One of my most important goals at the beginning of this hunting season was to kill a good buck with the new Icon rifle from TC. Neil Sanders had sent me the .308 version of the Icon and I couldn’t wait to put it to use.

I’d never shot a .308 caliber before, but everyone that I’d talked to that had went on and on about how much they loved that cartridge for shooting whitetails. I would soon find out for myself.

On December 12, cameraman Phillip Culpepper and I headed to Texas where we would be hunting with Steve Goldsmith. Steve is the fellow that guided me and Lucas last year on two really cool hunts, including Lucas’ first buck.

I must admit that I left Georgia with a weird feeling in my gut. This was the first gun hunt that I would be going on in years and years without my trusted TC Encore or ProHunter.

I sighted in the Icon dead on at 100 yards with Federal ammo and was ready and comfortable with any opportunity out to 250 yards.

The very first morning, Steve, Phillip and I sat in a ground blind looking down a scendero. It was cold! 25 degrees to be exact, and believe me, in Texas, 25 feels like 15 with the high humidity levels!

At 8:15 we had a really good looking buck come out for just a moment and retreat to the brush. I could see the buck’s head and rack, but nothing to take a shot at. He looked pretty good but he soon left without offering a shot.

We hunted hard the next two days from different blinds without seeing a shooter. Finally, we were down to the last morning and I decided to gamble and return to the scendero where the good buck had given me the slip.

The last morning was cold and windy, very windy. After sitting for a couple hours I got pretty cold. There was a plane to catch, and with only little bucks and does moving, I was on the verge of throwing in the towel. But something told me to give it another 30 minutes.

It wasn’t 15 minutes later a small buck threw his head in the air and begin staring nervously into the mesquite. I knew what that could mean. It was him!

The 10 pointer walked out into the clearing like he owned the joint and after waiting patiently for a broadside shot and the wind to die down (one out of two ain’t bad, I think the wind actually picked up). I steadied the crosshairs on the Nikon scope and the Icon barked!

A perfect hit at 170 yards! The buck scored 143” gross and, get this, had an inside spread of 12 7/8”! A really, really cool buck. I do love Texas!