My first Idaho mule deer hunt

[HunterofWA]

Hey guys! Here’s the story for my first Idaho mule deer hunt. Enjoy!

Day 5/7

Monday morning Colt and I hunted up a canyon behind our campsite. Marlin said his buddies have always shot nice bucks up there. I thought I was up for it. It was a beast of a hike. We hiked our way steadily but also glassing as we went. I saw two moose just at sunrise. The clouds looked amazing.

We split up and hunted the left and right of the ridge we were on. We saw 4 does between the two of us. We heard and saw a massive bull elk across the canyon 1000+ yards away.

We finally were able to get a radio signal and Marlin touched base with us. He had seen a 6x? buck at dawn. Much to our surprise he said we weren’t in far enough. So we hiked another 3 miles in. We were 7 miles into the absolute middle of nowhere. The wind was insane. If I didn’t have my pack on, I would have blown off the mountain. It was cold too. Even though it was a blue bird day.

We split up to hunt the basin. Colt went further in and I stayed on the upwind side. He was watching the canyon over. I put on every single layer I had and I was still a little chilled. I managed to find a cleft in the rock to break the wind. Although, I couldn’t see to the right anymore. Closer to sunset, I decided to take my binos and scramble up the rock a ways to check the right side. I immediately saw something was off and checked with my binos. Sure enough it was a buck. He had me pinned. I dropped down and slid back to my pack to grab my rifle. Instead of going back up to the top I slid down and ninja climbed with one hand up the other side where I was out of view. I got up in a prone position and ranged him at 233 yards with a -21 degree drop in elevation. I quickly adjusted the app on my phone to account for the drop and it told me to hold 2.6 MOA at 200 yards. I decided to go with 3 MOA. The wind was super strong but I figured I was close enough it wouldn’t affect the shot. I got situated and flipped the safety off. He hadn’t moved, which was good, although he was directly facing me. I knew he could spook at any second. A forehead shot has no margin for error but I knew I could do it. I had to. I moved the cross hairs up exactly 3 lines, took a breath, and let it out. I squeezed the trigger. The sound of the shot was lost to the wind and I instinctively reloaded a round into the chamber as I frantically tried to get him back in the scope. He disappeared and then a second later I saw him move his head on the ground. He’d dropped in hjs tracks. Afraid I may have just wounded him I sent another round down range. He expired.

I let out a whoop that Colt heard from 800 yards away.

I packed up my things and hiked down the hill. I entered the woods slighting above where I’d shot him thinking I was at the right spot. A sinking feeling of despair set in as I thought he’d gotten away. I checked further down after recalibrating my location based on the rock outcropping I shot from.

I looked up and there he lay 10 feet from me in the sage brush. A nice 3x3 with an eye guard. The shot was perfect. It went directly in his nose and I found it in a hind quarter. The opposite of a Texas heart shot. The rest of the guys didn’t think a shot like that was possible.

Colt joined me and helped field dress it. We took a little over half of it back to camp. We did around 13 miles today. I got the rest of it myself the next day.

All in all, I’m stoked. Super grateful to have been invited on this hunt and to enjoy some new parts of God’s creation!

[JakeLand]

Good job man !! Great buck

[redi]

Congratulations

[Taco280AI]

Nice buck, congrats

[bigmacc]

Absolutely a great buck!!!! Good job👍

[dvolmer]

Way to get it done!!!  Congrats on a great buck!!!

[pashok23]

Nice job dude

[Ironhead]

Good looking buck, congrats!

[NOCK NOCK]

Congrats!

Curious question about the bullet path, entered the nose, found in hind end. Did it exit the head, then re-enter?

I did a Texas heart shot years ago with my bow. Missed the bullseye by 1/2", wicked damage internally, broadhead ended up somewhere in the very frontal body cavity, looked like a blender had been inside him.

[hunter399]

Congrats 👏
Heck of a shot.👍

[DeerThug]

The frontal nose shot is highly lethal. A little low gets the white patch - a little high brain.  Left or right not much room for error. 

Nice buck....

[blackveltbowhunter]

Great buck and good shooting!

[HunterofWA]

Congrats!

Curious question about the bullet path, entered the nose, found in hind end. Did it exit the head, then re-enter?

I did a Texas heart shot years ago with my bow. Missed the bullseye by 1/2", wicked damage internally, broadhead ended up somewhere in the very frontal body cavity, looked like a blender had been inside him.

Thanks! It seems to have gone all the way through, but my second shot could have been the bullet I found in the hind quarter. Not entirely sure since I did the gutless method. The neck was really shot up.

That texas heart shot sounds crazy!

[HunterofWA]

The frontal nose shot is highly lethal. A little low gets the white patch - a little high brain.  Left or right not much room for error. 

Nice buck....

Made me feel like a sniper. I shoot a Tikka T3X .308 which I've practiced with quite a bit this summer. I have never been a super good shot but I somehow can do alright on animals.

Thanks for the kind words guys! I've really appreciated all the info & inspiration from this forum. My goal one day is to be as good as hunters as all of you 

[OutHouse]

What a shot!! Happy for you