First day of late buck started out sh**y. I've been workin in Portland on a job as a carpenter. Been out of work lately.
Boss ran into some electrical problems tuesday. Sent everyone home, said he would call everyone with an update for restarting work. No phone call wed.I called this mornin. Everyone but me is at work.
Went in, collected my tools, got my time sheet signed, adios.
Wife comes home from work, ready to go huntin.
Alright I'll go. Better than stewin.
Took off for the Yacolt burn area. Us and 300 others.
Wife forgot her license. Back to the house.
I need coffee now. Another stop and off we go , again.
Got to the area. Cruisin up the mtn, passin road hunters.
We head for an area where we saw deer during elk season, of course.
I find the intersection we need, left turn. Deer here we come.
Hmm, not the road I was lookin for.
Well we will go up and check some clear cuts up high. Wind startin to blow, snow startin to fall. Back down we go.
To get to the right road, we either go down to Chelatchie prairie and back up the other side, or, go back the way we came in and go farther east. So back the way we came in, wins the vote.
Get back on the main line, pull over and let the road hunter pass
Off we go.
Wife says hold on. There is a doe laying down up on that hill. I get out to take a look, walk onto the dirt bank. I scan with the eyes, nothin there.
Now she is next to me and say's, " by that double fir tree." Still nuthin.
I start glassing and come eye to eye with a big white face and roman nose. I focus and see the curl of the main beams next to his ears.
I tell her , that's a buck, shoot it.
I hear the safety on the 30-30 click, the buck is stoic, not moving. Then boom.
Hmm, plugging at least 1 ear would have been a good idea. I was staring at the buck.
The buck disappears. So we get my gear and proceed up to the top of the hill where the buck was standing. I step around the double tree and the buck is on his nose.
He starts to move his head, so I tell her to shoot him in the neck. Boom. Deal is sealed.
Her first buck.
Her first shot hit him under the left eye and exited out his neck. I wanted to recover the slug, to see the performance of the Hornady Leverevolution bullet, well it performed just fine.
We get him dressed out and drag him down to the truck.
All the road hunters driving by, stopped and admired her buck and shook her hand.She got to tell the story to all. She swears it weighs 180lbs, but , well, I'll just let her be with that.
She say's, okay let's go find your buck.
So off we go. We see a deer cross the road about 100 yrds up and go into the trees. I stop and get out and walk into the trees. I see him, a spike feeding under a tree. Just as I click off the safety, he moves on down the hill. As I circle the trees, I click the safety off again and he heard me. I took a shot as he starts to leave, but missed. I tracked him to the watershed, but he was high tailin it out of dodge. Oh well.
Just got home and got her buck skinned and quartered. A little aging in my cold a** garage.
Tomorrow, I get to try for my buck, again.
