Tristate
Long Time Member
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I have been quiet about an experience I was fortunately blessed with this year. I have shared some pics but I have not told this tall tale yet. It started with a magical spring and summer. Record rains came to the country that my brothers and I hunt. It was most welcome after a damning drought and one of the worst deer seasons we have had in 2022.
I went out labor day to guide an aoudad hunt and hoped to scout for a big deer for me or my brothers to chase in archery season. The aoudad hunt ran long and by the time we were wrapped up I only had 2 days to look at muleys. After 2 days of searching I had turned up on nice typical that I thought would go 175.
Archery season came and my brothers and I met for some hot mule deer hunting. The evening before opener one brother asked if I had a lead on a big one. I told him about the one buck I had found and told him we would make a play on him in the morning and he could decide whether it was what he was looking for.
At day break we set up our optics on a hill overlooking a long red crescent valley. As the light slowly brightened I made out the shape of a lonely mule deer feeding. I was optimistic this would be the same buck I had seen there a month earlier. Slowly I could make out the antlers twitching as he fed. Soon I realized this wasn't the buck I had come there to find but something much more special. We soon had enough light to make out exactly what he was and who he was. This was a giant buck we had chased two years before and had never seen again. Back then he was a giant living in a slightly different area close to our location. We had stepped on him when stalking and never saw him again. We had figured he had died. He was older now and in his twilight years but still a hellavu buck with matched in line double forks. We watched patiently for an hour as he went into a deep cut to bed.
I left one brother there watching on the spotter. In the cut we could not see the deer anymore but knew he would be there. My other brother and I suited up and began the stalk.
We reached the hill above the cut and I crawled to the edge to locate this buck. Upon reaching the edge I could see him sound asleep 35 yards below me. I slowly crawled back and I informed my brother to crawl up to the same spot don't worry about ranging him and stick him. My brother inched forward to the kill spot and looked back at me in confusion. I tried to direct his sight to the buck using frantic hand signals but I could tell it was futile. I crawled forward. The buck was gone. I knew he must still be very close by, I just no longer knew exactly where.
We inched over to a connected wash out thinking he could have gotten in it but it was empty. We sat up and discussed the possibilities. I stood up slowly and looked around. I saw a tiny dirt bank that had collapsed from rain just thirty yards away. I told my brother he needed to walk over there and check in below that edge. It was small but a buck could curl up there and hide. He approached it slowly with me following. As his last step settled on the ground above the edge antlers slowly rose less than two feet from the tip of his boot. I could see this giant head rise above the edge of the red dirt and a big brown eye role sideways to observe me. I could smell him now as a slight breeze hit my face. This monster buck was about to explode like a covey of quail. But he didn't. He slowly began crawling like nothing I had ever seen a deer do. As silent as a cat he was trying to sneak away from us. My curious gawking was suddenly snapped back to reality by a loud THWACK! The arrow was away and then the buck finally exploded in a panic run leading him to the bottom of the valley. I watched in my binos as he tipped over. Definitely one of the greatest hunting experiences of my life and I wasn't even shooting.
Upon meeting up with my brother he was just excited as all of us. He had watched the whole show in the spotter. He told us he saw the deer crawl from the bottom of the cut up into the little wash out where we found him. He said several times he wanted to yell at us because at his level it appeared we were stomping all over the buck
After getting him cut up and all the back slapping was over it was time to start looking for a buck for myself. Normally I would know a buck to go after but this time I had no plan.
To be continued .. ..
I went out labor day to guide an aoudad hunt and hoped to scout for a big deer for me or my brothers to chase in archery season. The aoudad hunt ran long and by the time we were wrapped up I only had 2 days to look at muleys. After 2 days of searching I had turned up on nice typical that I thought would go 175.
Archery season came and my brothers and I met for some hot mule deer hunting. The evening before opener one brother asked if I had a lead on a big one. I told him about the one buck I had found and told him we would make a play on him in the morning and he could decide whether it was what he was looking for.
At day break we set up our optics on a hill overlooking a long red crescent valley. As the light slowly brightened I made out the shape of a lonely mule deer feeding. I was optimistic this would be the same buck I had seen there a month earlier. Slowly I could make out the antlers twitching as he fed. Soon I realized this wasn't the buck I had come there to find but something much more special. We soon had enough light to make out exactly what he was and who he was. This was a giant buck we had chased two years before and had never seen again. Back then he was a giant living in a slightly different area close to our location. We had stepped on him when stalking and never saw him again. We had figured he had died. He was older now and in his twilight years but still a hellavu buck with matched in line double forks. We watched patiently for an hour as he went into a deep cut to bed.
I left one brother there watching on the spotter. In the cut we could not see the deer anymore but knew he would be there. My other brother and I suited up and began the stalk.
We reached the hill above the cut and I crawled to the edge to locate this buck. Upon reaching the edge I could see him sound asleep 35 yards below me. I slowly crawled back and I informed my brother to crawl up to the same spot don't worry about ranging him and stick him. My brother inched forward to the kill spot and looked back at me in confusion. I tried to direct his sight to the buck using frantic hand signals but I could tell it was futile. I crawled forward. The buck was gone. I knew he must still be very close by, I just no longer knew exactly where.
We inched over to a connected wash out thinking he could have gotten in it but it was empty. We sat up and discussed the possibilities. I stood up slowly and looked around. I saw a tiny dirt bank that had collapsed from rain just thirty yards away. I told my brother he needed to walk over there and check in below that edge. It was small but a buck could curl up there and hide. He approached it slowly with me following. As his last step settled on the ground above the edge antlers slowly rose less than two feet from the tip of his boot. I could see this giant head rise above the edge of the red dirt and a big brown eye role sideways to observe me. I could smell him now as a slight breeze hit my face. This monster buck was about to explode like a covey of quail. But he didn't. He slowly began crawling like nothing I had ever seen a deer do. As silent as a cat he was trying to sneak away from us. My curious gawking was suddenly snapped back to reality by a loud THWACK! The arrow was away and then the buck finally exploded in a panic run leading him to the bottom of the valley. I watched in my binos as he tipped over. Definitely one of the greatest hunting experiences of my life and I wasn't even shooting.
Upon meeting up with my brother he was just excited as all of us. He had watched the whole show in the spotter. He told us he saw the deer crawl from the bottom of the cut up into the little wash out where we found him. He said several times he wanted to yell at us because at his level it appeared we were stomping all over the buck
After getting him cut up and all the back slapping was over it was time to start looking for a buck for myself. Normally I would know a buck to go after but this time I had no plan.
To be continued .. ..
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