Swakane late rifle

[Rainier10]

My wife was lucky enough to draw the multi season deer tag which allowed her to put in for late rifle entiat and swakane this year.

Results came out and she had drawn swakane late rifle November 1-20. She did not get caught up in the WDFW draw debacle so the hunt was set in stone.

Last year she had taken her biggest buck ever, a great 145” mule deer during general rifle season. The goal for this hunt was 150-160” deer.

Of course life always throws you a curve ball and our daughter’s college volleyball playoffs landed right in the middle of this hunt. So did a friends special tag as well as some medical issues with my mother.

It is what it is so we picked a few days that we would be able to hunt. First day was going to be the 9th-10th, then 12th-15th if we could and if needed the best time the 18th-20th.

We get camp all set up on the 8th and head out hunting on the 9th.

First light two minutes into shooting hours there is a nice 4x4 walking in the road following a doe. It’s a nice deer during the any general season, probably a 135-140” buck. Not a care in the world. Follows the doe off the road and stops for an easy 20 yard broadside shot.

Wife says I’m not shooting a deer to shoot a deer and I’ll eat the tag if I don’t find a bigger buck. Good call, you can’t shoot a 150” deer if you are skiing a 135” deer.

We move on driving and glassing all of our regular spots. Seeing a fee does here and there but no bucks.

We get to a spot where we can glass a ton of country but it’s about 3/4 mile from the road. We hike out seeing lots more deer along the way but still no bucks. Maybe we should have taken the chip shot road buck.

We round the corner and I see a doe with a good buck in tow. I single my wife that I see a shooter.  The buck and doe lay down 250 yards from me. I call my friend who is next to my wife, they are about 60 yards below me. He has earbuds for his phone and my phone blue tooth’s to my hearing aids. I ask him to give her one of the hear buds so they can both hear me.

I say it’s her call, pretty good buck, probably 150”. Just as I say that the buck jumps out of his bed like he heard me and rockets over the ridge away from us. WTH?! How did he know she was about to smoke him? Just as quick as he disappeared he reappears chasing a smaller buck. With both bucks in view I can now see this is a 150” deer for sure. My wife says “ready?” My buddy says “It looks like we are shooting” I say what? We are shooting?

I look away from the buck and my wife has the gun up on a log for a rest and is about to squeeze off a round. I guess we aren’t talking about this and I quick move back to the buck who is quartering towards my wife and about 70 yards lower in elevation than her and 231 yards away.  I hear the RBros 300 win mag fire, I see the bullet impact and ripple through the buck like a heat wave as the buck crumbles to the ground. Done.

Well…. Gravity kicks in as the buck slowly at first starts to slide down hill and then starts to roll, hooves antlers hooves antlers and out of sight it goes.

It hangs up in the thick brush before the very bottom.

We send my buddy back to the truck with our binocs and gear we don’t need for the pack out and we head to the deer while we wait for him to return with the bullpacs and game bags.

No ground shrinkage when we approach just a good solid buck that I’m sure we would have regretted not shooting. With our schedule and unpredictable weather this was an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up.

The best part was we were all together, me, my wife and my best friend who is also my wife’s cousin. We have spent a ton of time hunting together and this was another great chapter in a long line of great hunts we have had together.

[Rainier10]

As he lay.

[Rainier10]

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[Rainier10]

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[bigelk1030]

Congrats, great story and awesome buck!

[Rainier10]

KO’d the heart

[storyteller]

Great story, you are very lucky to have a wife that  hunts, and  she is good at it.

[Tbar]

Great buck!  Congrats!

[Rainier10]

Bullpacs at work

[jackelope]

Yaassss!!
He's dead!!

[jrebel]

Great buck…congrats to you and your wife.

[Boss .300 winmag]

That’s a dandy buck.👍

[muleyslayer]

Great buck congratulations

[Wingin it]

Nice buck! Well done.

[mountainman]

That a very fine buck! Good shooting and congratulations!!