PathfinderJR's 2013 Buck-Best Mulie Yet

[Pathfinder101]

The 2013 Deer Season was not going picture perfect for PathfinderJR.  First, he missed opening day due to a Cross Country Meet out of town.  That shouldn’t have been a big deal, except that after I killed my buck at 8:15 I had seen several of the bucks we had scouted this summer on the hike back to the truck.  I photographed them carefully, making sure not to spook them out of the country so that I could bring JR back in the next morning for a chance at them. 
The next day we were sitting at our vantage point (the same one I had spotted my buck from the day before) 30 minutes before first light, hopes high and all available glass ready for the first gray glow in the east.  As the landscape began to appear, we started spotting deer.  Finally, around 7:30 we located a shooter 3x3 and began our stalk.  15 minutes later as we began to crest the knob that would put us in range we heard a shot and the unmistakable sound of a bullet striking flesh.  We stood and walked over the hill, meeting a young couple who were looking for “our” deer.  The young woman had taken her first deer and was so thrilled that it makes it impossible to be upset.  After helping  find her deer we congratulated her, wished them well and parted ways to continue our hunt.  The joys of hunting public land, right?
At that point, it seemed like every antlered deer in the county had disappeared into a cave.  We spent the rest of the day hiking, glassing, hiking, glassing…nothing but lots of does and a couple of fork horns.  By the time we collapsed into the pickup truck at dark we had walked over 9 miles. 
The next morning JR woke up with some kind of stomach bug that had him throwing up, causing him to miss two days of school and a Cross Country Meet.  Between catching up on schoolwork, sports, being sick in bed, and my schedule as the high school rifle coach there was no other opportunity to hunt again until Saturday morning.
Yesterday found us up at 4:00am, hiking by 5:00 and in place by 6:30.  Unfortunately, nothing was going our way.  The wind was wrong.  Normally blowing in the morning in a north-to-south pattern, for some reason it decided to blow the opposite direction, making our usual vantage point useless for stalking.  We only spotted one herd at first light; all does.  As the sun climbed we left our position and tried to figure out a way to put the wind to our advantage, but by now it was swirling and unpredictable.  As we hiked, we checked every draw, every brush patch, tumbleweed hole and hiding spot that I could think of.  Does, does, does… by 11am we had seen nearly 40 of them, and only 1 small buck that was too far away to see if he had a 3rd point, but disappeared on us when we tried to get closer for a look.  By 11:30 we were back at the truck, looking at the maps for another place to try.  Then I remembered the barn.  Next to the public land we had been hunting, we had gained permission on a private piece.  We rarely hunted it because, being in wheat stubble was rarely productive.  But, there was the old barn.  Just a patch that covered about 2 acres with an old hay barn in the middle of it and a small brushy draw that ran up a few hundred yards behind it.  The owner had told me to check the barn from time to time because he had seen deer bedding down in the tall tumbleweeds around it.  I figured it was worth a try, so we hiked over to it.  As we approached the barn I swung my binos through the small draw and spotted a deer’s face.  JR and I crept slowly uphill towards it and set up about 200 yards away to get a closer look.  The face belonged to a small buck, but he was staring straight ahead and I couldn’t see if he had a 3rd point.  He was bedded and looking in our direction, but didn’t seem alarmed so we decided to belly crawl closer.  At 150 yards we stopped to glass again and I saw something dark off about 50 yards to his right.  As I tried to determine what it was, I saw a glint in the sun to it’s left.  Focusing in on the spot I could see antlers sticking out of the brush.  Then, the antlers disappeared.  The form on the right turned out to be a bedded 3x3, a nice deer, probably 20 inches wide.  Justin found him in his scope, but I told him to hold off and wait for the “antlers” to stand up.  I knew I hadn’t imagined them.  As I looked at the 2 visible deer on the hillside the 3rd deer, laying between them was bedded in brush less than 2 feet tall, but was completely invisible to me, even though I knew exactly where he was.  Something occurred to me; that buck was laying with his chin on the ground so we couldn’t see his antlers.   I have only seen a buck do that one other time, while scouting in the summer.  But that was definitely what he was doing. 
After a few minutes, the deer (seeing us both prone in full view now) started to fidget.  JR got ready on his scope as the small buck on the left stood.  Then the 3x3 got up and started to leave.  “Wait for the middle buck” I whispered.  Suddenly he was there, from completely hidden to on his feet and spinning to leave in less than a second.  Luckily JR was ready for him and the 168 gr Berger caught him through the left shoulder as he spun to leave.  The deer kicked out and ran 50 yards to the left with the other bucks as JR cycled another round and found him in the scope.  Just as I told him to hit him again, the buck reared up on his hind legs on the steep hill and tipped over, somersaulting down the hill 3 times before coming to a stop and laying still.  As he lay there, the sun glinting off his antlers JR got a look for the first time at how big the deer actually was.  He sprung up and whooped, hugging me (I don’t get that a lot from my teenager..).

Great deer (his best mulie yet), great shot, great hunt.  Despite the less than stellar beginning, it may be a while before he tops his 2013 season.

[stringer]

Doesn't get any better, does it?  And then to get a hug, to boot!  Great story, well done pics,  to your son and yourself!!

[Prime Time]

Nice buck and story..good work!

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats to him on a great buck

[Hunterman]

That is one great buck   

He's going to have a hard time bettering that dude Congrats

Hunterman(Tony)

[X-Force]

good looking deer. congrats.

[Timberstalker]

Awesome buck. Great job on JR sticking it out. Man that's a dandy buck.

[BIGMIKE]

That is a great Buck! Justin is growing to be a great outdoorsman like his Dad. Congrats Mark, well deserved trophy.

[hogsniper]

Great buck JR.    Those are the memories that will never be forgotten!

[blackveltbowhunter]

Awesome Deer! Congratz!

[bowhunterforever]

Dandy buck,congrats

[Birdguy]

Great buck, even better for Jr. It just gets tougher and tougher to beat a buck like that! What a great bunch of pictures and memories.

[hunting4sanity]

That was a great story and photos, congrats to your son on a tremendous buck!
I was also encouraged to hear of a high school with a rifle team in Washington.  I wish my kids' school had that as an option.  I've never seen a school shooting team, what does a rifle team do?

[Rooster1981]

Holly smokes, great buck. Congrats to your son.

[MLBowhunting]

Very nice work guys.  Your one proud dad I'm sure