SUCCESS! Last weekend of the season...
Finally! I was beginning to think I would go in to the winter with a big skunk on my back. Here's the story.......On Saturday, 11/2/02, my father and I had obtained permission to hunt on 800 acres of private orchard land around Dallas. We arrived bright and early and began our hunt, but by 9:00 we had not seen a thing. We saw a lot of deer trails in and out of the orchard, but not one animal. We decided to hunt some Willamette Industries land up above Falls City and then return to the orchard for the evening hunt, if necessary. We headed up the the Willamette Industries land and hunted hard. We pushed several draws, glassed a few clear-cuts, etc. Nothing. Not even a doe. Not knowing the area very well we decided to drive, find a nice clear cut or draw, hunt for awhile, then keep driving to the next area. Well, about 11:30 we were in the process of driving to the next area to hunt. We are tooling around on this logging road, putting along, and we enter this area that is fairly heavily forested. As we drive along I glance down and see a deer standing off the road, down a draw, about 75 yards. I could see immediately that it was a branch antlered buck. He was facing the road, so all I could really see was his head and neck and beginnings of the front legs. I step on the breaks, put the truck in park, and hop out. I chamber a round and throw the scope up on the deer. He has not moved an inch. Did not appear to be startled in any way and was very content just to watch the goings-on. He was standing in some fairly shady area and as I threw the scope up I momentarily second guessed myself, unsure that it was in fact a buck. However, I could see thick tines clearly coming out the top of his head. Since he continued to face me, I had a shot at his head, his neck, or in the chest. I opted for the head shot. I squeezed of a round from my 30-06 and saw the animal crumple immediately. I walked down to wear I saw him drop and sure enough I had killed a beautiful 3x4 blacktail with about a 22 inch spread. Not a world-class trophy, but my largest to date and I was stoked. His neck was very swollen and he was clearly in the rut. We drug him up to the road and took him home to dress him out. I could not believe the amount of fat this guy had on him. Sorry no scanner or digital camera or I would have pics. Maybe I'll go buy a scanner so y'all can see my luck. It is just amazing that for all the hiking and walking and pushing draws I have done this year without success I happen to be fortunate to harvest this very respectable deer just 75 yards off the road. Sorry for the long story, but even on Monday morning I am still juiced about it.
-Mike
[ 11-04-2002, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: Big Smizz ]
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