Buck Down With The Maximum ANOTHER ELK, ANOTHER BUCK

[sixshot]

Too late tonight for details but I shot a fork horn muley buck just before dark today with my Ruger 10.5" 357 Maximum & the 194 gr Bradshaw/Martin bullet. I'll have more details & photo's tomorrow when I get up. I'll have to take care of the deer first. Had to have the grandson's drive out & help me, I was a long way from town.

Dick

[Fowler]

That’s fantastic Dick. Looking forwards to a good story tomorrow as I head off for my elk hunt.

[45MAN]

I FIGURED IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME.

[squigz]

Oh boy, here comes a good one..

[diddle]

Thank you, sir, for sharing. You are a highlight in this forum. I can’t wait to read the full version!

[hampton]

Congrats Dick!  Looking forward to the details.

[Encore64]

That's great, look forward to the pics and hunting report...

[bula]

Am smiling here, thanks and congrats.

[Lee Martin]

May be the first animal to fall to the 194 gr Bradshaw-Martin bullet. Looking forward to your write-up on how it performed.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[sheriff]

WTG, Dick! Knew you'd get 'er done.

[seminolewind]

Good job, busted thumb and all.

[bradshaw]

Dick.... congratulations on a first. We slaughtered five pigs yesterday, but I didn’t put the Ruger Maximum and Bradshaw-Martin 194 into play. In any case, it was all with brain shots; execution is not hunting.
David Bradshaw

[contender]

OUTSTANDING! I too look forward to the full story.

[sixshot]

When I left the house yesterday I wasn't holding out a lot of hope because of the wind but by the time I got out there things were looking much better. This place is a favorite honey hole of mine after there's been a little pressure put on the deer & elk because it's hidden from the road hunters. It's quite a ways out from town but worth it, especially on a week day, I hate hunting weekends!

This remote spot is on 3 levels, kind of stair stepped between lava reefs, much like areas where I hunt Rock Chucks in the spring. The good part is you can kind of hide below the lava reefs, some are 15-20 feet tall & peek over & glass the brushy mountain side where the deer & elk like to shade up during the day. It's important to go early so they don't spot you if you have to switch levels, I was there at 4pm.

This gave me plenty of time to quietly cruise a couple of miles below on of the lava reefs on my 4 wheeler to get north to one of my best glassing areas & I always have the wind in my favor. I'm always glassing east & as a rule the wind flows north or south. Yesterday it was a gentle southern breeze but not much. There were lots of fresh deer & elk tracks crossing a dry ditch that leads out into an Alfalfa field that is hidden from view. You have to know it's there, that's the key.

Sneaking up over the top of the lava reef I stayed low & nestled into a 30 ft patch of Sagebrush that had some lava rock scattered in it, set up my little folding stool, my Bog Pod PSR shooting rest & pulled out my range finder. You will see in the photo's some very dark cover at the top of the grain fields, that is thick, heavy brush that, in some places is as tall as my shoulders & very easy for the deer to hide in during the day. Elk bed there as well but mostly the elk like to bed higher, even if it's out in the open in the sagebrush.

Just before 6PM I started to see deer coming my way, they were in a bit of a hurry to start feeding on the scattered green that remained in the harvested grain field. There were game trails everywhere coming out of the brush & at first they were slightly to my left (north) then they angled over onto another trail & started coming straight towards me. I had glassed them for several minutes and all 5 of them were slick heads so no chance for a shot but it's always fun watching them. If they kept coming it was going to be very, very close.

At about 20 yds they moved just to my right to avoid the rocky, brushy area I was hiding it, I could have hit any of them with my wrist rocket I always carry. I knew in the next few seconds they would get my scent & the lead doe would snort. Didn't happen, she slammed on the brakes & her head came up & she looked my way, they all did but now they were far enough to my right that maybe the wind was swirling, not sure but they didn't spook, I was surprised. They knew something was up but didn't run off, they just kept heading down through the lava rocks to the Alfalfa field.

I didn't have much time left but when I looked back up to the top of the field I spotted a lone deer coming down out of the brush, at first I couldn't tell what it was until it walked out into the field, then I could see horns, game on! It was 300+ yds out so I had time to move my stool & shooting rest because it was coming from a different angle than the first 5 had came. I always carry a belt gun, today it was my Ruger OM that I had sent to Bobby Tyler & had converted to a 45 Auto Rim & my "long" gun was my scoped Ruger 10.5" 357 Maximum, to me the finest deer revolver ever made. For the first time I was hunting with the excellent Bradshaw-Martin 194 gr powder coated bullet over 18.5 grs of 4227 & deep seated over the top driving band. How would it work, we were about to see.

The buck was a fork horn, large body, he had been eating well all summer & he was in a hurry to catch up to the other deer. When he got right to the edge of the field I stopped him with a fawn bleat just using my mouth, the same way my son had called in his Coyote 2 days earlier. I had ranged him a few seconds earlier at 142 yds but that probably changed a little by the time I shot because he was running. He stopped dead still at the fawn bleat. I held tight center behind the shoulder & lit the switch, his back end went down then he started turning a bit & I shot again but I don't know if that hit him or not, I haven't looked yet. But at the second shot he started running straight towards me for 10-15 yds & dropped.

You can see in the third photo my muzzle is almost touching the exit hole, I shot him through the right side & exited out the left side. The lungs are hammered. For a solid cast bullet at 142 yds it was perfect. I would say from shot to down & out it was maybe 5 seconds. The bottom photos are my Ruger OM 45 Auto Rim & my cross draw rig by Doc Barranti.
The Bradshaw-Martin bullet, even though it's a 357 solid took out both lungs & The deer was down just as fast as it would have been from probably any other caliber, perfect performace. I can't think of a better caliber for deer or antelope than the 357 Maximum, low recoil & great at long distance.













Dick

[iwsbull]

Excellent