David2011
11-03-2015, 04:57 PM
The adult rifle deer season in Texas doesn't start until Nov. 7th this year so I had been prepping my blind, game camera and camper for the season. I always have firearms available because it's ALWAYS pig season. As I was packing up and getting ready to go home yesterday morning I saw five Blackbuck frolicking in a nearby wheat field that's part of our hunting lease. In Texas they're considered "Exotics" and there is no restriction on hunting exotics. I thought they had seen me so I stepped out of sight. There were several bushes to hide behind while moving to a better place. I pulled my rifle, a custom Mauser that I built on a Yugoslavian 24/47 8mm action, re-barreled and chambered in 6.5x55 out of the truck and loaded two rounds. I moved to the fence and rested the rifle on an old fence post. It was wobbling more than I cared for and a cow wandered into the line of fire. I was wearing a long sleeved camo tee shirt and camo cap and there was a space about 5 feet deep between the bushes behind me and the fence in front of me where I could move. The blackbuck didn't seem to notice my slow movements. I watched them for a while. There were 4 does and one buck and he appeared intent on breeding with all of them. I knew there was at least one more buck that we had seen the day before so the herd would be able to continue to grow if this one was taken. I worked my way to the corner of the fence where the posts and cross beams were 4" pipe; much more stable than the old wooden fencepost. The rest was rock solid. I waited for the buck to settle down. A friend had taken a whitetail in the same area so we knew the range to be about 400 yards. I had contoured the velocity of my loads to match the bullet drop reticle of the scope and had proven it to be pretty darned close to 400 yards.
I put the appropriate mark on the vital area and began applying pressure on the Timney trigger. It broke perfectly and I almost instantly was rewarded with a resounding pop as the bullet impacted the little antelope. He and the does ran toward the nearby fence for cover on the other side of the fence. I saw him leap through the scope and was afraid he had made it across that fence where tracking would have been far more difficult. The wheat was only 3"-4" deep so it wasn't going to hide him. When I drove down the road near the area where he was shot I searched with binoculars. At first I didn't see him but driving around I saw the four does without him. Going back and starting over with a binocular search I saw him laying among a small grove of trees on the wheat field side of the fence.
Since they're pretty rare I took him to the taxidermist after field dressing. He assured me the meat is excellent. I was amazed at the amount of meat and the size of the backstraps for an animal that only weighed about 100 pounds.
The bullet was a 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. It did a lot of damage on the exit side, leaving an area about 5" high x 9" long badly bloodshot. I'm experimenting with a 129 grain soft point to see if it does less destruction of meat. Fortunately the exit was below the rib cage so little meat was lost.
152482
David
I put the appropriate mark on the vital area and began applying pressure on the Timney trigger. It broke perfectly and I almost instantly was rewarded with a resounding pop as the bullet impacted the little antelope. He and the does ran toward the nearby fence for cover on the other side of the fence. I saw him leap through the scope and was afraid he had made it across that fence where tracking would have been far more difficult. The wheat was only 3"-4" deep so it wasn't going to hide him. When I drove down the road near the area where he was shot I searched with binoculars. At first I didn't see him but driving around I saw the four does without him. Going back and starting over with a binocular search I saw him laying among a small grove of trees on the wheat field side of the fence.
Since they're pretty rare I took him to the taxidermist after field dressing. He assured me the meat is excellent. I was amazed at the amount of meat and the size of the backstraps for an animal that only weighed about 100 pounds.
The bullet was a 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. It did a lot of damage on the exit side, leaving an area about 5" high x 9" long badly bloodshot. I'm experimenting with a 129 grain soft point to see if it does less destruction of meat. Fortunately the exit was below the rib cage so little meat was lost.
152482
David