IdahoBugler
Well-known member
Well some of you have probably had the chance to see the video of the one that got away. I beat myself up for 7 days thinking of what went wrong and of what could of actually happened. A buddy and I had planned on hunting a different area when I had one of those visions.. I made a decision to make the 5 hour drive and try one last time to find the dropper buck. I was hoping I could catch him out and about or worse case rotting somewhere. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and glassed all day long with no luck. The deer were not moving well and we never saw anything worth a dang. It was starting to set in I wasn't going to find this deer.
After a crazy night of gusting 40 mph winds and a tent laying on top of us instead of above us we woke up for the day. It was freezing cold and the wind chill was down right low. We decided to hike into the area I had last seen the buck and hopefully get lucky. To make a long story short the wind and cold had held up the deer in the thick cover and by 12:00 we had only spotted 8 does. Those were the ones that we snuck up on in the thick pines. We hunted two ridges before and after the ridge where the buck was last seen with not much sign of anything.
What happened next can only be described as absolute crazyness, pure luck or some help from above but as I was stepping into this timber pocket I met an old friend. I was just walking under this limb when I looked up and saw my buck at 10 yards. We made eye contact and he was up and hauling arse. Within a fraction of a second he would be gone. I raised my rifle with scope covers closed and fired a quick shot at about 15 yards. I hit him along his left side and he slowed just barely. I tried one more fleeting shot at 20 yards and missed as he went over the hill. I ran through the trees and found him standing at 30 yards, one more quick shot to the neck and my ordeal was over. My buddy was in awe as to what just happened and all he could say was that is a big buck. I turned to him and told him that he had broken his dropper off. I could tell as he was running away that it was gone. I walked up to the buck and confirmed that it had been broken off earlier in the week.
Seven days earlier, what I thought was a low hit on the buck was actually a high hit. I hit him about an 1" above the spine. So what I think happened is from the shock to the spine the buck dropped and broke off his dropper that day. We went back and looked for 2 hours and we couldn't come up with dropper. Here is the picture of the wound a week after he was initially shot.
He had already healed up pretty good. His back was crusted over and did have a slight smell to it. When I started caping him the wound looked nasty and I wasn't sure if he would of made it. But later on a local meat cutter looked at the meat and said he was healing fast and would of recovered with no poblem.
I can't say enough how glad I am that I found this buck. No more thoughts of a wasted buck or wounded and dying a slow death. I'm just glad I didn't give up and gave it that last chance It paid off in a big way. I do have good video of this buck and he will have his dropper repaired.
Here is a stick that kind of looked like the dropper. The stick is about 4" longer then what the dropper really was.
The brake.
Buddy Von and I that helped with the pack out.
Light load. With about 2 miles and two ridges to hike over I decided to cut the legs off for you guys. 3 quarters, back straps, cape and horns. Not to mention all the crap I have to carry when hunting. Let's just say I was ready for a break when I got back.
Thanks for listening to my story.
IB
After a crazy night of gusting 40 mph winds and a tent laying on top of us instead of above us we woke up for the day. It was freezing cold and the wind chill was down right low. We decided to hike into the area I had last seen the buck and hopefully get lucky. To make a long story short the wind and cold had held up the deer in the thick cover and by 12:00 we had only spotted 8 does. Those were the ones that we snuck up on in the thick pines. We hunted two ridges before and after the ridge where the buck was last seen with not much sign of anything.
What happened next can only be described as absolute crazyness, pure luck or some help from above but as I was stepping into this timber pocket I met an old friend. I was just walking under this limb when I looked up and saw my buck at 10 yards. We made eye contact and he was up and hauling arse. Within a fraction of a second he would be gone. I raised my rifle with scope covers closed and fired a quick shot at about 15 yards. I hit him along his left side and he slowed just barely. I tried one more fleeting shot at 20 yards and missed as he went over the hill. I ran through the trees and found him standing at 30 yards, one more quick shot to the neck and my ordeal was over. My buddy was in awe as to what just happened and all he could say was that is a big buck. I turned to him and told him that he had broken his dropper off. I could tell as he was running away that it was gone. I walked up to the buck and confirmed that it had been broken off earlier in the week.
Seven days earlier, what I thought was a low hit on the buck was actually a high hit. I hit him about an 1" above the spine. So what I think happened is from the shock to the spine the buck dropped and broke off his dropper that day. We went back and looked for 2 hours and we couldn't come up with dropper. Here is the picture of the wound a week after he was initially shot.
He had already healed up pretty good. His back was crusted over and did have a slight smell to it. When I started caping him the wound looked nasty and I wasn't sure if he would of made it. But later on a local meat cutter looked at the meat and said he was healing fast and would of recovered with no poblem.
I can't say enough how glad I am that I found this buck. No more thoughts of a wasted buck or wounded and dying a slow death. I'm just glad I didn't give up and gave it that last chance It paid off in a big way. I do have good video of this buck and he will have his dropper repaired.
Here is a stick that kind of looked like the dropper. The stick is about 4" longer then what the dropper really was.
The brake.
Buddy Von and I that helped with the pack out.
Light load. With about 2 miles and two ridges to hike over I decided to cut the legs off for you guys. 3 quarters, back straps, cape and horns. Not to mention all the crap I have to carry when hunting. Let's just say I was ready for a break when I got back.
Thanks for listening to my story.
IB
Great uniqueness to that rack with that back trash and blading. Me likes plenty!! 
