30” California mule deer, they do exist!!
- Thread starter 270Hunter
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Outdoordan
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Dang, that's a great buck!
Sallaberry
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Great job
DeerHunter53
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Looks like he was in a fire area. Was the fire over recently or older it looks like it just happened.
I am guessing it was a D -zone buck as there are some big ones up there. We tried to get in to hunt last weekend with no luck.
I am guessing it was a D -zone buck as there are some big ones up there. We tried to get in to hunt last weekend with no luck.
huntindad4
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Thats a stud! Congrats!
In the fresh burn, too. Those areas are often overlooked. Love it.
In the fresh burn, too. Those areas are often overlooked. Love it.
Swivelneck
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Well done, that's a smasher!!
Cahunter805
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Awesome buck! Congrats!
SlinginLead
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A great buck for California.......Well done!
Troubadour
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Wide. Nice man.
DeerHunter53
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How is California like Granola cereal?
If you take out the fruit and nuts all you have left is the flakes!!!!
backcountrybutcher
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Great buck! congrats!
Gunnihunter
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Great buck. He will make a beautiful mount.
Hoythunter
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I would say recent. If you look in the background of the 2nd picture you can see the smoke plume
offtrail
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If I had to put money on it....X5B or X6B....maybe just maybe X5A or X2...
I would be surprised if its NOT a Knor Kal x-zone buck. Looks pure mule deer to me...D zones are typically a hybrid or a "California mule deer" If it was a D zone buck that was pure mule deer(which I have seen) the background would be most likely the high country....not a burnt juniper on a mellow hill with devils garden type rock... Thanks for shooting that stud 270Hunter and thanks for sharing...Cheers to that big Kali buck!!! once again U did well... "for the land of fruits and nuts"!!
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DeerHunter53
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the land of fruit nuts and FLAKES
Hoythunter
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I'm thinking x6a
heywouldya
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Great buck!! That's better than anything we saw in X6A.
hwy
hwy
trophyhunter
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trophyhunter
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Congratulations that massive Beast is a buck of a life time.
270Hunter
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He was about 3 miles away from the nearest source of food and water, and in the pictures it looks like good visibility but when you’re down in there it’s like a labyrinth.
270Hunter
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So I found out I had drawn the tag and I was out there the next weekend scouting and hanging trail cameras. Running trail cameras was really fun and it was interesting to see how these deer behaved at day and night, the first big buck I found was on my second scouting trip, he was a really strong four point in the 24” range but he had double eye guards on one side. I continued to scout throughout the summer, and I had about five main glassing points that I would just rotate on when I would glass them, scouting in the middle of the summer during the day I would describe as sweaty and dusty, but still fun. Then one day when I was at work I saw that a new fire had started in the unit that my tag was in and that the fire was really close to the area I had been scouting, I was glued to my phone for the next few days and sure enough the fire had burned where I was scouting, and fortunately I had pulled all but one of my trail cameras because I was going to check out another area, so I lost that one camera. The fire didn’t slow me down at all, I was out there scouting the weekend after Cal fire said it was safe to go back out there. It looked like a completely different world, and when I looked through my binoculars for the first time on that scouting trip it felt like I was starting over from square one. But dad and I had no trouble finding the deer again, that trip turned up a lot of deer and two really nice bucks. I scouted a couple more weekends and then archery season in B-Zone started so I was over there chasing black tail. After archery season ended I was back out there scouting because now the bucks were hard horned and I knew that there patterns would change a little. All that summer scouting paid off because it seemed like the bucks didn’t change all that much, just moved a little earlier in the morning and a little later in the evening. That trip was when I found him, he was hanging out with two other bucks, one really nice four point and a little three point. I instantly crossed off every other deer and made the decision that that would be the back that I would hunt, every single day that I had off from then to opening day of season I was out there scouting and I wouldn’t watch any other deer I would just watch what the big four-point was doing, weekend before opening day I had a game plan I knew where I was going to be, I knew where the buck was going to come up and I knew how far I was going to be shooting. Opening day rolls around and I couldn’t sleep I woke up at 1:30 to get in position to where I wanted to be, as the sun starts to rise I realized I wasn’t alone there were two people about 400 yards to the south and a group of three hunters about 200 yards to the North. I knew that when I saw this back I would have to capitalize on the First opportunity, right at shooting time someone else shot a buck and I saw this group does run up out of the draw where the big four point would come up. I laid my pack down and range where he’s going to give me the first shot it was 320 yards and right about that is when I saw him and he had to turn his head sideways to run through the burnt trees. He stopped at 320 yards the group to the North didn’t even know he was there, long story short I missed him. I couldn’t believe I missed and I backed out of there in hopes of him not completely leaving the country and that evening I didn’t even hunt where he was I just sat on another Ridge glassing. Sunday morning I was in the same spot and I honestly didn’t think I’d ever have another opportunity at this buck, but about 30 minutes into shooting time I looked down and to my left and about 150 yards away was the little three-point that the big four point had been living with, I backed up out of sight worked my way down Ridge and popped back up again and I could see the big 4 Point laying right there looking in my direction, he was laying in a hole in the ground all you could see was his face and his antlers. My heart started beating out of my chest, I slowly worked along the backside of the ridge until I could see his entire body, I took my jacket off and laid it across the rocks and I put my rifle across the rock and I looked through my scope and I could see him laying there he was just staring at me not even twitching his ears, I slowed my breathing and slowly squeezed the trigger. I heard the familiar whack of a bullet, and watched him as he struggled to get up and fell off the backside of the rock pile, he was mine. Walking up on a deer like this was all that I dreamed of and more, I called all three of my older brothers and told them that I just killed a biggest deer of my life. I set up my tripod and propped my phone up and took a video of me holding him up. After a few hours I had him caped and quartered. It took me three trips to get him out of there. This was an amazing hunt and I never expected to shoot a deer of this caliber. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to chase deer like this in my home state. Thank you to everybody who congratulated me on my buck, good luck to all of you in your future hunts, whether it’s B-Zones or G3 hunting is what I love to do.
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