This is a two year story so I apologize in advance for the length. Last year I didn't have a deer I was excited to hunt and on Thanksgiving morning I found this guy while glassing from a big hill. It took a week to track down the landowner but I was able to finally start hunting him on the 2nd day of gun season. That first morning I thought I would glass again to get a feel for this new area and low and behold he came out before sunrise and made is way towards me. I wasn't expecting this and the light was too low for the rangefinder. I guessed he was about 300 yards, so I put it right behind the front shoulder and touched off. He was actually 400 yards and I had only grazed him.
This set off 10 straight days of trying to get another shot at him. Every time I thought I had him something would go wrong. Coyotes, landowners next door feeding cattle, swirling winds it always went south. On my 10th day I finally had him. I watched him walk across an open pasture into a draw heading my way. Three minutes later he walked out and I ranged him at 389 yards got onto my shooting sticks, held in the right spot and put it thru the heart. He ran 25 yards and piled up. When I got to him, I realized I had shot the wrong buck. The big one had walked in the draw and another one walked out. I didn't even verify the rack because he came out on the same trail. (lesson learned) The buck I shot was 150+ in 8 point so while disappointed, I had still been blessed with a great deer.
At this point I still didn't have any actual pics of the deer I was hunting. In January I put out some corn with a camera to see if I could see what he looked like. Here he is.
This season came along and I could not find him. With no sightings, high coyote numbers and poachers I was afraid I had blown my only chance last year. Opening morning I was back on the same hill and only saw a few does and watched half a dozen road hunters driving around the block he lived in. That evening I sat on the opposite end of the pasture about a 3/4 of a mile away and ended up covered up in half a dozen coyotes and no deer. I was bummed out to say the least. The next morning I was back on the hill and again saw a few does again and that was it. The wind shifted and I decided to hunt another spot that night 2 1/2 miles away. I really had no expectations but at least I had good wind. at about 5:15 pm who walks in but the deer I was looking for. I hadn't seen him in person in a year and hadn't had him on camera in 11 months.
I didn't waste anytime with light running out and quickly set up and made my shot at 525 yards. (My brother builds custom long range rifles, so we shoot practice constantly out past 1000 yards) I found him about 20 feet from where I shot him. He was much bigger than last year and had dropped his 9th point. The kicker that was broken off in January was right back where it was when I first saw him the previous Thanksgiving. He grossed 176 6/8" as an 8 point. He had 13" G-2's and 12" G-3's along with 27" main beams. Had his left Brow not been broken he would have grossed 178" and would have netted 172". I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to hunt this animal and to have been able to wrap my tag around him.
This set off 10 straight days of trying to get another shot at him. Every time I thought I had him something would go wrong. Coyotes, landowners next door feeding cattle, swirling winds it always went south. On my 10th day I finally had him. I watched him walk across an open pasture into a draw heading my way. Three minutes later he walked out and I ranged him at 389 yards got onto my shooting sticks, held in the right spot and put it thru the heart. He ran 25 yards and piled up. When I got to him, I realized I had shot the wrong buck. The big one had walked in the draw and another one walked out. I didn't even verify the rack because he came out on the same trail. (lesson learned) The buck I shot was 150+ in 8 point so while disappointed, I had still been blessed with a great deer.
At this point I still didn't have any actual pics of the deer I was hunting. In January I put out some corn with a camera to see if I could see what he looked like. Here he is.
This season came along and I could not find him. With no sightings, high coyote numbers and poachers I was afraid I had blown my only chance last year. Opening morning I was back on the same hill and only saw a few does and watched half a dozen road hunters driving around the block he lived in. That evening I sat on the opposite end of the pasture about a 3/4 of a mile away and ended up covered up in half a dozen coyotes and no deer. I was bummed out to say the least. The next morning I was back on the hill and again saw a few does again and that was it. The wind shifted and I decided to hunt another spot that night 2 1/2 miles away. I really had no expectations but at least I had good wind. at about 5:15 pm who walks in but the deer I was looking for. I hadn't seen him in person in a year and hadn't had him on camera in 11 months.
I didn't waste anytime with light running out and quickly set up and made my shot at 525 yards. (My brother builds custom long range rifles, so we shoot practice constantly out past 1000 yards) I found him about 20 feet from where I shot him. He was much bigger than last year and had dropped his 9th point. The kicker that was broken off in January was right back where it was when I first saw him the previous Thanksgiving. He grossed 176 6/8" as an 8 point. He had 13" G-2's and 12" G-3's along with 27" main beams. Had his left Brow not been broken he would have grossed 178" and would have netted 172". I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to hunt this animal and to have been able to wrap my tag around him.
