After Xmas, I went out to Goldmine Canyon for an end of season hunt. I only had plans to actually shoot something if I saw a buck that was really big - in the 130" class or so. I was hunting by myself, as Marla and Cheyenne were over at Mom and Dad's new place in Camp Wood, and Dad had a list of honey-dos to work on. I arrived Saturday afternoon (the 27th) and sat in a stand over looking what we call the bowl. I had very little deer activity nearby, but you can see forever in that country, and I did see some does and a small buck feeding off towards the fenceline. I also watched a mature buck walk the fence (on the other side) for about 20 minutes. Since he was headed for the hole in the fence, I got up and stalked over that way. I had a (later lasered) 340 yard shot, but he was moving and I really couldn't judge his rack well in the low light, so I let him walk.

Sunday morning, with the wind out of the north, I sat on the seat amongst the rocks overlooking the hole in the fence (at about 200 yards). I saw 3 bucks - 2 young 8 pts and a mature buck - chase a doe on a hillside across the fence at about 600 yards. Then the buck from the night before walked past at about 90 yards. He was a very pretty 8 point, but missing one brow tine, and the other was very shot. I estimated he'd score about 115, and let him pass. Then I had a doe and a fawn head for the hole in the fence. Finally, near 10:00, a band of sheep came by . . . one ram had one long fully-curled, wide flaring horn on one side, and nothing at all on the other. At 10:30 or so, I decided to head back to the cabin. I moved slowly - in no big hurry, and trying to be quiet. About 200 yards from the cabin, I heard rocks rattle as a very wide, very tall buck jumped up out of the purple sage to my right. The deer hesitated. I didn't have a shot due to the brush. A doe and a fawn jumped up (I saw them out of my peripheral vision), and the buck started to run. I didn't think about score, I just thought "shoot that deer" . . . the deer ran to the fence, turned and was across the first opening before I could shoot. I picked out the next opening down the fence through the brush, and when he crossed it at a trot, I fired. The buck paused, looked around, then disappeared over the hill. I circled around to try to get another shot, but couldn't find the deer. I walked up towards the fence, and the doe and fawn raced across in front of me. Still no sign of the buck, and the amount of cover in front of me could (seemingly) be covered by a postage stamp. Time to check for blood. I took a few steps towards where he'd been standing, and the buck jumps up from behind a sotol and runs off. I fire a shot into him at about 20 yards, with the buck at a dead sprint, then he goes over the hill and into a side canyon. I reload, sit with the rifle on the shooting sticks and get ready for him to emerge on the other side - I know he's hit, just not how well. I watch for a few seconds, then the buck starts up the slope opposite me. I can tell he's about to go down. He crawls into a thicket of purple sage and lays down. I watch for about 5 minutes, then go back to the cabin to get my gear. When I walk back over, I approach carefully, not wanting to spook him, but find him dead. I'm still not entirely sure what I've shot, I just know he's a big-framed 8 point. When I spot the heavy main beam sticking up, I relax and get excited all over again. Amazingly, my first shot at 125 yards, with the deer trotting away from me, was the only one that hit - the 120 grain X-bullet hitting the deer in the front of the right hip and penetrating through 26" of deer to lodge under the skin just behind the left shoulder, destroying the left lung entirely.




He's not the biggest buck I've shot, but he may be the most impressive, particularly when viewed straight on. He's very wide (19 3/8" inside spread) and has both G2s at 11 1/8". He's not built to score well (G1s and G3s are too short) but he is beautiful and tall and wide. He grosses 128 1/8" and nets 125 7/8". I aged him at 5 1/2 years old, and I had never seen this buck before. Below is the recovered XLC.

Very nice buck and a great story too.

Thanks for sharing.