OK not my first buck, but the first with my son on the hunt.
Well My brother and i drew tags this year. We did not get to scout in an area i have not hunted in for lots of years. I knew if there were deer in the are we would be able to glass them up and find them. Well the trip started out in the rain on the way to the wifes folks house in the unit we drew. We would scout thursday morning only. And we scouted in the rain. The only thing we saw that morning was rain drops and clouds.
The next morning we had a plan to park and glass the hills we felt good about. My brother glassed up a couple does and that was it. the rest of the day was spent scouting an area for the next morning and that evening. While we were looking we found a wash that looked like it headed into an area we could see with our glasses. We jumped on the ATVs and headed up the wash. well sure enough we came across a road that lead up the hills and closer to the area we wanted to be for the evening glassing.
Well We glassed our eyes out 6 eyes total with my brothers, my sons and mine. We were looking over some very good looking coues country and saw nothing. We decided that this area was to good to give up on. So the next morning found us pulling up that same hill and we started our hike into our glassing spots. My brother on the easte side and my son and I on the east side. The sun was just coming up and we new for sure that in no time we would see the little deer start to shine on the hill side. And once again nothing.
My brother and I could not figure out this area and the situation that we were faced with. We have hunted coues most our lives and this was not right. So we walked to the west a bit farther away. There in the spot we had glassed the first day of the hunt I saw a couple deer moving down the slope and into the sun. We could put hornes on one but not the other. So we decided on how we could get the three of us closer to see if the buck was one we wanted. We could tell he had a set of tall hornes but not vey far out front. so we thought it was a nice little three point. As we decided our plan we decided to look around the hill they were on to be sure we would not bump any more deer and run the buck off.
On the slope above them we saw another doe with a very nice buck. It was the one we wanted for sure. So we headed out. When we got to our first location we could see the smaller buck bedded under a tree. But we could not see any of the others. After glassing for a few minutes we could see one of the does coming up to the spot the young buck was bedded. We kept glassing while the doe came up on the buck because we knew with him being a younger buck that he may get up and move with her.And he did. We could no longer see them from the spot we had been glassing from.
We decided to go ahead with our first plan and head up the hill to a higher point. We glassed hard to turn up the deer and could not see them. So my younger brother said he would head back down to the wash and around behind the spot we last saw them to the canyon we could see they may be bedding in. So he started his long treck over while my son and I did what hunting is all about.(we ate our snacks and lunch) that seemed to be my 8 year old sons favorite part of the trip. Well my brother got to the spot and glassed for a while and could not turn them up. So he said he would head across the canyon to the spot we saw them last.
SO as he got closer to the spot he contacted me on the radio as we had planned to let me know i need to be ready. Not more than one minute later here comes four deer busting out the top of the ridge. They were running as fast i thought they could and not going to stop. I took one shot at the big guy as he was getting close to going back over into the canyon behind the spot my brother had jumped them up. I missed him. The smaller younger buck stayed on a dead run down the draw. So i thought for about half a second to let him get bigger. I do not shoot small bucks. I like to let them get bigger. But he was tempting me to show off in front of my son who had never been with me when i have takien a buck.(and my sone coahing me as i took the shot) said SHOOT HIM DAD. so i did he was at about 130 yards on dead run and i drilled him. He did not slow down like i thought he would. Rather he kicked it into over drive. I picked two cactus that i knew he would come through and as he crossed the open spot i drilled him again. This time it sent him sprawlling to the ground. He drug his legs under him and tryed to get up. At this point he was behind a huge cactus and a few little trees. He was hurting and I did not want this. I like a one shot kill and all but one of my deer have been one shot kills. You can ask my brother i have the same box of ammo i have had for a few years now.
Anyways I told my son we needed to move fast so i could finish the Buck and stop his hurting. We made out way to the spot and i put an end to my hunt. Now get this my younger brother that had done the hard work for this buck and wanted me to enjoy this time with my son jumped right in and started helping with the work of gutting and then he picked up the buck and drug him to the wash so we could get him with the quads. Now this was no easy task as it was a long ways down to the wash. So i grabed up the other stuff and my son and I headed off behind my brother and talked abou the hunt. I was able to talk to him about never giving up and working hard for the Game you are hunting. I told him that it does not always work out but when it does it fills good like this.
We spent the next few days just seeing does. We busted our butts climbing to high peaks and walking lowere hills.ANd nothing but a few does. This whole hunt was very strange and i am still not sure what is going on with the herds in this area. We did not see any lions and only a few tracks from them. We did see grud loads of yotes so i am thinking that they may be killing the fawns and the area is losing numbers do to this. Any ways I want to put the shout out to my Little Bro and say thank you for your help. We have spent many years as hunting partners and will spend many more this way. Thanks for letting me enjoy that with my son to pass the passion on to him.