Two Whidbey Island Deer One Story

[Gamehunter034]

So this year my buddy and I tried hunting some private property that we had permission for in Goldendale for Mule deer, hunted 4 days and didn't have much luck. We had fun and made memories so the trip was not a complete waste, we came back knowing we weren't done yet and had time to hunt blacktails. My buddy has some family connections to property on Whidbey so we knew where we would be, I managed last minute to take time off Friday and get today off as well to hunt. We both got off work and hit the ferry, it was about 445 by the time we each got to the properties we were gonna. I knew there was a big 3x3 on the property I was sitting and he had a nice 3x3 and 5x5 on the property he was on. At about 625 I had the 3x3 in my sights being the island its archery or shotgun or crossbow for modern season so I had my shotgun in hand with 3 inch 00buck, the 3x3 caught a glimpse of me and began to move quickly away from me and in a split second I pulled my gun up and he moved faster I took a shot!! Unsure of my 1st shot  I took a second shot and thought I hit him forsure. Being completely dark now and not 100% positive on my shot I backed out and went to were my buddy was. Needless to say I was sick to my stomach so many things running thru my head, did I wound him? Did I miss him? Everything you can think of ran through my mind, I woke up this morning to my buddy saying he was headed out to hit his spot again, Long story short This bad boy showed up and my buddy laid the smack down on him!! His biggest blacktail buck to date and he's been hunting for 25+yrs, the crazy thing is this was not the big one he was hoping to get but it sure is a dandy.

We headed back to the other property with his deer for two reasons, to look and see if I made a good shot or not and hopefully recover another nice buck as well as to gut and skin his deer. We scoured the property could not find a single hint of blood went in and out of thick brush, through muck and brambles sweat and damn near tears and to no avail!! We finally concluded that If I hit him with any of the shot it was not enough to do significant if any at all damage to him. We got to work on his deer,gut, skin, clean and were just getting ready to leave when out of the corner of my eye I saw a deer at the bottom of the "driveway" that leads to an open field, I ducked and ran for my gun which I still had against my tailgate at this point I didn't care if it was a doe, spike or forked buck I wanted to tag out after all meat is meat, due to his gun having a scope and mine not I went ahead and used his 20g with a slug, I proned out looking down the hillside and realized it was in fact a spike, he turned completely broadside and I laid the smack down right in the boiler room, we watched him run about 50 yards and cut into trees and brush and heard a crash!!

I cant be happier with my second deer ever, last year I shot a doe on the same property. I cant thank this guy enough for the opportunity to hunt on the land that he could solely keep to himself and family but he has included me and treated me like I am family. It was an awesome day and one I will never forget as long as I live. I am super thankful to be able to provide meat for my family another yr and share this day with a great friend and hunting partner. Hopefully next year I will actually put a shot on that 3x3...only time will tell!!!  Hope you enjoy the pics!!


My buddies deer


My spike

[patton1]

Congrats guys! What area of the island?

[Gamehunter034]

My spike was near deer lake and my buddies was over in bush point area. Great times!!


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[patton1]

I fish down at Bush Point. I've seen some nice deer next to the roads down there. I hunt in the Coupeville area and around Greenbank. I'm in CA right now for some military duty. I'll make it back for the last 2 weeks of late archery. I hope I can just bag something. I always like seeing other people have some luck on the island.

P.S. I don't know how hooked you are on buckshot but I've seen numerous lost deer with it over the years by other hunters. If you are using a shotgun, slugs are the way to go in my opinion. Just a little food for thought. Again, congrats to you both.

[lokidog]

Congratulations.  I was going to comment something similar to Patton regarding buckshot.  Drop some slugs in that gun, modern rifled slugs are generally good to 100 yards or more, especially with good optics.  Plus, when you hit one, you know you've hit one (usually anyways    ). 

[Jrod79]

Congrats to both of you! 

[O. hemionus]

Congratulations.  I was going to comment something similar to Patton regarding buckshot.  Drop some slugs in that gun, modern rifled slugs are generally good to 100 yards or more, especially with good optics.  Plus, when you hit one, you know you've hit one (usually anyways    ). 

I know everyone has their own opinion about buckshot, but for what it's worth, I shot a coyote in Stanwood three times with 00 buck (twice at 20 yds and once at 2 yds) and never did find the thing. Won't be using buckshot ever again, which gives me justification for buying a slug barrel for my gun (factory barrel apparently is not meant for slugs...). Especially wouldn't try it on a deer after that coyote experience. Just my  But nice Whidbey bucks! Congrats!

[Gamehunter034]

Thanks guys!! Yea I will definitely be using slugs next yr, last yr I shot my doe with 00buck @ 20 yards and it did the job, still cant believe I missed the 3x3 but thats hunting I guess. Looking forward to next year though as we secured about 75 acres of private never hunted land on the island with lots of deer according to the owner!!! 

[wingsandwilds]

Congrats on a couple of nice Bucks! 

[Widgeondeke]

Congrats on 2 nice bucks and good eats

[Dmulcahy]

Nice island deer! I live a couple miles from deer lake and have some big bucks on my trail cams.  My brother notched his tag yesterday on big 2pt. I told him to wait for one of the many bigger bucks but I quess he got the fever 

[hillbilli]

Nice deer, glad you got to fill your tag. As to the Slug/Buckshot thing- Buckshot will kill deer, no question about it. The problem when it comes to Buck is that it is pattern dependent and not real conducive to good blood trails. How many folks can at a glance tell the difference between 40yds and 47yds? or 35 and 45?As an experienced bowhunter I cant always- but even that little difference -especially at the outer limits like that of the buckshots effective range- can be the diference between a good killing pattern- and a few pellets hitting. buck is .33 or even .36 (ooo) round lead balls.. unless its real close range you usually wont see an exit. Slugs almost always exit, and usually leave big holes.. and a well aimed slug is just as deadly at 35 as at 55..

[lokidog]

Nice deer, glad you got to fill your tag. As to the Slug/Buckshot thing- Buckshot will kill deer, no question about it. The problem when it comes to Buck is that it is pattern dependent and not real conducive to good blood trails. How many folks can at a glance tell the difference between 40yds and 47yds? or 35 and 45?As an experienced bowhunter I cant always- but even that little difference -especially at the outer limits like that of the buckshots effective range- can be the diference between a good killing pattern- and a few pellets hitting. buck is .33 or even .36 (ooo) round lead balls.. unless its real close range you usually wont see an exit. Slugs almost always exit, and usually leave big holes.. and a well aimed slug is just as deadly at 35 as at 55..

Or 75, and 100 with good optics....

[irishevox]

wow when i hunt on whidbey i never have that kind of luck

[Ripper]

Good job guy's, nice deer.