First hunt with new CZ550 Varmint

[TH1972]

Went out yesterday with my new rifle (Santa's gifts this year was the CZ550 and a Vortex scope).

On the second pass I downed this whitetail calf. It was the 21st round for this rifle (the first 20 was shoot in the scope at the range).

Both gun and scope works superb!

[TH1972]

Time for the next one.. In total the fourth time the new CZ was in the woods.

This took place at 1700 in -7 ? celsius weather last night (quite dark conditions). I sat in the stand waiting for something to appear.. Suddenly I saw something move in the darkness and picked up my binoculars. My surprise was big when I saw 3 deers walking around at the end of the field. Distance about 150 meters and quite dark so I decided to watch them for a moment, if they would come closer..

Suddenly I see more dark "blimbs" in the field.. Now there is 6 deers in total, walking slowly towards me, very cautious and stopping every other step to look around.

I follow them for about 15 minutes and see the young calves playing around and the females "standing watch" to every direction. The largest animal in the front, hearding the whole pack. I could just barely see the tags on this animal and decided to wait for a perfect shot on this one.

Finally they come closer and I pick up my rifle and turn on the reticle illumination. As soon as I have positioned the rifle (reeeally slowly) I can see this big one walking around the feeding place. I can only see that his horns are higher than his ears and decide to shoot him. Safety off, tight grip on the rifle, center the crosshair and waiting.. Suddenly this buck stops! Just like he would "pose" to me? Head high, 100% broadside view, standing still and 50 meter distance...

I had the time to wish him a Good and peaceful departure while I slowly squeezed the trigger.

10 tags. Not a bad First buck? :-)

[Slimdog71]

Nice buck!! Congrats on your first one, and a 10 pointer, that's the way to start !! You're eating good for a while! I have 5 under me this year, 3 with a bow and 2 with a handgun. I like how thick the rack is, where are you? How much did that big fellow weigh?

[TH1972]

Thanks! I shot this one to a fellow hunter in our team. We got a quota of about 1 deer/man, but not all of our members hunt anymore. This due to various reasons like age, health and so on.

I'll check the "clean weight" next time I'm in to our hunting cabin. I shot 4 whitetails this year, 3 with the new CZ in just 2 weeks.

We're not allowed to hunt whitetails with bow or handguns. Handguns are actually not allowed for hunting at all. This in Finland,  north east corner of Europe.

[Slimdog71]

No bow hunting??? That sucks! My bow season starts mid September and runs till mid November, then it's gun till mid December then back to bow until end of January. The early archery is the most incredible time of year to hunt, the weather is nice and you get the full experience of autumn watching the woods go from green to red and yellow to Barron and crunchy! Nothing like trailing them in the snow though! 

[TH1972]

We'reallowed to hunt roe deer and smaller game with bows.

Whitetails, elk and brown bear requires a rifle, using expanding ammo with at least 1500 foot pound force. There is varying levels of force required for all animals, and it shifts a little depending on bullet weight.

I can imagine the hunt you're describing...

[TH1972]

Almost forgot to post the weight: meat weight 143 pounds.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

[muhherus]

Hi TH1972, what scope mount and ring u use on your 550 varmint?
cheers..