Late buck

[jrebel]

Well....I was lucky to connect on a beautiful mule deer this year.  I drew a good but tough tag and knew I had a chance to kill a buck of a lifetime.  I was an emotional wreck as I have never been one to pass a legal buck and I knew to kill a masher I would probably have to pass on many.  I did a ton of preparations and literally scouted the whole summer.  I hiked hundreds of miles and drove hundreds more.

 About 5 weeks before my season started I got an email from a friend.  He owns private property in the GMU I would be hunting and he said he had my deer picked out.  He sent pics and he was right, It was a shooter.  We watched that deer for literally a month and had his habits pinpointed.  Unless something unforeseen happened that buck would be on my wall in approx 12 months. 

Knowing that a lot could happen in a months time I continued my scouting.  I came up with 4 or 5 alternate plans / areas and found a few other decent bucks.  Seemed most of the bucks were migrating and It was hard to keep constant tabs on them.  I was hopefull the buck on the private land would not move. 

Well...opening day came and low and behold the unforeseen happened.  The buck I had scouted was killed by another hunter.  I actually did not find this out till day 2 when another member contacted me to break the bad news.  My heart sank....I was very disappointed, though still happy for the other hunter for killing a great buck. 

On to plan 2, 3 and 4.  over the next 2 1/2 days we (hunting partner and myself), glassed and hiked more miles than I can even start to imagine.  We would spot bucks just to hike literally 4 miles one way and never see them again.  I passed on numerous good bucks that were not what I wanted.  I was getting physically and metally tired

On the morning of day 4 we also noticed my jeep had a water pump leak.  This was the straw that broke the camels back.  I didn't want to get stranded and I didn't want to damage my jeep.  I made sure my fluids were good and I bought three gallons of antifreeze to carry in the jeep (45 dollars at the local gas station).  I knew it had to happen today.  We hunted our butts off and again passed on smaller bucks.  About 4 hours left of light I told my partner, "find me anything bigger than a 2 point and I was going to end it."  I had finally convinced myself it was time to just fill the tag and put meat in the freezer.  I was at an all time low.  I had two more days to hunt and was afraid my jeep would not make it.  I didn't want to eat my tag...I like venison too much.

Our last hike of the night started and about 2 hours into it we spot a 2 point.  It is snowing so fresh tracks are easy to notice. I notice more than just one set of tracks so we start glassing.  Low and behold there is a small 3 point in the group of approx 7 deer.  I tell my buddy I am going to end it.....He is surprised and says it is a really small 3 point.  I tell him to range it and he does.  It is 103 yards.  I take off the safety and level off.  My buddy is looking through the bino's watching the buck.  I am less than 3 seconds away from pulling the trigger when all of a sudden my buddy yells (in a whisper) "DON'T SHOOT, DON'T SHOOT!!!).  I stand down and he says, It is a "MASHER."   I pull up the bino's and see nothing but horns.  He was still coming up the hill.  I knew he was a shooter so I leveled off on him and as soon as he turned broadside dropped the hammer.  All I could see was smoke and deer running everywhere.  My buddy says he acted hit (buckled his front shoulder and mule kicked twice before bolting over the hill). 

With snow on the ground this should be easy.  I hurry and reload, then we walk the 100 yards to point of impact.  I was expecting to see blood everywhere....there was none.  Not a drop, again I am speechless.  We start looking at the tracks and following them for a while and still no blood.  Seriously, my heart is crushed.  I am sick to my stomach, when all of a sudden my buddy whistles at me and points down the hill.  He is acting like he sees the deer.  I quickly take the safety off and sneak to his position...he smiles and says you will not need that and points down the the hill.  There lays the biggest deer I have ever shot.   

My buddy starts the hike back to the jeep so he can get gear.  I make tracks to the deer, all the while I am looking for blood.  This buck never layed a drop of blood on the ground.  As a matter of fact the only blood anywhere on the deer was from his nose.  After seeing where I hit him it all made sense.  He didn't have a pump to pump blood anywhere.  The only reason he made it the 100 yards he did is cause it was straight down hill.  I recovered the bullet and it performed well.  It broke the onside shouder took out the heart and lodged in the offside shoulder.

I sat down next to the deer and literally thanked God and my dad who I am sure is looking down on me.  It is now snowing hard so I get to work and take a few pics, tag and gut the deer.  We were able to use a toboggan and sled the deer out.  We finally made it out and were done at approx. midnight. 

I couldn't be more happy with this deer.  he measures 27" outside spread and the pics really don't do him justice.  I am 6' 265lbs if it helps with perspective. 

Hope you enjoy the story and pics.

[PolarBear]

Nice!  Congratulations!

[huntnphool]

Nice solid buck jreb.

[denali]

Brut  nicely done

[BENCHLEG]

I love it  :yike:awesome buck... Thanks for sharing..

[carpsniperg2]

Good looking buck

[csaaphill]

very nice mule deer.

[Houndhunter]

Nice buck and good story! Always goes to show you need to follow up on a shot. Congrats on a great buck.

[Turner89]

Way to go Jrebel Very nice buck

[skywalker253]

Great buck! Great story! I am SUPER HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!! Hopefully I can experience that someday. Really cool....congrat's!

[bearpaw]

congrats... 

[Sawbuck]

Congrats on a great buck Great job on the write up

[Skyvalhunter]

Congrats on a nice buck. Looks like everything eventually turned out

[Whitetail freak]

Sweet buck, nice

[mp.hunter]

Way to get it done, great buck!