I was hunting 15 miles south of Booker Texas the weekend of Thanksgiving on a place that a friend owns. He had offered to let me and a couple of guys that I work with hunt on his place which had not been hunted for several years.

We decided to head down to the place after having had very little luck in Darouzett. We did not get there for the early hunt but got there for the afternoon hunt around 12:30. After looking around and talking for an hour or so on the south end of the place, I headed for the stand on the north end of the property that overlooks wolf creek.

About half way to the stand I stopped to glass the area and make sure to not spook anything off ( I was riding my 4-wheeler to the stand ). When I pulled up my binoculars I saw a large white tail standing at the fence line and ranged him at 450yds but could not tell which side of the fence he was on and did not want to take a chance of shooting him and having to chase him.

I sat and stared at him , it was a cool foggy day. The fog had lifted enough to permit about a ¼ mile visibility, but I could still make out a rack that was outside his ears by what I figured to be at least an inch ( at which point my heart started racing ).

The deer was looking right at me and I knew that I was busted, my only chance to get him was to abandon the 4-wheeler and crawl. It proved to be a wise decision as I was able to make up 350 yards distance as he stood for nearly an hour watching the 4-wheeler and grazing.

When I got to what I thought was a very good vantage point behind the blind to shoot from, he started to move and went in to a header about one hundred yards in front of me( just to give me a really good look at his perfect ten point rack ). I decided that I had already made up 350 yards and could get across the short stretch and shoot him but just as I was going to break for it; I saw out of the corner of my eye two more deer standing near the creek before me.

I stopped to look and am I glad that I did because there stood a very nice eleven point that appeared to be just a shade wider than the deer that I had stalked (I did not know that he was an eleven yet but I knew he had good height and large bases). I settled in and started trying to get him to turn for me. There was a small basket four point with him and he kept getting in the way, as I kept waiting I wondered if I should have gone after the ten and let these two go (you know the doubt that time causes) this deer may not be as big I thought. Then the moment of truth came, he started toward me (never happens with whitetail for me) and walked to approximately eighty yards and I finally let him have it. He went down on impact and and it was all that I could do to contain myself for the five minutes of eternity that I waited making sure that he didn’t move.

I knew from the varmint hunting that I had done with my T/C Encore that it was the perfect gun for any job, but this was the first hunt with the 25-06 Pro Hunter barrel equipped with Nikon Buckmaster bdc scope.

Let me tell you there is no other gun that I will hunt with again. I love this thing; in fact I have gotten rid of my 300 Winchester Magnum bolt gun to get a 30-06 barrel for my T/C and hope to hunt elk in the next couple of years with it.

When looking at the picture you will know that he is no world record but to me he may as well be, I couldn’t be more proud of my trophy or my ENCORE rifle.

Thank You for the finest firearm I have ever owned.

Jason Evans
Plainview Texas

Oh, by the way an hour after I got mine my buddy got the ten you can see him in the attachments as well . Sorry he is not as enlightened as I and does not shoot a Thompson (Yet).