Nephew named this deer "Little Dude"
Nephew named this deer "Little Dude"
Link to the picture
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ny2q ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ny2q ... sp=sharing
Years ago we put together what we called the 25 year plan. Our hunting crew, which consists primarily of my dad, brother, uncle and myself, decided that with planning we could go on a hunt of a lifetime every year. All we needed to do was apply and build points. With planning we could could burn our points in a different state to get a sweet tag every year. This particular year was the year we had planned to hunt Colorado. We received six tags. Half of our group got Elk tags and the other half pulled deer tags in an area we had been dreaming of for several years. I pulled a deer tag. The good and bad thing about Colorado is that the seasons coincide for Deer and Elk. We drew 3rd season tags. The opening weekend we focused primarily on an elk area that we had seen a few nice bulls. We saw lots of bulls and a few nice bucks but nothing I wanted to end the hunt on. The night of the opener I drove home to Utah for some church and work commitments. It turned out to be a great plan because they got a ton of cold and weather while I was home. I returned to Colorado on Wednesday to hit it hard for the rest of the hunt. Richard (my brother) and Mitch (my cousin) both had filled their elk tags with nice bulls. We no longer had to look for bucks exclusively because the rut was on. We had heard rumors of a huge pitch fork buck that went 175” as a solid 3x3 that a couple outfitters had been chasing. Wednesday afternoon in the middle of the day I went to look for this buck out of total curiosity. I had a hard time believing the stories about this buck. It was the middle of the day and I had nothing better to to do. As luck would have it I jumped a huge framed buck at about 85 yards. As I glassed to size him up, I realized that it was him and he definitely met the rumors. In an effort to size up and make sure it was him I missed the opportunity for a great shot. We worked on getting him for the rest of the day with no luck. It was really fun to see such a big unique buck. Thursday we decided to leave camp at light. We had seen lots of does around camp and assumed that the bucks would start showing up eventually. No more than 10 minutes from camp we saw a real mature buck with some does. He was super heavy with a couple cheaters and huge eye-guards. I did not even see the the eye-guards. My uncle Byron is crazy about eye-guards and this might have been his dream buck. I am a trash guy so all I was looking at was the extras. Once again we tried to get in position to seal the deal and were not able to close. The bucks were in rut but seemed to be really skittish from the hunting pressure of the previous hunting seasons. By this point I started to fall in love with this Colorado Hunting unit. In two days I had seen tons of bucks in addition to two great bucks that I would love to hunt. We hunted the the rest of the day and chased a couple other nice bucks but nothing. However, we found a flat a few miles off that had hundreds of does feeding. I thought that there had to be a few bucks around if the rut was on and there were that many does, so Friday we went out to this area. We got in to the elk really thick and found a couple of nice bulls. My dad had yet to fill his tag so we were hunting elk most of the day. In the late afternoon we saw a super bull a few canyons over and our path took us right across the huge doe flat. That is when I saw him. At 600 yards with my naked eye, I knew we had found the one. My brother Sam and I peeled off the horses and my dad continued on after the elk. We both crawled down a wash to cut distance and to get in a position to take a shot. I told Sam to get ready with his gun as I glassed. I picked him up fast and I could not believe my eyes. In the middle of tons of does was a huge 30”+ buck what was super tall with super deep forks. It was the biggest typical I had ever seen. There were a bunch of bucks in the group so I explained the buck to Sam to make sure that he was on the right one. Sam was confused at why I was excited." Yeah, he was a nice buck”, Sam kept saying "but not as big as you think he is.” I looked over at Sam to see if he had a stick in his eye because there was no question about this one. I noticed that he was looking into the group of deer but in another direction. I looked at the buck he had his scope on and he was an exact twin match to the deer I was watching only not quite as wide and about 20-25” less of antlers. “Holy Frijoles” Sam now saw the bigger deer. Between the deer moving around and our 15 minute argument about the deer we once again missed our opportunity. We had found him though. That night we talked and laughed about that day. What a blast to see that buck along with a mini me right next to him. We named them big dude and little dude. They were exactly the same, just little and big. Saturday was the last day we were going to hunt so it was the last day. I knew where I wanted to spend the rest of my hunt. We went back to the doe flat to see if we could get another chance. We eased in with no luck in the morning. Saw tons of bucks and does, but not the matching “dudes”. Sam worked his way off into a canyon where the deer had went and I stayed in the edge of the flat. Byron, my cousin and I sat on the edge of the flat on a camp fire and ate lunch. After about 20 minutes I glassed up little dude working his way to the does. It was go time. I caught a glance of what I thought was big dude and watched as he and little dude fed into an island of trees.
We worked our way down the ridge to the stand of trees. I decided to go around the patch of trees in one direction and sent Byron and Blake (cousin) around the other side. The parting words I gave Blake were” there are two really nice bucks in there. Shoot whatever you see. As I worked my direction around the trees I found a lane where I thought they might come out. I ranged the opening at 364 yards. Next thing I know big dude runs across the lane and disappears followed by little dude running. Little dude pauses for just a moment and I squeeze one off. Yeah, I know, the big one got away. Little Dude was 28” wide, not including his cheater, and taped out at 182” and some change. not bad, but definitely not “Big Dude”. I am converted to Colorado for life. The great news is that I can hunt this area every so many years for deer. It was fun to see so many great bucks and at least have a chance. The best part is going back every couple of years with my family. Never miss your chance at the Hunt of a Lifetime.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ny2q ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ny2q ... sp=sharing
Years ago we put together what we called the 25 year plan. Our hunting crew, which consists primarily of my dad, brother, uncle and myself, decided that with planning we could go on a hunt of a lifetime every year. All we needed to do was apply and build points. With planning we could could burn our points in a different state to get a sweet tag every year. This particular year was the year we had planned to hunt Colorado. We received six tags. Half of our group got Elk tags and the other half pulled deer tags in an area we had been dreaming of for several years. I pulled a deer tag. The good and bad thing about Colorado is that the seasons coincide for Deer and Elk. We drew 3rd season tags. The opening weekend we focused primarily on an elk area that we had seen a few nice bulls. We saw lots of bulls and a few nice bucks but nothing I wanted to end the hunt on. The night of the opener I drove home to Utah for some church and work commitments. It turned out to be a great plan because they got a ton of cold and weather while I was home. I returned to Colorado on Wednesday to hit it hard for the rest of the hunt. Richard (my brother) and Mitch (my cousin) both had filled their elk tags with nice bulls. We no longer had to look for bucks exclusively because the rut was on. We had heard rumors of a huge pitch fork buck that went 175” as a solid 3x3 that a couple outfitters had been chasing. Wednesday afternoon in the middle of the day I went to look for this buck out of total curiosity. I had a hard time believing the stories about this buck. It was the middle of the day and I had nothing better to to do. As luck would have it I jumped a huge framed buck at about 85 yards. As I glassed to size him up, I realized that it was him and he definitely met the rumors. In an effort to size up and make sure it was him I missed the opportunity for a great shot. We worked on getting him for the rest of the day with no luck. It was really fun to see such a big unique buck. Thursday we decided to leave camp at light. We had seen lots of does around camp and assumed that the bucks would start showing up eventually. No more than 10 minutes from camp we saw a real mature buck with some does. He was super heavy with a couple cheaters and huge eye-guards. I did not even see the the eye-guards. My uncle Byron is crazy about eye-guards and this might have been his dream buck. I am a trash guy so all I was looking at was the extras. Once again we tried to get in position to seal the deal and were not able to close. The bucks were in rut but seemed to be really skittish from the hunting pressure of the previous hunting seasons. By this point I started to fall in love with this Colorado Hunting unit. In two days I had seen tons of bucks in addition to two great bucks that I would love to hunt. We hunted the the rest of the day and chased a couple other nice bucks but nothing. However, we found a flat a few miles off that had hundreds of does feeding. I thought that there had to be a few bucks around if the rut was on and there were that many does, so Friday we went out to this area. We got in to the elk really thick and found a couple of nice bulls. My dad had yet to fill his tag so we were hunting elk most of the day. In the late afternoon we saw a super bull a few canyons over and our path took us right across the huge doe flat. That is when I saw him. At 600 yards with my naked eye, I knew we had found the one. My brother Sam and I peeled off the horses and my dad continued on after the elk. We both crawled down a wash to cut distance and to get in a position to take a shot. I told Sam to get ready with his gun as I glassed. I picked him up fast and I could not believe my eyes. In the middle of tons of does was a huge 30”+ buck what was super tall with super deep forks. It was the biggest typical I had ever seen. There were a bunch of bucks in the group so I explained the buck to Sam to make sure that he was on the right one. Sam was confused at why I was excited." Yeah, he was a nice buck”, Sam kept saying "but not as big as you think he is.” I looked over at Sam to see if he had a stick in his eye because there was no question about this one. I noticed that he was looking into the group of deer but in another direction. I looked at the buck he had his scope on and he was an exact twin match to the deer I was watching only not quite as wide and about 20-25” less of antlers. “Holy Frijoles” Sam now saw the bigger deer. Between the deer moving around and our 15 minute argument about the deer we once again missed our opportunity. We had found him though. That night we talked and laughed about that day. What a blast to see that buck along with a mini me right next to him. We named them big dude and little dude. They were exactly the same, just little and big. Saturday was the last day we were going to hunt so it was the last day. I knew where I wanted to spend the rest of my hunt. We went back to the doe flat to see if we could get another chance. We eased in with no luck in the morning. Saw tons of bucks and does, but not the matching “dudes”. Sam worked his way off into a canyon where the deer had went and I stayed in the edge of the flat. Byron, my cousin and I sat on the edge of the flat on a camp fire and ate lunch. After about 20 minutes I glassed up little dude working his way to the does. It was go time. I caught a glance of what I thought was big dude and watched as he and little dude fed into an island of trees.
We worked our way down the ridge to the stand of trees. I decided to go around the patch of trees in one direction and sent Byron and Blake (cousin) around the other side. The parting words I gave Blake were” there are two really nice bucks in there. Shoot whatever you see. As I worked my direction around the trees I found a lane where I thought they might come out. I ranged the opening at 364 yards. Next thing I know big dude runs across the lane and disappears followed by little dude running. Little dude pauses for just a moment and I squeeze one off. Yeah, I know, the big one got away. Little Dude was 28” wide, not including his cheater, and taped out at 182” and some change. not bad, but definitely not “Big Dude”. I am converted to Colorado for life. The great news is that I can hunt this area every so many years for deer. It was fun to see so many great bucks and at least have a chance. The best part is going back every couple of years with my family. Never miss your chance at the Hunt of a Lifetime.
Never miss the hunt of a lifetime.
Re: Nephew named this deer "Little Dude"
Great story and a great buck! I can't even imagine what "Big Dude" looks like.
On another note, we (my family) tend to always hunt third season as we enjoy hunting both elk and deer the same season, when the tags work out that way. I have to say where we hunt I've never seen the rut full on, though there does tend to be "ruttish" activity going on most years. Are you sure the rut was on or just ruttish behavior?
On another note, we (my family) tend to always hunt third season as we enjoy hunting both elk and deer the same season, when the tags work out that way. I have to say where we hunt I've never seen the rut full on, though there does tend to be "ruttish" activity going on most years. Are you sure the rut was on or just ruttish behavior?
It ain't the size of the gun but the placement of the bullet.
Re: Nephew named this deer "Little Dude"
I think just ruttish behavior like you said. But enough to bring out the big bucks at the very end of the hunt.
Never miss the hunt of a lifetime.
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MuleyMadness
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Re: Nephew named this deer "Little Dude"
Country almost looks like the famed Paunsaugunt in Southern Utah. I'll take a 'Little Dude' any day of the week. Cool story thanks for sharing, hope someday you guys take out the "Big Dude"