My Dad took this buck over in the Methow about 45 minutes into opening morning. Due to work and saving time for my elk tag next week, Dad ended up going by himself. We have a saddle that is a main escape route so we will post up in there most mornings. Dad was there an hour before light, settled in, had a few deer walk by in the dark. Right at light a small batch of does with one little 2 pt came running through from down hill, obviously pushed.
About 45 minutes later, Dad said the coffee was getting to him so he stood up and walked about 100' away down wind so he wasn't taking a leak right where he was hunting. He had made his way back to his spot and set his gun down to fiddle around in his pack (probably to get his Cadbury chocolate bar out
) and caught movement out of the corner of his eye. SLowly looked up and this buck was cruising by him on the trail. Dad froze. The buck passed within 10 yards of him! Again, no gun in hand, couldn't do a thing about it. Dad being the seasoned hunter and oh so patient guy he is let him pass and once he was out of the bucks field of vision, reached over grabbed the 7 mag, swung around and anchored it on the tree, and dropped the buck in his tracks with a quartering away shot at about 50 yards.
Now the fun starts. Dad bummed his hip about a month ago, so dragging this deer was out of the question. He had forgotten his deer cart at home, but did have his new pack frame that he bought for my elk hunt. Dad has never boned/packed an animal out in his life, so he told me he was excited to give it a try. He got it all boned out, into game backs and strapped to the pack and off he went into the 2.5 miles hike back to camp.
When he got to my house Saturday night to hang the meat in my beer/deer fridge, we weighed the boned out meat, tipped the scale at almost 90#! With his gun, the bucks head/horns, and his essentials pack, he hauled well over 100# of stuff off the mountain in that load! Way to be Dad!
The buck is unique. Its a fairly old deer. The guys at the game check there in Winthrop said they estimated based on the teeth that the deer was 6.5 or so years old. The picture is tough to see the character his horns have as its a self portrait. His left horn is long and has a HUGE front fork. The right horn is pretty compact and not as long/wide as the left (maybe an old injury of somekind?) The mass is fantastic, definitely the mass you find in an old buck. Would have liked to have seen him last year.
Anyway, good work Dad, I'm always proud of my Dad and happy when he is successful. He focused on my brother and I so much growing up that he rarely killed animals. Now that we're grown and doing our own things, he's killed 4 bucks in the last 5 years and harvested his first elk last year. He's a tough man and gets it done. He's the man I strive to be as I get older
