My YTC Giant!

[rosscrazyelk]

Awesome buck. After what everyone is saying either get it this year there or don.t even bother..

[OneHorn]

Thats a great buck. congrates on such a trophy. had you seen that deer priar to the season?

[hard hunter]

Great buck! Congradulations!

[bowhunterforever]

Whopper buck,Congrats!

[Track-er]

Great job knocking that one down.That for sure is a wall hanger.

                      Mike

[runniNgunnin]

nice buck man! there was a fire out there yesturday when i was going to my inlaws in moxee to pick up the motorhome??  hopefully doesnt push any animals to fare

[C-Money]

Super buck! Great job, buck of a life time!

[WVT]

very nice buck and congrats on the stalk. would love to hear the whole story on this one. this buck looks like he would score really well to me with very few deductions, 185 gross?? trophy for anyone and anywhere!!

[NWBrute]

Awesome buck, congrats on your success 

[KwackWacker]

Well.....for those that have asked here's the story...........

Spent 15hr days behind the glass....when I went to sleep at night all I saw was sage. Very few deer seen, tons of miles of shale road. Flat tires and testing out the skid pate was'nt uncommon. Every morning was harder to get up the the promise of shining white antlers fresh out of velvet in the sage was enought to keep me going. Finally the area my dad (my favorite hunting partner) and I wanted to hunt was open. Did'nt sleep the night before. Got to the creek we knew the deer would be on just before light. At 5:45am it was light enough for my 15/60 swarovskis to pick up the group of bucks in the cheat grass. "I got em" I said to my dad, as soon as I saw them it was obvious that this buck was far better than anything we had seen in all the hours of behind the glass. Even in the dim light my heart skipped a couple beats. There was 5 other bucks with him ranging from 100" to 160"..he made them look small. We watched the bucks for 4 hours from the truck. They moved about 1.5 miles up a large basin where the began rubbing their horns in some buckbrush in a rockslide. Finally they disapeared. The stalk was on. Enitially we thought they had bedded down. We had waited for the thermals to come up off the river means there was no prevailing wind and we went for em. Unfortunatley the draw was deeper than we thought an still at 10am 80degrees they up feeding and we bumped them lightly. They trotted off into a bigger draw. As they did that a couple of dirtbags slamed on their breaks down below and turned of into an old jeeptrail grown over with elephant grass and proceeded to climb the hill right torwards us and the now spooked deer. Luckily they drove right past the deer...out there when the deer hear a rig they lay down. After the truck left we started to glass hoping to catch a shine in the thick sage we predicted the deer being in, sure enought this time dad spotted the monster's white horns sticking up in the sage.....oh what a sight that was!! We determined he was facing away from us ...we had the wind right but we were 500yrds above him on a 1000' above him elevation wise. Dead quiet, and nothing but dry bunch grass and open hillside between me and the deer of my lifetime. My heart starts to race as I type this just thinking about it again! No more boots now....2 layer of socks put on and once again the two of us were on the stalk...surley we could never get within that 60yrd mark!.......I told myself each step was a yard closer..each step I just knew the buck would hear. We would stop every 20yrds...it was deathly quiet, the horse fly that was buzzing me sounded like a apache helicopter, and at the time in a wierd way it seemed like the deer would hear the fly!.....Each time we would stop we would range him 130yrds.......100yrds my heart beated faster with each gain. I could'nt look at those big white horns that got closer with every step...I kept my eyes to the ground frantically searching for a soft dirt spot or a rock to step on instead of that dry grass that sounded like ripping a piece of paper when you steped on it...each louder step I cringed just knowing those horns would whip around and the buck of my life would be gone........80yrds now we were so close 92 degrees sweat in my eyes and my bow felt as if it would slip from my hands...could'nt swallow, cottonmouth. 68yrds now he was in range..."lets get a little closer" around 10 more steps and a flock of ravens fly over and you know what they do when they see something below them...they started sqwacking......the buck knew something was up then surley they could'nt see him something was behind him...I saw his antlers moving around quickly..he was going to get up!!....I kneeled down, already had an arrow knocked since 68yrds...my my release!!! My hands were shaking sooo bad I could'nt get it on the loop!! It seemed like minutes but was only a couple seconts...I drew as he stood...dad ranged him over my shoulder..."52!" he said....down hill shot, sage on his heart, 52.......all flew through my mind with speed......all the hours of practice everynight in those summer evenings all came down to this....before I even knew I was aiming the arrow was gone....white fletching in light grass...my arrown disappeared and for a millasecont it was like I had missed and then thwack!!! a hole apperead in the bucks vitals....he ran 80 yrds and fell within sight.....and all 4 other bucks were running too!!! They had been laying in a old washout 5' from the ground surface how we did'nt spook them!!!!....He was dead we screamed and yelled and shook hands....and as we celebrated a tear came to my eyes a emotion I had never felt before....the buck of a lifetime was dead...and I killed him with a bow w/ 400" of blaze orange on and 40 miles from home!!!!

What a hunt,
Craig Mitchell

[jackelope]

awesome write-up, Craig. congrats on a deer of a lifetime.

[GoldTip]

Damn fine deer right there.  Congrats on an awesome animal!

[jdb]

toad for sure!

[270Shooter]

Damn I didn't think you could write like that!

[Buckmark]

That was one of the best write ups on here..