Colorado was good to Bron again harvesting this big old bruiser of a buck. We had been struggling for a couple days only seeing small bucks. Our luck turned when we watched this guy sneek into a thicket of tall sage and oak and bed down for the day trying to elude some other hunters in the area. It was beginning to rain so we decided to watch this thicket from the truck until the weather finally broke.
I saw another storm cell was going to hit us again before dark on my phone app. I told Bron we are going to have to get this buck up on his feet. I was afraid if we didn't he would stay in his bed and we would lose our shooting light. I first thought about setting Bron up above him and make some fawn-in-distress calls hoping he doesn't bolt before Bron can get a good shot off. Our other option was to set Bron up about 800 yards away from the buck where I assumed his escape route would be. I would get above him and make some distress calls and hope he takes off towards Bron and starts slowing down about when he gets to him. We picked the latter option. Glad we did.
We split up and I circled around the bedded buck and got within what I figured was 150 yards above him. I could see Bron across the flat down below me on a good shooting knob. I blew the fawn call softly and waited. Nothing! I blew another short series and again no reaction. I began to worry he had gotten up while I had been hiking. I blew a loud aggressive third distress time and still nothing. As light was starting to fade, I dropped off into the ticket like a German Shorthair Pointer. Maybe he was holding up like a pheasant.
After what seemed like forever but was really only a few minutes of bird-dogging, I made up my mind he was gone. He had given us the slip somehow. That's when a big BOOM echoed across the valley! It was shortly followed up by two more shots from Bron. Oh wow, I must have jumped him up. Oh no, Bron must have missed him on the run was the visual I had in my head while the shooting was taking place.
I busted out the other side of the thicket only to see Bron was no longer on his perch. I picked up the bucks giant track bounding across the muddy sage flat. While I was following them, I was planning it in my head how we were going to have to pick up his trail again in the morning and see if we could catch up with him. That's when I spotted Bron about 250 yards away coming my direction. He saw me. I slowed down my tracking pace to wait for him and hear his story about how he missed him three times. I went another 30 yards while he was cutting the distance between us and that is when I went into shock from disbelief. I was now following a big track with a blood trail! Woah, this is game changer to what I had been thinking.
I stopped and Bron shortly caught up to me and told me the entire story in warp speed. At how the buck came charging out of the thicket on a death run. He said it got his heart pumping watching him through the scope getting closer. He said he finally slowed down enough to a trot and when he paused for a second, he pulled the trigger. It was a solid hit. He said he probably missed on his hurried second shot. Wasn't sure about the third but he went down. I couldn't believe it. I told him I thought he missed him from all the shooting. We had a good laugh. I am learning not to doubt this kid's shooting skills. He is pretty good with a rifle.
I followed behind Bron another 50 yards on the blood trial and watched as he walked up on his biggest buck to date. What a beast of a buck! I was glad to be a part of it. I surprised myself. Have to love it when a hunting plan comes together.
