My 2013 Muzzeloader buck

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BigBucksNBulls

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Like I've done the past three years, I have drawn out for a general season Muzzleloader Deer tag. In 2011, I killed a 27 inch wide 3 point in the area I have hunted ever since I was 14. I've loved the muzzleloader hunt ever since I first started hunting it about 6 years ago. There are a few reasons why I love this hunt. The weather is much cooler than the Archery hunt, but you don't freeze like you do sometimes on the rifle hunt. The fall leaves are starting to come in and the elk are going nuts! All these things are what makes me love the muzzleloader hunt so much!

Well, I have hunted alone most of the time the last three years. This year I was alone all 10 days I was gone. I don't ever get the chance to scout the area I hunt but I know where the nice bucks hangout at. I left 2 days before the hunt so I could get there, get camp set up and go scout for deer in the evening. This year seems like a bad year for "bigger bucks". I didn't see as many as I usually do, but I did see enough to make me excited!

Opening morning was super windy, gusts of 56 mph. I hiked down the mountain and I sat in an area where the bucks usually get pushed to when hunted opening morning. No deer came through and all I had was 3 hunters walking towards me. I picked up my stuff and headed down a ridge in the opposite direction of the hunters to a spot where I have seen some bucks before. I sat down in the little saddle and glassed the ridge. As i put my binos down, i had a 2 point about 5 yards away from me walking up and over the saddle. I never heard him coming due to the strong winds. I sat there a minute and kept glassing the ridge. I decided to go back over to a different ridge because I could glass a lot more area. As I was on my way there I looked back to where I was sitting, and there were three bucks going right over the saddle where I just was! The first one was a nice 4 point. I ranged them at 125 yards and got set up to shoot. Of course, they turned and went up through the brush when I was ready to shoot.

The second day of the hunt still had strong winds, making it easy to hike through the trees without making much noise. I was hiking down a canyon in some Aspen trees and spotted 2 bucks bedded down. The one being a small 2 point and the other a 4 point. After killing that 27 inch wide three point in 2011, I wanted something that would be bigger than that buck i killed. This 4 point i spotted bedded down was kind of a cool deer. He had really big fronts and small backs. He was just a young buck though. I was able to sneak 20 yards away from the 2 bucks and watched them for an hour and a half. I decided to pass this buck and let him grow. He'll make a great deer in a couple years. Pic below is him.





The next evening, I hiked up the ridge where I saw the 4 point opening morning. Last year i did the same hike and saw 2 nice four points, but didn't take either because I wanted something close to the size or bigger than the 2011 buck I killed there. I jumped that same four point I saw the day before at 20 yards away and he ran off and gave me a 70 yards shot. I didn't take it, again.

Over the next several days of hunting, I hadn't been seeing any good bucks. I've seen a few that a lot of people would love to shoot, but there just wasn't anything I would shoot. After the morning hunt of the 8th day, I decided to head to town and grab a bite to eat. After breakfast I decided to check out an area down in the desert where my brother jumped a big buck just two weeks before the muzzleoader hunt about 4 years ago. Two draws/canyons away from where he jumped this buck is a pond. Usually the pond is dried up, but this year with all the rain we have had, it was full. I got to the spot where the pond was and parked my truck off the dirt road. The pond is only about 400-500 yards off the road. I checked around the pond to see if there were any tracks. No tracks found. Only coyote tracks. I still was gonna walk over through the draws and see if i could see any tracks or see any deer. There were no tracks to be found anywhere. As i was getting to the draw where my brother jumped that buck a few years ago, I started to go a little quieter. As you work your way around into the draw, the hillside turns to rock. I was able to walk pretty quietly. As i was getting to the oak brush where my brother had jumped that buck, I watched to see if I could see anything bedded down. I can't remember if i was watching up in the draw further or watching my step, but i heard a crash, I looked up and saw a buck taking off 10 yards right below me, right in the exact spot my brother jumped the big buck a few years before. I hurried and pulled the hammer back on the muzzleloader and when the buck came out into the open 30 yards away, I quickly aimed and shot. I hit him! He dropped in his tracks! So many thoughts running through my head!! I was shocked that just happened!! Those thoughts of is this really happening? I honestly wasn't expecting anything to be there due to there being no tracks and me hunting there previous years and not seeing anything.

As I walked up to the buck... all I could see was MASS!! He might not be very wide or have deep forked point, but his mass makes up for all that and is really tall. He is a 3x4. I wish the pictures would show just how massive he is! I was a little disappointed that i hit him head but so happy I killed him! When he was running away, he was running almost straight away but a little quartering away. The bullet was perfect left and right, but I just shot high. At least I killed him and didn't miss or wound him. :)

I was really excited about killing this buck, but it does suck to not have anyone there to share my excitement with. Its hard getting pictures of me and my buck when its just me!! Good thing they make self timers!

















That rock slope just above the cedars and oak brush is where i was. He jumped up out of the oak brush and only made it that far. :)



Here is the buck I killed in 2011 at 203 yards with a Muzzleoader.

 
You need to take your buck into the DWR to have them age him. I get he's 8yrs + !!!!!!


Thats a great bucuk




Wanna smell my finger?
 
thanks for sharing your story. Great bucks. I love the old guy's mass. I dare say 10-12 yr old buck. Probably same buck your brother jumped and lived in that hole all it's life.
 
Awesome mass!!

Way to stay with it for that many days. After 3 days alone it gets really hard to stay motivated.
 
One of the oldest lookin racks I've ever seen... What a great trophy..!! Way to get it done..!! :)

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24
 
Sweet. Cool write up as well. What are you doing to make your pictures look like that? They look like a cartooney oil painting. Very nice picture abc cool buck.

"That's a special feeling, Lloyd"
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-03-13 AT 08:19PM (MST)[p]I like the looks of that buck a lot. Nice Job. And harvesting a old buck adds to it.

SO you shot him running away i assume you hit him in the head?


Quick easy kill. NICE
 
I think that is one of the coolest bucks I have seen yet this year. I really would like to know how old that bruiser is.

And I would have liked to see him before his horns started to regress, I bet he was pretty narly looking.

Congrats!
 
Thanks for the positive feedback guys. My taxidermist is going to send in his teeth for me to see about how old he is. He is guessing the buck to be 7-9 years old. Also, I realized i have a shed off of this buck that i found in the next draw over from where i killed him two years ago. Was a big three with deeper back forks but not as massive.
 

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