I drew the Pauns Archery tag this year and spent the whole week down there before the hunt opened. Saw many great bucks. And had 4 bucks over 180 located and this one here. This is the best buck I found and he is a 6x5 that I guessed to be in the low to mid 190's. The moment I saw him I knew this buck was the one I would devote all of my time too.
I quickly found out it was the same deer, Founder was chasing. I had him patterned so well I saw him every morning and evening for 6 days. I thought this was going to be fairly easy. Well opening morning came and I snuck into his home and he was not in the spot I thought he would be. To make a long story short. That did not work out that morning I hunted him for a total of 8 days, seeing him 6 out those 8 days and made 8 diff stalks on him. Smarter than I thought he was and just always happened to be in the swirliest wind location on the mountain all the time. It all came together one morning. Set up perfect, the wind was perfect everything perfect. Except for the damn 2 point he was with almost walked over the top of me. To make another long story short. Had an opportunity and missed. I did not compensate enough for the angle. Heartbroken I decided I would settle for a lesser buck and on the last day killed this guy. This is pretty standard for down there. 27.5" wide and very heavy. I probably passed on 8-10 bucks better than this one, but In the end I killed this one. Happy? yes. Dissapointed? hell yes. What might of been. Still had a blast though. Beautiful country. Hopefull I can get back.
The big buck is actually the same buck founder was chasing. Talked with him and he had a couple of close calls. Super nice guy and super hard hunter. Good luck to all the rest of you Pauns hunters this year. What I would have given to had a muzzleloader in my hands on a bunch of different occasions.
I quickly found out it was the same deer, Founder was chasing. I had him patterned so well I saw him every morning and evening for 6 days. I thought this was going to be fairly easy. Well opening morning came and I snuck into his home and he was not in the spot I thought he would be. To make a long story short. That did not work out that morning I hunted him for a total of 8 days, seeing him 6 out those 8 days and made 8 diff stalks on him. Smarter than I thought he was and just always happened to be in the swirliest wind location on the mountain all the time. It all came together one morning. Set up perfect, the wind was perfect everything perfect. Except for the damn 2 point he was with almost walked over the top of me. To make another long story short. Had an opportunity and missed. I did not compensate enough for the angle. Heartbroken I decided I would settle for a lesser buck and on the last day killed this guy. This is pretty standard for down there. 27.5" wide and very heavy. I probably passed on 8-10 bucks better than this one, but In the end I killed this one. Happy? yes. Dissapointed? hell yes. What might of been. Still had a blast though. Beautiful country. Hopefull I can get back.
The big buck is actually the same buck founder was chasing. Talked with him and he had a couple of close calls. Super nice guy and super hard hunter. Good luck to all the rest of you Pauns hunters this year. What I would have given to had a muzzleloader in my hands on a bunch of different occasions.
