Its a slow Saturday evening so I thought I'd take advantage of the invitation I got when I first joined OYOA to share hunting stories.
As an preface I've spent most of my 64 years trying to outwit blacktail bucks in NW Oregon. I started back in the 60's when hunting was easy and took a couple of days, at most, to connect on a legal buck. As the years went by hunting got tougher...more cover, fewer deer, and as a result I actually had to learn to hunt. In Oregon older bucks are protected by closing the season prior to heavy rutting activity.
November 11, about 20 years ago. The season had never stayed open this long, usually closing about a week earlier. This was the last day. It was raining. Really raining. With the wet weather and the peak of the rut just a couple of days away I figured all I had to do was be in the woods and cover a lot of ground and a buck would fall in my lap. I spent the morning up in the Tillamook Burn soaking up rain till I gained about 20 lb without seeing anything. A warm shower and lunch lured me home with the feeling that the season had ended for me.
About 3:30 PM I began to get a little antsy. I looked at the clock, thought, "Hmmm, there's still time." I lived in Forest Grove at the time and could get in the woods in about 10 minutes. The decision was made. I put on rubber boots and three heavy shirts...the rain wouldn't soak that deep in the hour or so of light I had left. My usual rifle was a scoped .257, but this time I picked up my open-sighted 721, .30-06. Five shells went in my pocket, and I was out the door.
I parked at the gate that blocked an old logging road a few miles out of town. My plan had been just to walk up the road, but because I had seen a doe and fawn out in a field less than a mile away I thought that this late in the day the bucks would probably be staging at the edge of the timber waiting for the cover of darkness to enter the fields, and maybe I should hunt low. I walked down the road, back the way I had just driven in, found a trail that headed around the hill next to the road. The rain had never stopped all day and was making a lot of noise hitting the fallen leaves on the ground. I knew I didn't have to try to be quiet because the roar of the rain was hiding any noise I might make. Again my plan was to cover as much ground as possible and keep my eyes open. It was dark there in the timber with the heavy cloud cover and being late in the day. I couldn't see much. I came to a small ravine with a stream of rain water in the bottom. I went down, stepped across the stream and started up the other side. As I neared the top on the other side I looked up and saw a something directly in front of me. I almost passed it off, but then thought, "that looked like a deer." I looked again and it was a deer, staring at me over the top of a stump, about 25 feet away. Anything was legal. As I shouldered my rifle I thought maybe I saw the bases of antlers, but that wasn't on my mind in the least and I thought I was about to shoot some meat. I centered the bead on the white patch on its throat. The deer disappeared in the flash. I walked up to the stump and looked behind it.
I was astonished to see a big-necked, heavy-antlered 4x4 with double brow tines on one side. I had mixed feelings. I had just taken the best buck of my hunting career and it was almost an accident...I didn't deserve it...yes, I did, I hunt harder than anyone...but, I thought I was just shooting a deer, not something like this. I looked at my watch. It was 4:14.
From then on I became more of a trophy hunter instead of someone out for just some meat. I began to pass up smaller bucks and as a result I began seeing more bucks than I thought I could, and some years I didn't shoot a deer, but I've managed to add several more racks to my wall since. Some bigger, some not, but each one with an experience to remember and reflect upon, and a lesson or more learned.
As an preface I've spent most of my 64 years trying to outwit blacktail bucks in NW Oregon. I started back in the 60's when hunting was easy and took a couple of days, at most, to connect on a legal buck. As the years went by hunting got tougher...more cover, fewer deer, and as a result I actually had to learn to hunt. In Oregon older bucks are protected by closing the season prior to heavy rutting activity.
November 11, about 20 years ago. The season had never stayed open this long, usually closing about a week earlier. This was the last day. It was raining. Really raining. With the wet weather and the peak of the rut just a couple of days away I figured all I had to do was be in the woods and cover a lot of ground and a buck would fall in my lap. I spent the morning up in the Tillamook Burn soaking up rain till I gained about 20 lb without seeing anything. A warm shower and lunch lured me home with the feeling that the season had ended for me.
About 3:30 PM I began to get a little antsy. I looked at the clock, thought, "Hmmm, there's still time." I lived in Forest Grove at the time and could get in the woods in about 10 minutes. The decision was made. I put on rubber boots and three heavy shirts...the rain wouldn't soak that deep in the hour or so of light I had left. My usual rifle was a scoped .257, but this time I picked up my open-sighted 721, .30-06. Five shells went in my pocket, and I was out the door.
I parked at the gate that blocked an old logging road a few miles out of town. My plan had been just to walk up the road, but because I had seen a doe and fawn out in a field less than a mile away I thought that this late in the day the bucks would probably be staging at the edge of the timber waiting for the cover of darkness to enter the fields, and maybe I should hunt low. I walked down the road, back the way I had just driven in, found a trail that headed around the hill next to the road. The rain had never stopped all day and was making a lot of noise hitting the fallen leaves on the ground. I knew I didn't have to try to be quiet because the roar of the rain was hiding any noise I might make. Again my plan was to cover as much ground as possible and keep my eyes open. It was dark there in the timber with the heavy cloud cover and being late in the day. I couldn't see much. I came to a small ravine with a stream of rain water in the bottom. I went down, stepped across the stream and started up the other side. As I neared the top on the other side I looked up and saw a something directly in front of me. I almost passed it off, but then thought, "that looked like a deer." I looked again and it was a deer, staring at me over the top of a stump, about 25 feet away. Anything was legal. As I shouldered my rifle I thought maybe I saw the bases of antlers, but that wasn't on my mind in the least and I thought I was about to shoot some meat. I centered the bead on the white patch on its throat. The deer disappeared in the flash. I walked up to the stump and looked behind it.
I was astonished to see a big-necked, heavy-antlered 4x4 with double brow tines on one side. I had mixed feelings. I had just taken the best buck of my hunting career and it was almost an accident...I didn't deserve it...yes, I did, I hunt harder than anyone...but, I thought I was just shooting a deer, not something like this. I looked at my watch. It was 4:14.
From then on I became more of a trophy hunter instead of someone out for just some meat. I began to pass up smaller bucks and as a result I began seeing more bucks than I thought I could, and some years I didn't shoot a deer, but I've managed to add several more racks to my wall since. Some bigger, some not, but each one with an experience to remember and reflect upon, and a lesson or more learned.
