Ok, many of you have probably seen the picture of my daughter Ashley and her first buck that Yelp posted recently on his Year of the Monkey thread; but I gotta tell the story. Been busy since the day after she got it moving my folks from the wet side to the dry side, so here goes. I have taken my daughter hunting over Veterans Day weekend for the last several years in NE WA. She hunts and I spot for her as I hunt the muzleloader season each year. We see the same hunters at late deer camp every year and she likes to hunt in the snow. We hunted for 2 1/2 days in unit 108 and had a blast, seeing 2 bucks that were a little too quick for her to get a shot at. A buddy of mine who lives in 121 called on Nov 13th and asked if Ashley had gotten a deer yet. When I told him no, he told me to get her outta school and come up for a day as he was seeing a few legals around. We left out home at 0 dark thirty and headed north. Ashley has put her time in over the last few years and shot some does but hadn't got a buck after some chances on good muleys and whitetails. Last year her ability to spot deer in the brush, get her rifle on a deer quickly and her shooting had all greatly improved. So we get to my buddys place just after daylight and he says you're late, a nice buck was just here and headed south across the hayfield and into the edge of the timber. The 3 of us spent the next hour glassing the area as there were many does and some small bucks around. Then I looked up on the hill and saw a nice buck at about 250 yards out looking down on us but intent on some does below him. My buddy Scott figured that he would come down a nearby draw so we snuck around, got her a rest on a woodpile and waited. A few minutes later here he came following a doe. I told her to stay on him and wait till he got into a flat at the bottom of the draw. The buck turned broadside and walked along a line of bush. She wanted to shoot but I told her to wait until he went through the next opening because the bullet wouldn't make it through the brush. He hurried through the second opening following the doe. So I said wait till he comes through the opening way over to the left and I will try to stop him. I bleated at him when he came through and he slowly turned his head in our direction. I said shoot him right now Ash! Boom!! The buck kicked and ran into a thick patch of brush just above where he stood. At first she said she thought she missed but then thought the shot was good. We waited for several minutes as other deer in the area went back to feeding and milling around. She was real excited as we walked up and and found blood on a small patch of snow. I told her she had hit him good. We looked up in the brush and found the deer about 30 yards away stone dead. 170 yards right through the engine with the 260 rem and 140 gr Accubond. A great hunt and a great first buck for my daughter! Thanks to our friend Scott and thanks for the monkey mojo Dale. We'll miss you old buddy!
