Buck Down in Okaloosa

I had a hunt planned for the first doe day in Okaloosa County for the 19th of Dec. My parents ended up coming south for the holidays. Called the guy who owns the property I was going to hunt and asked if he would mind if my 69 year old father came as well. Not only did he not care, but he kicked in a doe tag for my father as well. So, we went down and got Dad one of those 10 day non-resident licenses and got ready to slay the mighty whitetail.

Dad, like myself, is western born and has spent his life hunting elk and mule deer. He's only taken 1 whitetail and has never hunted Southern deer before. This was going to be a new experience for him. Since he didn't have a gun, I opened up the gun cabinet and told him to take his pick. He chose a CZ Model 550 American in 9.3x62 Mauser. This rifle is sighted in with a handloaded 286 gr Nosler bullet.

On the 19th, we got to Okaloosa County and had really good weather. It has been raining off and on for the last couple of weeks in the panhandle and this day came up bright and clear. The landowner pointed us to a couple of blinds he had been seeing some young bucks and does. I told Dad not to expect a really big deer since thsi area is known more for quantity that quality, but he didn't care. He wasn't about to be picky. I put Dad in one blind and I took the next one down, which was about 1/4 mile away.

I saw 1 deer right at daybreak moving in the heavy brush, but it never came out in the open to give me a shot. Just before 8:00 a.m., I was pouring a cup of coffee and I heard Dad touch off the Mauser, followed by the bullet strike. Dad's getting on in years, and I didn't want him to have to do any dragging or blood trailing, so I headed his way. I topped a little rise and saw a deer lying in the middle of one of the shooting lanes about 100 yards from dad's blind. I got to the deer first and was pleasantly surprised. Dad got a really good buck for that area. It had a perfect 6 pt rack wth a spread of about 15 inches. It also had a really big body. I shook Dad's hand and went to get the truck. When we got it to the skinning shed, we hung it from the scale and the needle stopped at 155 pounds. Like I said, a really good buck. After we got done with the gutting and skinning, we headed out to some other blinds to continue hunting.

For the afternoon hunt, we went to an area that the landownder thought would be better for hogs than the earlier area. I was more interested in a hog than a deer, so Dad was willing to accomadate me. I saw a couple really small hogs and some yearling deer, but nothing worth shooting at. Around 3:00 p.m., I heard the Mauser bark again. When I got over to Dad's blind, he was standing over a nice fat doe. He shot her at less than 30 yards. 2 shots, 2 deer down. I think he really likes that rifle now.

So, for dad's very first Southern deer hunt, he took a really nice buck and a good doe. As for me, I never even took the safety off, but it still ended up being my best deer hunt in years. :cowboy

Cheers Y'All

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