Search the Community

So I’m a bit late sharing this so with some down time at work figured I’d share my 2021 solo coues hunt! After years of archery hunting , never putting in for in for rifle hunts and always helping close friends of mine on rifle hunts and always saying to myself that I’m gonna put in for a rifle tag because how much fun I always have on them , I finally put in for a late November tag and drew . With having to move two house into one in the beginning of October and the holidays in a new home ,It didn’t give me much time to scout for this hunt. A good buddy of mine pointed me into a area he had been luck in the past . After spending all of opening day glassing up smaller deer and other hunters it felt there wasn’t much in that area that wasn’t being hunted hard and deer that weren’t pushed all over the place . I went back to camp and regrouped and made a different game plan for day 2. At first light I was on this little hill that gave me a huge view into some great wilderness area . With in 20 minutes I glassed up 4 does 2 miles away on this grassy hill side. I watched them for a good hour off and on as I tried to glass other areas trying to find a good buck. Coming back to them every 10 minutes to finally see 4 deer turn into 7 . At that distance was hard for me to see if there was antlers on any of the deer , but seeing a deer stand in front of a small tree and the tree shaking up and down for about 10 minutes and then seeing another deer chase that deer off I knew there was a decent buck in there. I grabbed my pack and decided to make a move on these deer knowing that they’ve been in the same area for almost 2 hours now. I decided to go strait at them . With 3 different washes and big hills to keep track of these deer as I was making my way to them . I’d cut down a hill ,cross a big wash ,bush whacking my way up another steep hill glassing them back up . After about a 2 hour journey , sweating and breathing hard after cresting this hill I thought I wanted to be on to shoot from I put my binoculars up right when this buck was bedding back down between two small trees . I ranged him at 800 yards a lot further than I’m comfortable shooting at. With one more hill in between us I ranged the tip of the hill at 400 yards . That would put me in a distance I’m comfortable with . Knowing he just bedded back down I made the cut down the hill across another wash and back up to a rock outcrop that would give a great view to where he bedded down . Got to the rock outcrop and saw his antlers shining through the small tree he was laying behind. My head started pounding as I saw the uniqueness of this bucks antlers. Got ready and was able to calm down and get comfortable while I waited for him to stand up at 380 yards . He stood up and buck fever kicked in and started to get shaky again ! I pulled the trigger with excitement and shot just above his back . Knowing I screwed up and pulled to hard , I reracked another round found him standing 5 feet from where he stood up , I put my crosshairs on him and took a deep breath and on the Exhale gently squeezed the trigger. After the recoil of a 300 win mag wasn’t able to see him go down. With doubt cause of my first shot , I made the long walk that seemed forever over to where he was to see him pulled up in the bush ! After breaking him down and getting my pack loaded it was start to get dark . I thanked god for this moment by myself and never felt a more rewarding hunt !