from starving! We get a general whitetail tag, and everything else is by draw.

That's about the truth in many parts of Texas. We are so overrun with deer it isn't funny.

The lease I hunt on has good habitat, and I don't think a population problem, but I get literally begged to kill deer around central Texas by landowners. In fact one of them is probably going to be annoyed by me not having time to kil any deer this year, and another, by me not getting enough.

Overpopulation can be a serious problem and really degrade the habitat. Combine that with a few hogs and you have a real mess.

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MikeG

Well, I guess if anything good is going to come out of that...at least your season isn't over the first time you squeeze the trigger. It gets awful hard to convince the women to let you keep going out to take a walk through the bush if your tags are filled...

After 50 years of marriage, mine is happy to see me get out of the house and from under her feet!

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NRA Certified Police Firearms Instructor
NRA Certified Range Safety Officer
NAHC Life Member

"Firearms only have two enemies - rust and politicans" author unknown

Haha...not sure I want to wait that long before I get out again!