Turkey Day Archery Buck

[Rainier10]

Pretty brutal year hunting in Swakane.  Tons of does, not many bucks.  Got this guy on Thanksgiving day, he was the biggest deer I had seen to that point.  Didn't realize he was broke off on the right side until I got up on him. Things got a little better the last few days of the season, but only saw two bucks bigger than this one.

I was way down in a hole when I got him, last photo is where he piled up.  I drug him out of that mess, up onto the rock landing for photos.  Not a very big flat spot to work but it was the best I could find.  Set the camera on timer for the one with me in it., I was shocked out how well it worked out.

Skinned, caped and quartered him with out gutting him, then took all the meat off of the bone for the pack out.  First time I have done the gutless thing and it really worked great by myself.  I remembered the tenderloins about halfway up the hill but wasn't going back for those. Couple of my buddies got to me before I was done and helped get the rest of the meat off of the quarters and with the pack out.  My Bullpac packboard is a real dream for hauling.

I am just doing a Euro mount with the skull and antlers. I take the capes to my taxidermist so he can use them for people who damage theirs on the drag out or cut them short.  He gives me credit for the cape if it is in good shape and the type he is looking for.

The orange safety panel on my pack from Orange Aglow works great to keep you visible from the back so if we are on different ridges I turn my back to my partner so he can see where I am at.  As I am approaching animals I am still camouflaged.

We put the tape to him in camp and he would have scored better without the broken off point.

What are some of the guesses on score?  These are the only photos that I have of him but I think it should give you decent idea of what he was.

I will post what we came up with tomorrow evening.

[2MANY]

Bet the Bull Pac scored 100%.

[Timberstalker]

Dandy buck.

I see a 150" buck, without the broken G4.

[Widgeondeke]

Congrats on the buck     
bet that pack out hurt the next day

[Muleyslyr]

Nice work Rainier! I spent four days up there by myself the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'd say you did good up there.

[Mark251]

Beautiful buck 

[jae]

Great Buck, Congratulations!

[Rainier10]

Thanks guys, the bull pac was worth it's weight in gold for the photos and the pack out.  By myself it was hard to get the deer positioned for the field photos, the pack worked great to prop the head up until I could get into position.

I turned the head into the taxidermist already.  I will try to find my notes from camp to show you the dimensions that we used to come up with the gross and net score.

Looks like Timberstalker will be the closest and farthest away if he is the only one going to venture a guess.

For reference I am 5'9" and 175 pounds.

[cbond3318]

Sweet buck! Good job on getting it done! 

[kirkl]

NIce buck. 147 without missing point.

[Watimberghost]

Great buck Rainier! Looks like a solid mature buck. Well earned

[DOUBLELUNG]

I'll go 150 gross with the broken tine, and 131 net.

[cmiller85]

I'd say 144" net w/ missing G4.

132" net as is.

Nice looking deer!   

[jstone]

Great Job in a tough year

[BLDtraLR]

Nice buck   congrats

[blackveltbowhunter]

  i thought I recognized you from somewhere! Glad to see it worked out for you and great meeting Ya on the mountain! Congrats on a fabulous buck.

[Rainier10]

Thanks again guys, i was super happy with him, it was a tough year for sure.  Here is what we came up with around the campfire.

Main beams were equal at 17 4/8, G1 L 1 2/8 R 1 7/8, G2 L 9 1/8 R 12, G3 L 8 R 8 2/8, G4 L 7 R 1 1/8, H1 L 3 5/8 R 4 4/8, H2 L 3 3/8 R 3 2/8, H3 R 3 2/8 L 3 6/8, H4 L 3 3/8 R 3 3/8, inside spread is 15 4/8.  Gross 127 5/8, net 116 4/8.

I thought he was bigger but the tape doesn't lie.  I thought we may have screwed it up somehow but I have a 160" and a 150" deer at home on the wall and when I brought the head in and compared it to the other deer on the wall it was significantly smaller.  It was  really nice deer and there was no way I was passing up a shot on this guy.  Super happy to have him down and going in my freezer and on my wall.

[Taco280AI]

Nice buck... good way to spend TDay too

[MuleDeerCrazy]

Nice job... congrats!  Good looking pack, we got lots of blood on our Bull Pacs this year too!

[Timberstalker]

Thanks again guys, i was super happy with him, it was a tough year for sure.  Here is what we came up with around the campfire.

Main beams were equal at 17 4/8, G1 L 1 2/8 R 1 7/8, G2 L 9 1/8 R 12, G3 L 8 R 8 2/8, G4 L 7 R 1 1/8, H1 L 3 5/8 R 4 4/8, H2 L 3 3/8 R 3 2/8, H3 R 3 2/8 L 3 6/8, H4 L 3 3/8 R 3 3/8, inside spread is 15 4/8.  Gross 127 5/8, net 116 4/8.

I thought he was bigger but the tape doesn't lie.  I thought we may have screwed it up somehow but I have a 160" and a 150" deer at home on the wall and when I brought the head in and compared it to the other deer on the wall it was significantly smaller.  It was  really nice deer and there was no way I was passing up a shot on this guy.  Super happy to have him down and going in my freezer and on my wall.

Wow!  That's a super deceiving picture.  At the end of the day, who cares if he is 120" or 150."  You killed a damn respectable mule deer, with a bow.  Congrats again Rainier.

[Rainier10]

Thanks, I think the third photo is the one that really gives the size away, the right ear is straight out and the antlers are way inside of that.

I was thinking most would guess 140-150.  In reality it is a 130" plus buck without the broken tine.  It doesn't take much to get to 140-150 from there, 1 1/2"- 2" longer on each of the points and a little more mass adds 10", that is tough for most to judge quickly on the hoof.

I had 50 minutes of working my way in from 200 yards to 65 giving me a chance to really look him over.  I knew if I could get there I wasn't passing him up.  There was a wider buck tending a doe but he had really small forks, like 3"-4" tines, bigger deer, wouldn't score as high and he was another 40 yards beyond the one I shot.  I wasn't going to try to get by this one to get to the other, "bird in the hand" kind of thing.

It was a great season that ended with a great buck in the freezer.

Thanks for all the kind words and to those of you that took a guess at the score, hopefully it sheds a little light on how deceiving some of these bucks can look.  They can look great, not score well but still be a trophy to me, really anything with a bow is.

Good luck out there guys, I still have an elk tag to fill.