Better to be Lucky than Good

CJF

WKR
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
388
Location
CO
Sometimes it is nice to get lucky. I've never shared a story on the Slide but this was a fun one...Here's how it went down:
My wife killed a pretty nice 3x4 on our property during second season leaving a couple of other bucks that I would consider shooting with my third season tag. So on the opening day of third season I am scanning the fields for any of those bucks....but they are all on the neighbors fields and shortly after daylight they head into the woods to bed for the day. So I loaded up the kids 4 year old girl and 6 year old boy to head into town to the local ski swap to get their skis for the year.....and I almost grabbed my gun, orange, and tag since I have to pass a couple of blocks of public land to get into town. I did not since I have not seen a good buck anywhere near the public pieces all year (despite driving it twice a day). We got the stuff in town, went out to breakfast so the kids could have their fill of pancakes and headed back home. It was around 10:30am we were passing one of the blocks of public land and wouldn't you know it there was a buck a couple of hundred yards from the highway in a sage opening. I could have kicked myself for not having my gun or even binos to see how good the deer was. I could really only tell that he was a big body deer with a decent frame on his head. My house was only about 5 miles away, so I picked up the speed ever so slightly to get home and get my stuff. Knowing I wanted my 6 year old to be with me, I gave him stern instructions to run inside, grab his camo jacket and boots and get back to the truck ASAP (he still had pajamas on). By the time I grabbed the gun, binos, orange, and tag he was in the truck waiting for me. We headed back to where I last saw the buck, examining OnX to see which direction he might be going. I decided he would be headed to the northwest up a draw to bed for the day. We got out of the truck at the gate and stayed on the the ridge overlooking the draw, so we were on the southwest side with a solid 10mph east wind...Perfect, just have to find him. We probably only made it 100 yards in when I see the back end of a deer opposite of us, close to the same elevation. I watched for a while before he finally lifted his head, and through the oak brush I could see he had decent mass, width, forks, length. By the time I decided he was worth shooting he disappeared to the south which is the direction of the highway. We made a move about 50 yards down towards the draw so we could see a couple of openings a little better, sat down and waited. Felt like 30 minutes, but was probably only 5 and he popped back out in the same spot we first saw him. I made sure my boy could see him before I shot him. Quartering to shot and he dropped. High fives and fist pumps ensued. I just never expected to see much less kill a buck this good on a piece of heavily pressured public ground off the side of the highway. There was no scouting or preperation...just luck; but sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
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realunlucky

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 20, 2013
Messages
12,624
Location
Eastern Utah
What a great memory for both you and your boy. Congratulations on a great buck thanks for sharing

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bighorn

FNG
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
16
Most of my hunts seem to be more luck than anything. I usually scout, but more often than not, I just get lucky in some way.


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Fowler530

WKR
Joined
Oct 31, 2019
Messages
1,523
Location
NorCal
Congrats on a great buck and for making sure the little man was with you!! Memories you’ll both get to enjoy for many years to come! Great job Dad!! (y)
 

Sportsman247

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
212
Thanks for sharing your story and I’m sure your son thanks you for a hunt with dad.
 
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