SunDevil

After going 2 for 2 last year, Scoutm and I decided to put in for the same hunt again this year. Fortunately we were successful in the draw and made plans to go back into the same area we hunted last year. Blackdog and I went in and scouted the area 3 weeks before the hunt and saw lots of deer but no shooter bucks. 2 weeks before the hunt, during the youth hunt, Scoutm and I went in and scouted again. This time we found a couple nice 3x3s and another very nice 4x4. He was very close to where I took my buck last year. We spent the morning watching him until he bedded and then hiked to another one of our favorite glassing spots for an uneventful afternoon. This 4x4 had two cheater points and better eye guards than the buck I took last year but for the most part was very similar to the prior years buck. I was guesstimating him at 111. Here is a short video clip and some field pictures. DSCN5235.MOV Well the next two weeks couldn’t pass quickly enough. I was slightly concerned about the big 4x4 being taken or spooked by a jr hunter, or possibly someone else being onto him but given how far away from the road he was, I was fairly confident we would be able to find him. Thurs, Oct 20th found us looking for the big 4x4 with no success. We were glassing from one vantage point that gives you a view of one side of the mountain. This was the side of the mountain we saw him on 2 weeks prior. My buck from last year was taken on the other side of the mountain. We hiked out early to meet Blackdog and get camp set up. It was discussed and decided that even though we had not seen the big buck on Thurs we would return to the same glassing spot to look for him opening morning and if he was not located within a few hours we would hike around and look for him on the other side of the mountain. After a couple hours of glassing we had found about a dozen bucks but no shooters and not the big 4x4. We made the 30 minute hike to our other glassing spot in hopes of finding him on the other side of the mountain. A little after 9:30, Scoutm glassed up two bedded bucks. They were about 800 yards out and we were watching them in our spotting scopes. Something spooked them and they both stood up from their beds. When they did, a third buck that was bedded behind a boulder and a tree and was previously not visible, also stood up. All we could see was his head and rack through the tree branches. He was not visible again after he bedded back down but we knew it was a good buck and Scoutm was confident it was the 4x4 we were looking for. Blackdog and I moved up to shorten the distance and hopefully get a shot. We got to 400 yards when some other hunters started shooting. The shots must have spooked the buck because he got up out of his bed and proceeded up the side of the mountain. I hurried up the ridge in hopes of getting a shot but was never able to locate the buck. Fortunately Blackdog had been watching him the whole time and knew right where he was at, just below the top of the mountain. We hiked up the mountain to hopefully find him and get a shot when/if he emerged from his bed. It was 2:00 and we were set up 300 yards below him but it was very steep, very thick and he never came out. At 5:00 we packed up and started the long hike back to camp. With plenty of feed around, good cover at the top of the mountain and water at the bottom I was confident the big buck would be somewhere close by the next morning. We made it to our glassing spot the next morning at 6:30 (about 15 minutes late) and I immediately found the 3x3 we saw the day before. I knew the big buck had to be there somewhere and about 10 minutes later I saw him when he stepped out from behind an oak tree. I hurried up the ridge to close the distance as he was already heading up the mountain. With directions from Blackdog I was able to relocate him when I stopped at the 400 yard mark to regroup. He was still out of range and still moving up the mountain. I moved another hundred yards up the ridge and into the shade of a mesquite. I had to find a rock to sit on. It was way too hard to sit on the ground and glass up the mountain. Shooting from this position would be even harder. I moved behind the mesquite but the only rock I could find was too big to carry. I had to roll it into position but fortunately it was flat on two sides. When I got set up, Scoutm talked me in to where he was, 430 yards up the mountain. He was standing behind a manzanita, facing right, with only his head visible. I got the rifle up and was waiting for him to step out. Scoutm called and said he had moved to the left and was out in the open. I looked left and found his head sticking out from the manzanita on the other side. I waited for him to take a couple steps to clear and squeezed the trigger. Scoutm immediately called on the radio to report he had dropped in his tracks. It was 8:00 in the morning and I could not believe I had just harvested another great buck, one that we had found on a scouting trip and had successfully returned to find and harvest during the season. It took us almost an hour to hike up to where he was. Scoutm had the chance to fill his tag on the 3x3 that was hanging out at the scene of the crime despite his buddy laying on the ground dead but he opted to pass. Scoutm commented that this buck’s nickname was Billy because he liked to climb mountains like a billy goat. After pictures and butchering we made it down to our glassing spot at 11:30 (grateful someone hadn’t stumbled on our stash of optics and gear) for some lunch, rest and hydration. At 1:00 we loaded up for the two hour, mid-day heat trek back to camp. I have to thank Blackdog for coming out with us on our hunt and helping pack meat. I have to thank Scoutm for taking two days out of his hunt to help me find and harvest my buck. I also have to thank my wife and daughter for continuing to put up with my semi-insane obsession. After a little ground shrinkage he scores 106 and change (same as my buck last year). His main beams are a little shorter than my buck from last year but his kickers and eye guards make him a great buck. I do not know if he was a younger buck than last year or just a smaller deer but he did have a noticeably smaller body. I also took some measurements of their skulls and this buck's skull is 6% to 11% smaller than my buck from last year. You can definitely see the antler similarities between this buck and the one I got last year and get a pretty good idea for the genetics in this area. Hopefully we are successful in next year’s draw and the 3x4 Scoutm and I passed on opening morning makes it through to next year.

thanks everyone for the kind words. it really was pretty cool to find this buck several weeks before the hunt and then go back in during the hunt and put a tag on him. I was a little worried about the junior hunters and then a little more worried when we were not able to locate him the day before the hunt. then it was frustrating to find him on friday and not be able to get a shot at him. fortunately it all came together on saturday. wish he hadn't been such a billy coues though and enjoyed climbing the mountain so much.

that is the kind of thing I would expect to see in OREGON!

great bull. that is a tremendous accomplishment. congrats!

well you could get a replica made and then use the money to fund a bunch of other hunts.

not sure if New Mexico still does it this way but they use to have hunts that were only during the week. Not sure if they were the first hunt or not but I think they were 5 day Mon - Fri or 4 day Tues - Fri. I would put in for that hunt. odds I am sure would be pretty good. bad thing is that hunters that can and do hunt during the week would be out there with you. compared to now when you rarely see anyone out Tues or Wed.

congrats on a fine buck. man those midwestern deer are big, have fat necks and big heads.

Scoutm was just saying on our Oct hunt how he mised the 10 day Nov hunts. I am torn because we always hunted the 10 day Nov hunt because we did not care for the limited opportunity/weekend warrior aspect of the 4 day Oct hunt but now that we have started hunting the 7 day Oct hunt we like being out in the middle of the week during the 1st hunt of the season after all the weekend warriors have gone home.

You DA MAN. yea the CRAZY MAN!!! that is pretty intense right there. and they call coues hunting the poor man sheep hunt. looks to me like you could go to BC or AK and not have any problems at all chasing sheep or goats. congrats on a successful hunt and on such a great buck.

given online draw this year, I am guessing end of week or next week. hope I am wrong but that is my guess.

way to go. good job and congrats on your first buck.

nice buck for sure. interesting to see what the lion did with it. coyotes would have feasted. thanks for sharing.

great job Jake! thanks for taking the time to share with us.

WOW that is an incredible buck. the length on the left G4 is probably what, 7 inches? crazy. thanks for sharing and congrats to your uncle.

great buck for sure. cool curve to his left mainbeam. congrats and thanks for sharing!

great job finding that buck and nice story. keep at it and share your love of hunting with your buddies.

great buck, especially in such thick country. it seems like it has been a weird year for velvet. lots of bucks taken in the oct hunts that still had velvet on them. seems like the bucks rubbed their velvet off 1 - 2 weeks later than normal. must be global warming. the buck I got still had some velvet on his antlers and his antlers were pretty light in color which I would take to mean he had not rubbed much on trees or brush.

wish I could find the article I read just last week on spike bucks. basically they removed all the spikes from a high fence ranch before the breeding season. the next year there were fewer spike bucks born. the avg number of antler points for the 1.5 year old deer the next year was higher than the previous year because the genetically inferior spike bucks were removed from the breeding population. they did acknowledge that they would have no way of knowing if this would hold true in the wild. comes back to the debate as to if a spike buck is just a young deer or a genetically inferior deer from an antler configuration stand point. I tend to lean towards the later.

Check your Driver's License I already removed mine. I suggest you all do the same. Now you can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security! Go to the web site, and check it out. It's unbelievable!!! Just enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked "Please Remove." This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement. Please notify all your friends so they can protect themselves too . Believe me they will thank you for it. http://www.license.shorturl.com/

man - that poor little cute bull dog got taken advantage of. someone should have been looking out for her. where were her parents? I'm calling the news: "It's 10:00 do you know where your dogs are?"

wow - that buck is a stud for sure. Cody needs to publish his cell phone on the site so everyone can call him up and get help being put on bucks like that.

those are some nice bucks for sure. congratulations. good to see the whole family out together making longtime memories.

sounds to me like he was just practicing his shooting in preparation for a big buck or he was really holding out for a big one and just didn't want to tell you. kind of like when my hunting partner mysteriously misses javelina at point blank range.

heard it scored 113

pretty cool. I think the 8th picture is one of the better ones for judging him. I get 101. nice buck for sure.