WYOMING Smedium....
For the folks that just want the nitty gritty...
175# 9 that would have been at least a 12...possibly a 13 pt. Old deer. 201 yard, DRT shot with 7mmRemMag.
For folks that want the story and don't mind my long-windedness, skip to below the pics...
I name my deer after I shoot them because I've only ever hunted one deer in my life that I knew was there before I shot him... so, meet "Broke as a Joke."
;
After having 100 cows in my 36 acre spot near my house where I killed the 178 two years ago...resulting in 0 deer seen there this yearr...and after having all of the deer pressured onto the neighbors out of the river bottom I've been watching on my other spot where I killed the 158 three years ago, its been a very frustrating deer season. I've been watching a giant 2000 yards onto the neighbors bedding with a couple of other bucks and a bunch of does beside a few downed logs in waist high grass for the last week. They were pressured and moved over there, and there isn't a bush more than 2' high...and not many of them...for 500 yards in any direction. They are unapproachable even if I had permission to go after them.
So, I've been doing the only thing I can...go out and hope for the best. After many 0300 wake ups and long days sitting in the cold and blistering winds...many days have been 20-25 sustained with 40-50mph gusts...and having Larry come in and walk to and from his stand in the river bottom nearly every morning and every afternoon with no regard to the time (he came in 13 minutes before sunset yesterday) or wind, I was finding it difficult to not hit snooze or just turn off the alarm clock and go back to sleep. I woke up this am planning on going to a totally new spot, but the wind was very light and out of the East. It is W or NW or SW 99% of the time out here. I realized that the bucks I've been watching might actually come back since the wind would be in their faces, and I figured they would be able to hear me rattle with the light winds and crisp air. So I opted to go back to my spot early, pour out a bottle of estrous at the bottom of the ridge I am on, rattle just prior to shooting light, grunt, snort wheeze...basically throw the kitchen sink at them, and retreat back up the hill to my perch.
So I did. After climbing back up to my perch, I sat down and caught my breath and began glassing where the bucks have been bedding. Sure enough, I could see deer 1800 yards out moving in my general direction. No way to tell if any had antlers, but two of the group were definitely bigger and looked to be two of the bucks. I figured WTH, so I picked up the horns and rattled from near the hilltop for 30 seconds figuring that they wouldn't be able to tell it was coming from up high being that far away. I looked again, and there were only 3 deer there and they didn't look big. I figured they were coming my way in a hurry. I was just hoping they wouldn't hang up in the tick stuff on the neighbors side or wind me when they got closer.
I glanced to my right to check the field directly below me, and I saw a deer at 400 yards running my way. It was still very low light, but I figured it was a Doe and her two yearlings that I'd been watching for days that had not yet vacated my river bottom from the pressure. I see a deer behind her coming out of the grass, and I said "yep...it's mom and the yearlings." As soon as the back deer cleared the high grass, I could tell it was bigger than mama, and it was only one deer...definitely not the yearlings. I could not see antlers, thru binos, as it was still too dark. At 210, the doe hopped into the thick stuff in the river bottom, and the back deer trotted up to 201 and stopped. He was looking my direction hard trying to see the bucks that were just fighting a few minutes earlier. He'd look to where I rattled then back toward where the doe had gone in the woods. I swung my gun around on him to get a better look thru the scope with higher magnification to decide whether or not to pass and hope the other deer would give me a shot.
I was now looking at him thru the scope dialed to max trying to assess the rack. I wasn't going to pass any mature buck with any kind of decent rack at this point, because I leave town Wednesday am and the wind will be howling tomorrow. I finally got a brief, decent look at part of one side when he moved his head and it was in front of some pale yellow, chest high grass behind him on the edge of the field/woods. I thought I saw a kicker or some junk, so I figured he was not young. This all happened in about fifteen seconds, and I knew if he decided to go after the doe, he would be gone in one good leap. I knew the distance and it was my zero, so I put it point of shoulder quartering to me and squeezed. The whomp of the bullet with the suppressor is so satisfying. I found him again in my scope and he was't twitching. I had no clue what he was, but I was happy that I would be sleeping in tomorrow.
Ten minutes later, as I texted my buds, "KaWhompBang!!" Ol' Larry had actually arrived early, parked his truck away from the river bottom, and gotten to his stand without me seeing him, and he clearly shot a deer, as I heard the impact just before the "Bang" of the shot nearly made me swallow my dip.
I drove to my deer and could see that he was a pretty good buck but nothing huge. I was a little sick when I picked up his good side and realized he had broken off his main beam just after his G3. He had a split G2 on that side, nice mass and tine length. He had inside the beam facing kickers just under the G3s on both sides that were broken off, and he had what would have been a crab-claw broken off near the end of his intact main-beam. So, before he got his ass whooped, he was at least a 12 pt, and if his broke beam matched the other side, he woulda been a 13...as it stands, he's a broke to hades 9pt. The more I looked at him and thought about the Woodford I'm currently sipping on...and sleeping in tomorrow to-boot, the bigger he looked to me.
Larry shot a wide buck, but apparently hit him back. The deer was walking when he shot, and he hunched and walked off slowly. No blood to be found. We looked for 2 hours, didn't find the deer, and made amends for our previous meeting where I kinda chewed his butt for walking through the woods I was overlooking with no orange on. We ended up exchanging numbers and agreeing to work together to max out our hunting in that spot. He was very nice, and I look forward to hunting with him in the future.
Before helping me load my deer on the hitch haul, he showed me a pic of a Big perfect 10 that's been in the thick stuff a bunch, and that deer is pushing B&C...and a mountain lion that's been in there...and a 150" 10pt the lion killed and buried about 1/4 mile down-river his buddy found and dug out. He saw the possible Booner and the lion two days ago and couldn't get a shot at either. I was there. They were less than 300 yards from me, but the insane amount of rain this spring and summer has the grass in their chest high, and I never saw them. Gong to make me re-think walking around in there with doe urnie on my shoes for sure.
Anyhoo...I have a bunch of meat and a new friend and hunting buddy....started the day with nada, low hopes, and a guy I wanted to strangle...so I'd say it was a damn fine day.
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Originally Posted by WhitewaterDuck
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