6.8 SPC and the WA State Mule deer opener.

[BiggerHammer]

At the last minute I grabbed one of my 6.8 SPC's out of the safe for our Mule Deer (WA State) opener yesterday.

If I'm goin to hunt with a AR I usual shoot a 6.5 Grendel or a 6mm-6.8 SPC. This particular carbine shoots 1/2 MOA out to 400 yards with the factory Hornady 120gr SST loads. So I was very comfortable with it. As it would happen, I arrived in one of my spots, a two mile walk in about 30 min before daylight. Usualy the action is all over by 7:30 am, this morning the party didn't start until 8:45 am or so. I had about 40 head spooked out of a bedding area I knew was bellow me. They were all moving fast through the deep sage a little over 200 yards from me. I could see there were 5 legal bucks (3 points plus). It was hard trying to stay on them moveing that quick in and out of the tall sage. I finally started tracking the largest of the 5 bucks in my scope. He paused in a opening at 237 yards just long enough for me to send a 120gr SST. I heard the solid hit and he was out of sight.

When I looked up from the scope deer were going everywhere! So I held tight until they all were over a ridge and out of sight. I waited another 20 min or so. Left all me gear where I was at and just took my carbine to see if I could find him. Found him 20 yards or so just outside of the sage I shot him in. The 120gr SST broke a rib on Impact, destroyed the lugs and exited. I was fairly impressed with the bullets performance.

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[No_Regerts]

Nice! A buddy of mine bought a Remington Model 7 in 6.8 SPC for his daughter and she has dumped a couple nice deer with it. Funny how many of us will give handy rifles with soft kicking cartridges to women and children, then insist upon carrying a 300 Tyrannosaurus Magnum for ourselves.

 

[BiggerHammer]

 

[mkwerx]

Excellent!

 

[No_Regerts]

Thats a pig!

 

[BiggerHammer]

Thanks..

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

nice buck!

 

[BiggerHammer]

 

[Caveman Jim]

An awesome experience and pics.
Not all hunts end like this but the ones that do are etched in the memory banks forevermore. Great job, now the real work starts after the trigger has been pulled.

 

[Twodogs]

Nice buck, I'm a big fan of the 6.8 spc.

 

[BiggerHammer]

Lots of work! I broke him down, had the quarters all bagged up and my brother hiked in for the pack out. 137 pounds hanging is what we packed out.

 

[BiggerHammer]

I have taken Mule deer at about the same distance with a 6.5 Grendel and a 123gr A-Max. The 6.8/123gr SST combo performed much better.

 

[BiggerHammer]

Yes, the 6.8 SPC is much more pleasant to shoot than my 450 Ultra Magnum.

 

[Ahol]

good looking buck and AR. That will fill the freezer nicely. I got my first buck this year with my 6.8. So far I am loving the round.

 

[Hockeystud87]

Usualy the action is all over by 7:30 am, this morning the party didn't start until 8:45 am or so. I had about 40 head spooked out of a bedding area I knew was bellow me. They were all moving fast through the deep sage a little over 200 yards from me.

Mr Hammer! I'm new to hunting and i was wondering how did you know that there was a bedding area down below? I'm curious on what hunters look for or how they find these places.

I've been hunting around the Columbia gorge area for BT.

Thanks for any help!

 

[BiggerHammer]

I watched them in their beds there the evening before, a hour or so before dark they got up and crossed a stumble field and were feeding on some winter wheat. I figured just at daylight they would come back to their bedding area if they weren't desturbed.

So I hiked in opening morning, got down wind of them above them and waited.

 

[The Heretic]

Mr Hammer! I'm new to hunting and i was wondering how did you know that there was a bedding area down below? I'm curious on what hunters look for or how they find these places.

I've been hunting around the Columbia gorge area for BT.

Thanks for any help!

Not sure about mule deer, or deer in other areas, but I have seen individual deer bedding areas around here that must be reused a lot. Here they seem to be areas where something has laid next to a tree where it gave them some cover against the wind and a view below them. The ground is bare and something obviously spent some time there.

 

[Stomper]

Sasquatch beds.

 

[The Heretic]

Nice deer.

Even with a large muley like that it doesn't take a lot of power to put one down - especially when you hit them in the right spot. Good on you for using a "Modern Sporting Rifle".

I've taken a few deer with a classic .30-30 which is about the equivalent of an AK with regards to power and accuracy and range. The deer don't know the difference.

 

[Stomper]

I've taken two deer with my Colt A2 (5.56) one shot broadside through the heart each time. I have a 6.8SPC AR that I've (unsuccessfully) hunted 'yote with... yet to take it out for deer.


Frikken NICE muley in the OP!