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Bill displays his 170 gross Boone
and Crockett Mexico Buck The morning of Dec 18,1990 dawned clear and cold. A big cold front had moved thru with a hard rain the night before. Bill was the only hunter on their ranch of 20,000 acres. He started the truck and headed to an area he liked, as the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. He planned on rattling that morning the rut was just getting going. As he neared the area, he turned the corner and noticed something in the road nearly 1/2 mile away. Picking up his Steiner 15X80 binoculars he immediately saw horns large enough to warrant a stalk. He had the sun at his back and the wind was almost in his face from the Northwest. Carefully moving into the brush, he crawled out to the road and noticed in the binoculars a doe on the fenceline to another pasture of his ranch. There were also 2 other bucks, though not of trophy quality. Still too far to chance a shot at this huge deer. Bill carefullly moved back into the brush and moved in to about 350 yards. "I was concerned that I might spook one of the lesser bucks in the group and the big typical might take the couple of steps to the safety of the heavy brush, "said Bill. As I crawled slowly onto the siendero, I noticed that the big buck had moved a few feet to the side of the siendero and was peering down the siendero in my direction, looking over a large Huajilla. All I could see thru the Steiner 15X80's was his head. I realized that this was the shot I would have to take. A 350 yard nose shot. Bill had his handloads with the 7mm Mag at 63 grains of IMR 4350 with the Speer 160 gr. Boattail. The countless rounds of handloads at the range and all the long range shooting Bill practiced at, were going to be needed for this shot. "I knew the buck might slip away any second, so I decided that the shot was going to have to be a nose shot or an upper neck shot." said Bill. The risks of splitting the skull was certainly possible or even shooting off one of the antlers. The wind was calm and Bill used his 15X80 Steiners for a bipod, resting the rifle between the eyepieces. "I settled the crosshairs of the Leopold 3.5X10 on the spot between his antler bases. I knew that my rifle was sighted in at 3 inches high at a 100 yards and consistently shoots 1/2" 5 shot groups. That would print it 5 1/2- 6 inches low at 350 yards. I started the sqeeze and controlled my breathing, concentrating on the point of aim. I had a great rest." Bill said. At the recoil the buck disappeared. All the other deer took off and it got real quiet. I carefully eased up toward the spot and looked with the binoculars. Nothing moved. Bill eased downed the siendero and reached the spot where the big buck was peering over the bush. There he lay. Shot right in the left nostril. An instant kill shot. Due to the fact that the buck was glaring down the siendero with his head slightly down, the bullet went into the nostril and buried in the base of the neck where the head joins the spine. The antlers sported 6 on the right and 5 on the left. His gross score was 169 3/4" scored at one contest and 170 1/8" at another. Had the other point (G-4) been on the left antler this deer would have grossed 178-182 B/C points. He is still a great buck with a 24 inch spread and lots of mass. "You shoot this deer every time he steps out" says Bill. No guess work with this one . Bill ended up getting 3rd place at the Muy Grande Deer Contest with his buck. |
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The Long Shot to a Big 10 pt. 161
Boone and Crockett Mexico buck Bill and a cowboy named Juan, were sitting quitely in the high rack on a ridge in the cold, predawn morning. The place they had picked overlooked a hugh expanse of country with a strip of buffel grass about 100 yards wide running between the ridges. The ranch was about 16,000 acres and Bill was the only hunter on the ranch. As the dawn approached, the temperature was below freezing, with the dew glistening off the buffel grass. Juan and Bill started carefully glassing the ridge and bottom. The sun had just peaked over the ridge and Juan nugged Bill as a doe followed by a buck emerged only about 150 yards below them. They must have been bedded down there during the night. The doe slowly feed out into the buffel grass and the big 10 point following with her. The buck looked huge from behind and Bill was not taking any chances on trying to judge a deer from behind. If only he would look toward them. Slowly but steadily the doe and buck fed away from the elevated hunters. The minutes dragged on and finally the doe was completely across the buffel grass field as well as farther out in distance. Bill and Juan now watched as the buck moved just off to the side about 20 yards from the doe.While the doe browsed, the buck kept his eye on her. Now he was facing the hunters and Bill, using his Steiner 15X80 Binoculars, and Juan, using Bills 20X Redfield spotting scope, started to size up this trophy.It was 7:15 a.m. when they first spotted him and now it was 8:25 a.m. Bill was sure the buck would score around 160,even with a brow tine broken off about halfway up. Bill judged him to go 22 inches wide also and felt the range was at least 550 yards. There was no wind and it was a cloudless day. Bill had the weapon for the job. A custom built 300 Weatherby Magnum. This gun was built by Neil Ward and featured a Paul Hart stainless fluted #7 bull barrel 27 1/2" long. It also had a custom 1 in 12" twist to stabilze the 150 grain bullets powered by 83 grains of IMR 4350. Chronographed on Bills Chrony at 3630 fps, this weapon was designed for speed and flat shooting. A Bill Jewell custom trigger tuned to a 1 pound pull, a Tubbs titanium firing pin, Tdk Muzzle brake, a Descelorator pad , a Neil Ward custom competition silowette thumbhole stock. Bill topped it off with a Leopold 4.5 X 14 power scope, that made this the weapon for the serious long range shooter. Bill consistently shoots at 300, 400 , 500 and 600 yards. This weapon covers 5 shots at 300 yards at 1 1/4" even with a slight cross wind. Today, there was no wind and now the buck of every trophy hunters dream stood at very long range. Bill pulled 2 sand bags from the box next to him and got set up for the shot. He tucked into a perfect rest and held the crosshair about 12-14 inches over the bucks back. Bill was confident of the range and his weapon's capapbility. The gun thundered and the buck was hit, low and a little back but still a fatal shot. He trotted about 10-15 feet and started to wobble nearly going down. Bill was not taking any chances and the next shot went about 3 inches higher and down he went for good. Juan could not believe his eyes. Juan said the shot was 600 yards. His Spanish rattling about "El Canon". The walk to the buck took a little longer than they thought. What a 10 Point. After much picture taking and videoing, Bill and Juan paced off the shot to the truck. 573 long paces later they arrived to the truck. Now all that was needed was to load the buck and get him to camp to be gutted and cared for. Knowing your weapon is extremely important but having a weapon that will perform out to extreme ranges was the factor here. |
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13 Point Double Drop ...Old
Toothless Bill was hunting a large ranch in Mexico and it was cold. It was Dec 7 and the cold temperature from the norther the night before had frosted the ground. Sitting up in his high rack watching a large buffel grass field , the Sun started to rise in the east behind them. Bill and Juan spotted 4 bucks on a hot doe about 500 yards out. It was still early and as best as they could tell, there was a 24 in. wide Eight point , a heavy horned buck with one drop for sure and a fork on the other antler. A great trophy himself. The other bucks were a 22 in. 10 point with short tines and a 18 in. wide 10 point that was immature and needed some age on him. Bill caught some movement farther out and across the field. It was at least 600-700 yards. It was a buck running a doe and ....what a buck. The Steiner 15X80 binoculars almost fogged up when Bill saw the rack on this buck. This was the monster everyone is waiting for. Wide , tall tines and sweeping beams. A 180 B/C class buck. He was running the doe back into the brush and there was not a moment to lose. Bill knew there was a road that paralleled the buffel grass field on the other side. It lay about 100 yards from the field and had only low brush. However if the Buck made it to the other side of that road, there was a huge dark canyon with brush that was tall and thick. Juan got down and started the truck with Bill up top in the high rack about 17 ft up. When the truck started to slowly close the gap to where the Giant disappeared, Bill noticed that the 4 bucks with the doe were still standing in the field watching them as they started to pass them. The range was now only 250 yards, so Bill got Juan to stop just for a quick look. Wow! The wide 8 point had heavy beading on his bases all the way out to the G2. He was tall also and anyone would like to have him even if he was only an 8 point. He might go 155 B/C as an 8 point, Bill guessed. Bill quickly glassed the other heavy horned buck with the drop and the fork on the left G2. What's this? Not one drop but he has another on the other side also. A real Double Drop. And he has a long kicker that comes off the G2 where it comes off the beam. He is a super buck. Bill could only think of the Giant that lay ahead and with much reservation he told Juan to go on. Now all 4 bucks and the doe ran back toward where Juan and Bill had originally been watching them in the early morning dawn. Bill thought to himself.......Are you crazy .... you just passed on a 160 B/C class double drop????? Still undaunted by the events , Bill told Juan to keep going and soon they turned the corner where the Giant was last seen. Slowly trolling the high rack down the huge expanse of brush, Bill carefully watched for the Big buck. As they traveled past the spot they had seen him disappear, Bill knew that the Giant had made it across the road, to the safety of the canyon thicket. Suddenly there was a doe standing in the sparse brush between Bill and the buffel grass field. Bill got Juan to stop. Then off to the doe's right was a buck......WHAT!!!! It's the double droptine buck. Can you believe this? The doe decided she wanted to run across the buffel grass field and try to hit the canyon thicket . The only buck of the 4 she had with here was old double drop. The others stayed in the brush on the other side of the field. It did not take Bill a second time to figure that a buck in the hand is worth two in the bush. The shot was only 70 yards and the buck went down instantly. After approaching the buck , both Juan and Bill were first amazed because he was missing all of his front incisors. Further inspection showed he had worn his molars to the gumlines. Still the buck was in good shape and sported 13 points including matching double drops. After the picture taking , Juan and Bill loaded him up and headed to camp. Bill wondered what the buck might have looked like a couple of years earlier in his prime. He had to be 9-10 years old. Still , "Old Toothless" was a great deer. Later that week , Bill took the rack to the Los Cazadores contest where Darwin Avant scored him at 158 3/4 gross B/C. He ended up winning the droptine division for Mexico that year and Bill collected his 3rd Los Cazdores Jacket. Oh yes that Giant buck Bill and Juan were after, never got taken either, according to Bill. |
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| Typical 12 point 163 B/C |