First Late Archery Buck

[Bigfoot]

It's not my first buck by any means, but other than maybe one small blackie, It's definitely my first late archery mule deer buck.  I'll try to keep the story short.

So I haven't killed a deer with my bow since 2004 and actually haven't really even archery hunted for deer since then. I have purchased archery deer tags a few times since then, but anyone that knows me, knows that if elk season is open and I haven't filled my archery elk tag, I could care less about deer and thus 2004 was the last time I "actually" pursued deer with my bow.  Well for the past couple years a good friend of mine has been telling me how much fun he and his hunting party have during the general late mule deer season, so this year I decided to make a point and take time off for deer season.  So on November 20, I leave eastern Montana (I was hunting there) and start driving westbound.  The roads were horrible and much of the distance was covered at a top speed of 45 mph, so needless to say about 20 hours later I arrive at deer camp in north central Washington.  I was hoping that the weather would be a bit more mild compared to what I had just endured in MT but it was like I never left.  Colder than a witches.....well you know.   

Opening day was spent driving around and trying to figure out which land was public and which was private since this was a new area even for my hunting partners.  They had decided we would try this area because they heard there was barely any people that hunted it.  Well whomever they received that information from was WRONG.  There were people everywhere, however it wasn't hard to get away from everyone.  That first day we saw a few bucks here and there but most of them were on private land with no hunting access.  The second day I picked a spot that looked promising and decided to hike to the top of this mountain and spend the day up there.  On my way up I saw boot tracks from the day prior.  The farther up I got, the more boot tracks I saw and by the time I finally reached the top, I saw a hat, then a face coming over the top from the other side.  He looked at me, I looked at him, he threw his hands in the air and turned and walked away.  I imagine he had the same thoughts I did.  Anyways that hunt was ruined for the both of us and all I saw that day was a few does and a small 3x3 with a broken leg that I contemplated taking just to end his suffering, but ended up choosing not to.  I did however flag down the first vehicle full of hunters and told them exactly where they could find the injured buck if they were interested.  They said they were going to go look for him, so hopefully they connected.  That night the weather report called for 20-40 mph winds for most of the next morning.  It was already cold without the wind and we figured arrow flight would be worthless, so we decided to sleep in the next morning.  We went into town and ran a few errands (I bought gloves and a stocking hat) and then around noon, started meandering back to camp.  I did a lot of glassing from my pickup on the way back and only spotted a couple whitetail does.  I arrived at camp and decided to glass the hillside directly across from us.  I threw up my trusty Zen-Rays and within a mere few seconds, spotted something.  At first I thought, what on earth is that angus steer doing waaaay up there?  Then it moved and I had a holy crap moment when I realized it was a deer.  Now from about 1 1/2 miles away, I could not see any antlers but knew by the enormous body size that it had to be a buck.  I watched for about another minute as walked into an aspen patch and disappeared.  I spent the next hour waiting for him to show himself again, but to no avail.  I knew it was a buck but wanted to get a better look at him because I was unsure if it was a mule deer or whitetail, for I had spotted does of both species within 20 yards of where the buck had disappeared.  I would gladly shoot either species, but whitetail did not open until the following day.  Finally I decided I would just hike to where I had last seen the buck and figure it out the old fashioned way.  So off I went.  I worked my way up the hill and finally got out of the open ground and into some cover.  I immediately busted a couple whitetail does that insisted on blowing and stamping their feet for 15 minutes while I stood motionless in the snow and 7 degree weather.  My feet felt like solid blocks of ice and I was getting pretty uncomfortable so I finally decided that I'd had enough and didn't care if the does scared every other deer out of the country, but I wasn't standing there any longer.  I took off walking and the does ran through the next draw and brought out a couple more whitey does with them and started feeding, uphill, right where I wanted to go.  Stupid whitetails anyways.  Well after jumping several more does, I finally made it to where I'd seen the buck.  I slowly started poking around and glassing every little nook and crannie I could find and finally found the buck.  I counted points and he was a tall, narrow 3x3 with decent mass and dark horns.  I decided he was good enough for me.  He was downhill from where I had seen him and in a spot that made it impossible for me to get any closer to him.  He had one doe with him, a little bitty spike and all those stupid whitetail does were standing there too.  There were a lot of eyes, ears and noses against me.  I dropped back into the draw behind me and worked my way to the top of the knob where I had originally seen the buck.  I figured I would just get above the buck and wait until he came back up the hill.  Once I was directly above the buck, I slowly worked my way down the rolling slope, peeking over until I could just barely see the deer again.  I figured I was probably going to have to wait until just before dark before the deer would start moving back up, when all of a sudden they all whipped their heads around and started looking behind them, which was to my right.  It didn't take them long to start moving, and here they came.  The whitetail does went right back to where I jumped them all from and the mule deer started coming straight up the hill just as I had hoped.  I nocked an arrow and grabbed my range-finder.  I figured I would have to stop the buck once he got close enough, get a quick range and hopefully get a shot.  I watched as the spike was walking straight up the hill to me, but the 3-point and the doe were no where to be found.  I started to panic and was frantically searching for the 3-point because this spike was getting dangerously close and I didn't want him to bust me.  I knew the 3-point and doe would not still be standing in the bottom and thought maybe they were skirting the knob I was on just out of sight.  I took about 3 steps to my right and saw antlers just over the hill.  As the buck's head started to appear, I drew my bow.  He then came into full view, walking up the hill perfectly broadside at about 20 yards.  The buck then stops and turns, facing me, and looks back down the hill toward whatever had just spooked him.  I settled my top pin on the lower throat patch and squeezed the trigger.  The 560 grain arrow flew true, met it's mark and completely disappeared.  The buck bolted downhill, stopped a mere 50 yards away and fell over like an old-growth.  My 165 grain 2-blade Simmon's Land Shark had done it's job flawlessly and I was a happy hunter! 

Ok, so I guess that wasn't exactly a short story.

[Bigshooter]

Is that the first buck you have killed in washington with a bow since that nice 4x4 mulie?

[Bigfoot]

If you're talking about the 23" 4x4 I killed in SE WA in 2004, then yes.

[Bigshooter]

That's the one.

[Bigshooter]

By the way I still love 3pts that are forked in the back.  

[HardCorpsHuntr]

OK, we know you can do some killin', now how about hunting down a girlfriend to quell those rumors
 
Nice looking buck!  No call?

[Bigfoot]

OK, we know you can do some killin', now how about hunting down a girlfriend to quell those rumors
 
Nice looking buck!  No call?

I don't have much time during big game season to chase the two-legged critters.  We were actually hunting about 3 hours north of where you are.

[Pathfinder101]

Very nice!  Congratulations!

[MLBowhunting]

Great buck nothing like hunting deer in the snow

[Skyvalhunter]

Intresting

[D-Rock425]

Nice deer

[ser300wsm]

Congrats to you... Thanks for sharing.... 

[ThunderChicken66]

Congrats on your first late season bow kill.  Good story and nice buck!

[lilswab]

Nice "short story"  I love the details. Great job.  It sounds like you used the terrain and patience perfectly.  Great job.  Taking a good buck with all those eyes is a great accomplishment.  Thanks for sharing.

[Jeffrey]

Thanks for sharing your story.  Great looking buck!