regisranger Report post Posted November 23, 2018 This deer season was definitely one for the books! I have been a student in Colorado now for 4 years and have always wanted to chase rutting bucks in November with a rifle. The past 3 years I had chased deer with my bow and I thought it was time to switch over to a rifle after helping on a 3rd season hunt last year. We had 4 tags total, three 3rd season and one 4th season. My roommate and I both had 3rd season tags as well as his dad. My dad, on the other hand, had 4th season. My dad has never shot a deer over his years of hunting so I was mainly focused on using 3rd season to locate some bucks for him. Weather was awful the first two days with 50mph winds and 14 inches of snow. My buddies dad barely made it in time after blowing a turbo on the drive from AZ. He only had two days and the opening day weather didn't look promising. The low temps and snow were good in terms of pushing deer down low but the lack of visibility was a dampener for the two days his dad could hunt. The day two forecast listed 4 hours of clear skies and we knew that would be our opportunity. With some luck his dad had a good 4 point down within an hour just in time before visibility was gone once again. I didn't hunt days 3 or 4 due to some things I needed to get done. On day 5 we tried a new area to the east of some private we had located some deer. Once again within an hour my buddy shot a small 3 point. While packing out we located what we thought was a good buck bedded in some aspen. We made a move to get closer and it was a small 4. I was looking for a mature buck so decided to pass. We hunted hard, located a lot of deer but nothing worthy of my bullet other than two bucks hanging on private. I was down to my last day so I decided to hunt the south side of the private these bucks were on. The evening before this there was an excursion driving the private which got the deer moving south. With these two bucks being the only shooters I decided to head south and hopefully catch them on some state land in the morning. My gamble paid off and at first light we glassed up the wide 4 just south of the property line. He was chasing does towards private so I hustled and set up at 550 yrds. He finally stopped chasing a hot doe, turned broadside, and the 6.5-300wby met its mark. I was in shock. I had dreamed of taking a nice mature buck and it finally happened. I had only hunted deer with my bow in the past and would usually shoot the first branch antlered buck I was within range of. It was an awesome morning and a great way to end. Interestingly, as my buddy, who was spotting for me at about a quarter mile behind me, was working his way towards me he bumped another buck. He came up to my frantically asking if I had seen the buck he had just bumped and told me he was huge. He was guessing a 190 inches. With that being said I knew where I was going to be for my dads hunt. My hopes were high and I couldn't wait to spend some time in the woods with my dad. I came back up a day before 4th season started and checked out a new area. I ended finding an absolute stud and sent video to my dad while he was driving from AZ. He wanted that buck so thats where we ended up opening morning. It was a perfect morning, clear skies and negative 1. Unfortunately it was pretty slow for the first couple hours. We found two herds of elk and a few deer but no buck from the evening before. We were getting ready to head out and I glassed up the big boy chasing some does just a few ridges away. We made a move on him and setup at 600. He never offered a shot and we watched him chase does for awhile over a distant hill that was difficult to access. We headed out and as we were driving back to the main road I pulled off to glass a nice canyon. Well lets just say I was so eager to glass I was looking at the canyon instead of the road and my left front tire met a rock with an edge like a broad-head. It put 4 inch gash in the sidewall and put us out of commission. We had the spare on quick but spent most of out afternoon in town trying to find a tire. We were originally going to chase the same buck by accessing the backside of the hill he went over. It was too late to make that drive so I took my dad to where my buddy had bumped that big buck the morning I shot mine. I decided to access from a new glassing point to maximize the country we could see. We glassed for about an hour without success. We were in sage so there wasn't any hiding areas other than some draws. I decided to make a move closer to the draw so we could look down into it. It ended up being a warm day so I was thinking they were down low in the shade. Sure enough we slowly crested over the ridge and there were 15 deer feeding on the opposite side. I pulled up my binos and immediately saw a large framed buck. He was the only deer bedded and he was at 400 yrds. My dad was already getting set up and within seconds that buck was dead in his bed. It was one of the best moments I had ever spent with my dad. Not only did I get to share his first deer it was a stud at that! We were all tagged out! Expectations were more that exceeded and new memories were made. I will try to post pics in the order of how it went down. 1st pic, my buddies dad. 2-4pics my dads, 5th my buddys, 6 and 7 mine. Sorry for the longwinded story but thought I had to share all 4 successes! If you've never hunted CO 3rd/4th season I highly recommend it 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigorange Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Nice bucks...and helping your dad get his first buck. That’s awesome! Huge congrats all around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bojangles Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronk Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Very nice bucks, congrats to all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PRDATR Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Great story and congrats. Did you score any of them? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoshi Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Thanks for sharing and Congratulations!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DCS Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Those are some really nice bucks,and nice memories.Oh,and thank you for being long winded Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azpredator@work Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Great pics, great story and great hunt! Congrats and thanks for sharing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Great story thank you for sharing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Browns Report post Posted November 24, 2018 WOW, those are some great bucks and even better memories with your dad! Congrats!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
regisranger Report post Posted November 25, 2018 On 11/23/2018 at 8:45 AM, PRDATR said: Great story and congrats. Did you score any of them? Thanks! We did not score any of them. Maybe we will score my dads on a later date but my guess is his just about hits the 180 mark! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
az300wby Report post Posted November 27, 2018 Congrats on some great bucks! Colorado was awesome this year and can't wait to go back again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
