azpredator@work Report post Posted October 27, 2014 I only had 4 days to hunt so I figured my best opportunity would be my second favorite hunting method - bivy hunt (my favorite hunting style is any method other than bivy ). Its an 8 hr drive from my home to where I would be hunting in unit 23 so it was a long night Thursday. I arrived at 3am Friday morning, unloaded my pack, changed into my camo and was off. It took a little under 2 hours to get to the spot I had marked on my GPS. I set up camp in the early morning as light barely began to shine. I set up on a hill where I could glass 3 sides from my tent. Friday proved to be uneventful with only a half dozen muley does spotted. Saturday morning I decided to quickly descend a 15' decline head first. My rifle took the brunt of the fall and I only suffered a bruised mid section and and handful of cuts from grabbing a thorn brush. That sucked! At 9:30 I glassed up a nice 8pt @ 436yds. I took a peek at my printout and read 4.5. Me, being a rookie rifle hunter, thought it was inches of drop so I got a steady rest and fired. Buck just stood there. I readied the rifle once again and fired. Buck started walking off unalarmed. I figured my rifle was off after the fall and started looking at it. I fired a test round at a rock at 200 yards...perfect hit. I looked at the drop reading attached to the butt of my rifle. OOOPS! MOA = 4.5 / Inches of drop = 24". What an idiot! I admit, got a lot to learn. For the rest of the day, I hiked and glassed, hiked and glassed, hiked and glassed. I saw several bucks that were small and ended up glassing this buck @ 236 yards bedded on top of a knife ridge. I dropped to the prone position and shot him in his bed. He's a mainframe 2 pt, but with triple eyeguards and some trash he's a 10 pt. Nice character buck. I used my KUIU 1850 pack to carry all my gear. Most of the weight came from the water I had to bring. Total weight = 56 lbs. I was ready to stay 4 days, but only needed 2 which was nice for a change. "Look...I can see the road!" Weather and bugs were miserable. Not a whole lot different than hunting in august. Although I have shot quite a few with my bow I was just as excited to shoot this guy with a rifle. I'm sure it's the first of many. Good luck to everyone this year. 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4Falls Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Cool buck and good story. Love the picture of your camp with the deer head. If I ever draw another 23 tag I'd love to pack in to a couple places I have in mind. Congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nighthawk Report post Posted October 27, 2014 That sounds like a great trip way to get it done.That is a great buck very unique I've been debating a backpack hunt on my dec coues hunt Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
az_shooter Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Awesome deal, sounds like fun, congrats on a very cool buck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flatline Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Congrats and great story, I love unit 23 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KeithV Report post Posted October 27, 2014 very cool buck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
randyolson Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your story and pics! Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ElkyG Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Congrats on your first coues with a rifle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidso Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Bivy hunting surely did the trick for you, congratulations! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mocha1545 Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Congrats! That is a cool buck. You really earned that one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lv2hnt Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Nice mature buck --- you definitely earned him! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PRDATR Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Great story and pictures. Congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mesabulls Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Nice buck, it's amazing how much you see when you get away from the roads! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cramerhunts Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Very nice buck that you earned the hard way! My hat's off to you for sure. Congratulations and great pictures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted October 27, 2014 Looks like a great hunt with a nice buck taken. Congrats Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
