S
spurin48
Guest
First day saw some average to below average bucks, and spent some time learning the area. Second day brought alot of walking and learning where I really didn't want to expend any effort in returning to hunt there. Day 3 to me back to the original area hunted on the first day, saw a couple 170" framed bucks, one had great backs and crab claw fronts, the other had the opposite, great fronts and terrible backs, two tags, a hacksaw and some super glue and I could have made one hell of a buck between the two! spotting scope photo of the buck with good backs.
That evening i was glassing a couple does and a below average 4 point feeding in a small saddle when out of the corner of my eye I saw the shape of a mule deer rack frame right next to a large mahogany bush above a ledge. I wrote it off as a bush, too large and I'm not lucky enough for it to be a deer. Gave it a minute and glanced at it a little harder, still dismissed it as an all to familiar bush that i had seen and double checked several times throughout the day in different places. Just to humor myself at the large bush i was looking at I threw the glass up on it, I got the shakes when I saw what I expected to be a bush looking back at me.
After my initial reaction, I sarted picking the buck apart and talking myself out of shooting him, comparing ears to forks, beams, etc. I decided that he needed to stand up so I could see how everything proportioned. A few minutes later he did, stretched his back, and wiggled his tail, I decided he was worth missing whatever opportunity colder weather and the rut might bring and sent a 300gr Berger out of my 338 Edge high through his shoulder at 190 yards. Went in the next moring with a friends help to retrieve him. Got pics taken and congratulations said and headed to a friends taxidermy shop to get an accurate official score from a B&C measurer. He goes 188 even. I started this hunt with over zealous hopes of 190 or better, two inches off of that mark at 188 is extremely satisfying, and I feel very fortunate for what I got, it's not an easy hunt or terrain, and I did alot of homework before the season opened.
That evening i was glassing a couple does and a below average 4 point feeding in a small saddle when out of the corner of my eye I saw the shape of a mule deer rack frame right next to a large mahogany bush above a ledge. I wrote it off as a bush, too large and I'm not lucky enough for it to be a deer. Gave it a minute and glanced at it a little harder, still dismissed it as an all to familiar bush that i had seen and double checked several times throughout the day in different places. Just to humor myself at the large bush i was looking at I threw the glass up on it, I got the shakes when I saw what I expected to be a bush looking back at me.
After my initial reaction, I sarted picking the buck apart and talking myself out of shooting him, comparing ears to forks, beams, etc. I decided that he needed to stand up so I could see how everything proportioned. A few minutes later he did, stretched his back, and wiggled his tail, I decided he was worth missing whatever opportunity colder weather and the rut might bring and sent a 300gr Berger out of my 338 Edge high through his shoulder at 190 yards. Went in the next moring with a friends help to retrieve him. Got pics taken and congratulations said and headed to a friends taxidermy shop to get an accurate official score from a B&C measurer. He goes 188 even. I started this hunt with over zealous hopes of 190 or better, two inches off of that mark at 188 is extremely satisfying, and I feel very fortunate for what I got, it's not an easy hunt or terrain, and I did alot of homework before the season opened.