After 7 years I was lucky enough to get drawn for an Entiat Archery tag. Due to some scheduling conflicts, I wasn't going to be able to spend as much time there as I would have liked. I missed the opening day but was able to drive over for the day on Tuesday. I hadn't been in the unit for more than 10 minutes when I saw my first deer. I chased several bucks that day but wasn't able to connect. I drove home Tuesday night but was excited to get back over after Thanksgiving.
I was home for Thanksgiving and decided to leave my house Friday morning at about 3:30. No traffic on the pass was nice and the weather wasn't too bad. I spotted my first buck at about 7:30 Friday morning and gave chase. He was chasing does all over the hillside but I couldn't get any closer then 115 yards. He finally decided he didn't like something and took off. I continued up the road to a place I had been before and wanted to hike. I parked my truck and headed out around 9:00. I hiked up a ridge heading toward a small timber patch. The wind was blowing at a pretty brisk pace and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. As I approached the timber patch, I noticed a few bedded does. I couldn't find the buck but I figured he was there somewhere. After watching the does for quite some time, they finally stood up and walked over the ridge above them. The last deer to go over the ridge was a small 3 point. I slowly slipped over the ridge expecting to see them just over the top. To my surprise, they had gone all the way to the bottom of the ridge. I kept following down the ridge then up the next. As I was slipping down the ridge, I noticed they had picked up another buck. He seemed to be pretty heavy and tall, but I wasn't able to see exactly how big he was.
I continued following the group of deer for a total of 3 hours. During the trip up the ridge, they picked up another 4 point that was decent but nothing huge. At some point, the small 3 point left the group. As we got to the top of the next ridge, they all bedded down. I was able to sneak through the brush and position myself about 105 yards from the bigger of the bucks. I put my bino's on him and noticed he was a big 2 point with eye guards. I was quite impressed by his size and mass. While I was glassing the buck, a doe bedded down just below me and pinned me down for about half an hour. The does all stood up suddenly, which prompted the bucks to get up and start giving chase again. They stayed in a small patch of trees and buck brush for what seemed like forever. I kept trying to get closer to the group but the does kept walking back toward me. They never saw me but seemed to know something was up.
Without warning, the 2 point and 4 point walked away from the does and over the next ridge. I saw this as my opportunity and moved quickly across the bottom of the draw to the next little finger ridge. The does all watched me and thankfully went the opposite way of the bucks. The bucks either did not see the does or did not care where they had gone. As I snuck up the finger ridge, I could see the top, bottom and opposite side of the ridge. They had not left this small area. I slipped up the ridge with my bow in my left hand and my range finder in my right. Finally, I saw the tines of the 2 point moving through some buck brush. I raised my range finder and ranged him at 68 yards. He was standing broadside looking away from me. I began to draw my bow when he turned straight away from me. He took two steps and turned so that he was quartering away from me. I drew my bow back, settled my 70 yard pin on him and continued pulling. My bow went off but I lost my arrow just after it left my bow. I started watching the buck when I saw him kick both of his back legs in the air. I could see my arrow sticking out of his right side, with just the fletching sticking out of his body.
He started running but turned around and started walking back toward me. He stopped and looked back at the 4 point as to say "Why did you do that?" He took about two or three more steps and fell over. I couldn't have been more excited. As I walked up to him, he seemed to get bigger. What I thought was a nice buck ended up being a great buck. He was 24 1/2" wide and 18 1/2" tall. I have shot lots of deer with my bow but never a muley. To shoot this deer was the highlight of my season and I can't wait to draw that tag again.
