He was a real old buck and I didn't kill him, he
died of a heart attack. His main frame is a 3 X
5 with eye guards that are over 5" long. He
also has 8 other points on one side and 4 on
the other that are over an inch long. They are
all between his eye guards and his base.
Now back to the heart attack story. I was
hiking up into an area, that I had been in the
day before when I missed a shot at a huge 5 X
5. I made a big circle and was coming down
the same ridge I had jumped the 5 point. In
the same patch of timber I ran into this buck.
We spotted each other at the same time and
he made a mad dash to my right and just
below me. I barely had time to swing my rifle
around as he went by and squeeze off a shot.
My rifle at the time was an old 30-30 with open
sights and it broke like a shot gun to load.
One shot, that was it. My Grandfather had
killed a grizzly bear with it in the 30's. Anyway
back to the buck. He went about 50 yards and
dropped dead. I was so proud. I looked for a
bullet hole but couldn't find one. When I
dressed him out I saved the heart and liver.
After we had him hung up at home and were
skinning him out we learned the story. When I
shot, I grazed a rib and it was enough to break
it. A piece about three inches long had stuck
in his heart. We cut the heart open and their it
was.
have taken. He is a 5 X 5 with over 2" long
eye guards. Each side almost matches up
perfectly. His configuration is almost
square.
I was hunting in a late season that was
open for deer and elk. My main goal was elk
and I went up into the area the day before . I
was heading up a rough road in some
heavy snow when I hit a rock under the
jeep. When I got out, I saw oil running out
of middle of the front axle. I quickly turned
around and headed out to the nearest
ranch. I called my dad and told him I
needed a new seal. He drove the 70 miles
to bring it to me. We got it fixed and new oil
added, about 10:00 that night. The part I
forgot to mention is that on the ranchers
gate was a thermometer and it was 25
below zero. Dad headed home and I drove
up to the mouth of the canyon in the dark. I
slept in the back of the truck that night. I
planned on driving on up in the morning but
when I woke up there we outfits already
headed up. I decided to just head up the
nearest ridge from the parking lot. I had
only gone a short ways up this very steep
ridge when two bucks cut across in front of
me. One was this buck. I could look down
into the parking lot and see the game
wardens truck and I looked at my watch and
it was 10 minutes till shooting light. I let him
go and started up the ridge. Ten minutes
later here came the same two bucks again
just a little above me. Some one had
spooked them back. I could still see the
game wardens truck but I opened the days
hunting at 20 seconds after shooting time.
