Most years I spend a lot of time on the mainland, usually most of October and November, if I don't tag a Mule deer in region 8 then I'll go to 3 for a while then back to 8 for whitetails. 2022 was supposed to be the similar...
After my Wife's Island Elk hunt a buddy and I headed to the mainland. He generally isn't too fussy and will often shoot the first buck he see's which is fine, his freezer generally gets topped up every fall.
This year, on the second day of our trip he tagged a 3x2 Mule deer.
The next day we packed up and changed locations.
On the morning of day 5 of the trip we found ourselves watching a group of deer along a tree line for quite some time. There was a small buck amongst them. As we were sitting there, I spotted another deer closer to us, barely visible amongst the small trees. I watched for a while and could see it was a buck, he had some long tines. It needed a closer look. I told my partner, I'll be back.
I crept downhill, staying low and out of sight, wind in my face as I crept closer. I got to within maybe 30 yards and then debated whether to shoot or pass. Now before I left home, I had planned to shoot a buck and bring it back home and give the meat to a young guy from work with three young kids and no time to hunt.
So...I took the shot