Preface

This hunting season I once again was able to find success on these Rocky Mountains. Among the many individual adventures I was able to be a part of, the part where I apply all my year-long practice is what I relish the most. I had spent the week of our state’s general season rifle hunt helping kids, family and friends get on and shoot their own deer. But today is the story of my own, and one I quite enjoyed. For those who love a deep dive, today I am going over the anatomy of a kill shot. How calculated decisions can create success, something that serious precision hunters take very seriously.

The Hunt

Our hunt is perhaps not as glamorous as the ones you see in the hunting journals, but we enjoy it none the less. I’ve never been much of a trophy hunter, mainly because I am a poor rifle junkie. As much as I’d like to shell out for the hunt of a lifetime, and take down some Manitoban monster, or a stupendous Sonoran giant, I love hunting with my kids and family. The experience is more valuable to me than bones to show off.

So with that in mind, you can imagine my elation having helped cut and haul out five bucks in as many days with my party. And with a bunch of deer hanging in my woodshed keeping cool, I decided I may need the next few days just to process them. So it was time to start looking hard at filling my own tag.

The Equipment

I mentioned rifle junkie right? More guns than sense comes up a lot at my house, but this year it was a dandy rifle I carried along. This is a rifle I put together with some help from Josh at Patriot Valley Arms. Built from a Bergara Premier long-action, we added an Osprey Carbon fiber barrel chambered in 7 PRC. Cut at 20-inches to keep the rifle light and easy to maneuver, and twisted 1:8 to shoot some of the higher BC bullets.

It was mounted in a Pure Precision carbon fiber stock, with a Hawkins DBM magazine system. And on top I mounted my US Optics TXH 3-18×56, a scope that has served me very well through some hard use the last few seasons.

Josh calls it the “Carbon Canon”, which has stuck. And its been with me on a spring bear hunt, and an elk hunt earlier this year. Both of which turned out unsuccessful, but not because of any fault in equipment.

The 7 PRC

I spent a good portion of the summer trying to decide which bullet and load I liked the best. Which for me always ends up being the one that shoots the best. Against my better judgement, I used what RL-26 I had left to fuel some Sierra 183 Match Kings up to the mid 2800’s. I have always liked the 183, as it has a very impressive flight plan. And I’ve used it with great success in the past with my 7 SAUM.

I did try others as well, but the 1:8 twist spun the 183 just right. So I stuck with it, and spent a good deal of time practicing to ensure I could predict its path meticulously. Using Petersen 7 PRC brass also greatly improved the consistency of the rifle.

Practice took place in these same mountains, in the same canyons and peaks where we hunt. Learning the angles and winds are just as valuable as learning trajectories. The results of all my shooting had given me a very accurate drop chart, and the confidence to keep my shots within my imagined kill zone.

The Weather

On the day in question, it was your typical Rocky Mountain October day. Chilly but not freezing, and a storm front had finally moved into our valley. I had planned on being there when the storm front showed up, because the deer always come out for the storm.

With me was one of my good friend’s sons, who also turns out to be my good friend. Jake and I had already executed a perfect stalk and shot on another buck earlier that morning.

After packing out his buck, we descended to about 8,000 ASL. And because it is impossible to not look at everything when hunting, we paused a few times to glass some draws as the grey curtain of the storm approached from the west.

Keeping watch on the storm with one eye, we scanned the high mountain draws with the other. It was then that I picked out a tiny white spot that seemed out of place. It could be a Mule deer butt I thought, but closer inspection through the spotting scope show it was actually the white nose of a bedded buck. Much like us, he seemed content to sit and watch the storm roll in.

Jake and I quickly evaluated the conditions, the distance, and how it could all change in the next few minutes. Our spotting perch had way too much wind, as it was elevated. And the 1200 yards was more than I wanted to deal with, especially in the gusty wind. Gauging the speed of the storm and looking at it on the weather radar, I expected we had less than 30-minutes before the buck would be completely obscured by clouds. And we would of course be soaked as well.

With that knowledge in mind, I made what felt like a somewhat foolish decision. As the rain began to fall, Jake and I bailed off the highline, and dropped into the top of the basin. Moving fast and packing light, we nearly ran through brush and tall grass fixed on a point that I expected would give us a great shooting position.

A Firing Solution

Once we’d reached the spot, we quickly laid out our gear. Me behind the Canon, and Jake behind the spotter. We confirmed the buck still lay in his bed, as raindrops were starting to fall heavier around us and the clouds closed in. We’d managed to knock off 500 yards, and be it the elevation change or the storm front showing up, the wind had slowed to near nothing.

With range confirmed at 707-yards, I hastily evaluated my datapoints. Dope called for 4.4 MRAD for the distance. But I knocked off a tenth for the slightly depressed angle. I watched the buck through the scope, he was bedded behind some yellow Aspens who’s leaves were quite calm. Rain drops fell nearly straight down, with only the slightest noticeable breeze coming in with the storm, I figured it was probably just enough to cancel the spindrift.

With dope dialed, wind accounted for, and angle evaluated, I again peered through my scope at the buck. He wasn’t a big buck, but he was built like a pig. Jake watched through the spotter as I chambered one of my handloaded cartridges, watching the Petersen headstamp disappear behind the bolt. And almost as if on queue, the buck stood up in his bed.

The Shot

He stood slightly quartering towards us, and because we were still above him, I could see all of his back. The reticle moved slowly until it rested on top of his left shoulder. My plan was to send the 183 right down the line between his shoulder and spine, hopefully taking out some plumbing and lungs on the way. With his body fully visible I favored a touch high, as I’d rather miss into lungs and high shoulder than miss low with a larger margin for less damage. As rain drops loudly started landing on my hood, I took up the slack of the trigger’s first stage.

In the drainage below, I expect the buck had just finished the best morning of his life. He got to watch a spectacular sunrise, and the grey storm clouds creep slowly into his canyon. I’d like to think he was just about to go find a better bed, where the rain wouldn’t soak him. But just then, the 183 had taken flight.

Jake and I held our breath as time slowed and the Match King cut through the rain. Then, just as quickly as he’d stood up, the handsome buck settled back into the bed that would be his last. We watched a puff of hair burst into the air, and the shockwave of the impact rippled across his body. He went instantly motionless without so much as a kick, while Jake and I cheered and high-fived.

Post Mortem

After hiding out from the worst of the storm for a few hours, we made our way down through the yellow Aspens. Our prized awaited right where we expected, with a relatively small blood clot draining from his mouth.

He was fatter than I expected, much bigger bodied than most of the other deer we’d seen. After snapping some photos to share, we dug into the butchering process and to evaluate the impact. The 183 SMK had impacted just beside the backstrap on top of his shoulder. An oblique breakage in the rib and vertebrae nearby is likely what dropped him so fast. And the bullet travelled at an angle under the backbone, traversing the chest slightly while dislodging some large arteries and large portion of the lung.

According to my ballistic calculator, the bullet should have impacted just shy of 2200FPS with approximately 1940 lbs of energy. More than enough to bust through everything necessary, and sit him right back down in his bed.

We quickly quartered him up, and recovered as much meat as we could. To my surprise it was way more than I thought we’d get. His neck alone made my burger pile a thing of envy. Soaked to the bone, we hiked back out with water sloshing in our boots.

In Conclusion

I knew the Carbon Canon had everything I needed to make a shot like that. It would simply come down to whether or not my interpretation of the data was right. I would have been happy with this buck on the last day of the hunt, which made it an easy choice to end my hunt on. Allowing me to spend the next three days turning him and others into delicious cuts that we’ll enjoy over the next year.

Shots like this will stay in my mind, throughout spring and summer as I return to these peaks. Thinking through each shot and the data involved is an incredibly valuable calculation, and one that sharpens your skills for when it matters most. Choosing your shot placement wisely can be just as important for that perfect kill shot.

-CBM