Mossy-Back
Active member
I’m a father of three boys all under 9 years old, and my wife and I both work, so I don’t get a lot of time in the field. I didn’t draw a doe tag or cow elk tag and I knew I’d be busy during bull elk season, so I decided to buy an over the counter buck tag for western Oregon and hunt close to home. I hunted over in the coast range west of where I live for the first three weeks of the season without seeing a single deer on public land and only a few does on private.
For the last week of the season a friend gave me permission to hunt on his property where a small forked horn had been hanging out. I spent a few evenings there and only saw does. On the last day of the season I was out at his place before sunrise, it was pouring rain, and I saw three does. I decided to take my chances and head east into the Cascade Mountains and see what I could find. I drove around, found a few places to walk out into, but no fresh sign.
Around noon the weather had turned into sunny skies and I found an overhrown closed road with a locked gate and decided to walk it and see what I could find. It was all uphill, pretty thick and brushy, but I was hoping for a clearcut or meadow at the top. About 2 miles up I looked on the downhill side through an opening in the trees and saw a buck looking at me at about 40 yards, almost broadside but slightly quartered towards me. I brought up my rifle and put a 165 gr Hornady SST right in front of the shoulder, taking out the carotid and breaking a few ribs on the back side. No exit wound. He dropped right there.
Right after I gutted him and started dragging him up to the road I heard a funny sound and then around he corner down the hill came a brush cutter tractor. The driver offered me a ride back down the hill and opened up the gate so I could drive up to get my deer. Talk about a lucky last day of the season! This buck was definitely in pre-rut with a swollen neck, and I’m guessing he was 180+ pounds on the hoof. He was 140 pounds with legs, head, and backstrap removed and I ended up with 80 pounds of meat.
For the last week of the season a friend gave me permission to hunt on his property where a small forked horn had been hanging out. I spent a few evenings there and only saw does. On the last day of the season I was out at his place before sunrise, it was pouring rain, and I saw three does. I decided to take my chances and head east into the Cascade Mountains and see what I could find. I drove around, found a few places to walk out into, but no fresh sign.
Around noon the weather had turned into sunny skies and I found an overhrown closed road with a locked gate and decided to walk it and see what I could find. It was all uphill, pretty thick and brushy, but I was hoping for a clearcut or meadow at the top. About 2 miles up I looked on the downhill side through an opening in the trees and saw a buck looking at me at about 40 yards, almost broadside but slightly quartered towards me. I brought up my rifle and put a 165 gr Hornady SST right in front of the shoulder, taking out the carotid and breaking a few ribs on the back side. No exit wound. He dropped right there.
Right after I gutted him and started dragging him up to the road I heard a funny sound and then around he corner down the hill came a brush cutter tractor. The driver offered me a ride back down the hill and opened up the gate so I could drive up to get my deer. Talk about a lucky last day of the season! This buck was definitely in pre-rut with a swollen neck, and I’m guessing he was 180+ pounds on the hoof. He was 140 pounds with legs, head, and backstrap removed and I ended up with 80 pounds of meat.
