Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Out Of State Hunting => Topic started by: Lightning_Rider on November 17, 2020, 08:06:53 AM
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I went into this season with the hopes of harvesting a decent sized buck (150+). I do not have a whole lot of experience hunting mule deer as I have only harvested two previously. When we arrived at our destination, the weather was mild, and the forecast called for warmer temp’s for opening day. We got our camp all setup and met up with my family. The day before the opener my good friend and hunting partner Ryan and I decided to head up around 8000’ and scout out some new country. While taking in the beautiful scenery, we could not help but notice the poor air quality due to fires in surrounding areas. After a few hours of driving around admiring the landscape, we decided to do a little bit of walking and maybe see if could find a shed or some animals to glass up. We started down this beautiful meadow along the edge of a burnt timber patch when suddenly, we heard some sticks break close. I could see movement out of the corner of my eye and realized we had just stumbled upon the biggest mule deer I have ever seen in person. We accidentally jumped him about 30 yards from where he was bedded. We had plenty of time to admire and gawk over him before he slipped into the timber. After getting back to camp and discussing the game plan for opening morning, the obvious move was to go back where we had seen that buck and see if we can track him down. After a sleepless night of strategizing and fantasizing about that deer, we arrived at our destination about 30 minutes before daylight with nobody around but us. As the sun came up, the anticipation was growing, and I was getting very antsy. Finally, as daylight broke, we began our hunt down towards the edge of the timber. As we entered the timber patch, we realized why this buck was able to go so long without being discovered. It was thick with poor visibility. Nevertheless, we did the best we could while taking our time and glassing. About 200 yards in, I glassed up ahead and saw a huge body but no head. I signaled to Ryan and he could see the antlers. Ryan said, “that’s him, take him”. By this time, the buck lifted his head. As I looked in aww through my scope, I tried to calm myself. “You already know he is the biggest deer you’ve ever seen on the hoof, stay calm and ease that trigger back.” After my short mental prep, I put the crosshairs of my 300 WSM right in the middle of his neck and squeezed the trigger. He dropped in his tracks. To our disbelief, “that really just happened!!!” As we gathered ourselves and approached the deer, we realized that he was even bigger than we had originally thought. I couldn’t help but just stare and appreciate his beauty. After taking pictures and gutting him, we managed to drag him out. Dragging a 300lb animal is never an easy task and even though I prepared for this hunt and thought I was in pretty good shape, this drag out reminded me I was indeed NOT! We finally got him back to camp and put the tape on him, he measured out at 187 5/8” gross. He is absolutely everything I ever dreamed of and more.
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Pretty sure I saw him in velvet this summer. Nice buck and lucky to find him again. :tup:
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Great job. That is a beautiful mule deer !!!
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Stud buck! Congrats!
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Dang near perfect muley...
:tup:
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Beautiful miley! Right on :tup:
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That's a great buck and you were able to get him out whole too :tup:
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WOW! That will be hard to top!
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Pretty sure I saw him in velvet this summer. Nice buck and lucky to find him again. :tup:
his original post said he got there a few days early on Oct 8th so im assuming this is an idaho buck.
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Pretty sure I saw him in velvet this summer. Nice buck and lucky to find him again. :tup:
his original post said he got there a few days early on Oct 8th so im assuming this is an idaho buck.
:chuckle: I just figured he covers a lot of ground
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Oh nice! :tup:
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Pretty sure I saw him in velvet this summer. Nice buck and lucky to find him again. :tup:
his original post said he got there a few days early on Oct 8th so im assuming this is an idaho buck.
:chuckle: I just figured he covers a lot of ground
Well I do but. :chuckle:
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Beautiful Muley! Congrats!
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That's a super nice buck. Nice work!
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That's a very impressive buck!
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Awesome buck Steve! I’ve killed a lot of muley’s and never one that big!
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Nice deer!
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My favorite deer posted this year.
Congrats!!!!!!!!
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Absolutely beautiful deer! :tup:
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Awesome! Really appreciate you sharing this with us!
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As we all know, it is amazing that you stumbled on a great buck like this. Then, to actually have him first light opening morning, in the same place!! Well, congratulations. That is a wonderful outcome. Hunting is usually so hard, it is nice when it just happens in your favor.
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As we all know, it is amazing that you stumbled on a great buck like this. Then, to actually have him first light opening morning, in the same place!! Well, congratulations. That is a wonderful outcome. Hunting is usually so hard, it is nice when it just happens in your favor.
I agree 100%... I hunt my butt off to be successful, in this instance, it was dumb luck all the way!!! It never works out like that! 99 times out of 100 that buck would never be seen again! "I'd rather be lucky than good". Thank you all for the kind words, not sure how I am supposed to find a one bigger, but I may as well give it a shot :tup:
