Score of one that got away?

[Slickhill]

My dad drew a buck tag one year. Opening day he and I were headed down to camp about 1pm for something he’d forgotten that morning. There’s a nice 22” 4x4 laying about 40 yards off the trail, nice buck but probably 3 years old not a whole lot of mass but not a super spindly one either definite tweener. After a quick consultation during which I tell him that it’s only halfway through opening day but ultimately it’s his tag he pulls the trigger and lays him down.

The very next day I get back to my wheeler after an unsuccessful trek up the mountain after elk and once again 40 yards off the road there’s a buck. Except this one is the biggest mule deer I’ve ever seen even to this day. I just sat and watched him for a solid 3-5 minutes as he crunched acorns. He was an easy 30” and had 7 on one side and 9 on the other with huge rear forks. There was a moment where shooting him and swapping heads with dad’s buck hanging on the pole felt like a serious consideration.

I drew a tag the next year and hunted the whole season never seeing a buck bigger than a forky.

 

[Muleys32]

This was my first full year of getting into mule deer hunting. I saw him 6 times throughout the summer between June 26th and August 21st. Opening weekend of archery I never saw him, second weekend I shot a decent 3x3 with a kicker but never found this guy. This was my first mule deer and first deer with a bow so I was pumped but this guy still haunts me.

Knowing what I know now I would never have considered shooting anything else until this one was dead.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lak2004]

No photos as it all happened day, but had a 170+ that was on a ridge top walking away at 600 yds last season. That one stung because my wife and kids saw him come out of the drainage and move up to the ridge and if I was with them instead of on the other side of the ridge we were on, could have shot him at 250yds. Oh well. Try again next year.