I remember the two days quite well and won’t forget the hunt that almost ended my hunting days from stupidly.

 I had been hunting with Al Murray one of my fellow Navy Sailors.   I had first met Al when he was an E-5 in the Reserves.  He was what we called a Ditty Chaser.   Al had a degree and was able to get his Commission in the U.S. Navy and Retired out as a Lt. Commander.

 

Anyway getting back to the hunt!  First day we were working the Peninsula, which is all BLM, with much of the Crooked River Ranch blocks touching BLM.   We had been hiking in and out of the Junipers and Sage, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted the biggest buck that I had ever laid eyes on.  He had to be in excess of 36” and with so many points on each side, I thought I was seeing things.   I was carrying my 6MM Ruger on this hunt and had left the 340 Weatherby in the truck.   I have always had a problem of taking to many rifles on the hunt and playing around with them all.   It has cost me a buck or two a number of times.

I pull down on the buck that was moving out at about 125 yards.   As I pull down to let a round smack him in the Boiler room, I hear the noise of little kids close.   The area is used by families to camp at times.  I pull up not wanting to maybe have anyone in the line of fire.   The buck disappeared in those brief moments of hesitation.  Al and I took off to catch the buck, but he wasn’t to be found.  There were a number of bucks hanging in the area, but none of them suit my fancy.   So ended the evening of the chance of a lifetime to get an extremely LARGE Non-Typical Mulie.  

As for the family, they were in the area about a ½ mile towards the ranch, the noise seem to just echo across the flat.

The next day Al and I were back in the same area, working a gravel road along a BLM fence line.   Al of a sudden, we spot about 8 dandy bucks coming across our path at about 250 yards.   I quickly swung on the bucks and took aim on the largest buck as he cleared the barbwire fence.   He was moving at a good rate and I hit him smack in the hip.

The bucks were gone in an instance and I took chase on them through the thick Junipers and Sagebrush.   I spotted the buck at about 500 yards standing in the Sagebrush.  I had no rest and took John Wayne offhand shots at the buck.  I only had two rounds with me and left spare ammo back in the rig.   Pretty well prepared on this hunt!  Later finding that both rounds had made lines through the hair on the top of the back, close but not Cigar.

The buck continues to just stand out in the open Sagebrush.  I made my way and closed the distance to about 100 yards.   The buck still stood there and I could tell he was in bad shape and bleeding from a main artery in the hind quarter.

The buck finally lay down and I thought it was safe to move in him, thinking he had bleed out all the way.   I stood near him and he lay on his side.  He was still breathing and I thought I should pith him and take him out of his misery.   That was a major mistake that could have ended it all for me.   As I stabbed him in the area of the heart, the buck in his last breath catapulted up and directly at me.  I put my arms out to block the buck coming at me and was able to put my hands into the forks of the buck’s antlers.

He had enough power to knock me back onto my back, with me hitting my head on a rock, causing me to be knocked out.   When I woke up in what might have been about a minute AL was standing above me with the buck laying next to me.  Al thought it was quite humorous and wasn’t sure how he was going to tell my wife Linda that I had been killed by a dead buck.  This buck scored 190 B&C with a net score of 185 B&C.   It was a great way to end a story.   I learn a valuable lesson about the power of a wild animal.

 

This buck hangs in the Portland Sportsman’s Warehouse