Wilsons Buck of a lifetime

[wilsongideon]

Well this is a tough story I had a tough time thinking about what I can and cannot write about. I have to leave a couple details out because I do not want to give away any leading information as there is a few that know generally where this deer was and Id rather not lead everyone to it.  Here is the incomplete hunting story of the easiest mountain hunt I almost didn't do.

I usually live for deer season but this year I was exhausted by the end of summer and was planning on skipping it this year. I was overbooked with work, not enough time with the family, hadn't scouted hardly at all, and when I had time to scout I hadn't seen anything but bears. Nothing had sparked excitement and to top it off I rolled my ankle badly so I was really limited with my physical exercise. My buddy asked if I was going 5 days before the hunt and I said ok lets give it a go. I fought a head cold all week leading up to hunting season, but I got my gear together and we headed off to the mountains to set up camp.

Opening morning I woke up just sick and I almost told my buddy I was sleeping in because I felt nasty. But I got up cleared my head and we got going.
We had laid out a tentative plan the night before and so we had a pretty easy hike in the dark to our first spot we were going to check out. Its a pretty good vantage point on a rock knob to watch animals from and I had watched bucks from it before. More then that is was a easy starting spot to the day which figured to be a long day of hiking and glassing.

We sat down about 10 minutes before good glassing light. First thing I had to do was clear my head though, hiking had broken it free and I tried snivveling a few times but I was miserable. I rolled out a white flag of TP surrender and blew my nose for a good minute. My buddy wouldnt even look at me. I was laughing at myself as I was pretty sure I had blown the immedieate area of deer and I made my buddy mad.

Apparently it was a effective deer snort because a spike buck came out in the open less then 50 yards away and looked around before feeding down and away from us. About 25 minutes into the day I spotted 2 basket racked 3 points feeding about 800 yards away. A group of does appeared beyond them another 2-3 hundred yards further. I value the spotting scope for quickly identifying bucks and does and if there is anything worth pursuing. Suddenly I heard thunking of hooves on logs and cracking in the woods, I have never scrambled so fast in my life then when I seen this huge frame of buck trot out into a clearing about 300 yards in front of me. I dropped my binoculars, I had to get my spotting scope out of the way, I had to get my gun in my hands, I also had to get my range finder out of my pocket so I could get a range. I was shaking with excitement and there was a small cluster of trees slightly obscuring the buck so I couldnt get a good read on him. He starting walking towards us and I kept losing him in the range finder. My buddy stayed on him though and when the buck cleared the last thicket of bruch and trees I ranged him at 250 yards. I knew he was a good buck and I sure didnt want to miss him at 250 yards and so I took my time taking my shot breathing is key. I was shooting downhill and off my bipod sitting down. He was coming up the rocky knob and was completly exposed and had know idea what hit him. The first shot went though and he ran uphill towards us about 50 yards and bedded down. I shot him again and he lunged off a small rock edge and piled up on a the edge of a 10 foot drop. I couldnt believe my eyes when I put the binos back on him. he had grown stickers! I had only seen him breifly in the binos and though some trees. I had seen the mass, width, and frame of the buck but I never seen the cheaters on him. WHAT A BUCK!!!!

Needless to say I never felt so lucky in my life then while I was skinning that buck out. We laughed about how I almost didnt go, behing the worst kind of hunter blowing my nose first thing in the morning, and scrambling around when I seen the shooter buck. We took lots of pictures first and I got some awesome ones that I cannot post because of backgrounds. It really was an incredible animal. The heaviest of any deer I have cut up. We boned him up and my buddy took a big chuck of the meat while I took some of the meat and the head and cape. we had a little bit of a climb to pack out and I had a pretty heavy pack with my gear so we made it easier on our bodys and carried our gear out first and then the deer. I wieghed the packs when we got home and my buddy hauled out 50 lbs of meat on his pack. My pack was 80 lbs meat, cape, and head.

I hope I never second guess myself again when hunting season rolls around. I almost didnt go and even when I went I did not have expectations of seeing a buck of this calibar. I just got lucky! I love hunting in the mountains and wilderness areas and even though this wasnt the hardest hunt I have been on I am pretty proud that this was a remote mountain deer killed at 6500 ft. plus. I was over 5 miles from pavement and in the middle of public land. The big bucks do exist in washington but I always thought my best chance would be a late season draw tag.

Well thats my story. The hunt does not do perfect justice for a animal of this quality but I will say this, I couldn't have got him by staying home so I am just thankful I went. I have the buck at a taxidermist and have to wait 9 more months to see it again. I stretched a tape on the beast and I think it will be better then 185. It has a 26 inch inside spread and the outside measures at 36 inches. I will get it proffesionally scored at some point but for now I am just giddy that I exceeded my own expectations for a big mule deer all scoring aside.
I am going to attach some pictures to this thread but I did manipulate them to remove any indentifying backgrounds that I felt were leading. I seriously butchered the pictures which pretty much ruins them for viewing but I wanted to share as much as I feel I can. I wish I would have taken at least a couple without the background for the internet but the terrain didnt allow as we literally were on a big drop.We didnt move the deer off the rock as it was nice and clean area for boning him. I appreciate the input and views on this forum and have drawn some quiet knowledge from here in the past so I thought I would share this buck.

[wilsongideon]

My favorite little girl. She loves venison and puts the pressure on me to bring her home some.

[Gringo31]

Buck of a Lifetime is Right!


Congrats on a BEAUTY!   

[pianoman9701]

Thanks for the story and the pic. Massive!

[Woodchuck]

  That's an awesome deer. Congrats. 

[TrailTreker85]

  WOW WHAT A MASHER

[Romulus1297]

Absolutely perfect 

[wilsongideon]

I took out the back ground

[wilsongideon]

packing

[wilsongideon]

as hey lays

[Rainier10]

 

[Bronson]

Great buck!  Thanks for sharing what you could.

[wilsongideon]

the ground liked it to

[h20hunter]

  Stud.

[wilsongideon]

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