By Larry

January 3, 2017

Hunting in NC with my brother just before Christmas 2016, we had hunted in the morning and seen a few deer but nothing worthy of shooting having already killed a couple of does and 2 spikes earlier in the season. Between the morning and evening hunt we reviewed several weeks of video from trail cameras and discussed our concern at the lack of larger/older bucks on camera, while not trophy hunters certainly we would like to know that bigger bucks were around (we assumed their were). In the evening we took to our stands and as lady luck would have it a pair of decent antlers poked cautiously out of the woods with mere moments of good shooting light left. From my position 50 yards upwind of this nice buck, from an elevated tripod stand on edge of a power line I went through my routines to prepare for a shot and to keep my racing heart and breathing in control. The buck finally stepped out and with less than 5 mins of light left I took a shot with the buck quartering away slightly.......placement was not perfect entering slightly high at back of rib cage but with quartering positioning and being elevated with deer so close the Hornady hand loaded 243 Win and the 95 grain SST did its job. No exit hole and a very minimal blood trail caused great concern but the buck only went 75 yards and is my first wall worthy buck following many years away from NC due to my US Navy service in the submarine fleet. What a celebration with my brother as our concerns about the mature deer in the area were answered. Thanks Hornady for the great products and the joy that reloading gives me.