W
wamuledeer
Guest
Well I am already back after one day. I think I was a little trigger happy. I am not used to seeing so many decent bucks like this in Washington. Anyway, I am pleased and he is a pretty nice buck. He has nice forks, good mass and almost 4" eyeguards. Here is the story.
I left yesterday morning for the 3 1/2 hour drive to the area I would be hunting. The passes were pretty dicey but I still made it.
On my drive in to the area I wanted to set up camp, I spotted a couple of nice 20" 4 points bedded down. I decided to set up camp at about 3,000 feet. Their was only a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it was just slightly overcast with some blue skies.
I set up camp and then headed out about 11:00 AM or so. I drove down a rode for a few miles until I came to an old forest service road without any other traffic on it. At this point there was approximately 6" of snow on the ground. I walked down the road just a few hundred yards to the next draw and spotted a decent buck about 500 yards out. I kept walking and glassing and spotted three more bucks all about the same size. Most had some does with them and were rutting pretty hard.
I walked around another corner to another draw and saw a pretty nice buck about 500 yards away. He didn't see me so I tried to get closer. I ended up about 300 yards above him on an old landing. I was able to get a good rest and decided to take the shot. I aimed just above his back the first shot but I think I shot over him. He just stood there and didn't move. I forgot to realize that when shooting down hill, you are supposed to aim low. Since my gun was approximately 10-12" low at 300 yards I decided to aim directly on the shoulder. At the second shot, he jumped and kicked and ran about 20 yards and nose dived into the snow and he was dead.
There was a old lower road beneath him I was able to take the Jeep within a couple of yards of him.
After I got him back to camp it really started to snow. In the hour or so it took me to skin him and cut him up it had snowed about 3" and my tent was getting pretty hammered. I decided to pack up camp and get off the mountain. I finally made it home last night about 10:30 and the passes were again pretty bad.
I guess this morning they closed I90 west as their was another rockslide.
I left yesterday morning for the 3 1/2 hour drive to the area I would be hunting. The passes were pretty dicey but I still made it.
On my drive in to the area I wanted to set up camp, I spotted a couple of nice 20" 4 points bedded down. I decided to set up camp at about 3,000 feet. Their was only a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it was just slightly overcast with some blue skies.
I set up camp and then headed out about 11:00 AM or so. I drove down a rode for a few miles until I came to an old forest service road without any other traffic on it. At this point there was approximately 6" of snow on the ground. I walked down the road just a few hundred yards to the next draw and spotted a decent buck about 500 yards out. I kept walking and glassing and spotted three more bucks all about the same size. Most had some does with them and were rutting pretty hard.
I walked around another corner to another draw and saw a pretty nice buck about 500 yards away. He didn't see me so I tried to get closer. I ended up about 300 yards above him on an old landing. I was able to get a good rest and decided to take the shot. I aimed just above his back the first shot but I think I shot over him. He just stood there and didn't move. I forgot to realize that when shooting down hill, you are supposed to aim low. Since my gun was approximately 10-12" low at 300 yards I decided to aim directly on the shoulder. At the second shot, he jumped and kicked and ran about 20 yards and nose dived into the snow and he was dead.
There was a old lower road beneath him I was able to take the Jeep within a couple of yards of him.
After I got him back to camp it really started to snow. In the hour or so it took me to skin him and cut him up it had snowed about 3" and my tent was getting pretty hammered. I decided to pack up camp and get off the mountain. I finally made it home last night about 10:30 and the passes were again pretty bad.
I guess this morning they closed I90 west as their was another rockslide.
