lonedave
Active member
Hunting Sunday in the Snake River breaks I spotted this buck as he bedded from almost a mile away. Even closing the distance to about 600 yards I still couldn't tell if he was a legal 3 point. The sun glare through my spotting scope was just too much. I finally managed to sneak up to the top of the rimrock just behind him, probably 25 yards away. He was with a doe and fawn so I couldn't ease out far enough for a shot. I had a hard time fighting the urge to toss a rock below him to try to make him stand, but I held off and figured patience was best. The wind was blowing uphill pretty strong, so I just had to wait. Finally after about 2 1/2 hours the doe and fawn stood up and started to feed. At one point the doe beamed in on me and I figured the jig was up, but after staring me down for the better part of 10 minutes, she settled down to her feeding and then bedded again. Meanwhile the buck just stayed put. Finally after another 45 minutes or so, the sun hit the buck and he decided to get up. Luckily I had managed to stay awake and aware. One shot through the upper shoulder and he fell off the edge of his bed and lay about 30 feet below. This is a pretty fair buck for this area of public land, 4x4 plus small eyeguards. The second picture shows the buck as he lay, his bed near the dark shadow to the right center, and where I sat just left of the 2 bushes on the rimrock above. I thought it was kind of neat to get a picture that showed the shot location, the bed, and the deer all in one frame. I could have taken a similar picture years ago in the same area with a different buck, but didn't think about it at the time. I was carrying my .62 T/C Hawken and used a patched round ball in front of 90gr of Goex 2f. Just another fun solo hunt, but time is taking it's toll on this 63 year old and I can start to see a time in the near future that I'll need to find a new (easier) area to hunt!
