A Thanks-giving buck

Is there anything better than glassing up a great mule deer buck while having a deer tag in your pocket? The answer is yes!!! Your own child having that tag in their pocket!

My 15 yr old boy is busy with life, hanging out with friends, football, and the list goes on. But he always finds the time to get out with his dad for a hunt or two each year. Recently while heading to his second-ever mule deer hunt, he reminded me that at age 15 he has already killed 5 blacktail bucks, as well as a great mule deer buck...and an elk. He also rubs it in that I couldn't start hunting big game legally till the ripe age of 14 back "in the day" in Utah. So I had one 2-point buck under my belt at 15 compared to his "stack" of bucks.

This mule deer hunt was a special one, a hunt on an average mule deer unit in Oregon but in the middle of November during the peak of rut action! Hunter knew this hunt had some big buck potential and we were both excited to get to it! Weeks before the hunt, we took out the 7 rem mag and did some 600 yard shooting on a pumpkin....yup, he was ready to hunt!

Taking the target out 600 yards!

Our up and coming little huntress!

pointing at the pumpkin

Ready to hunt!

We were invited to stay in a friend's cabin who owns property on the west side of the unit. What a great way to start the hunt! The wood stove and insulated walls, along with mattresses and board games made for a comfy camp. Hunter and I were able to spend some quality time kicking each others butt at Chess during the night only to jump on the UTV and hunt all day long! Tough life. 

On day one, we had passed on several bucks including a beautiful 23" 4x4 with a double-throat patch. He was a beauty. Day two was similar except the fact that Hunter did something I've never seen him do. He missed a buck! Early in the frosty morning we came across a wide 27-28" 4x4 with deep forks. He chased a doe through some junipers as Hunter tried to settle in for a shot. There was no time to use the rangefinder or get a good dial in with the scope. He estimated and shot as the buck was leaving the country. A clean miss. Later we ranged the shot at over 400. He under shot the buck. Oh well, that just meant more hunting!

We had found multiple shed antlers while out hiking

Day 3 brought similar results with passing on 11 bucks and seeing over a hundred does! Some of these bucks were big enough there would have been no hesitation on a regular season rifle hunt, but with the potential to see the largest bucks on the unit while rutting, Hunter showed great discipline keeping his finger off of the trigger. It made for such a great experience.

Hunter thought long and hard about this buck before we drove away...

A buck protecting a doe in estrus

An average-sized buck you would typically run into

A young buck posing pretty

After three days of staying in the cabin and covering as much country as we could, we were ready to see what was beyond the horizon on the other end of the unit, so we packed all our belongings and rode east. We struggled on where to camp being that we knew very little of our new area but we finally found a cozy camp spot right along the Chewuacan (She walkan") River. We set up our 20' wall tent, and split some wood for the stove as the darkness settled in. We could not wait till the next morning!  

First morning in our new spot presented this beauty

The unit is unlike most I would choose for mule deer hunting as so much of it is dense timber, mostly ponderosa pines. The deer were in transition between summer and winter ranges spread out everywhere between. You really had to cover country to find pockets of deer.

We found some scenic vistas, as well as places we'd like to come back and explore. The landscape in the new area was beautiful. In the new area, after several hours it seemed like most of our luck at finding deer was in the lower elevation bands. By noon we had already seen 96 does and 4 bucks.

Whether it was luck, destiny, the deer gods, or whatever you wanna call it, Hunter shot at and missed a coyote, which changed the entire direction of the hunt. After shooting, he told me he has one more bullet in his rifle and the other bullets were at camp. Sheesh, its hardly worth hunting with one bullet so we elected to head towards camp, grab the remaining ammunition, and go another direction to look at some new country.

We picked up the ammunition andheaded towards a ridge that I had heard held nice buck. By looking at the topography of the land it made sense that the deer would funnel down the ridge to the lower grounds. I spied  a group of does ahead of us, "97, 98. 99, 100..." we added the does to our daily count. I just whispered to Hunter that often times the buck will be bedded behind a group of does and will occasionally stand and check the does when I noticed a large bedded deer 90 yards away.

I pulled the binocs up and immediately could see by the mass and deep forks that he was big enough...for me anyways! "Big Buck!" I said quick and loud. Hunter asked if it was a shooter but before I could answer he knew immediately when he saw the buck. The buck stood up and Hunter tried to steady the rifle. The buck began moving as the does were leaving quickly and  he stopped one last time. The bullet punched the buck's front shoulder settling in the buckskin on the opposing shoulder.

The buck kicked it's back legs up and ran at full speed as if he was trying like hell to outrun the inevitable death. He only ran 20 yards before cartwheeling and skidding to a stop. I fell to my knees as did Hunter in mental exhasution. 5 solid days of searching high and low without stopping from sun-up to sun-down, passing 30 different bucks in hopes to find that mature, heavy-antlered buck.

Hunter said multiple times on the hunt. "Dad, do you know how bad I wanna see a huge buck just looking back at me?" I think I have a pretty good idea "how bad" he wanted to see such a sight. I dream about it daily. That moment when we knew the buck was down and it;s size and beauty exceeded Hunter's expectations was the pinnacle of the trip! We knew all our hard work paid off huge, a lesson every father wants to instill in their children. There is nothing better than watching your children succeed. The next morning, we packed up and rolled home just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

When asked what he was thankful for, Hunter said he was thankful for the hot doe that decided to bed where she did so we could find her and he could kill that buck. I plainly give thanks for such an amazing memory with my son.