Hello everyone, first I want to start off by saying that I want to thank everyone who reached out to me with advice, tips and good luck wishes, it meant a lot to know there are so many people willing to help!
I learned a lot on my first quality deer hunt, you meet lots of nice, helpful and kind people, you learn a lot about an area you might not be familiar with, and you learn a lot about yourself. The things you don't anticipate is the stress, the overthinking, and the doubt.
I started out this hunt the same way I always do, have the meals planned, make sure I have ALL my hunting clothes (made that mistake), and knew the small area I wanted to hunt. I wanted some snow, I got a lot of snow, luckily with a jeep borrowed from a friend, chains all the way around, and an emergency kit packed I wasn't too worried.
Started off on Friday (Monday was the first day of the hunt) being able to do some scouting and seeing how bad the snow was, seen a nice buck and that got me excited, Saturday and Sunday were about the same, didn't want to drive the area I wanted to hunt so looked around a few other areas, I was growing concerned because I only seen a few bucks and 1 doe and 1 fawn. On Sunday I got to meet the other tag holder in the area, (another girl) it was nice to communicate and know which areas we wanted to be in (with only 2 tags in the area no reason to step on each other's toes). Opening day was the day the bucks came out; we must have seen 15+ bucks, with being in such a small area due to all the snow it was supervising! I realized I didn't know what I was looking for, seen 2x4's, 3x3's, 4x4's even a 4x1 and a 4x5 (possible 5x5 that my boyfriend was probably a little unhappy that I passed on). Went after a few bucks, 1 was just too far for me confidently shoot at, and after 4 hours and I think a figure 8 in knee high snow, I never got a clean shot a 4x something buck. I seen a tall 2x4 that I got lined up on and would have had a good clean shot but decided to not pull the trigger. I realized I was getting discouraged, I was waiting for a feeling, a feeling of this is "my" buck. Tuesday morning, I woke up with a new mind set; I have time and when I see the buck I want I will take it. The fog was thick on Tuesday, seen a nice 3x3 through the fog, but just couldn't see it good enough to be confident. Then sitting next to a tree was a nice 4x5, I had a hard time seeing him with through by red dot with fog, but something in me just wasn't feeling it, it was not "my buck". Trying to hide the discouraged feelings and wondering if I will ever see a buck that I am not going to talk myself out of, we decided to try up higher, out of the fog and where the other tag holder got her buck the day before. After seeing tons of deer tracks, throwing a tire chain and winching the jeep out once I was ready to leave that area and go back where I started, something kept pulling me back to that area. Feeling discouraged once again and my mind was telling me "shoot the next one you see", well the next one I seen was that tall 2x4 again and again I had a shot but talked myself out of taking it. My very patient boyfriend was probably starting to think I was crazy at this point. With the last hour of light we had, we kept creeping forward, we came around a bend in the road and my boyfriend says "shooter", I looked up ridge and seen the most beautiful fur I have ever seen on a deer, I got that feeling, we all know the feeling that tingling feeling like it's gonna happen, I slipped out of the jeep, off the road and finally looked to make sure it wasn't a doe, my first thought "that's my buck" took a deep breath to steady myself and without a second thought I took my shot. He dropped, and as buck fever washed over me, I had no doubts, that was my buck. I was shacking so bad I couldn't reload my muzzleloader, thankfully didn't need a second shot. It was a weird feeling to think it was over on the 2nd day, but I was ecstatic! With the deer in the freezer and my time to think about the hunt and how I wanted to update everyone on how it went, I have advice for anyone with a Quality tag: You will see lots of amazing deer on your hunt, but know this is "your buck" who really cares if it's not what someone else said you could find, or your friend might say "well I would have got a bigger one", or it might not even been what you were looking for when you started, this is you hunt and your buck and when you see it, you will feel it.
