ridgetops
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2018 Birthday buck
Last year my son David and I were sitting on a ridgeline watching a bedded 24? 3 point. It was our last day hunting and I was trying to decide if I should shoot it or not. We talked about it and since it was my first year of the dedicated hunter program and if I did tag it, then I would be missing out on one of the following two years. I told him that if I still had a tag next year on the second Saturday (which was his birthday), then I would shoot a buck like that 3 point we were watching. He thought that sounded like a good plan.
Fast forward to this hunting season, I passed on some really nice bucks but was only going to cut my season short if I saw that ?WOW FACTOR? buck. I never did and now we were down to our final day, actually the final hours because mom wanted us back in town to celebrate David?s birthday. I told David that he could pick where he wanted to go for our final morning. His choice was to be at a large meadow high on the mountain and to be there before it got light, so we wouldn't miss out on anything. With David?s challenges of having Autism and severe HDHD, it's about impossible for him to stay quiet for more than two minutes. As we were sneaking along in the dark towards the meadow, David was stomping his feet with every step. Now he loves the Lord of the Rings, so I told him to pretend he was Legolas and walk like a woodland elf, like he's walking on feathers. He instantly started walking much quieter. Just at first light, we arrived at the meadow, which has a spring at the upper end of it. The wind was in our favor and I instantly spotted two nice bucks sparing near the spring. I saw another deer at the spring but it was a doe. We hurried and ducted down and snuck to some nearby brush. I told David they were both good bucks and if I should shoot one of them. He quickly said ?yes?.
The two sparing bucks stayed locked up for what felt like five minutes going around in circles. They finally separated long enough for me to decide which to take. I picked the larger bodied of the two and while I was shaking like a leaf. My crosshairs finally settled behind the buck?s front shoulder and I took the 220 yard shot. Instantly the buck bolted towards and into the stand of aspens to the South of the meadow. The other buck and doe also ran into the same group of trees. A few seconds later, the other buck and doe came trotting back out into the meadow, then spun around and slowly started walking back towards where they just came from, looking very curious. At that point I told David that I was sure the buck I shot at was down because of the way those other deer were acting. We gathered our stuff and hiked up to where the buck ran into the aspens and cautiously circled uphill until we spotted the downed buck. We took a few pictures and sent them to my wife, letting her know we would be back down to camp in a few hours. David was a big help with quartering and skinning out the buck. It was a good feeling to teach him how to do it and we had another ?birthday buck? in the books. It was well worth sacrificing a few ?inches? to accomplish our goal of getting a nice buck on his birthday. Thus the main reason I was so picky this year and passed on a few bigger bucks.
Last year my son David and I were sitting on a ridgeline watching a bedded 24? 3 point. It was our last day hunting and I was trying to decide if I should shoot it or not. We talked about it and since it was my first year of the dedicated hunter program and if I did tag it, then I would be missing out on one of the following two years. I told him that if I still had a tag next year on the second Saturday (which was his birthday), then I would shoot a buck like that 3 point we were watching. He thought that sounded like a good plan.
Fast forward to this hunting season, I passed on some really nice bucks but was only going to cut my season short if I saw that ?WOW FACTOR? buck. I never did and now we were down to our final day, actually the final hours because mom wanted us back in town to celebrate David?s birthday. I told David that he could pick where he wanted to go for our final morning. His choice was to be at a large meadow high on the mountain and to be there before it got light, so we wouldn't miss out on anything. With David?s challenges of having Autism and severe HDHD, it's about impossible for him to stay quiet for more than two minutes. As we were sneaking along in the dark towards the meadow, David was stomping his feet with every step. Now he loves the Lord of the Rings, so I told him to pretend he was Legolas and walk like a woodland elf, like he's walking on feathers. He instantly started walking much quieter. Just at first light, we arrived at the meadow, which has a spring at the upper end of it. The wind was in our favor and I instantly spotted two nice bucks sparing near the spring. I saw another deer at the spring but it was a doe. We hurried and ducted down and snuck to some nearby brush. I told David they were both good bucks and if I should shoot one of them. He quickly said ?yes?.
The two sparing bucks stayed locked up for what felt like five minutes going around in circles. They finally separated long enough for me to decide which to take. I picked the larger bodied of the two and while I was shaking like a leaf. My crosshairs finally settled behind the buck?s front shoulder and I took the 220 yard shot. Instantly the buck bolted towards and into the stand of aspens to the South of the meadow. The other buck and doe also ran into the same group of trees. A few seconds later, the other buck and doe came trotting back out into the meadow, then spun around and slowly started walking back towards where they just came from, looking very curious. At that point I told David that I was sure the buck I shot at was down because of the way those other deer were acting. We gathered our stuff and hiked up to where the buck ran into the aspens and cautiously circled uphill until we spotted the downed buck. We took a few pictures and sent them to my wife, letting her know we would be back down to camp in a few hours. David was a big help with quartering and skinning out the buck. It was a good feeling to teach him how to do it and we had another ?birthday buck? in the books. It was well worth sacrificing a few ?inches? to accomplish our goal of getting a nice buck on his birthday. Thus the main reason I was so picky this year and passed on a few bigger bucks.
