The 2024 hunting season was crazy busy for me and I was only able to get out deer hunting for one day this year. Fortunately the one day turned out to be quite productive and I was able to put this small whitetail buck in the freezer.
I had no fantasies of chasing a large muley or whitetail buck just based on my time constraints; I was actually planning on filling my tag with the first doe that came along. Unfortunately the morning hunting was extremely windy and the deer didn’t move where we thought they would be. By the time evening rolled around this lone buck came by and that was the ticket.
He actually came directly under the deer stand, so close that I was struggling to bring the rifle down far enough to get on him. All my cold weather gear for the ~5°F day certainly didn’t help. He was a bit skittish and spooked from under my stand. He trotted out into a field and gave me an easy shot around 40 yards.
This year I decided to hunt with my late grandfather’s old Savage Model 99 in 308 Winchester. It’s topped with a 2.5-8 Leupold which I think looks and performs beautifully. This is the first year I’ve been able to take any animals with this rifle so that was a fun experience.
While this year wasn’t exactly a difficult hunt or a trophy buck, my main goal was to put some meat in the freezer. Getting out in the field with family and shaking the dust off of a family rifle made it that much better.
Picture 1: 2024 MT deer tag filled with this little 3×4 whitetail buck
Picture 2: Savage Model 99 chambered in .308 Win with a 2.5-8 power Leupold
Chris W.
www.John1911.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
- 2024 Montana Deer Season - December 23, 2024
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