Predator Call

I purchased my first deer rifle when I was thirteen years old.  Being a southpaw and wanting a bolt gun, my options were somewhat limited.  Savage Arms was making the Model 110 in a left-handed model and Remington was beginning to build a few as well.  After comparing the two rifles and pricing, I chose the Savage in .270 caliber.  Over the last 40+ years, “Old Nasty” has served me well.  I have no idea how many deer, whitetail and mule deer have fallen to this sweet shooting rifle, but no doubt in the hundreds. 

While working the Savage Arms booth at the NRA Convention in Phoenix this last season, I found myself handling the recently introduced Model 14.  The smooth action, straight stock and 24 inch barrel in the magnum calibers were most appealing.  The Model 14 features a new bolt release, cleaner lug that locks the receiver to the action, hinged floor plate and Accutrigger.  Another feature that I am a huge fan of is the three positon safety.  The first position locks the bolt and prevents firing.  The second position unlocks the bolt but does not allow firing.  The third position (full forward) is the “fire” position.  When walking through the brush which I seem to do quite often, I have had a problem of the bolt on my rifle hanging on brush and coming open, ejecting the round.  The locking position prevents this accidential ejection from occurring. 

A few years ago, I hosted a predator hunt along with Winchester/Olin in South Texas.  The writers and the folks from Winchester/Olin had hunted Nilgai on the King Ranch before arriving in Tilden to hunt predators.  The .270 WSM had been recently introduced and the group was testing it’s killing power on the tough gray ghost of the Texas plains.  The group of hunters had orders to shoot all Nilgai cows in the shoulder region with 140 grain Fail Safe ammo.  The results were amazing as 17 of the 21 cows dropped in their tracks.  The guides on the King Ranch had never seen a rifle of any caliber perform as the .270 WSM.  After hearing this report, I had to have one.

I mounted a Nikon Monarch 2.5-10×42 BDC on the Savage 14 with a DNZ mounting system.  I have not found a system that is so easy to install as this new one piece system.  If you have not seen this new mounting system, I strongly recommend that you do so.

After zeroing the rifle 1 1/4″ high at 100 yards (zero at 200 yards) while shooting 150 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertip ammo, I was ready to take it on it’s inaugural voyage.

I decided to deer hunt at the head of a rough canyon for a period of time and if nothing showed, to move west with the sun at my back to another huge bowl where I had seen deer in the past.  After sitting for about an hour and freezing until I was shaking like a leaf, I decided that it was time to make a move.  As I stood up, something caused me to look over my shoulder to the northwest.  There on the crest of a low ridge was one of the largest whitetails I had ever seen in West Texas.

The buck was standing broadside looking straight at me no doubt somewhat blinded by the intense early morning sun.  Approximately half of his side was shielded by extremely thick catclaw brush, making my favorite shot to the pocket behind his front shoulder impossible.  I estimated the distance to be approximately 200 yards and held at the top line of the dense brush.

After recovering from the recoil I saw the monster whirl, make a couple of jumps and disappear over the low ridge.  I was sure that I had made a killing shot and fully expected to find the buck just over the hill.  Topping the hill, I scanned the low brush for the shine of a heavy dark antler.  When the deer was not readily visible, I unsuccessfully began to look for any sign of blood.  I decided that I should step the distance back to where I had taken the shot to ensure that it was indeed 200 yards.  To my suprise, I had misjudged the distance as I stopped counting when I reached 250 steps.  The extra 50-60 yards would have caused my bullet to drop approximately 2 inches which would have caused my bullet to impact deeper into the brush.  Boy, I can really come up with excuses. 

What a way to break in a new rifle, miss the biggest whitetail that I have shot at in many years. 

See you outdoors.

Gary Roberson  

Last Saturday morning, I was deer hunting in the open desert country of Southwest Texas.  Daylight found me glassing the head of a canyon and surrounding hills looking for a mature whitetail buck.  Without success, I decided to walk westerly, taking advantage of the sun and glass a huge bowl where I have found bucks in years past.

I found a couple of does browsing over half a mile away and concentrated my glassing efforts around them as there was still a little rutting activity.  About a hundred yards past the does, I found the head and ears of a deer staring back at the does but it was too far to see antlers in my 8x glasses until the buck moved his head.   Finally the deer moved from left to right, revealing a tall, dark horns.  Based on what I had seen, the buck no doubt deserved a better look so I commenced to cut the distance. 

At a distance of approximately 400 yards from the buck, the terrain started to roll off into a small canyon.  If I moved any closer, I would loose elevation which would make it more difficult to see the buck and get a bullet to him.  Though it was a long shot, I began to look for a place to sit my butt without getting on a dog pear or other sticky vegetation. 

The old buck was moving around a little more in his attempt to check all of the does.  Everytime he moved, I had to relocate in order clear my shooting lane.  After three moves, I finally had the buck in a fairly large clearing and I was still undetected.  As I reset my shooting sticks, the buck began walking from right to left.  I could see that he would disappear behind more brush if a shot was not taken in a matter of a couple of seconds. 

I found the shoulder and raised the crosshairs 6-8 inches above his topline and squeezed the trigger.  The recoil caused me to loose target but there was no mistake in the sound of a bullet smacking bone and flesh.  Working the bolt, I looked over the scope for a fleeing buck but the only movement was one of the does trotting to the left.  I looked through the Nikon scope for any sign of life where the buck was and there was none. 

I eased the rifle down and glassed for several minutes.  The does were not spooked and were back to browsing on the brush and weeds.  I found a couple of landmarks, one a cedar with an exposed root and a sotol that was light yellow around the base.  Crossing the small canyon that was choked with catclaw, I found the cedar and proceeded to the sotol.  There was my buck, lying where he was when I took the shot.  There was no sign of a struggle, not even the kick of his legs.

The 150 grain Ballistic Silvertip impacted the buck’s shoulder just under his spine and exited the off shoulder.  Upon field dressing the buck, I found that the bullet had barely cut the underside of the backbone which explained the clean kill.  It was as if lightning had struck him that cool, clear West Texas morning.

See you outdoors!  Gary