Passing a buck.

[huntnful]

Working slowly along a rocky, shaded draw hunting desert mule deer. These deer saw me before I saw them, at 165 yards. Slow and methodical movements allowed me to keep them from blowing out for several minutes. As soon as I saw them, I slowly sat down, slipped my shoulder straps off from my pack, extended my bipod legs to a seated position height and looked over the buck. He was a decent 3x3 with probably 3” eyeguards. I decided to pass him, but got a pretty cool picture of what I thought really depicted “passing a buck”.



I think I’ve created much more opportunities in the field by moving slowly after I’ve been spotted by an animal vs. being in a hurry to yank my gear off and send a round. It’s good to be capable of speed, but I don’t think it should be the default setting upon initially spotting an animal that’s already aware of your presence.

Also just moving slowly through any country that you think animals might be present in. They seem to take much more time analyzing small movements than big fast rushed movements.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I passed this buck last week. Wife spotted him on the 3rd day with a week or so more to hunt, and I was trying to learn the area and find a bigger caliber buck. 530 yards, little to no wind. Hindsight, probably should've shot him but I didn't get excited when I saw how small his antlers were in comparison to his body size. Dude's built like a chest freezer. Maybe I misjudged, but it was really cool to watch him settle in and rack out for a bit!

 

[180ls1]

The more I hunt the more I've come to realize it all works. I've got a buddy who hunts out west, yet he hardly glasses and does not hike far. He slowly and methodically works a hillside, for essentially the whole day, something I would cover in 1/4 the time. I'd be damned if he doesn't kill great animals doing it.

 

[huntnful]

I passed this buck last week. Wife spotted him on the 3rd day with a week or so more to hunt, and I was trying to learn the area and find a bigger caliber buck. 530 yards, little to no wind. Hindsight, probably should've shot him but I didn't get excited when I saw how small his antlers were in comparison to his body size. Dude's built like a chest freezer. Maybe I misjudged, but it was really cool to watch him settle in and rack out for a bit!

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UNIT

The more I hunt the more I've come to realize it all works. I've got a buddy who hunts out west, yet he hardly glasses and does not hike far. He slowly and methodically works a hillside, for essentially the whole day, something I would cover in 1/4 the time. I'd be damned if he doesn't kill great animals doing it.

Absolutely. I hunt all different styles at different times. If you know there’s mature animals in an area, you can definitely whack one by just creeping through that area. I killed a 10 year old mule deer at like 30 yards by still-hunting basically.

But definitely prefer to glass for a target animal, close the distance and kill him.

 

[willfrye027]

I passed this buck last week. Wife spotted him on the 3rd day with a week or so more to hunt, and I was trying to learn the area and find a bigger caliber buck. 530 yards, little to no wind. Hindsight, probably should've shot him but I didn't get excited when I saw how small his antlers were in comparison to his body size. Dude's built like a chest freezer. Maybe I misjudged, but it was really cool to watch him settle in and rack out for a bit!

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He’s obese!!!

 

[AM_Hunter]

I wish I was able to do this two weeks ago... After getting my first buck during archery, I told myself I would hold out for a bigger buck and wait till the end of the season to fill my rifle tag. Lo and behold, sunday of opening rifle, we spotted a large group of deer crest a small hill. We sprinted up and over and located them 200 yards below us. My buddy shot a forky and a portion of the group ran off but another buck just stood there staring at us. In my adrenaline and excitement while staring at him through my scope I ended up dropping him. Goofy looking 3x2. Disappointed I ended my season so early but at the same time, I was able to tag my second deer of the season in a unit with ~10% success rate. It was my second deer ever and first deer with my rifle so can't complain too much. Tagging two bucks in California isn't a common occurrence either so theres that too.

Gonna head back out next weekend as well, try to get my buddy his archery buck during rifle and our other buddy his first buck too.

 

[huntnful]

I wish I was able to do this two weeks ago... After getting my first buck during archery, I told myself I would hold out for a bigger buck and wait till the end of the season to fill my rifle tag. Lo and behold, sunday of opening rifle, we spotted a large group of deer crest a small hill. We sprinted up and over and located them 200 yards below us. My buddy shot a forky and a portion of the group ran off but another buck just stood there staring at us. In my adrenaline and excitement while staring at him through my scope I ended up dropping him. Goofy looking 3x2. Disappointed I ended my season so early but at the same time, I was able to tag my second deer of the season in a unit with ~10% success rate. It was my second deer ever and first deer with my rifle so can't complain too much. Tagging two bucks in California isn't a common occurrence either so theres that too.

Gonna head back out next weekend as well, try to get my buddy his archery buck during rifle and our other buddy his first buck too.

That honestly awesome dude!! If it gets you excited in the moment, it’s a worthy deer IMO. It’s the ones you have to talk yourself into killing,that normally bring the regret afterwards. Congrats on doubling in CA. That is not an easy task!

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I wish I was able to do this two weeks ago... After getting my first buck during archery, I told myself I would hold out for a bigger buck and wait till the end of the season to fill my rifle tag. Lo and behold, sunday of opening rifle, we spotted a large group of deer crest a small hill. We sprinted up and over and located them 200 yards below us. My buddy shot a forky and a portion of the group ran off but another buck just stood there staring at us. In my adrenaline and excitement while staring at him through my scope I ended up dropping him. Goofy looking 3x2. Disappointed I ended my season so early but at the same time, I was able to tag my second deer of the season in a unit with ~10% success rate. It was my second deer ever and first deer with my rifle so can't complain too much. Tagging two bucks in California isn't a common occurrence either so theres that too.

Gonna head back out next weekend as well, try to get my buddy his archery buck during rifle and our other buddy his first buck too.

People don’t realize how difficult public land hunting deer is in California.

Congrats on the deer!

 

[AM_Hunter]

People don’t realize how difficult public land hunting deer is in California.

Congrats on the deer!

Thank you! Yea this is my 8th season hunting and my first year finally getting a buck. Wasn't expecting to double up, let alone get my first one with a bow as opposed to a rifle. Its definitely been an epic season so far! Gonna go for bear a few weekends too but being SoCal my hopes arent too high for the local zones that hold bears.

A buddy of mine got his first buck the same day in a different zone, its his 5th season hunting so he was also stoked.

 

[AM_Hunter]

That honestly awesome dude!! If it gets you excited in the moment, it’s a worthy deer IMO. It’s the ones you have to talk yourself into killing,that normally bring the regret afterwards. Congrats on doubling in CA. That is not an easy task!

Thank you!