Best opening day of my life!

money

Active Member
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372
Every now and then as hunters you are blessed with a day that won't ever be forgotten. My wife, brother-in-law and myself all drew rifle tags in a unit that is tough hunting with low deer numbers. We worked hard all year to find deer and learn the unit and it paid off.

The wife was up first as she didn't have much time to hunt and before shooting light we had a buck located. Got her into position and 10 minutes after legal shooting light she was done with her first buck ever.
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The buck was immediately gutted and hauled to the truck and we were off to find myself a buck. We were aware of a good 3x4 that wasn't far away so we headed his direction. Before we could turn up the 3x4 I noticed a good 4 point slipping through a draw about 450 yards out. I had to be quick on the gun and he gave us a shot at around 515 yards just before he disappeared and I made it count. He is not giant but a beautiful deer with a giant body. From looking at his teeth he's at least 8 or 9 years old.
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This one wasn't nearly as easy to get back to the truck but we got it done. Midday I got both bucks skinned and hung and gave my brother-in-law a call. He hadn't seen anything at all so I asked him if I could take him to find a buck I knew about. He said absolutely and we headed to look for the 3x4 I was looking for earlier that morning. I thought the buck would show up about a half mile south of where my buck died so we sat on a glassing point just above my buck's gut pile and started looking. As luck would have it, about an hour before dark, the bigger 3x4 popped out of his bed 150 yards from the gut pile of my buck. He must have moved in there midday as it is a little pocket and we walked all over it that morning and he was not there. A quick 450 yard shot and we had filled all three tags on opening day with each buck better than the last.
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It is a tough public land unit without a ton of deer but we were able to pull off the best day of hunting in my life. I drew this same tag two years ago and only saw 3 deer the whole hunt. But I have spent so much time learning the unit since then that I have learned to love the unit and the deer that call it home. Halloween of 2020 is a day i'll never forget.
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