Zach Monroe
Bearcat
I wish I had a great story to tell of the hunt but there really isn't anything special about how it happened. Today of course was the first day of firearm season here in Michigan so I was out in the woods before the sun at my Grandpa's. We hadn't hardly been out in the woods for an hour when I heard a noise behind me over my left shoulder. Thinking it was a squirrel I turned around to look and here comes a buck. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted him or not and then I got a little better look at him and decided if I could get my Bob Allen Soundsensors in my ears and get my gun drawn and on him without him seeing me I would take him. As I was putting in my hearing protection he was milling around a little not having a care in the world. So I reached for my Freedom Arms .475 out of one of Gary Reeder's crossdraw holsters for scoped guns. I got the gun out and turned on my reddot and he still had no clue so I slowly turned in my ladder stand until I was facing him and it just so happened that when I had clumb up there I had laid my extra jacket in that corner making a great rest. He was slowly walking around and I tried to stop him with a little bleat I made with my mouth he stopped....behind a tree!!! So I waited till he started moving again this time he stopped in the open giving a nice broadside shot, I put the dot right at the crease in his shoulder and let the big lead slug fly. At the shot he did the classic mule kick which usually means a nice lung shot. He took of farther to my left and I was sure I saw him go down in a patch of Honeysuckles, but wasnt positive. after a few minutes my grandpa came over to see what was what and we just started slowly working towards the last place I had seen him and there he laid, stone dead. We called my grandma up at the house and asked her to bring the camera and some paper towels and that I would wait for her since my grandpa was gonna go sit back in his ladder stand. As he was walking away I looked at my phone and it was 8:05 AM!! I already had a buck on the ground and it hadn't even been light for an hour yet.
From begining to end this story covers less than 20 minutes, of course the time that the deer was in front of me seemed like a long time but it was probably less than 3 minutes.
Distance was 35-40 yards
Gun was a Freedom Arms 83 475 Linebaugh 5.5" Octagon with an Ultradot mounted on an Edge Custom Freedom Arms mount.
Load used was the LEE 475-325 which casts at 340 gr. Straight wheel weights, over 25 gr. 4227 with a CCI 350. This load is about 1200 fps maybe a touch less.
From begining to end this story covers less than 20 minutes, of course the time that the deer was in front of me seemed like a long time but it was probably less than 3 minutes.
Distance was 35-40 yards
Gun was a Freedom Arms 83 475 Linebaugh 5.5" Octagon with an Ultradot mounted on an Edge Custom Freedom Arms mount.
Load used was the LEE 475-325 which casts at 340 gr. Straight wheel weights, over 25 gr. 4227 with a CCI 350. This load is about 1200 fps maybe a touch less.
Nice!
