mcseal2
WKR
- Joined
- May 8, 2014
- Messages
- 2,761
The 2025 season was a wild one. I spent two weeks on Kodiak hunting blacktail and traveling right before the rifle season opened at home. Kodiak was incredible, but it put me behind on my preparation for hunting at home.
The mature bucks I’d been watching before I left disappeared on me. This is not unusual, as rut winds down the older bucks around my area seem to make a big loop, try to find those last few does. They return to their old home areas within a few weeks, but there is always a big shuffling of the deck right before rifle season starts. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts.
This year with the closer areas not looking great I hunted some farther spots. This made days long. Hunt the morning, get all the ranch work done as quick as I could, and hunt the afternoon.
I had three bucks initially on camera at this spot, but one ancient 8 had disappeared on his loop. That left a wide clean 10 and an 11pt that I thought may be young by pics. I had no blind or anything at this spot so I lay on a Thermarest Z lite pad with a Hill People Gear Serape draped over much of me and used my pack to lay my head and arms on to glass.
The first night of hunting there I saw the 11 point and knew the night pics I had of him did not do him justice. I’d snuck in and pulled the card before that hunt, so I decided to pass the buck until I’d had a chance to look at it and get a better idea of his age. I still have trouble believing I didn’t just trust my eyes looking back. I removed the round from my chamber and did dry fire practice on him at 400 yards several times. I didn’t have cover to sneak closer with the wind that night.
After looking at the pics I knew I’d made a mistake. I still under estimated him at this time, but had no intentions of passing him again. The following night I got another chance at him. It was later and there was less light, but I felt good about the shot. I did not hear the thump of a hit, or see any indication of a hit. I also didn’t find blood after sneaking down to where he’d been. I backed out and came back the following day. 4 hours and 4 miles of grid searching by my Onx tracker and I found nothing. Dejected I headed out and decided to let that place rest. At home I checked my rifle both at the bench and by re-creating the shot I’d missed in a field near home. The rifle was fine, I just missed. I’ve made shots like that so many times, even a week earlier on Kodiak, but that time I did not make it. Everyone who can shoot can miss, and I did that time.
4 days before the end of season I got the right wind to sneak in there again and pull the card on the camera. I hunted that night without seeing either shooter buck, but checking the card at home showed the 11pt had been back and was un-injured.
The next night found me lying in the grass once again. I’d figured out how to cut the distance to 328 yards to the thicket the buck had been coming out of, and still have some marginal cover to hide in. The buck came out at the end of legal light, but it was dark enough I did not risk an iffy shot. That night was cloudy and it got dark early.
The 2nd to last day of season it got cold and windy with a little freezing mist and snow. I hunkered under the serape and weighed the edges down with small rocks. Several deer passed by, but none of the shooters. Everything was skittish in the wind, and nothing stayed put for long.
The final night of season I got in really early. It was still cold but the wind had died down quite a bit. I made it to my spot and a couple younger bucks showed right away. They left into the thicket and I saw nothing else for several hours. Finally with about 20 minutes of shooting light left deer began funneling out of the thicket. The 11pt was one of them. I had to wait a while before I had a clean shot with no other deer behind him. I wanted a clean broadside shot, but did not know if that would happen before dark with all the other deer around. I settled for a quartering shot.
I dialed up the magnification on my scope and my 264 win mag sent a 140 grain Berger on its way. I immediately heard the thump of a hit and grabbed my binos to check the deer running away. He was not one of them. I grabbed the necessary gear and walked down while I still had light. The buck was down, he never took a step. The Berger entered in front of one shoulder and exited the lungs behind the other one.
I was amazed at how badly I’d under-estimated the size of the rack. I knew he was a good buck, but he had a lot more mass and extras than I’d realized. After a prayer of thanks I walked to the top of a hill and called my wife to come help with some pictures.
None of the pictures we ever had of this buck, or the ones we took that night truly show the mass of this buck. He’s a hard one to get great pics of. The shed from another buck in one of the pics I included measures 83” for reference.
He ended up gross scoring 185 7/8”. He has 11 3/8” of extra points past his 11 point main frame. He has main beams that average almost 25” and 42 2/8” total mass. He’s my 4th best buck ever, and the best one I’ve taken since EHD devastated my area in 2012.
The long cold evenings lying on cold ground with my old back complaining paid off in a big way. Now to catch up on all the work I put off to make Kodiak and deer season successful!
The mature bucks I’d been watching before I left disappeared on me. This is not unusual, as rut winds down the older bucks around my area seem to make a big loop, try to find those last few does. They return to their old home areas within a few weeks, but there is always a big shuffling of the deck right before rifle season starts. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts.
This year with the closer areas not looking great I hunted some farther spots. This made days long. Hunt the morning, get all the ranch work done as quick as I could, and hunt the afternoon.
I had three bucks initially on camera at this spot, but one ancient 8 had disappeared on his loop. That left a wide clean 10 and an 11pt that I thought may be young by pics. I had no blind or anything at this spot so I lay on a Thermarest Z lite pad with a Hill People Gear Serape draped over much of me and used my pack to lay my head and arms on to glass.
The first night of hunting there I saw the 11 point and knew the night pics I had of him did not do him justice. I’d snuck in and pulled the card before that hunt, so I decided to pass the buck until I’d had a chance to look at it and get a better idea of his age. I still have trouble believing I didn’t just trust my eyes looking back. I removed the round from my chamber and did dry fire practice on him at 400 yards several times. I didn’t have cover to sneak closer with the wind that night.
After looking at the pics I knew I’d made a mistake. I still under estimated him at this time, but had no intentions of passing him again. The following night I got another chance at him. It was later and there was less light, but I felt good about the shot. I did not hear the thump of a hit, or see any indication of a hit. I also didn’t find blood after sneaking down to where he’d been. I backed out and came back the following day. 4 hours and 4 miles of grid searching by my Onx tracker and I found nothing. Dejected I headed out and decided to let that place rest. At home I checked my rifle both at the bench and by re-creating the shot I’d missed in a field near home. The rifle was fine, I just missed. I’ve made shots like that so many times, even a week earlier on Kodiak, but that time I did not make it. Everyone who can shoot can miss, and I did that time.
4 days before the end of season I got the right wind to sneak in there again and pull the card on the camera. I hunted that night without seeing either shooter buck, but checking the card at home showed the 11pt had been back and was un-injured.
The next night found me lying in the grass once again. I’d figured out how to cut the distance to 328 yards to the thicket the buck had been coming out of, and still have some marginal cover to hide in. The buck came out at the end of legal light, but it was dark enough I did not risk an iffy shot. That night was cloudy and it got dark early.
The 2nd to last day of season it got cold and windy with a little freezing mist and snow. I hunkered under the serape and weighed the edges down with small rocks. Several deer passed by, but none of the shooters. Everything was skittish in the wind, and nothing stayed put for long.
The final night of season I got in really early. It was still cold but the wind had died down quite a bit. I made it to my spot and a couple younger bucks showed right away. They left into the thicket and I saw nothing else for several hours. Finally with about 20 minutes of shooting light left deer began funneling out of the thicket. The 11pt was one of them. I had to wait a while before I had a clean shot with no other deer behind him. I wanted a clean broadside shot, but did not know if that would happen before dark with all the other deer around. I settled for a quartering shot.
I dialed up the magnification on my scope and my 264 win mag sent a 140 grain Berger on its way. I immediately heard the thump of a hit and grabbed my binos to check the deer running away. He was not one of them. I grabbed the necessary gear and walked down while I still had light. The buck was down, he never took a step. The Berger entered in front of one shoulder and exited the lungs behind the other one.
I was amazed at how badly I’d under-estimated the size of the rack. I knew he was a good buck, but he had a lot more mass and extras than I’d realized. After a prayer of thanks I walked to the top of a hill and called my wife to come help with some pictures.
None of the pictures we ever had of this buck, or the ones we took that night truly show the mass of this buck. He’s a hard one to get great pics of. The shed from another buck in one of the pics I included measures 83” for reference.
He ended up gross scoring 185 7/8”. He has 11 3/8” of extra points past his 11 point main frame. He has main beams that average almost 25” and 42 2/8” total mass. He’s my 4th best buck ever, and the best one I’ve taken since EHD devastated my area in 2012.
The long cold evenings lying on cold ground with my old back complaining paid off in a big way. Now to catch up on all the work I put off to make Kodiak and deer season successful!
