4600HNTR
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Just thought I’d share the story of my of my giant 2020 D-Zone buck. It started back in 2018 when a big 3X2 started showing up on camera on national forest land behind my house. He wasn’t huge but was much bigger than anything else in the area. He was back on camera in July of 2019 as wide typical 4X4 with unusually long eye guards. This was going to be my first year deer hunting and I was stoked to have a chance at this big buck. Unfortunately I had no idea what it meant to chase a mature mule deer in October, and as a first generation hunter living in the sticks there was nobody to tell me.
I solo hunted almost 30 days in a row and saw him three times. I stuck to still hunting because I couldn’t sit still in a blind or tree when that buck might be just over the hill. Once while sitting on a rock waiting out the last few minutes of light he walked right up behind me, by the time I had shouldered my rifle he had quietly vanished into the cover, “Shifty” was the first word that came to mind and that is what I named him. A handful of other people had seen him and were often hunting in the area, every time I heard a gun shot I had the sickening thought that someone had shot him. Closing day was a disappointment and a relief.
He was back on camera in June 2020, this year he was a 25” 5X3 with a drop tine, one eye guard was forked the other had three points… HE WAS A MONSTER. I hunted almost everyday during the archery season. I saw him once, I was at full draw 40 yards from him but he never gave me a shot. It was a similar story for the rifle season. In 19 days of hunting I saw him 1 or 2 times. But on October 20 my luck changed: I was returning home after my morning hunt when I heard something moving in the bush below me. I had not even seen it but I instantly concluded it to be Shifty. The sound moved off and I followed, but I stepped on a stick and I briefly had Shifty in my crosshairs as he bounced down the hill. I stayed on him for another hundred yards and came out in a little clearing less than 200 yard from my house. There he stood, motionless at the far end of the clearing just 47 yards away. I threw up my rifle settled the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. My 127gr Barnes LRX bullet struck him right behind the shoulder, he lurched and fell over rolling down the hill. After thanking the Lord I walked up to my first buck. Laying my hands on his massive rack gave me the greatest feeling of accomplishment and relief imaginable. My freezer and tag were filled and my dream was fulfilled.
Check out the video @4600 Outdoors (YouTube)
I solo hunted almost 30 days in a row and saw him three times. I stuck to still hunting because I couldn’t sit still in a blind or tree when that buck might be just over the hill. Once while sitting on a rock waiting out the last few minutes of light he walked right up behind me, by the time I had shouldered my rifle he had quietly vanished into the cover, “Shifty” was the first word that came to mind and that is what I named him. A handful of other people had seen him and were often hunting in the area, every time I heard a gun shot I had the sickening thought that someone had shot him. Closing day was a disappointment and a relief.
He was back on camera in June 2020, this year he was a 25” 5X3 with a drop tine, one eye guard was forked the other had three points… HE WAS A MONSTER. I hunted almost everyday during the archery season. I saw him once, I was at full draw 40 yards from him but he never gave me a shot. It was a similar story for the rifle season. In 19 days of hunting I saw him 1 or 2 times. But on October 20 my luck changed: I was returning home after my morning hunt when I heard something moving in the bush below me. I had not even seen it but I instantly concluded it to be Shifty. The sound moved off and I followed, but I stepped on a stick and I briefly had Shifty in my crosshairs as he bounced down the hill. I stayed on him for another hundred yards and came out in a little clearing less than 200 yard from my house. There he stood, motionless at the far end of the clearing just 47 yards away. I threw up my rifle settled the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. My 127gr Barnes LRX bullet struck him right behind the shoulder, he lurched and fell over rolling down the hill. After thanking the Lord I walked up to my first buck. Laying my hands on his massive rack gave me the greatest feeling of accomplishment and relief imaginable. My freezer and tag were filled and my dream was fulfilled.
