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By Ivan Judd

In the mid 1990’s the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife started creating more opportunity for the muzzleloading hunter. More late-season buck hunts and more bull elk hunts. This story is the result of one of these hunts on the first year it took place.

I knew the odds of drawing a tag for one of these new hunts would not be good. So, drawing one on my first try was a real shock. I have been hunting with a traditional muzzle loader since 1975. My knowledge and experience with this style of hunting was not lacking, but what was lacking was my knowledge of the hunt area. 

The particular unit that I had a tag for was a long way from my home and I had never been there before. Because of my work schedule I was not able to see the hunt area until the day before season. With a land status map to keep me off private land, I started covering the miles of BLM ground in search of a concentration of deer. Just at dark I finally spotted four does, so camp was set up at this location. 

Before first light I was on the highest hill in the area. Glassing the hills and flats around me, I was able to find several scattered groups of deer, including a couple of small bucks. My next observation point was another hill about a half mile south of the first hill. Almost at once I picked up a herd of about 20 head. They were laying down on an open hillside about a mile away. Even at this distance one of them really stood out from the rest. Keeping cover between us and staying downwind, the distance was cut in half revealing a very large buck. The distance was cut to 300 yards by stalking in stooped manner, then to 150 yards on my hands and knees. From there it was on my belly to 80 yards.

Only the bucks head and neck was visible, with his body being hidden by the sagebrush. The decision was made to belly crawl closer until one of the deer sensed something was up, thinking they would all stand up to look, and I would have a clear shot at less than 80 yards. A yearling doe saw something was wrong, jumped to her feet and ran up and over the hill with the rest of the herd right behind her. The buck was a 34 inch 4x4 that may have scored over 200 B & C points. Running to the top of the hill, I wanted to see where they were going. About 30 minutes later I saw a herd of deer traveling fast along a fence line. I had just blown a chance at the biggest buck that I have ever seen in a hunting situation. I was so angry with myself that going home was almost an option, except during the time spent seeing where the big buck was going, another herd was spotted about a half mile away. Again, these deer were on the downwind side of an open hillside with one animal standing out from the rest.

At 300 yards, my glassing revealed about 20 head of does and 3 bucks. Two of these were young bucks in the 20 to 22 inch category. The third animal was "different". His antlers had no shine to them, and counting points was questionable. Because of the openness of the hillside, a downwind approach was out of the question. As I sat considering my approach, four does burst out of the brush right in front of me and ran right through the deer laying on the hillside. The entire herd ran up the hill and stopped just short of the top with the three bucks staying together just on the outside of the does. At this point my only option seemed to be to go around the hill and try to beat my scent to them. When I came to the edge of the hill and peeked over, all I could see was the bucks antlers over the top of a bunch of brush. He was only 20 yards away.

Quickly ducking back behind the hill and moving to the left, I again poked my head back over the hill. The buck was gone. Moving fast along the top of the hill, I searched for the buck that was no doubt making distance between us. Seeing movement in a saddle ahead of me, I ran to a basketball sized rock and stood on it to get above the brush between us. The two largest bucks were together with the “different” one taking up the rear. With a slight lead and a squeeze of the trigger, the buck was down.

I was finally able to get a good close look and I could hardly believe my eyes. The bases of the antlers were huge and he had several drop points with a large knob growing down next to his left eye. He had a 29 ½” spread with 17 points on the right side and 11 points on the left. There were two longer points on the left side which broke when he fell. The buck is not considered non-typical but rather an irregular and is not able to be scored under the B & C scoring system.