MT_Nate
New member
Second to last day of MT rifle season my daughter and I were high in the NW Montana Swan Range tracking two heavy, mature 5x5 bull elk we'd hunted the previous 2 days and previous weekends...likely only a few minutes ahead of us and we were sure this was our day. Wind was shifting so I figured we'd sit a bit to see if they might change their trajectory with confusion from catching a wiff of us with the swirling winds. We were seeing quite a bit of fresh deer sign as well - we assumed they were muleys because we were so high in the range...we were just below 7000 feet in NW Montana. It seemed a short wait was worth it to see what might develop with either the elk or deer. Within a couple of minutes we see movement 80 yards across the draw in a small opening within the firs, and then out comes a giant-bodied whitetail chasing scent on the ground...doing crazy circles and darting all over the place. I looked at my daughter and she knew what to do...this buck walked in front of her at 50 yards and she put it down. A dang whitetail hanging out at 7000 feet! - a beautiful 5x5 buck with perfect symmetry and tines ranging between 12-14 inches long. My daughter's first buck...and what a dandy it was! It was a great day for us, but we both had mixed feelings that we had to stop chasing our two bulls to dress and get this buck off the mountain before dark, but while we were hauling it out it became more and more apparent what a great buck she'd harvested. A true beauty.
Sorry for the fuzzy, crappy pics. The good ones are on a camera that I don't have available at the moment so had to get the pics that I took from my phone. Couldn't wait to share this though...I am super proud of my daughter's 2012 harvest!
Sorry for the fuzzy, crappy pics. The good ones are on a camera that I don't have available at the moment so had to get the pics that I took from my phone. Couldn't wait to share this though...I am super proud of my daughter's 2012 harvest!
