king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

44
you alive. The good part of all of this
was that we had found another good
area and would defi nitely be back.
With a good night’s sleep,
Monday morning had a new sense
of hope as we had fi nally gotten into
the animals. We started the morning
hunting the honey hole and it was not
too long before I spotted something
that looked out of place. As I raised
my binos, all I could see was horns -
I didn’t even bother to count, I knew
this one was huge.
I nocked an arrow and
started to draw back as there was no
way to get any closer. I started to
level my pins and then my memory
goes blank, I don’t remember what
happened, but the next memory
I have is the word, “No!” I had
just released my arrow and I was
not even close to having the right
pin on the vitals. The arrow fl ew
harmlessly twenty yards in front of
the buck. As we watched him run
off, three other deer exploded out of
the area. It was then that Nate said,
“That is the biggest deer I have ever
seen,” and he was right.
I did not want to hear it, but
it was true. I had never even seen
a buck that big, he made the other
deer look like dogs. I glassed him as
he ran and noticed a kicker off each
side of his rack. My heart and spirit
were broken. A friend of mine told
me before I started bow hunting that
it is an emotional roller coaster. I
cannot think of anything else where
you can go from low to high and
back to low all in fi fteen seconds.
But that is what we all love, isn’t it?
The rest of the day was
a blur. We packed up camp and
went home. I would not hunt again
until the eighth of September. That
is when I was scheduled to take a
week off of work. Another one of
my good friends as well as Mike’s
brother, Dave, would be joining us
for the hunt.
Mike and I picked Dave up
on Friday night and then loaded up
and headed out for camp the next
day. That afternoon we decided to
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
Hunter: Chris Dunlap • Location: Central Oregon • Area: Public land • Guide:
Self • Date: September 8, 2007 • Time: 7:00 pm • Days scouted: 1 • Days hunted:
4 • Weather: Sunny • Temperature: 85 o f • Moon: 7% waning crescent • Terrain:
Thick brush • Bow: Mathew’s Drenilin • Draw Weight: 70 lbs • Site: Spot Hogg
real deal with the wrap • Rest: trophy taker • Arrows: Carbon Tech • Broadheads:
Muzzy MX3 • Binoculars: leupold 10x42 • Rangefi nder: Nikon
The author made good on a second
chance and came away with the largest
velvet non-typical mule deer for Oregon
go look at the main area where we had
decided to hunt the next day. As we
made our way to the area, we were all
talking about elk hunting - in our minds
the deer hunt was pretty much over.
However, I did decide to show Dave the
area where the big buck I had missed
had been.
As we moved through the area,
we started seeing some deer. There was
a group of does that we glassed, but we
did not see any bucks. We moved a little
farther and there was another group; but
again, no bucks that we could see. We
moved a couple of feet and something
looked odd. I could see a buck mixed in
with the does, but he looked to be double
their size - it had to be a buck! We were
close, so I used my rangefi nder and my
heart just about stopped. There he was,
the big buck I had accidentally released
my arrow on twelve days earlier. This
time I did not look at his antlers - I just
knew it was him.
We were uphill from the buck
and he was quartering away from me.
As I drew my bow back and leveled
my pin on his sweet spot I just
kept thinking, “Do not punch your
trigger.” When I let it fl y it looked
good and, as I saw him spin to take
off, I heard Dave say, “Perfect shot.”
I could see my arrow sticking out of
his side. The buck did not run; he
walked about thirty yards and went
down.
I could not believe how
lucky I had been. What a year. I
still did not know exactly how
big the buck was and the twentyminute
wait was the longest I can
remember. Finally, we could not
take it anymore and had to go see
him. Since we saw him go down,
we were not too worried about him
being wounded. When we got up to
the buck, I could not believe the size
of him. Everything about him was
big - not just the rack, but even his
body was huge.
This is the largest deer I
have ever seen to date both in body
and rack size. He was estimated
to be six years old and have a live
weight of 320 pounds. The offi cial
score is 231 1/8 gross and 225 3/8
net, a new Oregon state, velvet, nontypical
mule deer record.
As a sidenote, I have been
fortunate to harvest three animals
this year. Four days after I harvested
this buck, I was able to harvest a bull
elk thanks to Dave’s calling. Then, in
late October, I went to hunt whitetail
deer with Dave in Georgia and it was
three arrows and three deer down.
I guess for once that feeling of this
being my year came true, I do not
think I could ask for more…although
I do have one more deer tag, we will
see what happens!