Calebwalter Report post Posted November 10, 2020 I want to start by saying thanks to the people who chimed in to my first post about being frustrated, mainly Bill for all his help and all his advice. I spent most of the summer and early fall scouting 24a with no luck. I couldn’t even find a doe. Every trip out to the Unit I learned something new but still couldn’t find a deer. Bill invited me to shadow his hunt in 24a and teach me about coues deer and I’m extremely grateful for that. I was discouraged to say the least. I figured even if I hadn’t spotted any deer I would still go hunt my hardest. Once I realized the north part of 24a was open, we started our hunt off haystack road. We hiked in about 2 miles and camped in some of the shittiest spots imaginable. Literally shitty. The cows were hogging all the flat spots, so we pushed them out and slept in their crap piles. Friday afternoon I finally laid my eyes on a group of magical does at 1000yards. Watched them for 2 days hoping a buck was in the area. No luck, so we decided to change our spots. After 2 nights of next to zero sleep, plenty of rain, and a ton of wind, we changed spots and did some “road hunting”. Driving and glassing, driving and glassing. No deer, just a bunch of hunters. Everyone I talked to was seeing doe’s, but no bucks. I took another look at the map, decided to go to the place I didn’t want to go.. way out, and way up. I found a cliff looking into a canyon, walked up to the edge and saw a doe at 70 yards. I knew it was a good spot. Spent a couple hours looking through my friends spotting scope while he sat in the truck browsing tinder.. or Christian mingle.com .. or whatever he’s into and found some does. At the point where I was asking myself “what in the heck am I doing out here?” I pan over and see a buck feeding on some bushes! I couldn’t believe my eyes... he had horns! Miraculously at the same time my buddy walks over and I’m shaking like a leaf. I ranged him at 711yards and decided no way was I taking that shot in the wind. Decided to cut the distance by 200 yards and see what the buck does. I hike down and glass the spot... he’s gone... My buddy on the spotter calls me and says “hey the buck has moved about 150 yards closer to you... wait.... there’s another buck.. he’s a TANK!” The two bucks move down to a water tank. I ranged him at 384yards. Dial my scope, zoom all the way to 16X... yup.. made that mistake.... and shaking like a leaf with buck fever I pressed the trigger... Got the rifle steadied... and he’s gone... My buddy calls me and said “dude you missed by a mile..... BUT YOU SHOT AT THE WRONG BUCK!!!!! The buck you want to shoot is 5 yards closer to you in the trail!” The buck starts walking, stops to smell the wind, and I poressed the trigger. Hit him about 6-8inches back from where I was aiming, and destroyed his spine... at that point I realized somehow I must have bumped .2mils of windage in the turret.... I watched him hoping he would bleed out for about 10 minutes before I decided to hike back to the cliff and come up with a plan. Maybe 25-30 minutes passed and he still had his head up. I was gutted. I still feel terrible that I didn’t one shot kill him... we moved spots on the cliff and I decided to shoot him again from 515 yards. Put one right through his lungs and he flopped over dead. We emptied our bags except the essentials and hiked down. My first year as a Hunter has been a roller coaster. But I finally laid my hands on an animal that I HUNTED.. an animal that I shot.. we took some pictures that I will cherish for ever, cut him up, and we packed him out in the dark. 21 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calebwalter Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Fixed the picture Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HyNoon Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congratulations on sticking with it and getting it done on what is a really nice first buck for ya, really nice buck in general too... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Delw Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congrats 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calebwalter Report post Posted November 10, 2020 3 minutes ago, HyNoon said: Congratulations on sticking with it and getting it done on what is a really nice first buck for ya, really nice buck in general too... Thank you! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bucks N Bulls Report post Posted November 10, 2020 heck of a 1st buck! Congratulations! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calebwalter Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Thanks man! with how the pre season scouting went, I told myself that I would be happy with a fork buck. With that mindset, this buck is like a dream come true for me. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpotNStalk Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congrats on a great buck. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
twigsnapper Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Great job, you’re hooked forever! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flatlander Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congrats man. That’s a heck of a first buck. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigbuckfever Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Awesome buck and great write-up, thanks for sharing. There's nothing like putting in the effort and having it pay off. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZAV8ER Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Way to hang in there and keep trying. I see many successful hunts ahead for you. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZbowhntr Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congrats on a great buck. Way to stick with it. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
218buck Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congrats on your buck well done 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mocha1545 Report post Posted November 10, 2020 Congrats on a NICE buck. Way to stick with it! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
