

It raced across the stubble 125 yards away. Two minutes later I glared down the rifle scope of that sleek little rifle at the biggest buck I had ever seen in the wild. Tip: Savage Axis XP TrueTimber Bolt-Action Rifle with Scope Winchester Model 94 Lever-Action Rifle At the time, I foolishly considered it a mere toy for deer hunters.

Ordered to post 125 yards off the east end of the draw in a soybean stubble field, I protested since I had left my rifle in camp. We all piled into trucks and headed that direction. A deer drive materialized instantaneously while we were sighting in rifles.Ī family member drove up and reported seeing a big buck cross the farm road and enter a 2-acre brushy draw. The following year, my hunting buddies changed my gloomy outlook on the future of my deer hunting possibilities. I Considered Getting Out of Deer Hunting.My Buddies Intervened Savage 11/111 Trophy Hunter XP Bolt-Action My right arm ached much more than my pride. 30-06 rifles for the upcoming deer season and completely regretted not having listened to the doctor. Stunned, I considered getting out of deer hunting all together. 30-06 for a lighter caliber, Bill, or you are going to suffer lasting and painful consequences." Not wanting to damage my ego too heavily nor alter my lifestyle too drastically, the doctor made a closing suggestion. "Bill, I know you enjoy hunting, but it is time to give up the big guns." I had just undergone surgery on my right arm for extensive nerve damage and faced weeks of painful therapy sessions. The doctor's words rang my ears almost as badly as the exploding hand grenade that landed all too close almost forty years previously. He is a proud and accomplished man, with a pride that runs deep and possesses a burning desire to continue - to hunt and to pass on the legacy.
#Deer drive with a bolt action rifle full
What the Doctor Ordered for This Aging Deer HunterĪn aging deer hunter is like a well worn encyclopedia: he is full of knowledge, carries a leathered, weather-worn cover and is revered by those who have studied the pages of the past. It's the guns that these respected hunters carry that are the tools that jell all the memorable components of any deer hunt into a life-long memory to be told and retold to upcoming generations of new deer hunters around campfires everywhere. Tops among the yarns, however, are the guns that graying deer hunters have carried afield, lovingly, to help culminate all the anticipation, preparation, travel, scouting and hunting for the big one. Hunters with decades of experience spin yarns about deer camps, the characters they've met, the food - good and bad - that has burned memories on their stomach lining, the rigorous conditions they've endured, the big bucks that have fallen to their mature skills, and of course, the ghost that no one could ever kill. Experienced deer hunters enjoy nothing more than recalling grand adventures into their favorite haunts for big whitetails.
