Opening Weekend B Zone Blacktail Options

[Azzy]

Hey y'all

I made last minute plans with my father in law to go and hunt our family's property near Covelo this weekend. We normally don't go on opening weekend because the weather is usually brutal and the deer encounters are few and far between. And with the weather reports leading up to opening day I thought I was in for another rough one. But hey, you can't kill em if you aren't in the field.

Opening day was the usual. Up early, pop tart in the gut, and out the door I went in the dark. I treked up the rugged hillsides into an area that has very quickly become my favorite place to hunt. I walked my normal walk and I checked the spots were I have seen deer in the past and taken a few. Nothing. I did see a nice buck on the other side of the highway from our property that got my adreneline pumping. I set up my trail cam in an area where I have seen lots of poor little trees that have been destroyed by the many a buck's headgear. Camera was up and off the hill I went. Went out that night and........ you guessed it, nothing.

Sunday's morning events in the cabin were the same. Out the door I went in the dark with a T-shirt on. It was very warm. I started up my ridgeline and I jumped something in the dark. It was too dark to see but I heard the sound that everyone knows all to well, the sound of thump, thump, thump, thump as a deer bounds away never to be seen.

I made it to the spot where I begin to hunt. It was just barely shooting light and the hunt was on. I made it through one area with out seeing anything. I made it into a small drainage and I began climbing out the other side when I heard a crashing sound to my left. I looked up to see a beautiful buck running out from under an oaktree. I raised my rifle and I found the buck in my scope just as he scampered into the brush and out of sight. I sat waiting hoping that he would squeak out of the brush and I could get a shot. But, he never appeared and from what I gathered, he made it over the ridge he was running up as he entered the brush.

I was huffing and puffing from walking the steep terrain and the fleeing buck added insult to injury. I caught my breath certain that this oppurtunity would be my last for the morning. I continued up the hill to check the next hillside. Very winded I crested the ridgeline and I peered into the valley. Holy smokes! I saw another buck and he didn't see me. He was feeding on the uphill side of a small tree facing away from me. What a gift. I raised my rifle to shoot and the buck had the nerves to simply plop down on the ground and lay down. Good news though, he was facing away from me and still oblivious to my presence. I re-positioned on the hill side to get a better angle on the bedded buck. I arrived at my destination and I retreived my shooting sticks from my pack. I assembled my gun onto the sticks and I readied for the shot.

I am not a patient man so there was no way that I was going to wait for him to stand up. I caught my breath and I waited for my heart to re-position itself back into my chest. I found the buck in my Leupold and I squeezed the trigger. Thwap I heard as the bullet foudn it's mark. The buck sprang to his feet and for some reason he headed right towards me. I put a second shot right on the mark and he crumbled into a thicket of brush. He was down and out and the hunt was a success. Picture time....

I looked up into the sky and I thanked the lord for this opportunity. I am amazed everytime that I go hunting that I live in a country where I can do what I love with such great freedom. I looked around capturing the beauty around me making the memories that will keep me busy until next season. It was a good day and I was very thankful for what I had found. I have been hunting this property for ten years now and this was the biggest buck I have ever taken there. I hope you enjoyed my story and I hope to read yours soon. Good luck to great success this year. Brian aka Azzy.

[grinderja]

Brian,

Awesome buck and great story dude. I love the dark antlers and the deep forks on that pig... That thing is a bruiser... I have the next two weeks off so hoprfully I hae some good pics to post up.....

Great buck....

Justin

[Lumpy]

Congrats Brian, great deer!!
God Bless

[model_70_guy]

Good story and you really got yourself a beauty of a buck. Congrats.