Exceptional buck

go4steelhd

go4steelhd

Active Member
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Here is my 2021 buck
Public land DIY

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BrowningRage said:
He's a beast..! we like stories around here too, if this buck comes with one. :)
Click to expand...
This was a draw tag. I picked this unit because it produced a big buck a few years ago. I started some online research and checked out areas on google earth. I was not going to be able to scout until immediately before the hunt for two reasons. 1 it’s a 12 hour drive from my house, and 2 the deer would not be in the areas they rut during the summer. I bought a muzzle loader and put in some practice before season came.

I was elk hunting in Montana before this hunt which turned out successfully, but I was up until 11pm cutting up my bull before I took off. I loaded my gear the next morning in sort of a rush, so I could get 1 1/2 days scouting in before the hunt started. I set out on Halloween to drive down to the unit. Upon my arrival I found that I had loaded a wall tent but not my tent poles. Well this sucked!!!! Oh well, I took a cargo trailer for my side by side, which now became my tent for the next week.
 
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I started scouting and found this little buck and lots of doe’s running around. This is a true desert hunt, and finding deer was easy in the few places they lived, but you could drive for hours in the rest of the unit and never see one. I also found a 165 buck the night before the season, but he was a little camera shy so I was unable to get a photo of him. I also found a herd of desert sheep. Which was really cool, I’m not sure that I have seen one before, other than in TV or in photo’s. By the time the season opened, I had not found anything promising

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On the opener I set out to look at some new country and try to find an offensively big buck
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I hunted all around and seen very few deer and even fewer bucks. The bucks I seen were two points and spikes. The weather was hot and dry, and mid day temperatures were in the mid 70’s and general rifle ending 2 days before my season opened. A week and a half before the hunt they had snow. This was shaping up to be a tough hunt.

The next day I head out again to a new area seeing only two yearling bucks and about 75-100 doe’s. I had about an hour in the morning and 30 minutes at night before the deer were bedding.

Now I have burnt two days of the hunt, and time scouting and still had not seen anything that I was looking for.

I felt it was time to change my tactics a little bit
 
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I decided to give up on the hope/thought of big bucks parading around everywhere in easy to find spots. I had learned the lay of the land by now, and I figured I would try hunting in areas that may give a buck better cover or terrain that would allow them to live to an older age during the general seasons. So I started concentrating on some rough terrain that had heavy cover or heavy cover near by.

I went out and seen 4 or 5 bucks the next day, but they were all 2 year olds. So I went on google earth and onx and looked for more areas like that. That night I found myself looking at a 3 year old buck who was tailing a doe. Finally a mature buck with a doe, maybe the rut would be coming soon…

The next morning I found myself in a burn that was on the edge of some remote canyons. I found a 4 decent four point bedded in the open right at daylight, I actually had to wait for better light to see what he was. While glassing him I seen a big bodied deer feeding up a draw about 800 yards away. But when I spun the spotting scope to it I only caught the back half of the deer before it disappeared. I had to move two draws closer to get a better look, when I got there I seen 10 doe’s and a 4x3 buck. But I knew none of these were the dark colored big bodies deer I seen go into this draw. About that time I caught movement 150 yards below me, it was a nice buck. I put the muzzy on him, I figured I could judge him in the scope at that range, then be ready to shoot if he was the one. It turns out he was a low 170’s type buck that was about 26 inches wide. He was a nice buck, but I had told myself I was only shooting a buck that I would shoulder mount or I would eat the tag. So I let him walk. I ended up seeing 6 that morning. That night was a bust, I only spotted a few doe’s
 
Saturday morning I woke up before my alarm went off to hearing truck after truck and countless side by sides coming by camp. I figured it was the weekend and many tag holder probably had a lot of friends coming up to help look around for a good buck. I headed out to a spot that I had seen about 50-75 doe’s in a few square miles earlier in the week. It was on the edge of some really nasty remote county and I felt it would be the first place a big buck would show up when the rut hit. I get set up on a knob not far from the road before daylight. I always start glassing the second you can see, I learned from hunting area that have a lot of pressure that many of the nice bucks would be bedded with in 10 minutes of shooting hours once they felt hunting pressure. I start trying to glass a clearing when I hear a side by side coming, it turns out that they drive right through where I was wanting to glass at daylight. Oh well, at least I learned where another trail was
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This made me move down to where I could see into the next canyon. When I got there it was about 5 minutes after shooting hours and I could see 4 doe’s. I glassed around to see if they had a buck with them seeing none I pulled my Binoculars down. In that process I caught movement in a distant saddle. Bingo I seen a huge framed buck feeding. I set up my spotting scope and I only had a few seconds to see what he was before he went over the hill into the next canyon. I could tell he was a shooter instantly. But he was quite a ways off, and I could see hunters or at least guys glassing on what seemed like every knob around me. In fact I counted 8 guys with in a mile of me. I started to hurry over to where I last seen the buck, when I bumped some doe’s that ran up and stood on the saddle that he went through. They stood there for what seemed like 20 minutes, mean while all I could think is I know this buck came through where three of these hunters could see him if they were watching that direction. I was starting to hope I did not hear a gun shot on the other side of these doe’s. But I knew if I bumped them again they would run him out also so I kept waiting. They stared at me endlessly. Finally they walked quickly or trotted over the hill. I quickly got to the top if the saddle and when I peaked over I could see about 20 deer feeding at about 100 yards. I had my shooting sticks already set for a quick standing shot. I put my muzzy on them and looked over all the deer. He was not there. Darn it, it had been more than 40 minutes since I last seen him. The deer now noticed I was there as I begin to frantically glass all the close surrounding areas. They filed over the ridge one by one, he was not with them. I figured I would need to hunt around real slow counting on he was still there. I started by checking the direction I last seen him walking, I picked up three more deer in the other side of the draw at 200 yards but it was not him. I eased to were i could see in the bottom of the draw, and he was not there either. So I decided to go peak into the big canyon the opposite direction of where he was heading when I last seen him. I walked up quietly to the edge of a rock ledge, and when I peaked over I jumped a small 4 point at 10 yards. He ran out of there full speed, I quickly took another step or two. The next deer I seen was the type of buck I have been looking to harvest for the last 30 years. He was feeding but snapped his head up to see what all the commotion was about. He was 40-45 yards broadside. I had my shooting sticks in my left hand extended out for a standing shot, but I felt he would be gone before I could set them in front if me and put the muzzy on them. I decided to just drop them and take a quick snap shot off hand. Well before the shooting sticks hit the the ground I placed the crosshairs on this bucks shoulder and squeezed the trigger. When the smoke cleared, I had a buck of a life time laying there kicking.
 
Thanks for the great write up! It's soo good to hear that good tactics, patience, and as always a little luck, played into this beast of a buck! He is everything I'd ever want in a trophy buck.!
 
Congratulations. Wonderful buck. Great story. Going to Idaho next year for my sons first mule deer hunt. Your story got me fired up. Can’t wait. Only 10 months and 6 days away! Thank you for sharing your story.
 

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