By Larry Weishuhn

March 12, 2017

I've spent most of my life hunting whitetails, but also working as a wildlife biologist doing research and establishing quality deer management programs on vast numbers of acres across Texas and other part of North America. During those years I spent a lot of time in helicopters doing game surveys. Of the bucks I saw during doing these surveys only a very small percentage of bucks had typical 12-point frames, and even fewer were typical14 points.

I've been fortunate to have hunted some of the finest whitetail properties and ranges in North America. I've taken a small number of typical 12 points, but none is more memorable than the one I shot on the Sandstone Mountain Ranch near Llano, Texas this past 2016 hunting season.

The buck was actually one I first saw two years previous. Try as I might I could not get a shot at him the one time I saw him during daylight hours. We only saw him after dark.

I hunted him hard for well over a week, trying rattling and sitting in areas where he had previously been seen. Then finally the last morning of my hunt, the buck came to a food plot planted in Tecomate seeds. He hung along the edge for quite some time, not providing a shot. Then finally stepped into a clearing. I was watching him approach through my scope, mounted on my Ruger Number 1, .275 Rigby. He stopped at about a hundred yards. I took a couple of deep breaths, let out all air and then squeezed the trigger on the Hornady 140-grain SP. My long-desired typical 12 point simply fell to the ground, and never kicked.

Love what Hornady bullets and loads do on whitetails, but also on all other game animals in the world...but that's a tale for another campfire!