To start off, It's been a long time since I have harvested a deer. I've spent the last few seasons hunting with some good friends and have enjoyed all the experiences completely. Last year, two of my buddies drew Wynoochie Doe tags and both failed to connect. The year before last, I had a Skooumchuck doe tag and failed to harvest. In short, there was a lot of wonder in my mind as to when was I ever going to see a legal buck. Yesterday was the day....
Yeah, we were up in the Vail tee farm. It's not too far from home and I can get in and out in the same day. I've found a zone that I see very little traffic and the area seems to hold lots of deer. This year our go to zone is being logged so we had to move to a secondary zone. Opening morning we found our way to this spot and it had 2 does with 3 yearlings going around and around in this valley. At the top we could suit and watch for a long time with the wind in our face and the deer never knew we were there. Watched the same 5 deer again last Sunday for a couple hours. They were chasing each other then feeding, then chasing some more, til they finally walked off into the tree line.
Yesterday we headed to the same spot. Lo and behold, the same 5 deer were there. We sat up on the rim of the valley in 2 different vantage spots.They were peacefully feeding for a while, then all came together in the middle of the valley floor and began their chasing around again. 2 big does and 3 yearlings just going round and round. Next thing we knew, there was another large bodied deer into the picture. This one started chasing things around too. I thought I saw horns but wasn't sure. I looked over the herd and saw the 2 does, the 3 little ones and a 6th head. Then the 6th deer started making noise. I can't say that I've heard bucks grunt before, but this guy was really vocal. At least 3 long loud grunts. Then I saw the antlers. Looked like at least 2 points and I thought possibly 1 more. Down with the binos and up with the scope. It took me a minute to pick him up with the scope but son I had him. Ranged it at 208. Waited for him to turn the right way, then he did. Let one fly..Hit him. He walked off a little ways and laid down. We sat and watched him for 30 minutes and he was still moving his head and tail. After about 40 minutes, he tried to get up, but only went a few yards and laid back down. A couple minutes later, he tried to get up again. He was only about 15 yards to the wood line, so I dropped him with one more to the neck. Shooting a Ruger .270 and Remington 130gr. corelockt.
It was a lot steeper and uneven once we headed down the edge. From the top, it looked really smooth on the floor but it wasn't. Eventually we drug him across the bottom, and and made it about 1/4 of the way up before we couldn't make any more progress. I went back up to the truck and got the rope and tackle. After a series of stump pulls, we finally made it up to the road. Shot him at 9AM, and made it to the road at 4:15PM
Not the biggest deer, but we earned it for sure. Got it all processed last night as well, in bed by 2AM.
Here's a couple pics...
Where he stopped:
