Thanks everyone. Sorry for the late story but here it goes. I was very discouraged headed into this hunt as i had not seen a buck that would score over 100" during all of my scouting trips, so needless to say i went to a spot where i had seen the highest numbers of bucks. During day 1 of the hunt i was able to locate an absolute giant at around 08:00 he was across a large canyon and i knew it was going to be very tough to get a shot at him, so i started slowly making my way down into the canyon to trim the distance and see if i would be able to get a shot off on him, as i am making my way down the shrub oaks got thicker and thicker and i realized there was no way i was going to be able to find him much less get a shot off at him so i start making my way back to the ridgeline from which i spotted him. i was able to find him again and contemplated about taking a shot from this distance, decided to shoot and missed right under him by about 2' the flag immediately came up and disappeared down into the next canyon. i was disappointed that i missed the shot but satisfied in the fact that i did try to close the distance but the thick foliage did not allow me to. went back to camp somewhat disappointed but i had hope of finding him again in the morning! Day two started off by finding a group of bucks nearby but no shooters, so i continue down the ridgeline and spot another group of bucks....same thing no shooters. i am slowly making my way down to the spot in which i found the big one the day before when i found another group of bucks about 200 yards away, at first there were 3 bucks feeding in an opening one nice buck i'm guessing real close to 110". I stayed in my binoculars watching to make sure i had seen every buck in the group, after a few minutes a bigger buck walks out...nice buck but not what i wanted, about 5 minutes later out walks this buck! now i had a decision to make, take this buck or try to find the big guy from the day before....i decided to try to find the buck from the day before. I slowly creeped over the crest of the ridgeline onto the opposite side of these bucks as to not spook them in case i was unable to locate the bigger buck i would still have a chance at the bigger buck of this group. i make it to the spot where i had glassed up the big guy get set up and start glassing and after about 20 minutes of not being able to find him i hear a rock roll over, i look and it is the same bucks i was just watching making their way to the North slopes and into the shade 90 yards away! as i'm watching and admiring the bigger buck of the group i decided to shoot....thinking i will probably never get a 90 yard shot at a buck of this size ever again! the shot hits him and he goes down! all of the years of passing on bucks has finally paid off and i had finally got a big buck that i was looking forward to. i hurried and cleaned this deer up because i knew if i was quick i could pack up camp....load up the horses and make it back to the truck and home but had my work cut out because i was by myself wich explains the reason why there were no field photos. i had the deer scored by Mr. Ralph Stayner of Nurtioso......124 1/8" gross.....117 1/8" net.
