Three of my hunts kind of stand out above the rest.
My 2005 archery mule deer, was the product of a ton of scouting him all summer and using that knowledge to put myself in position to be successful on opening day.
My 2021 archery whitetail was a few weeks of cat and mouse with plenty of failures for me, but there was a better than even chance I would get it done on opening day of rifle if it went that long.
My 2006 public land whitetail was the deer I didn't think I would get, so maybe that was the one that was the most rewarding.
Started when I found one of his shed antlers in the spring, Nice heavy antler. That fall I was up above where I found the antler with my bow looking for an elk or deer. It was a miserable day, cold, windy and spitting rain off and on. Good day for still hunting into the wind. With a half hour of light left, I had yet to see anything, I was cold, wet and tired. I was ready to quit so I bailed of the ridge for the truck. Didn't make it fifty yards and there he was with two little bucks 65 yards away. For the next half hour I tried to get myself closer as the three deer feed down the hill. I did finally get to within about 30 yards, but with the growing darkness and the rain I decided to not take a shot.
I hunted him every chance I got form then on. Not one sighting until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. That morning I bumped him still hunting, I spent the rest of the morning still hunting the draw he ran into and only saw a flash of brown in the trees. I figured he might have turned and went back to the ridge to the west where I saw him on in September, so I decided to walk down the draw to the east back to the truck and drive down to the west end of the ridge and still hunt it into the wind.
As I was walking down the bottom of the draw I busted out a doe and he was fifty yards behind her. She was running up a steep hill and when she went through small clearing I figured that would be my chance. When he entered the clearing I put the crosshairs a few inches in front of him and pulled the trigger. Had no I idea if I had hit him or not, but when I got up to the clearing he was there. I have shot bigger whitetails, but this one I worked the hardest for with a low chance of success.
