6.5 BRM takes a nice buck

[Bobby Tomek]

More details coming later, but I was able to take this nice buck at 145 yards using the 24" 6.5 BRM shooting 123 grain Hornady ELD-M handloads. I'll have a recovered bullet photo at some point also.

[sunnysmarine]

Real nice, you sure do take nice photos

[Bobby Tomek]

Thanks, Sunny. Would have been better if I could have knelt or been ground level with the phone camera, but this decrepit ol' body can't do that anymore LOL.

[J A XSP]

Looks like a pretty big buck. Congrats!!
I'm looking at getting out at my son's place this coming weekend. :)

[Bobby Tomek]

Thanks. I hope you have a productive hunt later this week!

OK, some details. I had ZERO intentions of shooting a deer today. It was drizzling, and I was not feeling all that spry. But when I took one of our furbabies out to do his business around 7 a.m., I immediately noticed a deer that obviously was not doing well. I stepped back inside and grabbed the closest optic to the door, which just happened to be a Zeiss 7x50 Diatal Classic on the 6.5 BRM. (I would have preferred my binos for a variety of reasons, but they were farther into the house.)

To make a long story short, the buck seemed to have no use of his left back leg. He was laboring heavily to walk. I figured he was injured fighting, but I was wrong. Upon butchering, we saw that he appeared to have been clipped by a car or truck. There was quite a bit of fresh damage near the area of the tail (did not break the skin, though), and at least one vertebrae seemed to be fractured. The nearest paved road is over a half-mile from here, and I was amazed that he traveled that far in such a short time (the damage was very fresh) and under such circumstances. But they are wired for one thing -- survival -- and can endure more than most of us can even imagine.

Under normal circumstances, I would have passed on this buck with hopes he reaches 5.5 years of age and see how he looked next year. But with the never-ending supply of coyotes we seem to have, I didn't think he'd make it through the night. And I couldn't bear the thought of such a beautiful animal meeting such a horrible fate, so I decided to end it there and then.

I actually made a few calls and tried to give him away, but on such short notice, my efforts came up empty. I'm paying the price tonight, but I managed to get the meat on ice.

I generally don't care about numbers, etc., when it comes to scoring game animals, but I did put the tape to the antlers. The inside spread is just shy of the 16" mark (app. 15.9"). His antler mass -- considering how hot and dry it has been here this year -- was quite amazing. I think he'd have been truly impressive given another year of growth.

As to the bullet, I directed it through both shoulders, and it did some significant damage along the way. That Hornady 123 grain ELD-Match came very close to exiting and actually forced a small split in the hide. It was a simple recovery as it was balled up and visible as a bump under the hide. After cutting it out, I set it onto a 5-gallon bucket...the same bucket I used to set knives and a small saw on. I guess I bumped it off of there. I hope to get out there tomorrow and do a little digging in the grass for it. But I can tell you it did well. The core was flattened to at least .5" inch and was still within the jacket though very loose. I'll venture a rough guess and say it likely retained about 75-80 grains of the 123 original weight. But I hope to edit this post and give some actual specs on it within the next day or so.

The buck simply folded on the spot, and no tracking was needed.

[sunnysmarine]

I'll send you a sky hook, As soon as I find where they are sold. My daughter god bless her tenacity MAKES me get down on the floor and stand up with out rolling over on my knees or grabbing something to pull myself up, And next month shes got me off to PT, Did you know squats hurt after a bit these days, Just started them too. I truly wish yours was just that simple

[J A XSP]

Thanks. I hope you have a productive hunt later this week!



I actually made a few calls and tried to give him away, but on such short notice, my efforts came up empty. I'm paying the price tonight, but I managed to get the meat on ice.

It wouldn't be a terrible hardship for me to head down your way to help out on a hunt sometime. I'd be happy to do the work of getting that meat in your freezer for you. :)