Blacktail Down and Rutting Hard

[Tree Farmer]

I have a little spot near my house that holds quite a few deer that I like to hunt. Last night I got home from work with about 30 minutes of light remaining. I jumped on my four wheeler, rode into my spot and hiked into the little opening where deer frequently cross. It was almost dark and I was getting ready to leave when a deer came quickly walking into the far end of the opening. He had his nose on the ground and was cruzing. I could see horns naked eye from about 130 yards. It’s only about 50 feet across this opening so by the time I get my gun up he was almost gone. I grunted to try and stop him. He immediately stopped. Did a 180 and tried to identify where the grunt came from. I was able to get one shot through the boiler room with my 20 gauge Remington 870. I live in the Battle Ground Unit firearms restriction. He spun around about three times and hit the ground.

I have trail cam pics from this summer and fall of a great 4x4 that I will include. This was the buck I was looking for. The buck I killed I have not seen nor do I have any pics. Because we have so many does I wonder if the rut brought him into this spot from another area. His neck was swollen, he was cruzing with his nose on the ground, and he stunk to high Heaven.

He had to have weighed 230 lbs. It took my 19 year old daughter, her boyfriend any myself about 3 hours to drag him out. By the time we had him hanging in the shop and cleaned up it was well over midnight. It has been a tough year. My 46 year old wife spent 61 days in the ICU at the begging of the year. We almost lost her. COVID and other things haven't helped. Our Lord works in mysterious ways and is always watching over us. I truly believe this was His work and I shed a tear during my prayer of thanks.

[Fl0und3rz]

Whoa!  Nice blacktail.  Congrats.  And glad to hear that things are looking up.

[h20hunter]

Stud!

[Boss .300 winmag]

Nicely done.👍

[bornhunter]

Wow! What a buck. Congrats on that big boy.

[trophyhunt]

You killed a great deer!!!! 

[Tree Farmer]

Thanks. if anyone knows how to rotate the top pic please do so.

[WapitiTalk1]

Pig!  Congrats, really nice BT.

[OutHouse]

 Very nice! Anyone else think that buck's left antler looks like a whitetail antler?

[Tree Farmer]

It sure does. I thought it was kind of strange.

[highside74]

What in the world? Holy moly!

[Fatherof5]

Awesome buck! Congratulations!!!!

[jowings22]

  Congrats on a great buck!

[BLDtraLR]

 

[blackveltbowhunter]

Great deer!! Congrats!