hunter fisher
11-25-2015, 09:00 PM
Driving along morning 2 of the hunt, just light enough to see, driving into a good cut block, my dad says hey theres a doe in the trees! truck goes off and we watch her for a minute, and realize she's with another doe, and then all of the sudden a third deer comes ripping around and chases the other 2 away from us into a clearing over a hill. the third deer was a buck but moving way too fast to count, and the low light didn't help. we try and be as quiet as we can and walk up to where we can see over the hill, and being quiet is made a whole lot harder with all the snow on the ground and not a breath of wind. we get up to where we can see over the hill and are both searching hard when dad spots the 3 of them. we watch the buck for about 10 minutes, he's totally frozen staring at us, impossible to count, and to make matters worse I've got so much adrenaline that i can't keep my binos steady. getting pretty frustrated, we can't get a count on him. he looked big, his neck was all rutted up and huge, and you could tell he wanted to get the hell out of dodge but he wasn't leaving his sweethearts. females... the downfall of men and bucks alike. dad says hey rest your gun on my shoulder so you can have a steady rest and look through your scope. so i do and what a world of difference. it takes another few minutes and the buck turns and i count one side, 4! dad he's a legal buck! dad says shoot him! use me as a rest! safety comes off, dad is completely still, my crosshairs settle and from 230 yards i shoot, buck darts off. i felt good about the shot, but he didn't look hit, he ran to the edge of the brush and looked back. i put my gun up for another shot and couldn't find him in the scope, and when i put the gun down and looked through the naked eye i still couldn't find him anymore. we marked a tree where we last saw him and slowly started making our way up there. i felt confident that if he was hit, we would be able to get him because there was so much snow to track him in. we walk up there and sure enough he was piled up dead, i yell back to dad i found him and he asks how big he is. as i walk up to the buck, one antler is buried in the snow, and the one facing up only has 3 points. my heart sunk, in that moment i was second guessing myself, until i pulled up his down side to see 4 big beautiful points. after screaming and hugging for a few minutes like a couple of fanny bandits, we took some photos, gutted him and pulled him out to the truck. second time deer hunting with my dad, and first buck we have taken together. couldn't be happier, memories that will last a lifetime!!!
this deer had mule deer ears, a mule deer tail, and a white tail rack (minus the brow tines). i was actually a little worried after skinning it out and not taking the hide and tail that if we ran into a game check, a CO would tell me i shot a white tail and nail me for punching a mule tag. does anyone know the regs when they appear to be a hybrid deer? a buddy of mine said he asked a CO once and the CO said you could tag it as either or.
either way, he is processed and in the freezer now, and hopefully i get around to bleaching the skull soon and making a nice little euro!
http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/t384/bryanharris85/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpscs2rnxkr.jpg
http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/t384/bryanharris85/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsnexj6qgz.jpg
http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/t384/bryanharris85/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb2abgsog.jpg
this deer had mule deer ears, a mule deer tail, and a white tail rack (minus the brow tines). i was actually a little worried after skinning it out and not taking the hide and tail that if we ran into a game check, a CO would tell me i shot a white tail and nail me for punching a mule tag. does anyone know the regs when they appear to be a hybrid deer? a buddy of mine said he asked a CO once and the CO said you could tag it as either or.
either way, he is processed and in the freezer now, and hopefully i get around to bleaching the skull soon and making a nice little euro!
http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/t384/bryanharris85/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpscs2rnxkr.jpg
http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/t384/bryanharris85/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsnexj6qgz.jpg
http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/t384/bryanharris85/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb2abgsog.jpg