Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting I Shot the Ugliest Buck In Washington!! (Pic Heavy)

Since blacktail hunting here in Western Washington doesn't really get going until about October 25th, I sometimes hunt with some buddies over near Omak. My wife and kids are visiting her parents this week so I decided to make the trip to the east side and try for a Mule Deer.

Here's our campsite:



The terrain can be fairly steep and you can end up covering a lot of ground--whether you want to or not! This is a pic from opening day and my GPS said we walked 14.2 miles:



Another view of our campsite. That little white spot just above the lake is our trailer:



The fog on opening morning was thick:



And then 90 seconds later it rolled away. It was weird!



After the fog left, the rain came. I felt like I was back on the West side, just lying in the rain, glassing for critters!



Day 1 ended with a good number of deer spotted, but nothing legal (mule deer are 3 pt minimum). On Day 2, I was sitting around the fire pit after lunch, just glassing the surrounding hillsides for my own amusement when I saw a deer butt about 300 yards away, just up from the road. I focused on it and saw an antler. Only one though--the other must have gotten busted off. As I analyzed the deer I concluded he was only a forked horn. My buddy Don had already gotten a spotting scope on him and shouted, "No, he's got a third point in the front! It's barely an inch, but he's legal!"

So I grabbed my orange vest and my rifle and jumped in the truck. Don drove me up the road and let me out. As I climbed the hill to look on the top, I got the worst case of buck fever ever! I started breathing hard; my heart was racing; and I couldn't think straight. I have no idea why--in the last year I've killed deer, elk, and antelope with no anxiety whatsoever. But as I walked up that hill, I wouldn't have been able to tell you my name if asked! Anyway, I got to the top and there he was and he had his girlfriend with him. I shouldered my rifle but the reticle was bouncing all over the place. The shot was only about 40 yards, but I was shaking so bad, it might as well have been 400. I am admittedly not a gifted shooter off-hand on my best day, and am even worse when excited. So I promptly air-mailed the first shot. That poor buck must have been so stunned that anybody could miss at that range, he didn't know what to do! So I chambered another round, told myself to get a grip and killed him with my second shot. I took him behind the shoulder and he went about 40 yards and piled up.

When I walked up to him, I saw for the first time, that his other antler wasn't missing, but rather was a freakish club thing that was hanging down by his face! (Sorry for the tongue hanging out, this pic was taken a day later):
[img]http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/WadeSamuelson/Omak%202009/IMG_1846.jpg[/img]


Anyway, it was the darndest thing I'd ever seen. The Cabela's in Billings, MT has a mount with something similar. That deer has a monstrous, full rack though and then has a black club thing similar to mine hanging off one side. I don't think Cabela's will be asking to display mine anytime soon:
[img]http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/WadeSamuelson/Omak%202009/IMG_1825.jpg[/img]


My rifle is a Rem 700 SPS .25-06 that I bought here off the classifieds from Crimson Tide. It wears a Leupy 3.5-10x40. It has a trigger job, but is otherwise as-is from the factory:
[img]http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/WadeSamuelson/Omak%202009/IMG_1832.jpg[/img]


Here's my buddy Don in a pic with me--if he hadn't spotted that third point, none of it would have happened:
[img]http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/WadeSamuelson/Omak%202009/IMG_1833.jpg[/img]

The best part was that it was my birthday. I had never gotten a deer on my birthday before--ever. I have always wanted to. I think it's funny that the year I do, I shoot the ugliest deer in the state! Oh well. So now it's back to work until elk season!

Happy birthday! What a great birthday present. Good tale well told. That may well be the oddest buck taken in Washington this season. Thanks for posting.

You seem to be having bad weather follow you to normally warm and sunny places. What does that bode for elk season in the cold wet west side jungles?

cool buck, and nice tape!

Congrats,great pics and neat buck...

Wade-
No such thing as an ugly buck.
Good on you AND the tape.

He is kind of odd looking. So odd it's kind of cute.

BCR

unique.

bonus points for the tape

awesome photos.

Different.Never seen a club before that I can recall.Good job Wade.

nice goin' waders!



That cracked me up.

Very interesting rack. Congrats.

Bout fell out of my chair laughfin Wade, only thing I want to know, are you going to have him mounted?
Sounds like a great hunt. Congrats.

Waders;
Thanks for sharing your hunt story and photos with us Wade and well done on that muley with such a unique rack. I�d love one like that as I rather enjoy seeing out of the ordinary antlers.

I didn�t catch what day you were in the fog, but this past Saturday we were seriously fogged in for much of the time where we were hunting up behind our place. We are a couple of hours north of Omak.

The photos by the way certainly look like some of our open country mule deer country, although we�re at the northern tip of the open country so we don�t have as much open rolling sage and brush.

So in summary Wade, congratulations, happy birthday, thanks again for sharing the pics and story and of course - good luck on your upcoming hunts!

Dwayne

That's what you call a character buck. I'd euro mount it and put it on the wall.

BC30cal,

We got that fog on opening morning (Saturday), and then suddenly it rolled out like somebody was sucking it up with a giant vacuum cleaner. Even when out on a boat fishing I've not seen fog move that fast.

Nice going waders. that is one ugly buck but it has alot of character and that is cool.

It is ugly but cool at the same time. I bet your hunting buddies don't have one like that. Congrats.

Missing the left nut?

Good deal Wade. Funny how much stuff gets shot real close to camps...

That is cool, I like stange bucks ,it's not all about rack size to me.Well bucks that is.. Grin

Wade,

That is without doubt one ugly freaky looking buck! I concur on doing a Euro mount. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Wow! Nice camp and vehicles, beautiful country, pics are great of the ugly deer and hunters. Just kidding. That pic of the two of you and the deer, with the lake in the background is awesome. Not very apt to get a pic like that in KS. Thanks for sharing.