This years harvest from the Blue Ridge Mtns. of VA.

Well, this guy certainly can't hold a candle to most of the deer I've seen posted here, but he's pretty decent for the area I hunt so I thought I'd share some of the hunt with you guys. NOTE: Most of the post is clip & paste from over @ Doug's when I first got back from camp, so I apologize for the redundancy for those who've already seen it.

I recently got back from my annual trip to Hunting Camp in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern VA. where I got the SML itch going again and thought I'd share some of the hunt and a couple of pics.

I previously had my gun set-up for some longer range shooting using 44 gr. 4759/ 275 gr. Parker B.E.'s due to some fields and Farmland I used to hunt. But with me no longer having access to that property, combined with the fact that 4759 has been discontinued, I decided to go back to basics this year and set up for shorter range using 43 gr. 5744 / 300 gr. XTP's.

My shot opportunities in the area's I hunt in the Mountains are mostly at more typical Bow hunting ranges, with 100 yds. being a long shot. And while the Parker B.E.'s performed well there I just don't see the need for the Premium bullets at these shorter ranges when the good ole' XTP's still "lay 'em on the ground" like the Hammer of Thor. I was able to take 3 deer this trip, a Doe, 3 pt. and decent 7 pt. and the XTP's performed flawlessly on all. The Doe was a 25 yd. broadside bang/flop Heart shot. The 3 pt. was 70 yds. quartering away, enter behind last rib on near side, exited behind offside shoulder, ran about 25 yds. The 7 pt. was running broadside at about 45 yds., I pulled the shot and hit him high, in the spine, just behind the shoulder, but he was dead when he hit the ground so I was thankful for that. I didn't take any pics of the 3 pt. or Doe, but here are a couple of the 7 pt.

(can't seem to figure out how to resize these to 1MB, but they'll expand by clicking on them)

YB