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.

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[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.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

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.

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Wow that does look like a biggun. Since you were seeing him before the hunt do you think many other people possibly saw him as well? The one I was after was hanging out near roads and I'm sure other people saw him but it was before everyone had onX and the checkerboard land ownership was confusing if you didn't know it well and scout really thoroughly.

 

[Muleys32]

Wow that does look like a biggun. Since you were seeing him before the hunt do you think many other people possibly saw him as well? The one I was after was hanging out near roads and I'm sure other people saw him but it was before everyone had onX and the checkerboard land ownership was confusing if you didn't know it well and scout really thoroughly.

I am guessing there was some other pressure there for sure. In all my time scouting there I never saw another person though. Hard to know!

 

[Nine Banger]

This guy showed up in September. This is the biggest deer we've ever seen on the farm. We saw a bunch of other bucks when we started hunting but not this guy.

 

[Geewhiz]

I would be interested to hear some guesses on this guy. Note that he has two giant 3rds on his left side.

 

[RFOUST89]

I have two stories of bucks that “got away” in recent years. The first pic is of a washington buck we watched for two years back to back in the wilderness could never get close enough to. He stayed in very heavy timber once hard horned and only popped out into small openings to feed and we could never pinpoint where he would pop out.

The next pic is an Idaho buck I only ever saw once. I snapped this pic of him through my rifle scope right after I shot a much smaller 4 point that was with this guy. As soon as the buck I killed went down this guy popped up 20 yards away, had I known he was there I obviously would have shot this buck. He hung out for quite a while. I tried getting my hunting partner onto him but he snuck out on us while my buddy was trying to get into position. Both bummer situations but thats what makes Mule Deer hunting exciting and addicting.

 

[ColoradoV]

Yeah…. Had a sick partner that had to be evacuated as he could not keep even water down and I could not leave him w the condition he was in. He could not pack into the far basin where this guy lived. Got him out and safe = came back w my wife and ran into a dude in cowboy boots packed in miles.. Long story but always wonder what he would have scored…. IMO very easily over that 200 number..

 

[Jaden Bales]

I like this thread on the "One that got away" I don't think we talk about how good of a hunt that is. When you have something special that gets a hunter excited and the buck wins, it's just such fuel for the fire.

Here's mine that got away. Saw him 3 of 5 days before Sept. 1, and then he disappeared on the archery opener. Looked for him 13 days that fall. Looked 5 days in the winter. Looked for him for 17 days and spread trail cams all over hell and gone the next summer. Never could find him again.