# First Buck!



## BassMan14 (Apr 27, 2014)

After four years of chasing deer on a prized Elk unit, I finally got one this past fall. There were 7 of us walking along a game trail, when one of our guy's had to tie his shoe. We were all standing there talking in a normal voice, knowing that we were nearing the end of the game trail. Once we talked for about 5 minutes, we walked around a corner and there he was, laying in a opening no further than 40 yards away. He jumped up and began to take off, when I stepped to the left, dropped down, and shot, I missed. Apparently when I shot, another buck jumped up right next to him and took off as well, dang smoke! Then we were off, a seven man push down the sidehill of a mountain. Luckily, I dropped down the hillside right where they did, seeing their tracks. I followed the tracks for 30 minutes, and by that time everyone else was back at the opening. The tracks led me on a circle, almost heading right back to where they dropped down. I was just about to head back up when I saw the two bucks 60 yards away, running across the sidehill. I picked the back deer and shot. As I was leading him and shot, he ran right behind a tree. I immediately went to where I shot, and there was a nice hole in the tree. Another miss. Dedicated to getting this dang buck, I followed the tracks of the two again for another 20 minutes when they split up. I chose to stay on the higher tracks, and followed them for a little while, around 45 minutes when I saw him running across an opening about 80 yards ahead. I was out of quickloads so this was my last shot. I pulled up like it was a duck, lead him, and pulled the trigger. Finally a clean hit. Both of the deer were 4x4's, but luckily I picked the tracks of the bigger one! A lot of ground covered for this guy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Great story... It would have been a short one if you had made your first shot... I would have easily gotten discouraged after the first 3 misses. Good on you.


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## BassMan14 (Apr 27, 2014)

Nambaster said:


> Great story... It would have been a short one if you had made your first shot... I would have easily gotten discouraged after the first 3 misses. Good on you.


Hey now.. It was only two misses!


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

BassMan14 said:


> After four years of chasing deer on a prized Elk unit, I finally got one this past fall. There were 7 of us walking along a game trail, when one of our guy's had to tie his shoe. We were all standing there talking in a normal voice, knowing that we were nearing the end of the game trail. Once we talked for about 5 minutes, we walked around a corner and there he was, laying in a opening no further than 40 yards away. He jumped up and began to take off, when I stepped to the left, dropped down, and shot, I missed. Apparently when I shot, another buck jumped up right next to him and took off as well, dang smoke! Then we were off, a seven man push down the sidehill of a mountain. Luckily, I dropped down the hillside right where they did, seeing their tracks. I followed the tracks for 30 minutes, and by that time everyone else was back at the opening. The tracks led me on a circle, almost heading right back to where they dropped down. I was just about to head back up when I saw the two bucks 60 yards away, running across the sidehill. I picked the back deer and shot. As I was leading him and shot, he ran right behind a tree. I immediately went to where I shot, and there was a nice hole in the tree. Another miss. Dedicated to getting this dang buck, I followed the tracks of the two again for another 20 minutes when they split up. I chose to stay on the higher tracks, and followed them for a little while, around 45 minutes when I saw him running across an opening about 80 yards ahead. I was out of quickloads so this was my last shot. I pulled up like it was a duck, lead him, and pulled the trigger. I missed again and then 12 times more until I had one load left. He was 1200 yards by then so I got a rest and shot again. Finally a clean hit. Both of the deer were 4x4's, but luckily I picked the tracks of the bigger one! A lot of ground covered for this guy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.


... :mrgreen:


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