Late season long range NC buck

[airborneike]

My son Erik took this buck late in the evening on 19 Dec 12. Beautiful sunset as this 'ol boy stepped out on the heels of a hot doe. Quick range shot said 951, put 21.1 minutes on the scope and when he stopped Erik touched the trigger and the rest is history.
The rifle is a 338 rum that I built for him as a gift when he finished Army basic training 4 year ago. Kreiger barrel, stainless blueprinted sendero action, leupold 8.5 x 25 scope, sendero stock.
This is the first year he has been able to use the rifle because of Army deployments and the second kill this year. First was a doe at 481 yards. It was nice to have my son home on leave this year and get to spend some time with him hunting. He and I have been into long range shooting for many years. I started him in LR benchrest shooting when he was 10 and he won the NC state championship group/score agg when he was 14.
For all the doubters, please be aware that we are very careful to only take shots that we are very confident about.

[Rifleman]

Well Done!

[wilmsmeyer]

That is a real nice buck and a heck of a snipe!

What's the load?

[airborneike]

Thanks Wilmsmeyer,

Load data is 90.5 grns of R22, rem brass, Fed 215 match mag primers,hornady 225 sst seated just barely touching lands, oal 3.710. Barrel is kreiger 9.5 twist.

I generally use berger vlds but have not done a lot of experimentation with this gun because even with the muzzlebrake it " ain't " real pleasant to shoot.

Erik is a combat medic by choice, hope the army doesn't find out about his shooting ability. "sorta" ironic

Merry Christmas to you and your family

Mike

[DBinNY]

Wow. That is awesome shooting and a nice deer. Congratulations.

[jgar]

Congrats, heck of a shot.

[03mossy]

Wow thats impressive! Ill sleep a little better tonight know theres young men with those abilities protecting us.

[kralik4jr]

Wow. I don't drive that far to hunt. Great buck.

[Deleted]

That's a Looong shot...incredible...congrats on the nice deer....
Greenhorn

[iowamuzzleloader]

WHAT??? 971??? Thats as far as I have ever heard. Also, I love stories that start out "My son"!

[iowamuzzleloader]

Or even "My daughter" as I have one of each. Both with tremendous deer.

[airborneike]

Maybe we should have a thread entitled "my children". I have a daughter too but she never caught the hunting bug. I miss those young days with my son and daughter, the years went buy much too fast.

I am a combat vet, viet nam and the middle east and I never thought I would ever have to send my children to war...little did I know. One of the hardest things I have had to face was watching Erik deploy into a combat zone knowing full well what he would have see and endure. He will deploy again soon so what few moments he and I can spend together are precious now. I am thankful for the short time we were able to spend together hunting this season, the long shot Erik made was just "icing on the cake".

[DBinNY]

Thank you (and him) for your service to our country. I wouldn't want him shooting at me! May God be with him and bring him home safely.