Opening day 7x8 mulie

[timberghost72]

Well here is my opening day 7x8 (including eye guards) public land Mule deer. By far the biggest I have seen let alone shoot.  Opening morning started off at about 6:30 when I got out of my Jeep.  I decided to hunt a gated road that I was familiar with since I was hunting alone and usually have a partner to go with. 15 minutes into the hunt I spotted a white tail doe. Sweet I saw deer already (last year I didn’t see one buck all season).  That got me woke up and excited. On both sides of the skid road there was an old clear cut so after seeing the whitetail I just sat for a little while waiting to see if a buck would show up. After a while I started walking up this road looking ahead where it climbs up sharply. I noticed a large black stump on the left side of a power pole about 350 yards away earlier and at this time I noticed that the stump was now on the right side of the pole.  I got my nocks up and saw it moving slowly in and out of view. When it came into view it turned broad side and holy crap it’s a bear. A huge one at that.  Now I am shaking and can’t even see it with the nocks. I put my rifle up and that wasn’t going to happen. Shaking too much and also a little far with a small window of shooting lane I decide to get closer and try to get a shot off. Well after 20-30 minutes the bear kept eluding me behind a small rise. Then it moved down into some thick brush and didn’t come back out.  Being alone and not comfortable chasing it I decide to continue on. After several hours of nothing I headed back to camp.
Back at camp I tell my morning hunt story so my hunting partner (Black Ram) and I decide to try and find that bear on the afternoon hunt. It was big and I really wanted it. We go back up into the same area and got up to where I saw it. We cut left and side hilled it to where we had a big area to watch over. I picked a spot and my buddy went about 50 yards away up higher and over a little rise.  We sat for about 45-50 minutes with nothing going on. I stand up and then notice 3 people cutting across the clear cut below me from the right and 1 person from the left. I make myself visible so they see me and move on. They did. I take my rifle off my shoulder and am standing there looking down to the clear cut and all of a sudden hear a ton of crashing noise. I spin around to look and hear my buddies gunshot go off.  Right at that time this huge bruiser comes barreling over the hillside and is in mid air jumping over a log pile heading right at me at about 40 yards. HOLY CRAP! Is all I say. I raised my rifle and as soon as the buck landed he split to my right and he was moving.  After he changes directions I put my scope on him and fired a shot at about 30 yards. All I saw in my scope was red after the shot and it looked a little too far back. Crap I gut shot him. I rack another round in and get ready to fire and this guy piled up no farther than 25 yards from where I hit him. Buck down. We get up to him and he twitched once and was done. 
From hearing the crashing above me to when the buck was down was no more than 7-10 seconds at best. I have never gone through something like that before and was pumped up. My buddies shot had missed (lucky for me) and mine went in the right side bottom of rib cage and out the left shoulder.

[CedarPants]

That thing is a beast!!!  Congrats!!

[pianoman9701]

What a freakin' monster. My god! Congratulations.

[DWP]

Nice buck!

[PolarBear]

Wow!  Awesome buck, congratultions!!

[Jason]

WOW..Very nice!

[GUscottie]

Nice Buck!

[nw_bowhunter]

Wow, nice buck. Congrats

[NWBREW]

Damn....that's a nice one. congrats.

[timberghost72]

Questions for the Taxidermists on here. I skinned him out Sat night tubed him from the mid section. It has been in the 20's to low 30's at night and 40's in the day in the shade. How long to get him in for mounting. PM me if you want as I only have one taxi that was recomended and he isn't on this site (I don't think, I will ask when I talk to him) so I am still looking for someone to mount him. This one is very special to me and not just because of the size (although that is a huge bonus).

Also I have been told to get him scored. How do I do that? Who can do that in the Everett area?

Thanks

A very excited hunter 


Edit... Talked to the taxidermist that was recomended to me by my buddy. He sounds like a great guy and am uber excited.

[Wazzu]

 

 

[Bobcat4Life]

Nicely done!!!

[NWBREW]

Take it to Charlie.....you will not be disappointed with the quality of his work. On this site, bucklucky.

[WAcoyotehunter]

That's a dandy!!!  Nice job!

[rgalanti21]

That buck is a monster! Congrats!