Ryan&Amy

131 7/8

I found this buck opening morning at about 6:45a. He stayed out feeding till a lattle after 8:00 when i started shooting at him. I never got a real good look at the buck. I could just tell he had good main beams, good mass and long G2s. From what i could see i knew he had at least 95 inches from that and i knew that if he had any kind of third point at all he would be over 105. After he was down and i saw he was a two point for the first time i was shocked. Oh well he is still a good buck and he is by far one of the biggest 2 points i have ever seen. I would also like to thank my wife because without her this deer would have gotten away. She is the best hunting partner i could ask for.[attachmen t=27665:1022100943.jpg]

I have a .243 and a 22-250 and the 22-250 is by far my favorite of the 2. But as mentioned in another reply it has no problem hitting 600 yrds but if it is windy ur in trouble if your shooting more than 300 yrds, unless you know ypur gun well enough to be able to adjust for the wind. i bought one and my dad seriously had nothing to do with it but i asked him to carry on one hunt now he has one i have one and my wife has her own. We all swear by ours. taken whitetail at 407, 416, 493 yrds even a big mule deer at 486 yrds. You could not believe the damage of such a small bullet. i have seen worse damage with a 22-250 than a 300 win mag.

you passed on him? are you sure you haven't bumped you head lately? great buck.

why hasn't anyone suggested the 300 rum? its a pretty good gun.

hey how are you guys getting these pictures of my deer? i didn't put it on here cause he wasn't big enough! but now the picture and story is out!

Congrats on the double! I know what it is like to get beat by your wife it has happened to me the last 6 yrs till this year and I couldn't be HAPPIER to be losing to my wife and best hunting partner out there!!!!!!!!!!! once again congrats!

I found a nice buck for my wife while scouting a few weeks before the hunt. I got him on video a few different times. We went in there opening morning, thinking that Amy would soon have another nice buck, but the weather didn't agree. The clouds were so low we couldn't see the mountain side 250 yards infront of us, it was raining, the wind was blowing...you get the idea. At the end of the day we drove out of there with only seeing about 10 does. My wife was really disappointed because we only had a few days together before the kids came home. And I was very surprised I didn't find that buck-I knew he was in there. Next morning we went to a different spot where we have had success in the past. Before the sun came up we could see the stars and we knew it was going to be a day with better weather. So off we went and by the time the sun came up...the wind, the rain, and the clouds came with it! I glassed up 2 spikes right away...I asked Amy if she wanted to shoot a spike and she gave me a definate "NO". About 1 hour later in this horrible freezing wind and rain she came and sat by me and said, "babe, do you think you could find those spikes again? I think I'll shoot one now." I told her I thought they had left cause they were headed down a canyon. Chances were slim, but I would keep my eye out for something. Within 5 minutes I found those 2 dang spikes 200 yards infront of us. I was debating on whether I was even gonna tell Amy cause I knew she would shoot anything just to get out of the weather, get her kids back and I bought her a new 22-250 that she hadnt got to shoot anything with yet and I knew she was dying to kill something with it. I told her and she shot once and dropped him...and low and behold the minute we walked over to the spike the weather cleared and there was not a cloud in the sky the rest of the day. After killing many big bucks I guess the combination of missing the kids, shooting her new gun, and the weather made her weak!!!! The next morning Amy and I went back to find that buck I had video taped. We got up there and the weather started out the same way as the 2 previous days. I just wanted to sit in the truck. I decided I would go and sit in the wind again and start glassing. Within 15 minutes I found 4 bucks. 2 of them were the ones I had video taped (and planned on Amy killing) and the other 2 I hadn't seen before. She was a little disappointed at this point for killing that spike the day before. So she took over glassing while I took out to stock. I was climbing a horrible mountain and thought that mountain couldn't get any steeper. I ranged the bucks and they were still 635 yards away. I still needed to get closer. I had the wind in my favor, it was keeping them from moving too quickly. They were just feeding the 2 hours it took me to get up there. My next stop I ranged them at 567 yards. I was trying to get closer but I was running out of time cause they were feeding over the mountain. I ranged them at 493 yards and decided it was now or never. I had a good rest, set up some binoculars and picked out the one that I wanted. I shot (22-250) and hit him with the first and second shot. He bedded down and I waited for Amy to hike up to me so we could go and get him. When she got close to me, the buck jumped up and ran about 300 yards away from us and bedded down. One more shot and he was mine. My biggest buck so far. Another successful hunt for me and Amy.

Here are some pics from a good friend of mine and his son's 2008 deer. Danny shot his deer the last hour of the last day at 581 yards with his 300 win. mag with one shot right through the chest. It is a small deer by Danny's standards but he knew it was a true four point plus eye guards and true for points are rare so he decided to take it. After he got to the deer he discovered it was actually a 4x5 including the eye guards wow what a horrible disapointment to find that extra tine!!!! The deer scores roughly around 108" give or take a little but he is just probably being modest. His son Jose also shot his deer the last hour on the last day. Danny found it bedded down while glassing. Jose shot him in his bed at 535 yards. The deer stood up and Jose shot again and nailed him. This deer scores right around 95 in.

It was my pleasure duckblind and next year we will try a little harder and we will get you the one you are after. i say go back after the one that got away it is getting personal now. but in order to get one here that means you will have to out in around here again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Danny on another couple of nice deer for you and Jose. It must be rough for you and Jose to have to settle for such little deer on the last hour of the last day of your hunts. Only if we could all be so unlucky . Thank you again for all the help that you given Amy and I, we couldn't have killed any of these deer without you. thanks again.

Awsome buck man a real toad. congats

My dad came down two days before the hunt to find him a deer. He had asked me for advice on where to go and I told him where the spots Amy and I have had success but he didn't like the idea cause he had never had success there before. We had both seen the biggest deer of our lives there but he had never killed. I had to work with only enough vacation left for mine and Amy's hunt. He hooked up with a friend of his and hunted very hard for the first two days and only saw about 4 does a day. My one day off was sunday before I started working graveyards Monday night and I told him Iwould be able to go that one day. Saturday night came around and he gave me a call and asked if I would be able with him and his friend and I confirmed I would be able to and at his camp around 5:00am. I showed up at his camp and he advised me that his friend had backed out very respectfully to give us our father son time. So as we were driving outta camp ha asked where I wanted to go and i told him the same place I had advised him to go opening morning and he just "okay your the guide". I had found a decent buck that would have been 85" to 90" while in there scouting for our hunt and asked him if he would shoot something about that size and he said "absolutely" so we went to look for that deer. After about two hours of glassing I suggested driving up the road a little ways to the spot Amy shot her deer the year before and we weren,t there 15 minutes when I saw a huge rack moving aroud behind a tree and told him here we go if we get this one he will be 130" at least. I could barely believe it i couldn't stop shaking and he was asking "where son where?" I described it to him and then by this time You could see the entire head and he finally saw it and all heard was "holy $#!+ son you finally did it!" By this time I stood up I couldn't stand to look anymore cause I didn't want to start making him more nervous. After what seemed like forever of coming up with a plan he took one last look at the deer before we started our stock and the deer finally came out of behind the tree and dad just said "its a stinking mule deer." A mule deer it whitetail country in a place I had never seen mule deer before i couldn't believe it but after watching him for a minute we found 3 other really nice bucks with him but he was by far the biggest and was a really big 4 point mule deer but he was probably 1500 yrds away in the brush is the reason we couldn't determine he was a muley till we saw the full view of how big his body was and that white butt. So we drove about half a mile down the road to look at a few more hills sides and when we got out I started not feeling very well but kept on not wanting to take away from our one day together. We were glassing for about 10 minutes but i was just doubled over spitting. You all know the point your mouth starts watering just before you throw up. He said lets go in and get something to eat and watch some football so we went and got something to eat and I wasn't even half way done with my plate before I had to run to the bathroom and lost everything I had just ate and it was every 15 minutes for the rest of the day. I felt really bad for robbing him of our one day together. He called from camp Sunday night and asked how I was feeling and I wasn't feeling any better i just had nothing left to offer the porcellin gods. I told him I would be there by 5:30am and if I wasn't then I still wasn't feeling up to it and to just leave without me but if i did go we had to be back by ten at the latest so could sleep before work. I showed up Monday morning at 5:30 not feeling any better but wasn't ready to give up either so we were off and on the way outta camp he asked where I wanted to go and I told him the same spot and do the same thing as the day before because I know that i can not go in there two days in a row and not find a buck. So we did the same thing and we didn't find a thing 2 does right around nine o'clock so he said lets get you home and get you in bed. On our way out I suggested stopping in one more spot that I wanted to the day before cause it was a litlle nob in the middle of a very large flat area tha is covered in cat claw and those bucks seem to hide down there during the saeson and from thins point we caould also see all the hills sides we already glassed. We weren't there 1o minutes when I him call me Ryan come here hurry I found two little bucks but they were every bit of 2000 yrds away. I told him to drive over there and get a closer look to see if one might be a last day shooter. I stayed and watched the bucks as he drove off. He was gone about five minutes and one of the little bucks dissapeared in a bush but out of the corner of my eye on the edge if the field of view in my glasses I saw another deer with his head down for about two seconds as he ran from one bush to the next and never came out but in the glimpse I caught i could see the sun reflecting off of what looked like a very nice main beam. I told him when he got into position not to jump the gun cause I think I saw a bigger one down there but I wasn't sure cause I never saw all 3 at the same time but by this time the two little bucks were back out feeding and he didn't want them and decided to take a chance and wait to see if there was a bigger one. The two little bucks kept trying to go into the same bush that I saw the other deer disapear into but they would never be in there very long before they would run out with there flags up and stop. After watching this for a while I told him that if there was a buck in there he needed to push him out so we can get this over with so I can go to bed. He finally decided to try and stood up took three steps toward the bush and I saw the deer stand up. I got on the radio and said "there he is thats the third deer" and before I could finish what i was saying the deer went down and about 3 or 4 seconds later i could here the boom. The deer ended up being his biggest to date at 92" even with a 15" inside spread and 18" main beams and really big bases. We checked the teeth on this deer and from that we determined he was a very old deer and on his downward slope which means he was probably the 110" buck his prime that everyone looks for. So even if he isn't the biggest I found he was the oldest and smartest and has out smarted alot of hunters in his lifetime. I will have field pics as soon as my dad emails them to me.

nice deer. i can watch that video over and over and it never gets old. congrats on a nice buck and cool video

i didn't say anything about you missing duckblind you said that yourself!

Nice! Do you have pics of that deer on the website? I'ld like to see em.

Yes I have scored him but very roughly in the bed of the truck with no pen or paper. When I dropped him off at the taxidermist I told him what we got and he thinks we forgot to carry a 1 somewhere becuase he was bigger than a 95" and a 98" buck that was there. Which would put him 10" bigger than what I and if that's the case he will be right around 100". On the other hand I trust my friend Danny very much and he was the one that scores him first. So my point is that I'm not sure what he scored so I left it out. If u have an opinion around 90" or 100" tell me what u think.

Alright duckblind, I will remember that come archery season or next year when you want someone to take you out and help. I won't let Amy help you anymore. Speaking of needing someone to shoot their deer for them.

Well thank you guys for all your remarks and support. It was a fun hunt. The part that makes our hunts the funnest is that this is the only time of year that we coordinate time away from work and away from the kids to be together. It started when we first met I was putting in for hunting and she asked if I would put her in. She told me that if "she had to hunt to spend time with me then that's what she wanted to do". It started out as just a tag along then she shot a deer that year and then she started killing big ones and getting attention and it was all over after that. I don't mind one bit. To be honest with you guys I would prefer her to kill the big deer before me. First reason is I trust her shooting before mine(women don't seem to get buck fever as bad as men). The second reason is that the deer always seem bigger when the women shoot em. It is no big deal for a man to kill a nice deer but if a woman kills it every one gets a little more excited. The third is the look on her face and the way she starts rambling on from excitement from the first moment she sees her nice deer till several weeks after the hunt. I think she enjoys out doing the men and especially beating me year after year. If you want to see her past success she is on pg 19 and 108 of the photogallery under az rifle hunting. I would like to thank you all for looking and replying. I would also like to thank my dad john for taking me out as a little boy to help me build love for the outdoors. I would also like to thank Danny Carrosco for taking the time to teach me how to glass. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have got our deer the last 6 yrs. Thank you danny you deserve credit for these deer too.

nice deer that is one to be very proud of. i like the ones that almost touch like that.

80 if she didn't make a shot from 400+ year after year we might say that she got lucky. Her first deer was 407, the deer this year was 406 and then got alot further as she shot and made a perfect shot to finish him off. (Amy's 2007 hunt in the forum). Her first deer was at 407 with one shot with perfect placement (pg 19 photogallery). my dad used my gun one year and double lunged his deer at 407 also, a week later he had a 22-250. i have seen more damage done with this gun that i have our 300 mag or any other gun for that matter. 800+ yards at the range is a 50/50 shot but 550 is automatic. the reloads are going well over 4000 fps. women are also alot better shooters than men in my book. she doesn't nervous, she never gets buck fever. she just gets the job done. i love my gun and will never shoot another one at a deer again unless its windy( that 50 grain bullet is a little light in the wind but i don't go out if it is windy). make that shot once yeah she was lucky but 3 deer in a row, I'll just call her good. thanks for the posts guys and keep them coming she is eating up every minute of them. dont forget to look at amys 2007 hunt forum.

After the nice deer my wife killed in 2003 she decided to try her luck with mule deer. The first year she tried she got drawn for elk and mule deer, but she was 8 months pregnant - the hunts didn't go too well (but not from lack of her trying to wobble). No luck with her mule deer but she got a small bull two weeks before she had our baby. The next year she tried mule deer again... First day of the hunt - we had no luck glassing. Got into some walking and arguing and more walking and more arguing about which way was north (she still isn't convinced north isn't towards the sky). We decided to go to another place it was around noon. On the way out we noticed a doe on the side of the road feeding. Drove a little more, saw another doe in the road, decided to pull over and glass the hillside she was headed towards. Found about 20 does on the hillside all up and walking. Does were all down low so I decided to check higher - Found this buck at 486 yards bedded down. There was no way to get any closer if she wanted him she'd have to shoot from there. She put down the bipods on her 22-250 and shot twice with him bedded down. He finally decided to stand up she shot again as he was going over the ridge and hit him in the back leg just as he topped over. Thank goodness for the long range that gun (and my reloads!) gave her. Walked around the mountain - didn't see him - she sat on the side of the road while I ran further down the road and up to the mountain. Ended up pushing him out about 150 yards running straight towards her. One more shot and he was ours. I was proud of her - but sick to my stomach because I had to touch an ugly muley. She says she'll stick to white tail from now on. YEAH!!!

Started out first day glassing. Got tired about 9:00 asked if she wanted to glass for awhile. I fell asleep and the next thing I heard was "I found a buck!" My first response was "Shut up!" (cause that was her first time glassing). But sure enough she found a nice one. We watched him bed down. We had to get closer - way closer. Got within 200 yards of him without him moving. We got impatient and decided to try and push him out - dumb mistake! I got within about 10 yards from where he was before he jumped up. She never saw him. Discouraged cause we knew to wait for him to move but anyways we decided to follow him over the hill but never saw him again. While we were already up on this mammoth of a mountain we decided to play billy goats and stay and glass down every canyon. We got to the last draw about 1:00 and decided to catch up on some phone calls to catch up on fellow hunters and lunch. I guess we were having to much fun laughing and joking about this heck of a mountain we just conquered and about 15 yards away up jumps a nice little buck. I got buck fever since I hadn't had a chance to kill a whitetail in 12 years - I had good intentions of letting her shoot first but I already had the gun and he was on the run - so 3 shots later - he's mine now. He had a nice little extra on his right side - scored about 82 in. Not bad for ending my 12 year streak.

After a great opening morning our luck ended just as fast as it had started. We didn't see another buck through Sunday. We had to pick up the kids Sunday night so I was really regreting shooting first cause i would've had the whole week to hunt, but she needed to be home for the kids that week. We called everyone we knew to babysit, but to no prevail. She thought her hunt was over - and she made it known. So the pressure was on. We picked up the oldest after school everyday and headed out with all 3 kids to try and find her something to shoot at. I would glass and she would sit in the truck with the kids and the radio incase I found something. Still no luck. Her sister ended up making a surprise visit Thursday and offered to take the kids overnight but we had to get them by Friday afternoon. Talk about pressure. One more morning to hunt. I asked her every morning when we were heading out what she would shoot and her expectations were quickly lowering. That morning, I asked if she'd shoot a spike and she said without hesitating, "ask me if I'ld shoot a doe!". So I knew she had given up hope. We couldn't decide where to hunt for the few hours we had that morning. So our uncertainty led us back to where I had shot mine opening morning. She hates going in there. We were about a mile from where I had shot mine that first day and decided to pull over and started glassing. Glassed about 30 minutes while she slept in the truck and I found one bedded down about 10 minutes to 7:00. I was throwing rocks at the windsheild to wake her up cause she didn't have her radio on. When I finally got her attention, we ranged him and couldn't pick him up on the range finder. We picked a spot to shoot from, which we thought was half way. I stayed and kept an eye on him while she set out for him. When she got to the shooting point she ranged him at 616 yards. She still had to get closer. There was not much cover so she could only get the shooting distance down to 406 yards. She felt pretty comfortable with that range with her 22-250. We learned our lesson that first day, and decided to wait it out - wait for him to move. We sat there for 2 very long hours waiting. She finally got impatient and took a shot without telling me she was going for it. Well, it got him to stand up, but he didn't know what was going on. She shot again and hit him in the back leg. He disappeared about 10 feet into some bushes. Another buck decided to run out of the same thicket and the shooting was on. She shot about 6 times at this poor little buck bouncing around the mountain before she would listen to me when I was telling her she was shooting at the wrong one!!!!! Finally that one had had enough and decided to book it out of there (unharmed - thank goodness - cause usually she doesn't miss!). The big one finally showed himself again - 2 more shots and he was done. Not only being a nice buck, after gutting him he weighed 104 pounds! What a toad. She outdid me again. She's getting spoiled - whats going to happen when her draught begins?

excelent deer.. didn't i just see you in trophy hunter? i want to know how you got your skull so white and clean. i boil mine and it never looks that good and the skinny nose bone always breaks. plz resond