2LuckyHunters

Congrats and great job Jason!!! ~ Jess

Thanks! Thanks. He was 89 and some change. Just barely under 90.

For the 2012 rifle deer hunt, my husband, Jimmy and I had scouted and knew where we wanted to be on opening morning. I was up before the alarm went off and was excited to get out to our spot. We glassed up 6 does and decided to slip in quietly to find the buck. We crept in to 150 yards and got a rock solid rest on some boulders. The does were bedded, so we glassed for the buck. We couldn't find him, so we had to sit and wait for the ladies to get up. We had the perfect set up, except there's was no buck! When the does moved off, he wasn't with them. This brings us to day 2. We got into our spot well before sun up. We started glassing in the gray light. I kept getting the feeling that I needed to check a mountainside behind me. I could just barely make out what looked like a rack at the bottom of some buck brush 400 yards away. As the sun came up, the buck stood up. As we were trying to decide if he was a shooter, (he was still in the shadows)he did what they do best. He disappeared! We glassed and couldn't find him, so we decided to go check a few other areas. As we are both walking away, the more we thought about it, the more we knew we needed to go back. So, my husband hatched a plan for us to circle around the mountain and come up the back side. As we were creeping up, there was sign everywhere. This old buck had claimed this mountain, and didn't seem to leave it. We were expecting him to be bedded somewhere near the top where we had lost sight of him in the never ending brush. Well.... he wasn't. We thought it was over, and were talking not whispering at this point. The mountain curved around to our right into a nasty ravine. I asked my husband if he thought we should just take a peek "over there." As we started walking, we hadn't went 30 yards when we heard rocks rolling and brush breaking. That sneaky old buck was right under our feet in the ravine! As he blew out, Jimmy sounded like Troy from the show "Swamp People." "There he is SHOOT EM, SHOOT EM!!!!!" It happened so fast.... no time to get a rest or he was going to be gone. As I pulled my rifle up and found him in the scope, he was moving directly away from me. All I could think was "please turn." Well he must have heard me, he turned giving me a broadside shot, slightly quartering away. Right then, Jimmy whistled at him and he slowed a bit and looked over at us. The rifle seemed to have fired on it's own, hitting the old buck behind the shoulder. Through the scope, I saw him arch his back. I was preparing for another shot when he went another 18 yards and was down! I couldn't believe what just happened. I got out my range finder and ranged the spot where I had shot him.... 92 yards. A bow shot for some guys. Thanks for reading this story and letting me relive my hunt. ~ Jess *** The mount was done by Wild Heritage Taxidermy. They do awesome work!***

Thank you!

Thanks Kathi. We're definitely lucky to be able to enjoy that with our husbands! I'm excited for you to have them do your buck. Dale and Heather are great people as well. Beautiful cat by the way!!! Can hardly see you behind him

Great job! She's hooked now for sure! Thanks for sharing your hunt.

Thanks. I feel it's a blessing to enjoy that together. The memories and scenery are priceless.

Thanks. We had a blast! Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks. The waiting is tough.

Thanks. It happened so fast, there was no time to think.... no time to mess it up. lol Thanks. Wild Heritage Taxidermy is AWESOME!! Thanks. Wild Heritage Taxidermy is incredible. Check out their page, amazing work and great people!

Congrats to her!!! Way to be determined and not stay on the couch sick. I bet that made her feel a whole lot better!

Thanks

Thanks, Wild Heritage Taxidermy is amazing. We have read tons of forum stories and kept saying "one of these days we will get time." I guess, I finally got the time. I love this site....tons of great info, pics, stories.

Yeah good point...that stuff is nasty!

Thanks. I love hearing and reading hunt stories. I guess it's the next best thing if you can't be out there! He was pretty excited....even if he's not smiling in the pic. He was still in shock.

Thanks!

Thanks. It's a process called hydro-dipping. It's becoming popular and there are companies here in Az that do it. I wanted the teeth to stay white, some places dip the whole skull. You can have just about anything dipped, guns, bows, atv fenders, whatever.

You're welcome. The bull in your pic awesome!

Great job! Your smile says it all!

Thanks!

I hope you get drawn too. He was using a Muzzy 4 blade, 100 grain on a Carbon Express Maxima Hunter 250. It just buried into the chest cavity. One of the blades clipped some bone and had a small ding in it. The internal damage was unreal.

Thanks! Ya, I definitely owed him BIG TIME for that!

Coues assassin, That frame is from The Outdoorsmans. My hubby says it's really comfortable and levels the load nicely. Their system has interchangeable packs to add to the frame. It's a pretty slick system.

Thanks for the responses! It's fun to relive your hunts and share them with people that appreciate the excitement. About the pack out: I was very thankful my hubby was willing to work his tail off like that. It was a long way out and the weather was pretty warm that day. I was worried the skin around the eyes, nose and mouth was going to start to decay before we got it to the freezer. He saved it for sure....at the expense of his legs and back.

Dale and Heather, thank you guys so much for doing a fantastic job on my mount! I love your attention to detail and that there's no "cookie cutter" mounts with you two. I'm beyond happy with how it turned out. Thanks again for making my buck unique and for being such great people! ~ Jess

Lol I definitely had some luck on my side.