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Cool!

south of 26

Used to hunt north of 26, a little east of 135

He was headed home today I think, I left him at 1:30 yesterday afternoon cause we had to get headed back. I suspect once he gets unpacked he'll share the story and post some pics. We had a blast.

I had one pic of this buck on Nov 9th. Did not see him in person until yesterday morning. What's the story on Tom's "dandy"?

I'll let him tell the story from his angle and his deer. We saw lots of deer and passed on lots of bucks. Mrs. Colorado1135 almost took a shot at a dandy right after Tom got his but it was 450 yards. She and the rifle can do it but the buck didn't cooperate. He was moving most of the time and when he stopped the angle was wrong or there was a tree in the way. I commend her for not shooting because it didn't feel right. She doesn't regret letting him walk. Our boy managed to get his doe about 30 minutes or so after Tom got his buck, and in almost the same spot. 290 from our elevated position. Spined her with the first shot. Missed high on the second shot spotted by Tom, and the third took her between the eye and the ear. Not bad for a 12 year old. He was pretty calm and collected throughout the whole thing and all business. I ran the range finder and called range and helped cut and pack out the groceries. It was a fun hunt! I'll let Tom tell the rest

If by “still dragging it” you mean my ass...then yes!

The hunt was a riot all the way around. I finally drew the tag on my 6th try. Just unlucky in how long it took. Someone with less points drew before me last year. Jack and I had hunted in his youth tag in this area last year so we could get a little lay of the land. We knew then it would be fun. There are deer literally everywhere.

We had an interesting first morning. Ryan’s family and
Myself hiked 3 miles to the back of the unit to get away from the crowds, anticipating the bucks would do the same. We were wrong.

We saw some deer and a few bucks, but nothing we were willing to haul 3 miles out on our backs. We were on lookout until about 11 AM when Mother Nature made the decision easy for us to head for the rigs.

We got back and I was sweated up and wet for the sleet. I decided to head back to the hotel and change into dry clothes before cloning back out. Ryan and Kendra had some family obligations to get taken care of for the afternoon. So, they stayed back.

After the rain/snow blew through the wind REALLY picked up. And by picked up, I mean 55-60 MPH.

For the afternoon I picked a spot I knew fairly well from maps and hunting there with jack the year before. And maybe mostly because it was a 1.5 mile round trip instead of 6.

I lost track of how many deer I saw the first evening but it was well over 50. A few ok bucks and one lucky fellow that had 16 lady friends he was sniffing around. All of the were running from draw to draw. I’m guessing the wind and anxious hunters had them spooked pretty good.

A few pics:

This was the spot for afternoon day 1 and morning day 2

After the evening hunt, Ryan and I made a plan to go back to where I was for the evening sit for a few reasons. One, the area was big enough that we could spread out and cover A LOT between us. From that perch we could probably see 1/4 of the unit. Not shoot to all of it obviously, you could really see a lot! The other reason being the amount of deer seen the day before.

Sunday morning didn’t disappoint. The weather was more what I was used to. Clear, high skies, temps in the low 20’s and about 10 mph wind.

Once the deer started to head to their bedding areas it was a parade of deer. At one point I texted Ryan saying “they’re everywhere!”

The first group of deer was a gimpy forkie, a few does and 3 spikes. None of them interested me. After about 40 minutes of the parade I saw a buck walking out of a draw that had my attention quick. He was way too far for me to shoot so I just watched him as he closed the distance to Ryan’s set up about 150 hundred yards from me. I fully expected to hear a shot. None came. He was on the move pretty quick. When he stopped at the point of a draw I glassed him and caught him just right to see 5 points on one side, decent main beams and nice tines. That was all the glance I needed. But, he was still too far for me to shoot. I’m pretty confident with this set up to 350. 400 would have to be perfect, and past that would have to be somebody else. After a minute or so I figured if they weren’t going to shoot him, I was!

I ranged a few spots in his direction of travel in case he stopped. The problem is, he didn’t stop! He covered probably 400 yards in just a few minutes. Clearly searching for a girlfriend. I set up my sticks hoping for a chance. He got within range and just before I was going to yell “STOP” he did!

Crap! I couldn’t find him in the scope. I moved my head off the scope and saw he was walking. I readjusted and when he walked into the crosshairs I shot. Losing sight of his reaction in the recoil, I saw him jump a fence and head into the brush. I wasn’t sure what to think. The shot felt good, but I didn’t like his reaction. The best thing I saw was his tail was tucked down and he wasn’t moving fast.
After a bit I talked with Ryan and he assured me I hit him hard. It took about 1/2 hr for the parade to slow down. When Cale popped the doe, they got the hint.

It was really cool to watch that through binos. He’s cool as a cucumber when deer are around. And he’s a fine, polite young man to boot!

By the time we got down to where the deer were it was about 1.5hrs after my shot.

Cale’s doe and my buck were both standing in the flat area at the upper left of the pic.

We got down to Cale’s deer quick. It was dead in the flat. Kendra and I started to look for blood from the buck. We found it quick. Cale an Ryan joined us following the trail. Ryan went up ahead to look for a body as we followed blood. We had 50-60 yards of good blood and then it quit.

We found a few more drops as he started to side hill the steep slope. That quit too. I was getting nervous. I figured if he was running up that steep ass hill, he wasn’t hit hard at all. It was a nasty steep, rocky, tangle. We just started grid searching and looking for horns or a belly sticking out (besides mine).

Cale yelled out he found blood. Then, excitedly said “I found lots of it dad!”

I was way up at the top of that hell hole praying and hoping for a Hail Mary. Cale gave it to me. Eagle eye found the buck.

That sucker ran straight up a mountain with two leaking holes.

I was last to arrive at the party and was very happy with the deer laying in front of us. We were all excited but knew what was coming. We had to pack two deer back to the trucks.

Here is what I walked up on.



Ryan slid him down the hill to a better spot for pics and skinning/quartering.



The shot there is the entrance. I hit him a little high and caught the onside lung. I had him ranged for 260 but he was probably a bit closer. The exit was just behind the last rib.

Shot with a Win M70 fwt, in .280 Rem and Federal 150gr power shock factory rounds.







Ryan and his family were a blast as always. And thank you for all the help!

It was a wonderful hunt with great friends, in a place I love. It really doesn’t get much better than that!

Good job buddy! Sounds like a great hunt.

very happy for you, Tom. great pictures!

Tom - that is awesome!!! Great buck and nice write up!

Congrats......Jeff

Thank you guys a lot. The place is just beautiful to see. I could just hike it without hunting.

But hunting it is a lot more fun.


Jim awesome bucks and cool fun to knock him down with!

Al, that’s a great story. A really really cool story actually and an awesome buck.

Thanks Jeff.

You guys are knocking down some nice deer. Congrats on that.

Nice buck Tzone! He fits in the Dandy category just about anywhere. Really like the pics, great country to hunt in. Congrats.

Right on Tom !!!

Thanks man!

Great story, great pictures and great buck, Tom!

The country is worth the trip on its own actually.