smalls
Well-known member
I am so jacked up right now I can't even explain it. It's been a fairly tough hunting season for me with some botched and blown opportunity on elk (big elk at that) and not much time spent on deer. To make matters worse, I lost my job last week so to say that things were "tense" around the smalls household is a complete understatement. I had been invited hunting both yesterday and today with a good buddy, and had originally decided not to go because money is not in real long supply. My wife convinced me that I was going to go nuts sitting in the house another day and said that if I kept costs minimal that I should go. I was under orders to NOT be picky and put some meat in the freezer.
Last night was a bust with no real big deer showing themselves other than on some super private ranches in the area. This morning started out well with deer rutting hard and moving alot. It seemed there were forkies every 50' along the roadwith no quality bucks, although that didn't stop the guys from yelling "BARNEY BIG BUCK" every time a 2-point was spotted within spitting distance of the gravel. I passed on a small 3-point that was broken up...and I just didn't want the hunt to end so early. After no "shooter" bucks showed we hiked back to the truck and went to "No-Fail" hill. It was decided that my buddy would hike up and over the hill and I would work my way around the bottoms looking for moving deer. Two hours, several miles and lots of glassing later, neither one of us had seen a deer. I started to regret not shooting some of the smaller bucks from earlier in the day when T whisper-yells, "there he is, good forks and good mass...SHOOT HIM!" After all the "false alarms" from earlier in the morning I though he had just seen another forkie. I couldn't see him in the timber at first with several questions of "is it really a decent buck?" I finally found it and put the crosshairs on the chest and just as I shot he says, "I swear if you don't dump this buck..." well, I dropped him. I knew he was alright but hadn't really gotten a great look at him before I shot. I couldn't even enjoy him immediately when I got up to him as he was hanging only by his antlers with his hinder over a cliff. T reached down to grab and antler but the slightest movement and he went falling...then tumbling and summersalting almost half the distance back towards the truck. Other than a few minor scratches he was A-OK. I am ecstatic about the buck, especially as my first muley. I dropped him with one shot from my 7m-08 at 94 yds. Since I know this post is worthless without pics...
WOOHOO!
