Tara's Buck
Brett's Buck: 28" wide x 22" tall (538 yds.)
Brett's buck looking back at Tara and I stalking it.
Brett's buck on the move
Kevin's Buck
Beth's Buck
I was shocked when Tara asked me to apply for a general season deer permit. It had been six years since her last deer permit and sixteen years since her hunt before that one. She did take a superb bull elk in 2009. I think it had been so long ago, she completely forgot about just how "crazy" it can be deer hunting with me and my brothers.
The 2012 rifle season will always be remembered as... "The year of the girls!" None of us guys had rifle permits, except Brett. He acts like a girl anyway, so he fit right in with their game plan. Ha,Ha! We had to cater to the Women's style of hunting this year...1.Keep me warm and dry, 2. Plenty of drinks, treats and snacks, 3.Don't hike me very far, 4. Don't yell at me when I miss, 5. Don't make me hold out for a big buck.
Opening morning found us in the high country with my brothers and their spouses. Tara and I went to a place that I thought we would have a chance at a buck trying to escape from other hunters in the field. As it got light, we could hear at least three different guns shooting multiple times. We presumed they were shooting at the same buck and that it was getting away from them. All the shooting was coming from an adjacent canyon. It sounded like a war zone over there! I told Tara we need to be ready because in a few minutes a buck might be coming our way.
Ten minutes later, a really big framed buck is blowing past us running left to right, only 80 yards below. He is in the lead with a doe and fawn and their jaws are wide open like they have been running a marathon. All I know is he was heavy, wide and tall! I know he had four normal tines on his left and I thought his right was messed up with what appeared to be two long extras off his base and at least 3 points above that? I didn't look at his antlers very long. We had some shooting to do.
I told Tara I was going to stop him. It took me three loud grunts to get him to finally stop. He was 150 yards out and hard quartered away. Tara said she didn't feel good about the shot angle. Then the doe got in our way. So I said... "As soon as he turns to go again and clears that doe.... take him."
It never works out that easy for us. The buck busted out on a dead run again and this time he wasn't going to slow down. He was headed for the deep canyon to our right. She got two running broadside shots at him before he was gone.We came so close to having a great buck on the ground. I felt really bad for her. It really didn't give her the best shooting opportunity. It was over before it really began.
I didn't break any of the five rules that morning, OK....maybe #3 a little. Tara was sad and wanted a re-do. She had gloves on while shooting and felt that didn't help her any. I was trying to ease her pain. Her brothers and sister-in-laws were ribbing her a little bit about the miss, all in fun. They were also helping her by telling them about their missed opportunities over the years. What is crazy is later that same day, in another canyon, a giant mid 180's buck was missed by both of her sisters who were earlier trying to consul her about her miss. It was a 100 and 200 yard standing shots at a really big typical. Now Tara was the one trying to consul them. Ouch! I am pretty sure three of my brothers broke rule #4 that night.
We had to wait until the second weekend to go hunting again. This time we decided to go over to my Mom and Dad's with the kids and hunt with the girls. We stayed at their house and hunted down low above town so the kids had a place to hang while Tara and I hunted. We hit some of my old stomping grounds. I haven't hunted them in years. There were lots of does showing up in the lower fields in the evenings since we had a small mountain storm earlier in the week. Now, could we find her a buck in the Juniper above them?
It didn't take us long to get the first deer down. Beth took a nice 5x4 the morning prior. Friday morning we were with Dusty, Beth and their son Kevin. We had a nice 3x3 with a cheater in front of us. I think Dusty was breaking all the rules, as Kevin was trying to get on the buck in the scope. Tara was on him, but we wanted Kevin to shoot it.
Just as the buck was getting close to the top of the hillside, Kevin finally located him and anchored him with his dad's .300 ultra mag. Dusty was watching Kevin and not the deer. Kevin's shot was so fast once he had him in the scope, Dusty was sure it was a clean miss. He had been watching Kevin and not the buck. So he was telling Kevin to hurry and get another shell in and then he looked up when I said... "You got him!" Dusty couldn't believe it. It was a fun morning for all of us.
Later that same day, Tara and I went hunting both high and low with no luck. As we were driving back with very little shooting light left, a giant buck crossed the road in front of us. He jumped the field fence and was standing broadside 75 yards away from us next to some does. I was trying to get Tara to get out and off the road and shoot this big buck, but she felt it was just too late for her. I think we still had a few minutes of legal light. It was light enough to make him out clearly in my binos. I sort of broke some kind of the 5 rules as we drove back to my parent's home. I have hunted long enough to know each of us have our limits and see didn't feel good about it.
We made a game plan for the morning with my brothers in how we should hunt this big buck. We split up and had it covered well, but we could not figure out where exactly he was bedding for the day? We covered everywhere we thought he might be hunkered down. While trying to do drives to each other on the bluffs for this particular buck, Brett and Jared jumped a nice three by three.
They bumped it to Justina sitting on an escape route and she barely missed him three times. The buck turned down the canyon towards us. We were sitting on a small pinnacle. I couldn't get him to stop for Tara. So she ended up shooting him on the move at 300 yards barely missing each shot as he was side hilling. He got away from the girls. Both were bummed that they had missed. No one dared break rule #4 that morning, when we all got back together. We knew better!
It's now the afternoon of Tara's last hunt. I could tell both her and Justina were frustrated and it all started from Opening Day. I talked Jared and Brett to going on a small hike with us to one my old hideouts. Jared had killed a big buck up there about 8 years ago, so he thought it was a good idea too. Not Brett, he wanted to go elsewhere. Lucky for him, I talked him into making the drive with us. I myself had not hunted it since high school but we knew some deer would be in this area.
Dusty, Beth, BJ and Justina sat below us to watch if we pushed something off the top to them. Justina was the only one in their group below us with a gun, the rest were there for fun and moral support. Tara and Brett were the only two in our group on the bluff who had guns. I would help Tara and Jared would push to the side of us.
It was Jared that jumped the same big buck we were looking for that morning. I couldn't believe we found his hideout. I knew he was on this side but I never thought he would be that far East from where we saw him the night before.
We were on a mesa and he was out in front of us. I first saw him 500 yards out standing in some sparce juniper. It was the buck from the night before. The three of us stocked within 100 yards of him trying to get a visual. It was too thick. He heard us in the shale rock busted out and was hooking around us. I thought he might be trying to circle and head back up the mesa for more cover. Tara and I split from Jared on the run to cut him back. I was trying to make sure he didn't double back on us and get away.
We ended up kicking the buck back in front of us and off the top of the mesa he he went before we had a chance to get on him. Now he was in Brett's canyon and he could see him coming off the top towards him. Brett got a dead rest shooting from the prone position. He was high on the other side of the canyon. When the buck finally stopped at the bottom of the canyon, Brett shot him with his .300 ultra at 538 yards. WOW what a shot and WOW what a deer!
While he was a hollering across the canyon and doing the happy feet dance, more deer were in front of us checking Brett out. We eased up to them and came across Tara's buck, a nice 4 point. He was holding tight wondering what all the fuss was about on Brett's side. Tara tried to thread a bullet in a small shooting lane and missed him. He came out across the mesa flat and she barely missed him again. Her shot turned him hard to the South. He ran right off the top of the bluff in head of us. We ran to the edge and immediately set her gun on shooting sticks.
We quickly found the buck standing below. He got in with some does and I helped give Tara the range. It was 300 yards with her .270. She used the second crosshair and her first shot was just barely high over its back. She used the first crosshair this time and held on the top of his back. Her second shot knocked him down for good. It was some great shooting in the heat of the moment! It was her first deer she has harvested and I think it was also the first standing buck she finally had in her scope. She is deadly if they hold still long enough.
This was a great weekend for all our family! I couldn't be more happy for Tara. I think we both enjoyed the time we spent together, except for the misses and me almost breaking some of the girl's rules. It was fun for both the girls and the guys. I think as long as us guys can keep it relaxed, the girls will likely hunt with us a little bit more in the future.
