upper deck
Member
Great buck. Cant wait to hear more about it.
2010 Wyo Deer
- Thread starter krshunter
- Start date
hardscrabble
Active member
Deffinetly a stud, I am very jealous. congrats
JoseCuervo
New member
Sometimes you just have to settle for a meat buck the last day and hope for a better one the next year.
Keep your chin up, work a bit harder, and maybe you'll get a big one some day.....
.
.
Keep your chin up, work a bit harder, and maybe you'll get a big one some day.....
.
.
wyomuledeer
New member
Not to shabby for the last day. Congrats that is a pig.
Bucnutz.wis
New member
Awesome Buck - Congrats !!
krshunter
Member
Well I'm on the road watching my daughter at State diving and swimming championships. Pretty proud of the young lady. She is a year ahead in school, maintains a 4.0 grade point average, qualified for state championships as a freshman and loves to hunt and shoot. What more could I ask for. At any rate I don't have some of my scenic photos of the areas I've been hunting but it was a rough fall with all of the warm weather and limited hunting ground where we're at. I'd have to guess that close to 80% of the land is private (landowners do not allow hunting) and of the remaining 20% public, I'd bet only 10% of that is accessible. So finding land to hunt is difficult, often crowded and you do best on foot.
I spent 8 or 9 days up in these areas since the 15th of October hiking in and then walking every square foot of them. One area consists of a State section, a BLM section and then about half of another BLM section. Another spot has 1/4 of a section being state adjacent to a section and a half of BLM. The third is a narrow strip of public leading to another State section and its a mile into the state section. The terrain is usually very steep and in most cases there aren't any roads except what comes in from private. In one area I ran into some Kansas hunters who had paid the land owner $20,000 to hunt on about 4,000 acres. Unfortunately they thought that because they could run all over his lands that also meant they could run their ATV's all over the state and BLM lands as well because they were within. One of them even tried kicking me out because they were leasing the lands to hunt not understanding that the public lands weren't included in that lease and I had access to them from a public right-of-way. A lot of frustration to deal with.
So......the story. Wednesday was to be my last day. I headed out early not sure of my plan. I was hesitant to hit a couple of the areas because I had been in them so many times already and moved a lot of animals around although they pretty much stayed on the private sides. I had been in another area one time and seen one good buck and watched him for the better part of an hour less than 50 yds onto the private. Left him on the private and glad I did. He wouldn't come over the fence. I waited for the sun to come up and glassed hoping to see him wandering but no luck. I decided to run down the road and look at one last area hoping to at least see deer. 200yds off the road a nice 3x3 was beded undera spruce tree but as soon as I stopped the truck he bolted over the ridge. Being the only deer I had seen I decided to layer up and see if I could get on him over the hill.
The temperatures were in the 20's and the wind was blowing into my face at about 35mph. 1/4 mile from the truck, my cheecks and forehead were freezing already and I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. But with nothing more to do for the day than hunt I did. I got to a deep drainage and spotted up a group of does and fans feeding out of the wind and getting some sun. I watched them for a bit and then glassed up the hill another 800yds away and spotted two different groups of bucks in different rock formations. One formation was on private land and the other I wasn't sure about but at a little more that 900yds I could see horns and decided to stick to the fences and see how close they got to the bucks.
About a mile in I hit a full public section and headed north along the boundary line. I got to about 380 yds and glassed up on of the 2 bucks I had seen in this group. Feeding in front of a rock formation and no idea I was there. I couldn't get any closer without him seeing me though so I backed out and came around a hill and got to 280yds. He spotted me but I layed out prone a few feet from the fence. I could see the fence line running up over the hill confirming that the buck was on the public side. I had him in the scope broad side and decided to wait to see if the other showed his head as well since I had seen 2 bucks. The one watching me was a nice even 3x3 and I would have been happy to take him home for meat if the other wasn't any bigger. As I glassed and waited I saw a shadow on a rock face behind him that looked so much like one side of a bucks rack that I was sure it was too good to be true.
The second deer finally showed his head and he was a decent 4x4. Decent enough to take on the last day anyway especially with meat being the ulitmate factor for my family. Trophys just make it that much better. I slid over right against the fence and then I could see what I thought was the tip of a horn. Couldn't be I told myself. That shadow is huge. I waited and nothing. I decided to give a loud yell just to see if anything could hear me in the wind and would actually stand up. Low and behold this deer stands up from behind a rock and I'm pretty sure I made a mess of myself. So I've got 280yds, a 30+mph cross wind and 3/4 of one hell of a buck standing broad side. I couldn't see any of the trash on the left side but it really didn't matter. I was taking a shot. His hind quarters were still hidden behind the rock. Knowing my drop I held at the top of his back and on where his hind quarter would have been and slowly squeezed. I had a great rest laying down with a bipod so knew that the wind was the only thing I wasn't comfortable with. I was able to keep the scope on him and I saw that typical hunch when a buck gets hit in the boiler room. I saw him take a couple of hops straight down hill and then he disappeared.
Not one to like to see animals suffer till death I headed up the hill to see what the situation was. I came over a small ridge to find the 3x3 buck standing right beside my buck which was down in the brush but not quite gone yet. The buck looked at me and stared and didn't run off until I put a finishing shot in my buck at about 35 feet. When I got to him I was extatic with what I had on the ground. He was big bodied, his neck was extremely swollen and I had no idea he had the trash he did. I couldn't have been happier. I got him caped out and back out 1 1/2 miles to the truck and called mhungerford at work and he was nice enough to run out and help me pack the meat out. It cost me a half day of vacation to get him out there but that's the perks of being the boss. We walked back in and he commented that I must be excited. I'm 13 years his senior and in no where near the shape he is but I led all the way in and never stopped till we got to the top of the hill. We took meat off the front of the deer and mhungerford loaded up the hind quarters and we were out in no time. Shot at 8:30 and in the truck at 2:30. Unfortunately I forgot to take a camera with me so we didn't get full body photos but we made due once we got down to the truck.
I feel like I earned this wonderful buck with all of the work and walking I had put in to that point mostly on my own but also felt like things kind of fell into place for me as well passing up other bucks, some not coming onto public land, etc. It was mean to happen that way as frustrating as it was getting. I need to also thank mhungerford for his assistance getting this thing out. I could have done it but would have taken significantly longer and I do have health issues that I have to be careful with. Thanks bud! Thanks for all of the comments from everyone as well. I'm also still excited so sorry for being so long winded.
I spent 8 or 9 days up in these areas since the 15th of October hiking in and then walking every square foot of them. One area consists of a State section, a BLM section and then about half of another BLM section. Another spot has 1/4 of a section being state adjacent to a section and a half of BLM. The third is a narrow strip of public leading to another State section and its a mile into the state section. The terrain is usually very steep and in most cases there aren't any roads except what comes in from private. In one area I ran into some Kansas hunters who had paid the land owner $20,000 to hunt on about 4,000 acres. Unfortunately they thought that because they could run all over his lands that also meant they could run their ATV's all over the state and BLM lands as well because they were within. One of them even tried kicking me out because they were leasing the lands to hunt not understanding that the public lands weren't included in that lease and I had access to them from a public right-of-way. A lot of frustration to deal with.
So......the story. Wednesday was to be my last day. I headed out early not sure of my plan. I was hesitant to hit a couple of the areas because I had been in them so many times already and moved a lot of animals around although they pretty much stayed on the private sides. I had been in another area one time and seen one good buck and watched him for the better part of an hour less than 50 yds onto the private. Left him on the private and glad I did. He wouldn't come over the fence. I waited for the sun to come up and glassed hoping to see him wandering but no luck. I decided to run down the road and look at one last area hoping to at least see deer. 200yds off the road a nice 3x3 was beded undera spruce tree but as soon as I stopped the truck he bolted over the ridge. Being the only deer I had seen I decided to layer up and see if I could get on him over the hill.
The temperatures were in the 20's and the wind was blowing into my face at about 35mph. 1/4 mile from the truck, my cheecks and forehead were freezing already and I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. But with nothing more to do for the day than hunt I did. I got to a deep drainage and spotted up a group of does and fans feeding out of the wind and getting some sun. I watched them for a bit and then glassed up the hill another 800yds away and spotted two different groups of bucks in different rock formations. One formation was on private land and the other I wasn't sure about but at a little more that 900yds I could see horns and decided to stick to the fences and see how close they got to the bucks.
About a mile in I hit a full public section and headed north along the boundary line. I got to about 380 yds and glassed up on of the 2 bucks I had seen in this group. Feeding in front of a rock formation and no idea I was there. I couldn't get any closer without him seeing me though so I backed out and came around a hill and got to 280yds. He spotted me but I layed out prone a few feet from the fence. I could see the fence line running up over the hill confirming that the buck was on the public side. I had him in the scope broad side and decided to wait to see if the other showed his head as well since I had seen 2 bucks. The one watching me was a nice even 3x3 and I would have been happy to take him home for meat if the other wasn't any bigger. As I glassed and waited I saw a shadow on a rock face behind him that looked so much like one side of a bucks rack that I was sure it was too good to be true.
The second deer finally showed his head and he was a decent 4x4. Decent enough to take on the last day anyway especially with meat being the ulitmate factor for my family. Trophys just make it that much better. I slid over right against the fence and then I could see what I thought was the tip of a horn. Couldn't be I told myself. That shadow is huge. I waited and nothing. I decided to give a loud yell just to see if anything could hear me in the wind and would actually stand up. Low and behold this deer stands up from behind a rock and I'm pretty sure I made a mess of myself. So I've got 280yds, a 30+mph cross wind and 3/4 of one hell of a buck standing broad side. I couldn't see any of the trash on the left side but it really didn't matter. I was taking a shot. His hind quarters were still hidden behind the rock. Knowing my drop I held at the top of his back and on where his hind quarter would have been and slowly squeezed. I had a great rest laying down with a bipod so knew that the wind was the only thing I wasn't comfortable with. I was able to keep the scope on him and I saw that typical hunch when a buck gets hit in the boiler room. I saw him take a couple of hops straight down hill and then he disappeared.
Not one to like to see animals suffer till death I headed up the hill to see what the situation was. I came over a small ridge to find the 3x3 buck standing right beside my buck which was down in the brush but not quite gone yet. The buck looked at me and stared and didn't run off until I put a finishing shot in my buck at about 35 feet. When I got to him I was extatic with what I had on the ground. He was big bodied, his neck was extremely swollen and I had no idea he had the trash he did. I couldn't have been happier. I got him caped out and back out 1 1/2 miles to the truck and called mhungerford at work and he was nice enough to run out and help me pack the meat out. It cost me a half day of vacation to get him out there but that's the perks of being the boss. We walked back in and he commented that I must be excited. I'm 13 years his senior and in no where near the shape he is but I led all the way in and never stopped till we got to the top of the hill. We took meat off the front of the deer and mhungerford loaded up the hind quarters and we were out in no time. Shot at 8:30 and in the truck at 2:30. Unfortunately I forgot to take a camera with me so we didn't get full body photos but we made due once we got down to the truck.
I feel like I earned this wonderful buck with all of the work and walking I had put in to that point mostly on my own but also felt like things kind of fell into place for me as well passing up other bucks, some not coming onto public land, etc. It was mean to happen that way as frustrating as it was getting. I need to also thank mhungerford for his assistance getting this thing out. I could have done it but would have taken significantly longer and I do have health issues that I have to be careful with. Thanks bud! Thanks for all of the comments from everyone as well. I'm also still excited so sorry for being so long winded.
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noharleyyet
Well-known member
Thanks for the bonus looks....he just gets better.
highmountian
New member
Very cool photo's, congrats on one heck of a buck! Way to stick it out!
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2000
- Messages
- 11,645
That's an awesome deer and some familiar looking country. Congrats on a great buck!
krshunter
Member
Got the chance to throw the tape on him today. Just to keep Buzz from starting anything it was a good tape, not the "Magic Tape".
B&C - 191 4/8"
SCI - 199 4/8"
B&C - 191 4/8"
SCI - 199 4/8"
Muley1
Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2009
- Messages
- 128
Wow! What a great buck and very well deserved. Congrats!
Outdooraddict
Active member
Now that chit is funny. I'd take him as a fist, second, third, etc... opportunity buck. Good job!
krshunter
Member
Sometimes you just have to settle for a meat buck the last day and hope for a better one the next year.
Keep your chin up, work a bit harder, and maybe you'll get a big one some day.....
.
.
Glad someone else understands just being happy putting meat on the table. Thanks for the encouragement.
elk_hunter
Active member
Dang that's an awesome buck. Congrats on a monster!
wingman1
New member
What a heavy horn tank!!! Greenhorn do you live in Wyoming?
Brandenbowhunter
Well-known member
That is a sweet deer!
Der Aulte Jaeger
New member
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
- Messages
- 50
Great one! I'm also a public lands, diy hunter. Been tromping, in a limited way due to health, very likely some of the same land or nearby land to where you did your work. Congrats as bucks seem to be far and few between and really nice bucks scarce as hens teeth! I'm from just north of Laramie in Rock River by the way. Just headed out now for my last gasp at the season in this area.
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