406LIFE
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2016
- Messages
- 3,129
I had been planning this trip for a few years. My aunt passed away last year after a decade of illnesses. My uncle took care of her, never leaving the house. It had been 13 years since he carried a gun and 20 since he harvested a buck. On top of that, it had been 38 years since my dad and him hunted together. They grew up in an era when you could take your gun to school and hunt after class. They did it all the time, but life gets in the way and it had been too long.
Knowing we would see plenty of bucks I told them to get in mind what they wanted and don't shoot the first one we see. Just a few hours in, we see a dmall 3x3 and my uncle says "That's the one!" I tried totalk him down, but not really hard. We saw him crest a knob, and followed. When we crested. There was a much nicer 4x4. I ranged 227yds and mu uncle put him down with one shot.
Just minutes later I walked my dad in a few hundred yards and another smaller buck popped up. My dad also settled, and wanted that one. I told him to wait and a minute or so later a much nicer buck stood up. The sage was high and a doe was milling in front so we had a waiting game to play. It was about 25 minutes and two smaller bucks filtered in. It was all I could do to get my dad to layoff of them and wait on the big boy. He kept switching his safety off and looking at the small ones. Finally he stood up at 138yds and my dad put him back down. We got to the buck and put a follow up in it:
The next day I went out and walked in a bit. I settled on a decent 4x4, and put my Nosler Etip into him from a perch 440yds away (didnt have opportunity to get closer.)
This might be my most memeorable hunt to date. Deer numbers were high, bucks were rutting hard, and everything went down so smooth.
Knowing we would see plenty of bucks I told them to get in mind what they wanted and don't shoot the first one we see. Just a few hours in, we see a dmall 3x3 and my uncle says "That's the one!" I tried totalk him down, but not really hard. We saw him crest a knob, and followed. When we crested. There was a much nicer 4x4. I ranged 227yds and mu uncle put him down with one shot.
Just minutes later I walked my dad in a few hundred yards and another smaller buck popped up. My dad also settled, and wanted that one. I told him to wait and a minute or so later a much nicer buck stood up. The sage was high and a doe was milling in front so we had a waiting game to play. It was about 25 minutes and two smaller bucks filtered in. It was all I could do to get my dad to layoff of them and wait on the big boy. He kept switching his safety off and looking at the small ones. Finally he stood up at 138yds and my dad put him back down. We got to the buck and put a follow up in it:
The next day I went out and walked in a bit. I settled on a decent 4x4, and put my Nosler Etip into him from a perch 440yds away (didnt have opportunity to get closer.)
This might be my most memeorable hunt to date. Deer numbers were high, bucks were rutting hard, and everything went down so smooth.
