JDBrenay

I didn't know deer stayed within the confides of peoples property. In that case, I am going to find some huge bucks and string up barbed wire around them...that way I know where to find them next season.

So it took my wife finally surprising me with a new safe to allow for an opportunity to sneak my unit 21 Mule Deer shoulder mount and unit 23 Coues euro mount in from the garage...now I just need to get my unit 36b Coues euro mount from this year finished and put it up as well. Too bad I missed that Lion this year because that pelt would have looked great stretched out across that vaulted ceiling wall as well. My wife has no idea what this room will eventually morph into. Wahhahahaha!

Hard to tell...maybe in the high 1-teens or low 20's? Who cares...that is freaking awesome buck.

Well, this year we just couldn't find the big bucks in the areas we knew they were in. Maybe it was the hotter temperatures on the front of the hunt followed by the terribly windy temperatures on the back part of the hunt but we just couldn't get the big bucks to show themselves. The only exception was when I had the great opportunity to glass up and put a stalk on a Lion up on Diablo Mountain. After what seemed like an eternal starring contest at 150 yards followed by me getting a fleeing shot at him at 300 (looks like I missed him though - bummer), I looked down to see my dad had pushed up a big buck over the ridge that the Lion must have been watching. Double bummer! Anyway, so the quick story with this buck was we had just hunted the morning in one of our favorite spots only to see a ton of does. After consulting with a few guys scouting for a future hunt, they told us on the other side of the mountain we were watching they had seen a few smaller bucks that morning. So instead of moving, we decided to sit on the big canyon that afternoon that circles the mountain just to see if anything was moving around. It was so flipping hot that the thought of sitting under a shady Mesquite was right up all of our alleys. About an hour in we started seeing movement with Does and Fawns popping up everywhere. Then, as I was glassing way down the canyon, I saw some movement and saw some horns. There was a small buck coming up the canyon about a mile off. As I was up pretty high on the ridge, I decided to work my way down to closer to the bottom and on my way down, I spooked up a doe and fawn that started running tails up right towards that buck. Dang, I thought...they are going to spook that buck so I quickly looked and saw that the buck just looked at them as the cruised by him. I dodged a bullet there. So I kept making my way down the hill as quickly as I could. Once I made what I thought was a good spot, I pulled up my binoculars just in time to hear a twig snap in the canyon bottom. There, about 220 yards away looking right at me was the buck. With the sun at my back he quickly lost interest in me and started zigzagging his way up the other ridge. This gave me about 30 seconds to get set up and secure for the fairly straight forward 200 yard shot. Right when I pulled my rifle up and got a clear view of the buck, he stepped into the open spot I had planned on and stopped after I let out a soft bleat. The 270 WSM barked loud and the buck went down immediately right where he stood. You know, it never gets old, no matter how big or small the buck! Until next year...

What life is all about. Thanks for the reminder.

Called in 2 bucks to 300 yards a couple weekends back. One was a good 85" buck. Might even try it again this weekend if I can't spot em where I'm looking. Have fun!