“Dave, you’re not going to believe it!” I said to my friend. “that fellow in the Bronco was right-that buck has got to be 31 inches wide! I’m going back! He’s just feeding in a shallow basin on top of the knob!”
Thus began my dream stalk.
The Oregon archery season was coming to a close in three days. I’d passed up many smaller bucks during the season, trying to find a real “booker”. Now it was performance time.
I made a quick call to Dave because I knew I could count on him to go on a mission with me. I told him we could make a Saturday afternoon hunt over on the breaks of the John Day River in central Oregon.
The final weekend of the season also happened to be my drill weekend with the U.S. Naval Reserve. Luckily, I only had to spend half of Saturday and Captain’s Call was out at 1130. I made it to Dave’s place just past noon in Sandy, Oregon.
There was a two-hour drive to the mountains, leaving us about six hours maximum for hunting.
On the way to the Bureau of Land Management land, we spotted a small herd of mule deer, with five bucks. All looked pretty nice, and I decided to try taking a few photos. They were in the 23 to 25 inch class with one respectable four point at about 28 inches. At 5:00 p.m., we reached the B.L.M. land on the west side of the John Day River.
This was truly the year of archery mule deer hunting that I could say, “you should have seen the ones that got away!”
This buck hangs in the Sportsman’s Warehouse in Portland, Oregon