Thank you all!
I was really struggling. Thursday morning we posted up on a clear cut where we had seen a nice buck and some does before. I spotted the does and then a real nice buck just standing, looking down the hill straight on to us, a little higher up on the hill then where we had seen him in the past. They were across a bowl from us, about 315 yards. I got him in my cross hairs and a-l-m-o-s-t took the shot, but it was a little further than I wanted, and straight on too. I think I could have done it, but I decided to wait and let him work his way down hill and hopefully get him broadside. So he started moving through some small timber and cam out to a little clearing. I got him in my crosshairs and then all of a sudden- Boom! A shot rings out from an area that I can't see and he's down. Someone else shot him. I learned a lot right there, but I was very very down and upset.
After having the WA raffle ticket last year and hunting so hard , seeing literally hundreds of does and only 2 or 3 bucks the entire season, and not getting anything I was really struggling. My poor husband was being so encouraging, but I was ready to quit. He got a spike on Friday, the thing just ran out in front of him and he dropped it. I was happy for him, but it kind of made me feel like it was never gonna happen with me... I just don't have luck that way.
So Saturday when the alarm went off, I said I just wasn't up for it, I needed to sleep. Got up later and he gave me ( another) pep talk and we decided we would head out to the woods, if only just to watch the wildlife, and maybe get a chance at a coyote or something.
Got to a spot and it was super windy, he put a line of doe pee out and we sat and watched for a couple hours to see if something would come from downwind. Nothing.
Then we decided to explore an area that might be out of the wind, so we headed there. It was like being on a mountain, the wind was whipping so hard. But as we side tracked a hill, we bumped a doe bedded out of the wind, in a little valley below us. So we posted up and glassed. After a while I look to my right and coming up the valley is a set of horns! Came from the direction of the doe pee that Hubby had put out. ( Not sure if he had come into the doe pee, or to the doe that we had bumped that had just popped over a hill and bedded down again.) I say " Buck" to my husband, but no sound comes out, but I am already grabbing my gun and getting it on the tripod. I get set up and he's headed up toward us at a steady pace. I ask my husband to bark at him , he waits until the perfect moment and barks. Well he said he did , but I didn't hear it I must have been so focused that I didn't hear it. All I saw was the buck stopped, I looked at the spot and I squeeze off a shot. He hunkered up but takes another couple steps. So boom, one more to seal the deal and he's down!
We headed down to where he was and my husband sees him first. He starts going Oh my god over and over , he was so excited ! He had no idea he was a 4x3! I knew he had a bunch of points that was all.
So we celebrated with a bunch of hugs and high fives, then got to work. Unlike the spike, this guy wouldn't fit on the pack frame. So we put a rope around his horns and like a team of horses drag him back to the rig about 2 1/2 miles . We had to stop many times, but it was do-able, but definitely a work out.
It was an awesome experience, and I am really glad I was persistent ( even though it is more my nature to say oh eff it and give up) we are not trophy hunters, and I would have been happy with any deer as my first, but it does make it sweeter to have gotten such a nice buck. We definitely earned it, and worked our butts off.
So that's the story!
