Opening day Methow buck

[7mmfan]

Once again our area produced a nice buck on the opener. My Dad and nephew were sitting in the saddle where Dad killed his big buck last year, and I took secondary position at the head of another canyon about 3/4 a of a mile away. About 9 am, 3 deer came charging down the mountain, clearly pushed by another hunter. The biggest buck in the lead, past me at about 25 feet. I pulled up and swung on him but my dang scope was dialed all the way to 9! All I could see was a brown blur. My next move was effective, but I'm not proud of it. I forced the shot on the animal quartering away from me. The bullet entered the ham, knicked the stomach and hammered the liver. It was effective and the deer went down almost immediately. One more to the neck finished him. I felt terrible about the shot placement, and am still kicking myself over it, but at least it had the right ending and the deer is not off dying in a dark hole somewhere.

It was a long pack out, about 3 miles across some rough ground back to camp. Two loads = a long day and sore legs. I got my nephew in on the second round and had him try to pack on to see what it was all about. He sported it well, but not for long 

This buck's widest inside spread was 26".

I met a great guy, Luke, and his party. They were kind enough to help me move this buck to a flat spot where I could quarter him and prepare him for packing out, and took a few pictures for me. If you're out there, thanks for your help, I appreciated it!

This buck has very similar features to my Dad's buck from last year, I feel they share a lot of the same genetics.

Here's a few more just for fun. Camp, and the nephew packing meat 

[wheels]

awesome buck

[muleyslayer]

Congratulations! Beautiful buck!

[Turner89]

Very nice buck     I guess you want be up in the basin this year?

[pashok23]

Congrats.Great buck

[runningboard]

Congratulations on a nice buck 

[bowhunterforever]

Nice buck Congrats

[Smokepole]

Nice buck.  Great story! 

[boneaddict]

Nice Methow buck.  Congrats

[jasnt]

Nice Methow buck.  Congrats

[Pathfinder101]

That's a great buck.  Congrats

[coachcw]

well done sir !nice buck

[MADMAX]

Nice buck and I think I may know the Luke your refering to
PM me

[chucker]

Beast of a buck... 

[7mmfan]

Hey Turner89 I won't be up there    I was hoping to get my nephew up there towards the end of the season but we'll be over filling cow tags most likely. Hope you nail another big Halloween buck up there this year though!