marley
Very Active Member
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A few weeks ago I was offered a returned early Kaibab deer tag. I immediately called my friend from A3 to see if they would have some availability to take me on. When they gave me the yes, I decided to take the tag. It was a grind but we found a good one to take home. I set a goal to kill a 190+ and actually kept saying that I hope I don’t even see a 180 buck because I knew it would be too hard to pass. On day six, my guide and I pulled out to the end of a road to eat some lunch and take a quick nap before the evening hunt. I thought I’d walk off the end of the knob we were on to glass the north facing slope across from us. It looked so good, like a buck should be there bedded for the afternoon. On my way over I saw a giant deer track 30 yards from the truck in the fresh snow. I followed the track for about 50 yards just to see that the track went from walking to bounding. I realized this buck was probably spooked by our truck pulling in just minutes ago. I continued to follow the track straight towards the thick north facing slope I thought looked so good. I looked between two Ponderosas to see a huge bodied deer bedded on that slope looking right at me at 160 yards. I slowly crouched down, mounted my rifle to my tripod and zoomed in on him. I quickly went through the check list….Giant frame, long mainbeams, at least four points on both sides, good mass, giant body…….BOOM! He jumped from his bed and staggered 30 yards and fell over. I second guessed my decision to shoot without my guide there for a second opinion. Did I make a mistake, did I misjudge him? He looked so big laying there in the snow but was I just wishing that frame on him? All these doubts died the second I laid eyes on him as he lay. I never saw the extra inline so that was a great bonus. I’m so happy with my buck and looking back now I can’t believe I second guessed him.
