So I have been really happy so far with my Schultz and Larson 6.5 Creedmoor and my budget friendly Hornady 129gr American whitetail.
The combination has taken everything very effectively from muntjack to sika stags without a single runner.
That was until I went to Exmoor last weekend. By all accounts, a very successful trip. Taking Home a youngster for the freezer and and a trophy for the wall. Plus leaving two big stag carcasses for the keeper to sell to the game dealer. 160lbs and 180lbs
So my first big Red, we were tramping through one of the pheasant pens to get to a vantage point And straight ahead of me there is a stag that had already dropped his antlers. Headshot instant humane kill as I had come to expect.
My second deer, we spotted from quite a way away and we had to do a huge loop on foot to get the right side of the wind and to get to a suitable distance. 225meters chest shot, goes down like a sack of potatoes. Lays there for awhile then starts to get up. I think about putting another one in it and our keeper says don’t worry he’s hit hard. He’ll stumble out for a bit and fall over… he trots off into a nearby Wood.
So A forced March back to The Kabota and then two hours of searching around to no avail! We are just about to give up And make a phone call to a man with a dog when we see something on the thermal not 25 m in front of us. It’s the stag and it’s not moving just standing there. I zapped him in the heart and he fell straight over.
On Close inspection we found the original projectile just under the skin on the entrance side. The bullet had hit a rib and stopped!!! if it had passed through the rib, it would have been a lung shot.
After the Gralloch, we could see that the first shot had cracked the rib clean in half but had not passed through. The second shot was clearly 2 inches further forward and had done done the business.
Went out a second night specifically to find something for the freezer and there was so many to choose from. We were able to hike across from heather and into a field with long grass. A short crawl to a good prone shooting position. 250m across a valley in a position with easy access for recovery, job done.
Although a fabulous trip I’m never trying to shoot a big Exmoor red with this gun/projectile combination. 7prc incoming!
The combination has taken everything very effectively from muntjack to sika stags without a single runner.
That was until I went to Exmoor last weekend. By all accounts, a very successful trip. Taking Home a youngster for the freezer and and a trophy for the wall. Plus leaving two big stag carcasses for the keeper to sell to the game dealer. 160lbs and 180lbs
So my first big Red, we were tramping through one of the pheasant pens to get to a vantage point And straight ahead of me there is a stag that had already dropped his antlers. Headshot instant humane kill as I had come to expect.
My second deer, we spotted from quite a way away and we had to do a huge loop on foot to get the right side of the wind and to get to a suitable distance. 225meters chest shot, goes down like a sack of potatoes. Lays there for awhile then starts to get up. I think about putting another one in it and our keeper says don’t worry he’s hit hard. He’ll stumble out for a bit and fall over… he trots off into a nearby Wood.
So A forced March back to The Kabota and then two hours of searching around to no avail! We are just about to give up And make a phone call to a man with a dog when we see something on the thermal not 25 m in front of us. It’s the stag and it’s not moving just standing there. I zapped him in the heart and he fell straight over.
On Close inspection we found the original projectile just under the skin on the entrance side. The bullet had hit a rib and stopped!!! if it had passed through the rib, it would have been a lung shot.
After the Gralloch, we could see that the first shot had cracked the rib clean in half but had not passed through. The second shot was clearly 2 inches further forward and had done done the business.
Went out a second night specifically to find something for the freezer and there was so many to choose from. We were able to hike across from heather and into a field with long grass. A short crawl to a good prone shooting position. 250m across a valley in a position with easy access for recovery, job done.
Although a fabulous trip I’m never trying to shoot a big Exmoor red with this gun/projectile combination. 7prc incoming!
It brings size into context when you have 2 roe weighing 15 kg and fallow in the 45kg mark next some of the reds...and really the big monsters are probably pushing 200kg larder weight.
