I was lucky enough to fill my tag on opening morning as dawn was just beginning to break. I hadn't walked more than 40 yards from where we parked the vehicles when I picked up this buck's tracks and began to follow them. After a short time I spotted him looking over his left shoulder at me. With just barely enough light to tell he was a legal buck, I had enough time for one clear shot at about 130 yards before he disappeared into the trees. After a short pause I heard a crashing sound but saw no more movement. I waited for a while before making my move into the cover to find him or his trail. I ended up walking right up on him where he was in a bedded-down position with all his antler tines and eyes directed right at me!

Other than the fact that he didn't rise when I walked up on him, he was not showing any signs of distress — no shaking, trembling, gasping, or anything like that so with my rifle shouldered, I carefully took two steps to my right. Sure enough, his head and eyes turned and followed me so I fired one more shot high on the neck. He jumped up and back, crashing into a sage bush to gasp his final breath.

What a magnificent animal! The heart and liver provided us with a great opening night dinner and we went on to fill three of our four tags before driving back to California. Thanks for running such a great website.

Submitted by Thom Headley
California