- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Let me start by saying I’ve been out a ton during spring bear from April to the end of June and then I hit small game hard in August, I really noticed how much less deer I saw locally, bucks especially. Everyone local I’ve run into while hunting has said the same thing, so it’s been a challenging year for all it seems. I was away working for three weeks in October and only got in the last 5-6 days of WT doe hunting, came real close but failed to get one on the ground. Also in October I passed on shooting one of the biggest black bears I’ve even been up close with and while I don’t regret that decision one bit since then I have been feeling like I was going to get skunked this year, but still pushed on and hunted every chance I could and on Sunday it all came together.
I headed out to a spot I know real well, I’ve pulled a buck or a doe out of there the last two years in a row but this year it’s been a ghost town. Parked the quad by 9am and walked a big loop slowly, made it back up to my start point by 11am and parked my ass for a couple hours and called hoping I could draw something out of the woods into the upper clearing. No luck there so I walked a second loop down through the bush bumping a doe as I crept down to the lower end of the area, I parked myself under a big fir tree at the edge of the lower clearing about 75y from the tree line around 1:30pm. Wind was in my face and the sun was shining, hoping that I would see something along the edge of the clearing like I have before. Periodically I let out a doe bleat and scanned the bush but nothing was moving, at some point I dropped my head and looked at something other than the tree line. As I focused back on the trees I saw a huge buck halfway through the gap, perfectly broadside to me. All I could focus on was how big of a neck he had and then the big rack he was sporting.
As quick as I could get him in my crosshairs he slipped into the brush and was gone, all I could think of was how bad I had dropped the ball. I let out two doe bleats with my call and shouldered my rifle hoping I could draw him out, then all of a sudden he popped out of the tree line 65-70y up from me. As he stepped out into the clear I already had him in my crosshairs and I pulled the trigger, he took off like a shot but I knew I’d hit him just behind the shoulder quartering up and away. I slowly got up, chambered another round and walked up to look for his tracks in the snow, even before I saw his tracks I saw the blood spray everywhere. He B lined it for the trees to my right but dropped like a sac of bricks 45y from where I hit him, a huge skid mark and there he was lying in the weeds!
I’ve been working hard and waiting for an opportunity at a big mature WT buck for the last 4-5 year and it finally happened, cut my tag and got him field dressed. Double lunged and the heart was whole, as I headed up for my quad I ran into another hunter on a quad who lent me a hand loading him onto the back rack. We chatted while I strapped him down and I headed home after I wished him luck and thanked him again for his help. All I can say is I’m happy as always to have meat in the freezer for the winter but getting my first big buck after a tough season makes this one extra exciting, we just finished the last of the venison from 2019 so this was a huge relief lol.
Here some pics, hope you enjoyed the long story lol. For those wondering I shot him with a Howa, 20” heavy barrel chambered in .308. Ammo was 165gr Hornady American Whitetail interlocks, the entry wound was the size of a golf ball and the exit even bigger. Full pass through of the ribs with zero bullet fragments found while skinning or quartering him that evening. Lungs were soup when I opened the chest cavity, very minor blood shot meat on the front quarter of the exit side which surprised me.
I headed out to a spot I know real well, I’ve pulled a buck or a doe out of there the last two years in a row but this year it’s been a ghost town. Parked the quad by 9am and walked a big loop slowly, made it back up to my start point by 11am and parked my ass for a couple hours and called hoping I could draw something out of the woods into the upper clearing. No luck there so I walked a second loop down through the bush bumping a doe as I crept down to the lower end of the area, I parked myself under a big fir tree at the edge of the lower clearing about 75y from the tree line around 1:30pm. Wind was in my face and the sun was shining, hoping that I would see something along the edge of the clearing like I have before. Periodically I let out a doe bleat and scanned the bush but nothing was moving, at some point I dropped my head and looked at something other than the tree line. As I focused back on the trees I saw a huge buck halfway through the gap, perfectly broadside to me. All I could focus on was how big of a neck he had and then the big rack he was sporting.
As quick as I could get him in my crosshairs he slipped into the brush and was gone, all I could think of was how bad I had dropped the ball. I let out two doe bleats with my call and shouldered my rifle hoping I could draw him out, then all of a sudden he popped out of the tree line 65-70y up from me. As he stepped out into the clear I already had him in my crosshairs and I pulled the trigger, he took off like a shot but I knew I’d hit him just behind the shoulder quartering up and away. I slowly got up, chambered another round and walked up to look for his tracks in the snow, even before I saw his tracks I saw the blood spray everywhere. He B lined it for the trees to my right but dropped like a sac of bricks 45y from where I hit him, a huge skid mark and there he was lying in the weeds!
I’ve been working hard and waiting for an opportunity at a big mature WT buck for the last 4-5 year and it finally happened, cut my tag and got him field dressed. Double lunged and the heart was whole, as I headed up for my quad I ran into another hunter on a quad who lent me a hand loading him onto the back rack. We chatted while I strapped him down and I headed home after I wished him luck and thanked him again for his help. All I can say is I’m happy as always to have meat in the freezer for the winter but getting my first big buck after a tough season makes this one extra exciting, we just finished the last of the venison from 2019 so this was a huge relief lol.
Here some pics, hope you enjoyed the long story lol. For those wondering I shot him with a Howa, 20” heavy barrel chambered in .308. Ammo was 165gr Hornady American Whitetail interlocks, the entry wound was the size of a golf ball and the exit even bigger. Full pass through of the ribs with zero bullet fragments found while skinning or quartering him that evening. Lungs were soup when I opened the chest cavity, very minor blood shot meat on the front quarter of the exit side which surprised me.
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