12 year wait reduced to 20 seconds in time...

i woke up this morning feeling like i just went through a divorce and my buddy is telling me to get back out there n date again....lol

i started out my spring this year realizing i was chasing the proverbial carrot dangling on a string, dealing with Cali's draw system, i'm not getting younger u know turning 61 this year, so i posted a question here, asking for opinions on cashing in my bonus points, i have been applying for the M9 hunt before we had the point system, so i started building points, i missed a couple years when i moved to oregon but later started building again.

well having 12 bp's i felt x5b would be a shoe in, but after that post i lost that confidence, hearing x5b population was way down, at least x2 has the oregon migration, right, so long story short i did not know anything bout the x2 hunt except knowing its not the kinda of hunting i was used to, just to flat of country, very little op to glass or spot, i apprehensively decided to party up with a gent who had 4 points who knew the unit better then i.

my only experience with the devils garden (X2) was the muzz hunt where both my boys drew when they were 12, before the bp system; i was hooked ever since, thus the proverbial carrot trying to get a m9 tag, hah; ...

so the day before the opener the gent that drew with me had intel on a 28" buck so he went n did his due diligence to track that lead down on the opener, i had intel on a monster as well n went to track that lead down as well, but that buck hit the dirt early that morning n not by me, lol... congrats to Calib...

me n my grandson hit the southern part of x2 on the opener covering alot of ground glassing when i could, seeing very few deer, we hunted first 3 days of the hunt, we went back home hoping for weather, next week end we hit it again this time the north part of the unit up near oregon boarder, alot more deer up there but every buck we seen was in high gear getting their arse out of dodge, no time to judge class, just a blur...

we noticed everyone was hunting the big burn, so i decided to hunt the outer perimeter, sounded like a good idea right, well it produced nothing...again we go home after another three days of disappointment...

now i've been texting a local guide down there who knows the unit very well, he was putting bucks on the ground for his clients, so i book with him for the last three days of the season.

by this time i was wondering if my goal of shooting a 28 to 30" buck were too lofty for this hunt, so i grinned and bared it till i could hunt with Jerry the guide, it snowed friday morning feeling pumped the day turned out to be a bummer the deer seemed to disappear like Houdini total opposite of what u'd expect.

down to the wire i was dealing with the taste of tag soup, even with my guide we were not seeing deer, so here i am sunday the final hurrah finally the snow started melting n the deer reappeared, seen hundreds of deer coming in from oregon does n a ton of forks.

we were after a 25" heavy 4x4 sunday afternoon we knew was in the area, but nothing mature showed itself, down to the wire 4:00pm we hightail it back to burn glassing when possible hundreds of doe's moved in over night no bucks over a fork was seen.

then i hear out of my guides mouth there was a rumor of a 35" 3 point off some road we both laughed hah Rumors right' but headed that way anyways hey why not right...lol

well by now its damm near too dark for my aging eyes to see clearly and right off the road at 70 yards was that 30 plus inch 3 point buck; i could barely get the words out my mouth "big buck".... we were driving at 30mph n skidding to a stop i jumped out as he dissapeared in some trees, i waited what seemed for ever for a shot n he trotted out giving me a second to pull the trigger, bam the gun goes off and the bucks keeps moving through the trees i thought i hit him but nothing, he stops in the trees but next to a smaller but with my eyesight and failing light i could not distinguish which body i was looking at so i did not fire a second shot...

twelve years boiled down to 20 seconds in time, well i hate it when that happens but thats hunting...

Hello manny, good story. Sent a PM

You definitely get an "E" for one Heck of a try!..Great story...mayb you'll draw a random next year? Bh1

LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-17 AT 09:26AM (MST)[p]Hey my name is Aaron I met u up on top of the burn on Fri with your guide. I borrowed the pen from you. I too held out to the bitter end. I ended up dropping down in the low country on there migration routes. Saw 100s of deer to on sat and Sunday. Passed on some nice bucks but never saw the shooter I was looking for. It was a fun hunt. Glad u at least saw a good buck. I passed 3 4points the last morning but I sure did not need meat so I let them grow up. I met so many guys who said I'm trophy hunting or looking for a mature buck yet shoot a rat the last 3 days. I guess it makes themselves feel better that they shoot a yearling fork than eat a tag. To each his own I guess. I just luagh at myself when I talk to guys who act like we are in the great depression and they just need that 35 lbs of deer meat to survive the winter! O ya they are driving 60k dollar trucks and have sworo binos. Ok that's enough of a rant! Haha. Glad u got a chance at a good buck. That's why we hunt.

Sounds like the deer are just starting their migration.
I hope so.
As I have the m9 hunt.
Manny or aaron
Could you send me a Pm with your thoughts on areas I should concentrate on my hunt.
I plan on hunting the last days of the season
Thanks,
howdy

Still a very exciting story. It goes that way more often than not.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-17 AT 09:41PM (MST)[p]Great decision not to shoot, that in itself should make you proud, tested and did the right thing.

Not quite as old as you but dusk is becoming a b&/;h.

>LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-17
>AT 09:41?PM (MST)
>
>Great decision not to shoot, that
>in itself should make you
>proud, tested and did the
>right thing.
>
>Not quite as old as you
>but dusk is becoming a
>b&/;h.


^^^I wil second this ^^^

To each his own but, to me, putting in for a zone that takes 7 years to draw means that you are in it for the experience of hunt itself. Success does not always have to be measured by the kill. Last year I was there there were guys taking small forks the first weekend and/or taking meat bucks the last few days just to fill their tags. Just not what I'm in it for but many people measure success based on wether or not they come home with a buck...ANY buck????

GREAT JOB!

>>LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-17
>>AT 09:41?PM (MST)
>>
>>Great decision not to shoot, that
>>in itself should make you
>>proud, tested and did the
>>right thing.
>>
>>Not quite as old as you
>>but dusk is becoming a
>>b&/;h.
>
>
>^^^I wil second this ^^^
>
>To each his own but, to
>me, putting in for a
>zone that takes 7 years
>to draw means that you
>are in it for the
>experience of hunt itself.
>Success does not always have
>to be measured by the
>kill. Last year I was
>there there were guys taking
>small forks the first weekend
>and/or taking meat bucks the
>last few days just to
>fill their tags. Just not
>what I'm in it for
>but many people measure success
>based on wether or not
>they come home with a
>buck...ANY buck????
>
>GREAT JOB!
>
>



IT'S BEYOUND MY COMPREHENTION WHY SOMEONE WOULD APPLY FOR AN X ZONE TAG N THEN SHOOT A FORKI WHICH I SAW SEVERAL PEOPLE DO JUST THAT.

I HAVE AWAYS CONSIDERED X ZONES TROPHY UNITS, I'M NOT ASSHAMED TO SAY I AM A TROHY HUNTER, MY EGO IS BRUISED BUT MOSTLY BECAUSE MY BODY IS NOT COOPERATING ANYMORE N I'M FALLING APPART WAS WHY I WAS HOPPING TO FULFILL MY DREAM....GET IT "DREAM" OF TAKING ONE MORE MONSTER BUCK.

IT DOES MAKE ME ENVY PEOPLE WITH BIG $ BECAUSE NO WAITING YEARS TO DRAW A TAG....

SORRY BOUT THE CAPS TOO LAZY TO START OVER...LOL