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Last year, my friend Scott and I planned up a hunting trip to New Mexico to hunt on his brother-in-law's ranch near Truth or Consequences. On the first afternoon of the season, he and I ventured into the mountains behind the ranch house. We split up, with Scott taking the first ridge and I headed further back to the second one. I was carrying my trusty 7600 Remington 270 pump.
I have killed a good many whitetails with it in Mississippi where we are from. I was heading into the wind and stopping to glass every hundred yards or so. As I crested a hill I stopped and spotted a large buck on the side of the mountain across a small arroya. He was about 280 yards out laying under a cedar tree looking right at me. I immediately sat down behind a small bush and looked him over good. I could tell he had a respectable rack when he turned his head.
After shortening up my walking/shooting stick I got my rifle on him. It seemed like it took forever to get the crosshairs steady on the 3 x 9 x 40 scope at max power. I held up high on the shoulder and touched it off. The 130 grain boattail hit the upper front leg bone and knocked a hole in his chest. He got up and started to run down the hill but I had already pumped another round into the chamber and the second shot broke his pelvis. All I saw was feet in the air and a cloud of dust.
It took us a couple of hours to retrieve him, being so big in the body. The property owner said that it was the biggest deer killed there in many years. What an exciting hunt. Next year we are going for muzzleloading Elk. I B&C scored him on the internet at 143.
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