Stalking Whitetail Bucks

The fall had already been a long one. Hunting season had begun in late August with whitetails in South Carolina, and there had been several hunting trips for numerous big-game species since then. The various handguns I used on those hunts had proven their worth. Now I was finally home for a few days before my next hunt, which would be for whitetails in the northern part of the Texas hill country.

On opening day of the season I drove to Gatesville, Texas, to participate in a whitetail hunt set up for me by Jeff Myers of Casa Monte Lodge. After an anxious night at the motel, morning came extremely early. Over breakfast guide Robert Rogers and I caught up on old times. I've known Robert for many years, but we had never had the opportunity to hunt together. I had also written numerous chapters for his book several years ago called Great Whitetails of North America, which is no longer in print. Robert at one time was one of the top whitetail outfitters in North America. In more recent times, however, he's scaled down his operation.

According to Robert, the property we would be hunting had been under a management program for several years. He also stated we would be hunting between two food plots and that the rut had just started getting underway. He assured me we would see many different bucks shortly after daylight. All that sounded extremely good to me. I had only a couple of days to hunt before I needed to travel to the Nail Ranch near Albany, Texas, to meet some friends and participate in a celebrity hunt with baseball greats Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Kern, and Nolan Ryan.

The deer I had initially planned to hunt, an ancient buck with an eight inch drop tine videotaped a couple of weeks earlier, had unfortunately been taken opening morning. Bucks with drop tines have long fascinated me. I had truly looked forward to hunting the old buck. With the drop-tine buck gone, I was not going to be too choosy. I only hoped to take a mature, representative buck for the area.

Handgun And Load

My choice for this hunt was Magnum Research's single-shot Lone Eagle pistol in 7mm-08 Remington. The first time I saw the Lone Eagle I wasn't sold. It's not particularly the prettiest handgun you have ever seen. But don't let its looks fool you. The Lone Eagle's design and performance are as notable as its appearance.

The rotary breech used in the Lone Eagle had its origin based on an 1800s French naval cannon. To say the action is strong is an understatement. It's one of the strongest actions available in a handgun. To load the gun you rotate the breechcap clockwise approximately one quarter turn to expose the chamber, slide in a cartridge directly from the rear, and turn the breechcap back one-quarter turn to lock it. Cocking the Lone Eagle has nothing to do with loading it.The cocking lever fits in a slit on the left side of the stock. To cock the gun you must pull the cocking lever out and backward. There is no way you can accidentally cock a Lone Eagle. It takes a definite and deliberate effort. In addition, the Lone Eagle has a manual crossbolt safety that blocks both the trigger and action rod. After the gun has been fired, drop the muzzle and rotate the breech to the open position. Doing so will pop the case out of the chamber.

The Lone Eagle's entire barrel and breech assembly is one unit. It can be removed from the stock assembly and replaced with other barrel assemblies by removing a single hex-head crossbolt. Barrel assemblies are available in 15 different chamberings, from the .22 Hornet to the .30-06 Springfield. Lone Eagle stock assemblies (currently sold for $il9) and interchangeable barreled actions ($289 for standard barrels and $399 for barrels with integral muzzle brakes) are sold as an entire gun or separately. According to Doug Evans at Magnum Research, Lone Eagle barrel assemblies are available in standard blue and Ecoloy II finish, which is similar to a satin-finish stainless steel. Barrel assemblies for big hitters like the .30-06 Springfield, 7mm-08 Remington, and .308 Winchester are available with integral muzzle brakes similar to the muzzle brakes seen on large artillery pieces and tanks. Such was the one I chose for my whitetail hunt.

Overall length of the Lone Eagle is only slightly longer than the 14-inch barrel, 15.13 inches to be exact. This makes it comparable in total length to an eight-inch .44 Magnum revolver Because of its midposition grip the barrel extends only about six inches in front of the stock assembly. This gives the gun a compact appearance. This stock design also helps reduce perceived recoil.

Lone Eagle pistols come from the factory drilled and tapped for scope installation. They also come with Williams hunting sights and even with RPM silhouette sights. I mounted a 2.5- 7X handgun scope, using the B-Square LEP scope mounts on mine.

At the range I chronographed several different loads with an Oehler Model 35. These included Hornady's 139-grain Light Magnum that clocked at an average of 2544 fps, Remington's 154 grain Extended Range that clocked at an average of 2390 fps, and Federal Premium using 140-grain Nosler Partitions that clocked at an average of 2443 fps. Of the three, however, the Federal Premium shot the best six-shot group at 50 yards in my gun-approximately one inch. For this reason I chose to use the Federal load on my whitetail hunt.

The Hunt

It was scarcely light enough to distinguish deer from shadows when we started seeing our first deer. I strained to look through my 10X binoculars to make out the form of a buck. He looked to be a young eight point-much too small to interest me. Beyond the buck I saw other deer moving in the distance.

Most were does and fawns and what looked to be two young bucks, a forkhorn, and another eight point. As the light increased, so did our deer sightings. We were literally surrounded by deer. Some were feeding on acorns; some were moving through the juniper and oak brush. Some of the younger bucks made moves on does, but the does did not seem overly impressed by their advances.

Even though I have hunted throughout Texas in all different types of habitat and terrain, very seldom have I seen so many deer in one area. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be deer of all sizes and shapes. The first mature buck I saw appeared chasing a doe. The two appeared suddenly and disappeared just as suddenly. From what little I saw of him, he was a 10 point with about an 18-inch spread and fair tine length. Moments later I spotted an interesting buck. He was a basic 10 point with about five or six "kicker" points. His antlers were almost a mahogany color, but he looked to be no older than three years or so. The buck stepped behind some oak brush, and when he reappeared I thought I was seeing double because standing right beside him was a buck that looked almost exactly like him. The only possible difference was he appeared to be a year younger.

I enjoyed seeing all the different bucks. Seldom do you see so many different bucks involved in so many different activities. To our left stood a good 10-point buck freshening a scrape. To the far right another 10-point buck was rubbing his antlers. Then beyond him I could see a fairly wide buck making his way towards us. A quick look through my binoculars confirmed my initial assessment. The buck was a typical 12 point. Throughout my hunting career I had hoped to take a typical 12. I motioned with my hand to point the deer out to Robert. He was shaking his head in a negative manner. Then he leaned over and whispered, "Take a good look at him. I think he's a two year old, three at the most. He should grow a monstrous rack in the future." I had to agree.

During the next 30 minutes there were processions of bucks that came by our hiding place. Finally I spotted a basic 10 point with about a 16-inch spread. He had a deep fork on one of his primary points, making him an 11 point. He appeared to me to be the oldest of the bucks I had seen that morning, so I cocked the Lone Eagle, raised the gun to get a solid rest, glanced over at Robert, and he nodded approvingly.

Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm my nerves, I waited until the crosshairs settled about a third of the way down on his shoulder. The buck, about 75 yards away, simply fell to the ground at the shot and never moved. The combination of the Lone Eagle pistol and the Federal Premium ammunition had done a perfect job!