Post by: 300ShortMag on October 19, 2009, 03:01:27 PM
I got lucky during the early season and rode out of the Henry M. Jackson with a nice little 2x3. We saw him early on the morning of 9/15 and passed before going another 2 full days without seeing another deer. He materialized at first light on that Friday morning and I couldn't keep my finger off the trigger. First pic below.
Heading in to the regular season, I was a little disappointed that I wasn't carrying a deer tag. No matter, spotting and packing meat off the hill was my job and I wasn't calling in sick. I hunted with my brother and cousin on Saturday morning and hiked in the dark up a big ridge to set up for daylight. Just before we reached the top, my cousin tried to chamber a round in his 300 Wthby with no luck. With no time to figure it out, my brother handed his rifle over. My cousin had never shot a buck and was given the 'first shot' nod. Within minutes, we were glassing up a good buck at 400+ yards trying like hell to put a 3rd on him. Without a good shot, Kevin held and we were amazed to watch another buck peek over the ridge top 10 yards behind the first. They had us pegged immediately but were intent to feed toward us into a thin stretch of timber and out of sight. We scrambled for a better view of the timber and eventually found a leg. Soon the leg turned in to a full broadside shot and my Kevin put a pefect heart shot in to his first deer--a great 4 point. He immediately handed the gun over to Luke and after freight-training the timber, the other buck popped out at at around 350 and took one to the front shoulder from my brother. The shot was a little low and the buck moved up over the ridge top away from us and out of sight. After taking care of the first deer, we moved up the ridge to search for blood. Fifteen minutes later we jumped the buck from his bed and Luke put him down for good.
Bottom line is that we doubled on two bruiser bucks at first light on opening day with one rifle. In my opinion, deer camp stories just don't get any better. Hope you guys enjoy and good luck.
Post by: firefighter4607 on October 19, 2009, 03:06:04 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on October 19, 2009, 03:07:52 PM
Post by: Rgrady35 on October 19, 2009, 03:30:01 PM
Post by: C-Money on October 19, 2009, 04:39:03 PM
Post by: GUscottie on October 19, 2009, 04:50:41 PM
Post by: gtrplr on October 19, 2009, 04:53:40 PM
Post by: BLKBEARKLR on October 19, 2009, 06:00:26 PM
Post by: Huntbear on October 19, 2009, 06:10:29 PM
Post by: markts on October 19, 2009, 06:48:44 PM
Post by: nw_bowhunter on October 19, 2009, 09:06:24 PM
Post by: bowsandhose on October 19, 2009, 09:11:34 PM
Post by: wilsongideon on October 19, 2009, 09:24:22 PM
Post by: buckhorn2 on October 19, 2009, 09:28:09 PM
Post by: klikboom on October 19, 2009, 09:48:39 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on October 19, 2009, 09:55:16 PM
Post by: Schmalzfam on October 20, 2009, 08:47:02 AM
Post by: KNOXY on October 20, 2009, 09:54:50 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 20, 2009, 11:21:49 PM
Post by: 300ShortMag on October 22, 2009, 12:10:16 PM
Post by: PacificNWhunter on October 22, 2009, 12:55:00 PM
Post by: youngchristof on October 22, 2009, 01:29:49 PM
Post by: bearpaw on October 22, 2009, 02:06:42 PM
Post by: Austrian Hunter on October 22, 2009, 02:18:56 PM
Post by: Bowbender on October 22, 2009, 03:32:25 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on October 22, 2009, 04:18:09 PM
Post by: Watimberghost on October 22, 2009, 05:28:43 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 22, 2009, 05:37:26 PM
I like the traditional blood swipe under the eyes of a hunter with thier first buck!!! Great job. How did you get both those bucks on that knife ridge? :IBCOOL:
That made me go back and look at the new pics. I did that to my one year old last year (just one swipe on his forehead) with my older son's first buck. (We had to wipe it off before we took him back in the house or mamma would have had a fit).
Nice touch guys. :rockin:
Post by: Red Dawg on October 22, 2009, 05:41:42 PM
Post by: phishisgroovin on October 22, 2009, 06:31:48 PM
Back is hurting just looking at the photos lol!
Post by: nw_bowhunter on October 22, 2009, 06:37:31 PM
Post by: brianb231 on October 22, 2009, 06:55:45 PM
Post by: 300ShortMag on October 23, 2009, 09:32:37 AM
I like the traditional blood swipe under the eyes of a hunter with thier first buck!!! Great job. How did you get both those bucks on that knife ridge? :IBCOOL:
That hogback is basically at the top end of our ridge. If the guy taking the picture turned around and walked another 300 nearly vertical yards, he'd be at the very top of the ridge. We killed the smaller of the two on a sub-ridge that you can see from this hogback. We shot at the big boy near the top of this ridge and he bailed off the back side to bed down and collect his thoughts. Once we got on the a blood trail, we followed him off the back side and put a kill shot in him a good 400 yards down off the back. We've taken deer down the backside and it's not fun--that's why we carried him back up and over to this main ridge that runs back to camp.
All in all, we probably spent 6 hours packing both bucks. If it weren't for the crew that you see in these pictures, we'd probably still be there breaking our backs.
Post by: MtnMuley on October 23, 2009, 10:03:56 AM
Post by: KNOXY on October 23, 2009, 07:04:40 PM
Post by: runningboard on October 23, 2009, 07:13:53 PM