GRONG Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Been wanting to post this for a while, just haven't had the time. One evening my wife asked me if there were any nice buck skulls that she could hang in the living room? My response, "WHAT WHAT WHO WHAT WHAT!?!?!" I know, I know, kinda caught me off guard a little with that one too. I asked her why the interest all the sudden and her response was, "I want all my liberal friends to see that my man hunts!" Nearly brings tears to my eyes.... Anyway, as we were moving stuff around she says, "I want my first buck to go right here." And thus a hunter was born..... My gorgeous and awesome wife of nearly 18 years pulled her first choice tag for this past Oct and the planning begun. 2 weeks before season I started scouting in an old familiar spot I love dearly. Glassed a few does then about ten minutes into glassing I spot a real pretty 3pt buck all alone. Soon as I saw it I thought, that buck looks perfect for Jen! Guessed it in the lower 90's and just figured she'd love this buck. Later that morning I spotted 2 other bucks that were bigger but just not as symmetrical. Watched the bucks all morning then came back in the evening and spotted them again. The following weekend I found all the bucks again and video'd them sparring and chasing each other around. Gotta love sittin behind the binos watching bucks and gettin pumped about the Mrs hunting with me finally. Here's a couple of the pretty 3pt thru the 15s The next day I took her out to shoot a rifle for her first time. We set out a target at 500 yards and she let em rip!! Not bad for her first shots.... After these 3 I said thats it lets go, good enough for me! Loaded up camp Thursday morning and headed for the mountain..... Opening morning found us out there EARLY in hopes of beating anyone there. Ya never know when it comes to public land hunting.... So we got set up in a spot I'd glassed from before and as I was setting up my tripod I unsnapped my 10's from my neck and told her to look thru these to stay busy. She instantly put them to her eyes and just as quick said, "I see one!" I said, "Are you serious?" She looked for a few more seconds and said, "Yeah, it's a deer!" I couldn't believe it, her first time ever sitting behind the binos and she had a buck in 2 seconds! So I got my 15s attached and found where she was looking and sure enough there were 3 bucks together. We watched them for quite some time as they fed closer and closer to us. At first they were about 560 yards, now they were gettin quite a bit closer. I had Jen get wedged into a crack in a big boulder so she could get a solid rest. At 440 yards the buck turned broadside and I told her to put the first line below the main X-hair right on the buck, just behind it's shoulder. I watched the vapor trial as it made it's way toward the buck and WHOPP!!!!! She hammered the buck! A bit farther back than we wanted and the buck humped up laid down about 10 yards away and could tell it was hurtin big time. Luckily it laid down in a spot where we could see it until another buck walked up to it and threw its head at the buck to get it moving. After a couple attempts at getting up it finally did and hobbled just out of sight into the thick brush. LOVELY!!! We sat there for just over an hour waiting just in case it got up and moved but we never saw anything. The other bucks eventually moved off and we made our move down onto a small hill about 150 yards from where we'd seen the buck last. A spike buck walked right over into the brush and was moving around but we couldn't tell what it was doing. But I told Jen that that spike just told me right where your buck is laying. It walked off and I told Jen to lay behind the gun in case her buck jumped up as I was gonna sneak in there and see if I could find it. I crept over there and spotted her buck completely dead!!! I threw my hands up in celebration and I saw her jump up with excitement too! What a neat moment to share with the love of my life. Congratulations honey on an absolute gorgeous first buck! Enjoy the pics........ And yes, that is a GRONG orange coueswhitetail.com shirt on under that camo, wink! Oh and her buck scored 93" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azbownunter22 Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Awesome, way to get it done Mrs Grong! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loco4coues Report post Posted November 10, 2010 awesome job! That is a very pretty buck, thanks for sharing and congrats to you and your wife. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tines Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Congrats to the both of you! He'll look great on your wall, for sure. Is it me or did that buck have an exceptionally large body? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azyota Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Great story! Looks like you have a couple keepers there. Way to go! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GRONG Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Ha, it's probably just the picture. It was an average sized body I'd guess. Got about 35-40lbs of meat from the butcher. Thanks for the kind comments. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lucky2hunt Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Fantastic buck! Congrats to your wife... and to you as well! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Basser15 Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Very cool, congrats to you both! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azcoues Report post Posted November 10, 2010 heck yeah way to go nice setup josh did u get a new truck? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azpredator@work Report post Posted November 10, 2010 very nice Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Congrats Jen & Josh! That's a beauty of a first buck and will look awesome in the house. Now all her liberal friends will see that SHE hunts too! Way to go, enjoyed reading the story. Jen, you have no idea how lucky Josh is, especially now that you hunt...and shed hunt..and...jk! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GRONG Report post Posted November 10, 2010 You're funny CHEF and yes I did get a new truck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Way to go Jen!!!! That is awesome! I know you made Josh a very proud husband!!!! Excellent hunt! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZ402 Report post Posted November 10, 2010 Awesome buck, congrats again Jen.......... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luvcoues Report post Posted November 10, 2010 conggrats to both of you. and those memories will last forever. awsome buck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites