runriverright
FNG
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2025
- Messages
- 10
Pulled an 11 point oregon rifle hunt with 2 points. My buddy had the archery tag the same year, so I spent some time over there with him during September looking for an opportunity. We hunted high and low, east and west, and the only decent bucks we found were just on private, and nothing came of that hunt. Come October I headed over after work at night. Woke up my first day and put in work covering ground, found a handful of does, heard of a few small bucks getting shot. Made it back to camp and got hammered, made a plan to head to the public adjoining the private where I saw those bucks in September, and fell asleep on the ground under a juniper. Woke up late the next morning, and headed to my spot. Took a lap up a slot canyon, as we sat on the ridge looking back over my truck, we decided to hard scramble down the steep stuff in a B line to the truck. As we approached a 15ft rock shelf at the bottom, a buck jumped up and took off towards the canyon we just went up. I found the flattest rock I could to go prone, and the buck stopped between two junipers at 200 yards. I went to pull the trigger and the safety was still on... He stepped behind one of the junipers, about 15 seconds to 45 minutes later he stepped out again and I put one in the sweet spot with a match grade 6.5 PRC. He went 30 yards and died in the shade, about 10 yards off the trail. Maybe 100 yards from where my truck was parked at the trailhead. Had a couple of swigs of celebration whiskey and got to work. Couldn't have drawn it up better if I tried. Had my deer down and on ice within a day and a half of arriving to the unit. Drove up to elk camp where my buddy had a tag, to do some scouting for the rest of the week.
