It’s been a dream of mine to backpack in deep on some national forest, and kill a deer. Last year was the first year, and on the first evening, I had a 150+ bruiser get away from me chasing a doe. Luckily the next morning my buddy in camp got him. This year we set out to do the same, but stay about 6 days. We packed in on Sunday, and it rained all evening and all morning. Monday morning at roughly 10am, I set out to sneak around the elevation line I seen all the deer last year. I had absolutely no clue what was about to happen. I slipped into some sign, and made some calling sequences a few time with no luck. I jumped a deer, and decided to sit for a moment in hopes it’d slip back in. I sat down for just a moment, and no lie, my ribs started to twitch. I took that as a sign I needed to keep moving and get to the spot I wanted to hunt. I slipped down to the edge of the laurel thicket, and picked a tree to sit down. I could see across a 50-60 yard flat that bordered the laurel thicket. No sooner than I got my camera on the tripod and got a granola bar out of my pack, I heard what sounded to be something moving in the leaves. All of a sudden I heard the leaves get kicked back at what sounded to be a deer running. I seen the doe come out of the laurel and run parallel with me moving right to left. Behind her I seen another deer move through a small opening, and I never got a look at it. The doe came out in an opening to my left, and I was sure the second deer would follow. Lucky for me he was just pushing her and not running. He walked slowly over to her and stopped with his head and neck in a small 3 inch window I had to shoot through. I waited for what felt like an eternity for him to step through the opening. He finally took a few steps, and I let the hammer drop on my old Thompson center triumph. He ran towards me, stopped, and then ran back into the laurel. I had no clue what happened. All I knew was I just shot at what I thought to be a 15-16” 8 point. As I walked to where I shot him, I seen there was no branches or debris hit. When I got to where he was standing there was blood everywhere. I tracked him for about 100 yards, and when I came up on him, my jaw dropped. It was a massive 140+ 9 point. I was in disbelief at what just took place, and still kind of am. There’s a certain love you have to have for the big mountains to put in that kind of work to pack in and hunt for these deer, but every second is worth it. For sure the hardest earned deer I’ve ever hunted, and I can’t wait to go back. It was a dream that blossomed to reality.
