Two For Two In Oklahoma With Benelli's LUPO HPR

Deck: A long-range tack driver with features that allow shooters to customize the rifle, Benelli's LUPO HPR proved its salt in the western Oklahoma woods.

My first visit to western Oklahoma was in 2014. I'll never forget making the six-hour trip, wondering, from the time I got into north Texas, how I would kill a white-tailed deer in the vast nothingness. Then I turned left off Texas Highway 33 onto Oklahoma Highway 30 and went through the tiny town of Reydon.

The landscape changed before my eyes. Once, desolate prairie turned to rolling hills with dense pockets of hardwoods, plumb thickets, and waist-high grass. Creeks slithered this way, and that, and the landscape was dotted with agriculture.

I stopped my Chevy the second I topped a small hill, leaving Reydon on my way to Cheyenne, the home of Scott and Joni Sanderford, and the Croton Creek Ranch. A sizeable buck darted across the blacktop before me, and the beauty of the stained-red hills blew me away.

To make a long story short, the Sanderfords and I became lifelong friends on that 2014 hunt. Since then, I've hunted with Scott and Joni multiple times for deer, turkey, quail, and wild hogs. They've come to Colorado and chased fleet-footed pronghorns and prairie dogs with me. When I drive from my Centennial State home to Croton Creek, it feels like my second home.

Scott and Joni sold Croton Creek Guest Ranch in 2022. They kept their hunting land and leases but sold the motel, social barn, etc. I chuckled when Media Direct's Mark Sidelinger gave me the details of a November 2023 Sooner State deer hunt.

"It's near the town of Cheyenne, Oklahoma," Sidelinger said. "We will stay at the Croton Creek Guest Ranch but will be hunting different dirt away from the lodge. Do you know where that is or know anything about the place?"

I couldn't accept the invite fast enough. You can't beat Oklahoma in November, especially when you have an uber-accurate bolt-action in your hands, and though the Sanderfords no longer owned Croton Creek, they lived a mile from the motel, and I knew I'd get to spend a lot of time with my friends. It was a win-win situation!

Let's Walk

The walk to the shooting house was long—over a mile and uphill. As a western DIY hunter, I'm used to long walks and didn't mind the jaunt. A biting north wind hit me in the face, and slung over my shoulder, attached to a Magpul M-Lok attachment point system, was Benelli's LUPO HPR Bolt-Action Rifle.

I received the rifle a week before the hunt, and after mounting Steiner's H6Xi 2-12x42mm scope to the rifle's multi-position Picatinny rail, I punched paper and rang steel from 100 yards to 800 yards. This is one of the most accurate out-of-the-box factory rifles I've ever shouldered. The eight-positon push-button comb height stock allowed me to achieve immediate eye-to-optic alignment. The rifle has a pair of grips, and the bottom of the stock comes off to allow the stock to sink perfectly into shooting bags on a bench. For hunting purposes, you'll likely want to make the stock whole again, but this rifle offers customization in spades.

While walking under the stars, I reflected on my time with the rifle. I'd shot the LUPO HPR standing and kneeling with the gun on a BOG DeathGrip Infinite Carbon Fiber tripod. I'd fired it prone off a backpack and a bench and even squeezed the zero-creep trigger offhand a time or two.

The unique design of the bolt and the short-action .308 Winchester caliber allowed me to throw lead downrange quickly. The bolt is smooth, and as noted, the rifle's long-range precision rivals custom bolt-action builds I've tested. The Progressive Comfort System soaked up recoil like a sponge, allowing me to stay in my scope and make rapid follow-up shots. The Progressive Comfort System works with the rifle's 9.4-pound weight rating (without scope and full double-stack magazine) to prevent muzzle jump. It shoots like butter.

I was excited when I reached the rustic, cabin-like shooting house. I know how good mid-November can be in Oklahoma, and carrying a rifle that filled me with so much shooting confidence further fueled the burning flame.

It was still dark when I took my seat inside the shooting house. I had no idea what my view would look like after rays of light teased the frosty morning to life, but I couldn't wait.

The detachable double-stack magazine, as it did during the sight-in period, easily accepted my 180-grain Norma BONDStrike bullets. A subtle click let me know the magazine was seated. Before chambering a round, I opened the front fiberglass window of the shooting house and placed the flat forearm on the spongy wood.

As noted, Benelli built the LUPO HPR to be a long-range tack driver. I appreciate the wide, flat forearm. Not only did it prove effective during the sight-in period, but I could get dead still with the rifle resting on the windowsill of the shooting house. Minutes before dawn's arrival, I quietly chambered a round and waited.

Showtime

The view was even better than I imagined. The shooting house was perched on a sage-sprinkled hillside overlooking a vast green wheatfield; steam rose off the winding Canadian River behind the food source.

I could make out numerous does, fawns, and small bucks where the wheat met the rolling prairie before the landscape transitioned to a more typical riparian whitetail habitat. By the time the sun inched over the horizon, the deer abandoned the wheat field.

I occasionally saw bucks chasing does along the river's edge through my optics. They were too far away to determine size, but I was thankful to see some rut activity. About 9 a.m., though, that activity came to a halt.

I believe deer calls are made to be used, especially when hunting vast, open country. Sticking a pair of rattling antlers out the front of the blind window, I created a loud, long fight sequence. It was generally still outside, and I knew the sound would carry.

I'd no longer sat the rattling antlers in the corner of the blind when movement caught my eye. As far as I could see in the distance, a tiny brown speck was running my way. My binos told me the buck was mature. The decision of whether to drop the hammer and take the buck back to Colorado with me needed to be made fast. The buck lept the fence into the wheat field and resumed his steady jog. The closer the buck got, the more his 9-point rack impressed me.

I like to let animals get close, and I would have let the buck continue his charge, but I knew if I did, he would disappear under the crest of the hill. If I let him do that, the next time I would see him, he would be 10 yards straight in front of the blind or directly downwind of me.

I had to yell at the rut-crazed brute to stop him, and at 276 yards, I made a perfect shot on the quartering-to-buck. The 180-grain bullet hit high-shoulder, precisely where I was aiming, and the buck's rear end hit the dirt before his chest did.

As expected, the LUPO HPR Bolt-Action chambered in .308 Winchester performed brilliantly, but that's not even the best part of the story.

Buck Number Two

As I mentioned, Scott Sanderford sold Croton Creek Guest Ranch but kept his whitetail-rich dirt. The following day, I planned to join him and his oldest daughter, Ashley, on a hunt. Sanderford mentioned that the area he wanted to hunt would likely require a longer shot, and he didn't want to leave that shot in the hands of Ashley's AR-style 6.5 Creedmoor.

Because the LUPO HPR is so customizable, I could adjust the comb height, bring the scope closer to the stock, and remove some stock spacers to adjust the length of pull. In less than an hour, Ashley Sanderford rang steel at 425 yards, which says a lot about the customization and function of this rifle.

The following day, nestled into some brush overlooking a series of mini canyons that drained away from a primary food source, Scott, Ashely, and I waited. The plan was to catch a buck trolling for does that were leaving the groceries.

The action was fast and immediate. Numerous bucks moved about, some with their noses to the ground and others on the heels of a hot doe. None of them, though, tripped Ashley's trigger.

Then, just when we were considering calling it a morning, a heavy eight-point buck appeared on the opposite ridge. The buck wasn't in the chain of mini canyons. Instead, he appeared like an apparition and he had us pegged. Slowly, Ashley turned the BOG tripod holding the LUPO HPR while Scott whispered the range to her.

The shot was long — 378 yards — but the buck was broadside. When the trigger broke, the buck whirled and dove back into the heavy cover from which he'd come.

The tracking job was short. The gorgeous 8-point had only gone 20 yards before piling up in a tangle of vines and brush.

That morning made the entire trip for me. I love to see my friends succeed. This was Ashley's biggest buck to date and her longest-ever shot. Two Oklahoma bucks in two days with two shots with the same Benelli rifle. I call that winning!