Chewuch Quality Buck Tag

[7mmfan]

I'll get something posted up this afternoon at some point. It was a great hunt. Here is a teaser to tide you over.

[X-Force]

 

[Ridgerunner]

I see a cheater, way to go!

[elkrack]

Nice looking forward to the story 

[mkcj]

      

[bigmacc]

I bet the rut is really starting to heat up in 218. Get after it!

I’ll add to the teaser and respond to the above…..  Yes they are AND OH YES HE DID!

[jstone]

Nice picture

[elkoholic1]

 

[7mmfan]

So I left on Thursday afternoon to head to camp. Of course North Cascades closed the day before, so I had to drive from Marysville over Hwy 2 and around. Not the end of the world, but definitely adds time and miles to the trip. I met up with bigmacc and his brother on my way through they were kind enough to share some of their history in the area and locations that they thought would be worth spending some time in (and they were very right!). It was a real pleasure spending time looking through their photo albums and drinking their beer. I owe them big time.

Because of the fires, many of the auxiliary roads off the mains were closed. Much of the area was scorched, but within those zones was lots of unburned ground. It was clear from the general season that enforcement was lax, and an unofficial word from a officer was that they just didn’t want people driving in. So we planned on walking. And walk we did, a lot of it.
Moving on, I pulled into camp at about 7:30 and it was raining/snowing. A few times it really rained throughout the night. However, up where we were hunting, it was snowing. When we left the truck Friday morning, there was about 2” of fresh snow on the ground and it was cold. It was also foggy here and there, which would be a theme for the day. The first spot we stopped we spotted deer up in the head of a gully about 600 yards from us. Then the fog rolled in. I figured there were more deer than we could see so we made a loop on the road that would put us on a  landing a couple hundred yards from where they were. When we got there, there were no deer to be found. We dropped into the timber and bumped a couple out, but the bulk had moved on. We found their tracks and followed them into an old burned canyon full of 10’ tall pine trees. Knowing we would never see them in there, we pulled out and carried on checking the rest of the area.

Around 2:00 we were passing the point we had initially seen the deer from that morning, and I pulled up my binos to take a look. My eyes immediately landed on a pine sapling being jerked this way and that in a violent manner. There was no wind, so it was obvious what was going on. I set up the spotter and a few minutes later a NICE 4 point stepped into the open. He was definitely worth getting a closer look at. At this point, the fog rolled in, so we used it as cover to move up the canyon on an old spur and got setup where we thought we would be 200 yards away or so. When the fog cleared I found all the does, but couldn’t find the buck. After about 10 minutes or so, the closest doe, approximately 100 yards away, must have got a faint whiff of us, as she threw her nose up, snorted and starting walking off up the draw. Well big boy was laying the trees just out of sight from us, and he stood up to follow her. I got a great look at him. Not quite ear width, equally tall, big fronts, weak backs, good mass. Man he was beautiful with a super dark chocolate coat and dark antlers. My Dad was quietly wringing his hands behind me when I told him I wasn’t going to shoot him. It was day one, and I had a lot more deer to see.

Over the next few days, we had ups and downs. The weather went from cold, to super snowy, to super warm and windy, and back to cold. We were seeing an average of 5-8 bucks a day with 1 or 2 of them being nice bucks. I was having a lot of fun looking at deer and Dad was finally coming around to the idea of looking at lots of bucks while trying to find “the one”. We got to experience watching big bucks chase does, and the pecking order of little bucks hanging close. It was really a unique experience that I wish we all got to do with a gun in our hands more often here.

Tuesday morning woke cold and relatively still. We had had nasty weather the day and night before, so I thought the deer would be out in force that morning so we started early and walked about 4 miles into a canyon we had been seeing the most deer in. We eased around the corner right at first light and immediately spotted a doe. Then another, and another, then suddenly the hillside was alive with deer. There were 15+ does and 4 bucks on the hillside. The smaller bucks were doing a fair amount of running, but the obvious big buck on the hill was tending a couple does and not leaving their sides. With the naked eye, he was significantly bigger bodied than any of the other deer on the hillside. He stood out like a sore thumb. My Dad got him in the binos first and said, “Rory, I think you should take a close look at this one. He is a DANG nice buck.” We set up the spotter and I located him. He was walking away up a steep hillside and his width and mass were obvious. The 4” kicker off his right side was also obvious. I was getting excited. He then turned and I saw his enormous fronts. His backs were weak comparatively but knew immediately that I would be a fool to not shoot this deer.
The problem was, he was 500 yards away across the canyon, and between him and I was 500 yards of 8” deep s
uper crusty frozen snow. This was legitimately as close as I was getting. I had practiced at this distance, but said I would never shoot at an animal at that distance. But here I was with the largest buck I’d ever had the opportunity to shoot at. The conditions were good, no wind, and I had a great spot to set up. So I dialed the scope up, dry fired several times, and got comfortable with it and then told Dad to get on the spotter, I was sending one. He was standing tall and proud on the rock outcropping, exactly 500 yards away, broadside. When the trigger broke, my site picture was of crosshairs exactly where they were supposed to be. BOOM! Dad says, “Nothing. He’s just standing there.” The deer was clearly not hit, and Dad hadn’t been able to see where the bullet went. Without that bit of information, I opted to not continue shooting. I just wasn’t going to keep throwing bullets across the canyon without any input on where they were going.

Luckily the deer were unphased. A few jumped and scurried around, but within a few seconds everyone was back to feeding like nothing had happened. I decided at that point to do a long stalk and hope to catch them at the ridge top. ¾ mile later, I eased out on the ridgeline just in time to see them go over into the reprod a couple hundred yards below me. I tried to gain a vantage but it was useless. I opted to just backout and wait/hope for them to come back out that afternoon. At 1:45, we rounded the corner back into the basin and there they were, high on the ridge, just feeding away. Big boy was still tending his does, and the other bucks were losing their minds. I immediately started a long stalk. The wind wasn’t right for me to gain the ridge this time, so I was going to have to shoot from the bottom. I found the closest I could get and still see him was 370 yards. I made myself a little shooters nest, and got my gun on my pack and got comfortable, then proceeded to wait. For nearly 40 minutes. He was laying in his bed near the does and all I could see was his head and horns. I could see the big three point laying about 10 yards away as well. I really enjoyed just laying there looking at him. I wished I’d had a big lensed camera to take some photos as he was majestic up there on top of the ridge sky lined.

Finally, I noticed the big 3 pt that was bedded nearby stand up and stretch. I figured things might escalate so I got on the gun and got ready. Sure enough, the 3 pt came up and sniffed at big boys doe, and he did NOT like that. His ears laid back and I could see his hackles raise. He jumped out of his bed and hooked at the buck. The doe scampered down the ridge just a few yards and he came down just enough for me to feel good about shooting. I lined up, took a deep breath and squeeeeeezzzzeeedddd that trigger. BOOM! All I saw was legs in the air and a little movement behind a screen of brush. Buck down! I marked my shooting location, grabbed my stuff and headed that direction. Not 2 minutes after the shot, I was on the spur road immediately below him and the big 3 pt came down with a new 4 point in tow, chasing the doe that had previously belonged to big boy. They wasted no time. They also gave zero you know what’s that I was there, and just stood there looking at me. What an experience.

I climbed up the ridge and as I neared, I heard a weird knocking sound. As I cleared the last pile of rocks, there was my buck piled up against a rock outcropping and a burned log, very much alive. He was floundering around trying to get his feet but could not. I quickly dispatched him with a shot to the neck, now with my elation deflated knowing he’d been laying up there with a broken back for 10 minutes. I felt terrible. However, it get’s weird. Upon closer inspection, the only visible wound was a crease across his back about 2” long. There was no blood, heck the bullet hadn’t even hit meat. When quartering him there was some bruising however, so the only thing I can think of is that the shock of the bullet grazing him was enough to bruise his spinal cord and incapacitate him for a while. His back was not broken. I honestly think that given a little time, he’d have gotten his feet under him again and been back to chasing does.

I honestly feel a little sheepish that my shooting was not better. I haven’t had time to verify my guns zero but I suspect that somehow the scope is high because that shot at 370 was a no brainer. It’s a shot I’m very comfortable making. I’ll have to get out and shoot soon to verify so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Either way, I spent the next few minutes with the buck, just quietly honoring him and his life. He was a magnificent animal and I wish his death had been a little cleaner. The view from where he died was absolutely stunning, and one that I’ll remember. At that point I drug him down to the road just as Dad came up the hill to us. He’d been lucky enough to watch it all unfold in the spotter from several hundred yards away. He told me that in the last couple hundred yards coming up to me, he had nearly been run over twice by bucks chasing does! He was loving it! We had a game cart in the truck, which was 4 miles away, but Dad offered to all night it and walk out to get the cart, and then hoof it back in so we didn’t have to pack that huge SOB out on our backs. I built a fire and got him field dressed. I knew it was cold but didn’t realize how cold until I went to dump my water into his cavity for a rinse, and it was all frozen! I then got to enjoy about 45 minutes next to my fire, while the buck aired out and drank some coffee from my thermos and ate a snack while the moon rose up from the east.

Finally I saw Dad’s head lamp come bobbing around the corner a mile or so away. I met him half way and drug the cart the rest of the way to give him a breather. It was a late night getting back to camp and getting that buck hung. We enjoyed some chili and celebratory pull of scotch next to a roaring campfire. Man, what a hunt. It was one we’ll not soon forget.

[7mmfan]

From the tip of the kicker, to the other side, is just over 30". Can I say that I killed a 30" washington buck now?

[7mmfan]

One more.   

[Mfowl]

Wow! What a dream buck! Congrats! 

[Ridgerunner]

Great buck and a great write up.  Did the tag justice no doubt about it.

[Ironhead]

Great Buck, incredible how big those North end Bucks bodies are.

[7mmfan]

I'll add that I talked with multiple members that gave me good information and encouragement. It was very helpful and truly appreciated. I'm not sure if they want to be called out or not so I'll just say thank you!