Colorado 3rd Season Buck

[Ironhead]

I drew a tag for a 3rd season Deer hunt in Colorado this year. I switched up units after never catching up with the point creep in the Gunnison Basin. I was told it was a tough unit to hunt as it was very thick with Spruce and Quakies up high, Oak Brush, Choke Cherries and Pine at the mid elevations and Pinion and Juniper in the lower elevations. Fairly flat for the high elevations, mostly mesas that were very hard to glass. If you found a spot to glass it was so thick you really couldn't see into the vegetation. Elk just got swallowed up and disappeared. Mule deer seemed non existent. I started at the bottom end of the unit at 5,400 feet and worked my way up until I found the elevation the Deer were at, which was between 7,500 and 9,500 feet and was 65 miles away from where I started.
I got to the unit on Nov. 9th and the season opened on the 13th and closed on the 19th. I brought a smaller tent with me so I could be mobile if need be. I moved camp 4 times in 6 days. I saw some great Bucks on private land down low but they were not leaving the private at all. I moved up to the P & J country and found a couple of Bucks but not what I was looking for. I moved all the way up to the top end of the unit and started seeing some Doe's in the Quakie and Spruce flats. Still not much for Rutting Bucks'. I decide to move down into the Oak and Choke Cherries. On my way down I saw a nice looking shaded hillside and thought I saw something. I brought my Binos up and there was a spike Bull. This was 2000 yards away. Below him I saw a  Doe, out came the big scope and there were 6 Doe's and 50 yards to the right an antler tip and front fork of a bedded Buck, at that distance it was hard to get a really good look through the 60 degree heat waves. It looked like a 3 point with some very tall G2's, but it seemed narrow the way he was turned. Then I heard a couple ATV's coming down the road and stop next to me. First people I have seen off the pavement in 3 days and they stop to talk while I am trying to determine if this is a shooter buck or not. Nice folks (Deer Hunters) asking lots of questions but I am a little pre occupied with the thoughts of a possible big Buck in my spotting scope. 30 minutes later they head down the hill. I get back on the Scope, and yep he moved out of the sun and disappeared in the Oak Brush. I moved my camp into an area I could glass the shaded hillside from and quite a bit of other country as well. I was right on the end of a mesa and had a great 300 degree view. One of the best glassing spots I had found and I could camp there too. The buck was only 700 yards from where I was camped. The season opened the next morning. I didnt want to go over glass the Shaded hillside that night as I wanted to give that area some time to calm down. I glassed down into a big brushy flat that evening hoping the Buck would be somewhere on the hillside behind camp the next morning. I saw a few more Doe's that evening but no Bucks.
Opening morning, I got set up in the dark and waited for first light. With the hillside starting to light up I could see several big yellow animals that I knew were the color of Elk on the hill. I glassed from 6:50 AM until 1:30 PM picking every inch of that hill apart and never saw a Deer. I saw a 6x7 Bull and a big wide 5x5 Bull with a giant Spike Bull that helped keep me at least alert but I wouldn't say focused on the shaded hillside. I had glassed a lot of country in the last 4 days and was not seeing the Bucks I had hoped for. That evening I set up to glass and finally found another Buck in the Oak jungle but in a different drainage. He was a 4x6 with eye guards but fairly narrow. Not big enough but fun to watch for the evening and brought my confidence back up to where i thought to my self, maybe you do know what you are doing, but probably not.
Day 2, Same spot in the morning. Same Bulls on the shaded hillside, but there are some Doe's below them and also the Buck from 2 days earlier. I looked him over for 45 minutes. Great width, very long tines but, just a 3 point with eye guards. Beautiful healthy white faced mature Buck. I couldn't pull the trigger. I went over his measurements in my mind and thought he might make 170" as a 3 point. Possibly the biggest 3 point I had ever seen. I felt like the Rut was starting to kick and I wanted to see what else might turn up.
I made the decision to pass him up, thinking he had a hot Doe and would stay in the area. He actually had 9 Doe's with him, that he was very partial too. I glassed again that evening and found 2 Bucks pushing a single Doe. a 25" 4 point and smaller 3x4. I guessed the 4 point in the low 160's. Things were starting to turn around. The Rut was on.
Day 3, I hiked in the dark 4 miles in to a different mesa and glassed from Daylight until 3:00 PM in the afternoon. I saw 13 Doe's and 3 more Bucks. 2 of the Bucks were solid but still the typical 24" 4 points I see all the time. I know if I  shoot one of those my 15 year Colorado quest will be over and I shot a Buck I could shoot at home during the regular season. I decide I need to go back and look for the 3 point. I hoofed it as fast as I could back to my glassing spot behind camp and settle in behind the glass. Nothing, they are no where in sight. 20 minutes before dark I think , maybe they are out on the flat heading for water? I move over to the edge of the mesa and look down, there are 9 Doe's  and one big 3 point making their way across the flat. I look at him in the scope Rutting Doe's and watch him walking away, walking to me, walking left and right and think, why in the hell did I not shoot this Buck earlier when I had him much closer. He is huge. I would shoot him just about in any unit any where. That's when I got shaky, I was as calm as could be until l I decided he was the one, and I was going to shoot him. 15 years of anticipation was built up in me and I was a mess all of a sudden. Like a kid shooting his first Buck. I had killed bigger bucks, but for some reason I was really spun up over this shot. He was way out there a lot further than I like to shoot at an animal and 1,200 foot below me. I felt like they may be moving down the mountain and I didn't know If I could find him again. I settled in for the shot, breathed in and out 4 million times at least and gently squeezed the trigger. Boom, the shot rings out and I watch as hair flies off the top of his back. He didnt even flinch. I jack a round out and another in.  I range him again, check to see if I am dialed in to the correct yardage, find him in the scope again at 22 power, breathe in and out 4 million more times settle the cross hairs behind his shoulder and gently take up the slack in the trigger. Boom, he folds up and doesn't twitch. Yes, I start jumping around
and smiling from ear to ear. I better get my bearings, ( when your scope is turned up that high its really hard to see the surroundings. I could see one bush and the buck in my scope and that was it.) Now I had to decide how to get to him and find him in the dark. It would be pitch dark in 10 minutes. I gather all my gear together and b-line it down to where I thought he fell. Nothing for 3 hours with a headlamp. Did he get up as I hiked down there. I saw his 9 Doe's leave the flat and he was not with them. Was I too far or too close? So many different thoughts run through your head. Some terrible, some great. I decided I needed to wait for daylight and see if I was even looking in the right area.
Day 4, I didn't sleep a lot during the night but I scored the Buck several times while laying on my cot and still thought he was a 170" 3 point. After getting up I went out where I had laid down for the shot the evening before. I glassed with my big spotter and couldn't see a buck laying there. I hiked down and lasered back to where I shot from and I was searching to close the night before so I moved out another 100 yards and started searching again. There he is, a tank of a body laying in the wide open. How did I not find him the night before. What a feeling of relief. I finally got my hands on him and relived the previous days events. What a great Buck. I believe he is the biggest 3 point I have personally ever seen. White faced and in his prime. I wouldn't have it any other way. Sorry about the spelling and punctuation.

[Ridgerunner]

Incredible 3 point.  WOW!!! 

[ganghis]

Heck of a buck!  Thanks for taking us along

[Mtnwalker]

Sweet buck! A giant 3 is wayyy up there on my bucket list! 

[OutHouse]

Impressive 3 for sure. Post some more angles Ironhead!!

[Ironhead]

Impressive 3 for sure. Post some more angles Ironhead!!

I will see what I have, but there are not alot I was solo.

[teanawayslayer]

Holy smokes! I love those big threes! Congrats

[ShaneTyTrey]

Awesome buck, who wouldn't want one masher 3 in their collection.

[phildobaggins]

Love a big 3, congrats 

[bobcat]

Great story, thanks, and congratulations on a very nice looking buck.

[lewy]

Great buck! What did he end up going?

[mburrows]

Heck of buck! Congrats! It amazes me how the sage brush can hide a dead deer in the dark. Same thing with my WA whitetail last year. I swear I could smell him but never did find him the night I shot him. The next day walk in with my dog on a leash and we must have walked within feet of the deer as he was laying right there.

[Ironhead]

Great buck! What did he end up going?

He is going to end up 173 6/8" Gross.

[Ironhead]

Here is what I saw the first time I saw him. The white spot 10' left of the tree at 2000 yards.

[Dan-o]

Wow!!!!!!!!!



And wow!!!!!!!!!