Washington late muzzy hunt

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Washatonian

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My son and I drew partner Alta muzzy late tags and we headed up Monday morning the 25th of Nov. for a week of trophy buck hunting. This is a limited quality hunt with only 20 tags being issued here in Washington.We had a wonderful time, the weather was amazing, beautiful crisp sunny days with the bluest of skies and no snow on the ground. No wind, no rain, no frost, perfect conditions unless you are hunting for trophy bucks. After doing some research on the area, I discover that the wolves have really hurt the area and you need lots of snow to bring down the few big ones. We saw neither hide nor hair of the Cabelas style trophy bucks I was hoping to see. I had a feeling it was going to be tough to tag a nice 4 point or better but I had no idea we wouldn’t even see a 4 point. But this hunt was far from a failure, we had a great time and met some great people. The first morning we started down low in the south part of the unit, we had talked to some guys a couple weeks earlier during the rifle draw hunt that were chasing around some nice bucks and had put one down. We saw quite a few bucks in this area but all were way too small. Around 1:00 we went farther north to check out some spots. We spotted some does and a decent 3 point up on the hill and decided to take a stand for a while. As we are glassing the hill and spotting more does , a buck comes up the little draw on right side heading up the hill. That’s a nice 2 point, no that’s a nice 3 point, wait a minute that’s a very nice 3 point! I’m going after it Andre says and grabs his gun. The buck is about 250 yards away and heading up the hill at a decent pace. I tell Andre his only chance to catch up is if the buck stops with the does at the top of the hill about 700 yards away. Don’t get busted by the does! Andre loops around to our left to head up the hill and takes to wide a sweep in my opinion, he’s never going to get there in time. I keep watching the buck, he’s going to fast, I hope he stops when he gets to them does. I look over at Andre and he’s only half way there, never going to make it. The buck is up just to the right of the does now nosing around with the smaller 3 point, Andre is still about 100 yards away. The buck moves to the left into some tall brush, I can’t see him now, Andre is about 60 yards from the does, they are going to bust him. It appears the does are looking right at Andre but he somehow edges into position behind some brush about 30 yards below the does. One is looking right at him. Where’s the buck? Another doe walks to Andres left and stops to look right at him then continues on. I can see a deer in the brush, has to be the buck. He follows the last doe and walks right out in front of Andre and stops to look down at him. Shoot Andre, common SHOOT! SHOOT! Nothing, oh no Andre can’t see him, the buck turns a quick 90 and starts up the hill, Andre’s not going to get a shoot. The buck turns to his right and stops, BOOM!! The buck runs about 5 yards and falls over, OMG.
 

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Great write up. Sounds like an exciting hunt. And that is a wonderful looking buck. Congratulations.
 
If you look at the picture with flash you can tell the entry wound right behind the right shoulder and the exit wound out the lower left side of the neck. We cleaned up the blood in the mouth to make it presentable for pictures. The 300 grain Bloodline did its job! The lungs literally exploded, shooting out a tremendous pool of blood out the exit wound. The deer was going down as soon as it was hit. And there was very minimal meat damage, a little blood clotting in the left shoulder. I am sure that with any other bullet, this deer would have run at least 50 yards if not more.
 
:yeah:

Nice buck and great story. He's got a true trophy there :drinkers:

Ray.......... :wink:
 
Great buck. Congrats on a great hunt and story. Thanks for sharing!!!
 
Beautiful buck! :applause: Congrads to Andre! Great story. I can just imagine the suspense you felt watching the stalk unfold. That will be some great memories! :yeah:
 
great story and congrads to Andre :applause: that is a dandy 3pt lov the mass
 
Thanks everyone, so I guess I will go ahead and post the rest of the story.

On the 4th day of our hunt we decide to travel back to the southern end of the unit where we hunted the first day. We spot a couple whitetail does and as we glass them out steps a heavy bodied whitetail buck. He doesn’t have a huge rack but he’s a nice buck. I think I will try for him. It is pretty wide open between me and him so I sneak in as close as I can and set up for a shot. It looks like an easy shot, about 150 yards he is quartering away uphill and looking to his left, he is dead still. I set up on a limb, steady and shoot. Through the smoke I am sure that I notice a flinch before he walks forward and stands broadside frozen still now. Andre, did you see that flinch? I’m sure I hit him. Andre is not sure if he saw a flinch. Range him for me Andre, I already did, 178 yards. Are you sure? He doesn’t look that far. Let me check. Dad, I have checked 3 times. OK. The buck turns back to his right and takes about 5 steps and lies down. That’s odd. Andre I think he’s hit, lets pull back and head back to the truck. I had forgotten my extra quick loads and only had 2 on me. This way if he’s hit he should be dead when we get back. About 45 minutes latter we ease into the spot where I had taken the shot. We start to glass. Nothing. No does, no buck. Lets walk over there and see if he left a blood trail. Wait a second dad, I think I see him. Yep I do, he’s rolled over dead!
 

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That is a nice buck and looks like he has a heavy body to boot. Congrads! :yeah: You to had a couple great hunts.
 
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