I decided I ’ d drive back up in the morning with my son to help me bone and pack out the front quarters and headgear . This worked out great- except for when I stopped at the check station on the way out that first night . Not planning on detaching the hind quarters when I field-dressed the deer , I hadn ’ t intentionally left evidence of sex on the hind quarters .
This deer isn ’ t a giant to most seasoned hunters , but I ’ m pretty ecstatic about him . He ’ s a mature deer taken on a one-day , public land D . I . Y . hunt . Scoring what I guess to be in the low 130 ’ s He ’ s my largest deer to date- I couldn ’ t be happier !
Great buck Dale ! Congrats ! antlers when I shot him , but I ’ d tried not to look at them , and just concentrate on the shot . He sported a beautiful chocolate 4x4 rack with nice eye guards . Luckily , the first mile or two was pretty much straight down an avalanche shoot , so after field dressing him I drug him out that far whole . When things leveled out a bit an the brambles took over in what had now become a running creek bed , I gave up my delusions of getting him out in one piece and cut his hind quarters off . I lashed my rifle and his hind legs to my pack , marked his position on my GPS , and resumed tumbling down hill . It was only another mile or so to the road , but when the snow started piling up I started getting a little nervous about having a hundred plus pounds on my back shinnying down rock chutes in unfamiliar territory .
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