Got the wrong buck

[Jon Boy]

I found a honey hole way up in the beartooths early on this season that held some really nice bucks but could never connect before the snow hit. I dont have the equipment to back pack in later in the season so that spot was out for me. I did get a picture through my spotting scope of a really nice buck and found one that was quite a bit bigger but never got a pic (sorry for the crappy pic)
So anyways I had to resort to hunting a local piece of BMA that I had good luck during archery. It got hammered the first weeks of rifle season while I was in the beartooths so I had no idea what to except. I hunted every day this week but never could turn anything better than a 3 point up so i kept hunting. I talked to a few locals and they all told me I was crazy for passing a 3 point and the chances of getting a decent 4 point was slim at this point. I took this into consideration but went about hunting today.
I spotted a 3 point that was a shooter pretty wide close to 25 inches id say that was dogging some does. I put a stalk on them but they spotted me and took off. The crossed in front of me at 150 yards at a trot and thinking the big 3 was the only buck in the group I lead him 3 feet and took the shot. BOOM, the buck goes 30 yards and drops. Surprised I even hit him I ran up to see if he was going to get back up, only to see the big buck bounding off. I walked up to him to see he was a small 3 point. I was a little disappointed at first but he is my first mule deer and my personal best buck after 10 years of chasing washington coastal blacktails. I passed on a few bucks that were bigger than this one but am just as happy. I still have a MT elk tag, Idaho whitetail tag, and a Washington archery deer tag that goes throught dec 31st so the season is still young! 008.jpg004.jpg161.JPG

[BigSurArcher]

GRIZZLY! LOL. Great job regardless of the mixup. I had a mixup on a blacktail hunt this year during early archery. I stuck the wrong buck but luckily he still went B&C. Can't fathom what the bigger one woulda scored. Sounds like you've got plenty more hunting to do anyway, best of luck.

[Jon Boy]

My gun, binos, spotter and of course; GRIZZLY are the keys to success lol figured id get a pic of all 4 with the buck

[sjsmallfield]

Congrats on the buck and good luck with the rest of those tags.