Wife's CO muzzleloader buck

Thought I'd share some pictures of the buck my wife took this past Sunday. I spotted him in a patch of aspens from atop a ridge. He was with two smaller bucks, a doe, and a fawn. We watched the deer to get an idea of what they were going to do, then made our move. We dropped in above them, and they had moved into an opening near a pond. It didn't take long for the doe to spot us at about 180 yards. After deciding we weren't a threat, they all went back to feeding. At this point, this deer was feeding away from us, and didn't present a good shot, because of both distance and angle. The group moved away from us into a little draw thick with oak brush. We kept pursuing them, and then it happened...the wind shifted on us, and blew our scent directly towards them. I figured it was all over. We cautiously approached where they entered the draw. We were on an old logging road at this point, so we were able to be real quiet. The bunch was huddled up in the brush, alert, but not too worried at about 30 yards. There was no way to get a shot, so we backed out and hustled around to the other side of the draw. I kept glassing the brush trying to find them, but couldn't. Just when we were about to move up again, my wife spotted a body standing broadside out in front of us. I confirmed it was the one we were after, got the shooting sticks set up, and she did the rest. She dropped him in his tracks at 61 yards. This is her best buck to date, and first time hunting with a muzzleloader. I have to give her credit, as she was MUCH more composed than me during the pursuit. I don't think she realized just how good of a buck he was, until I started hootin' and hollerin' and jumping around like an idiot when the smoke cleared and I saw him drop! I'm very proud of her!
She was a little disappointed that she didn't have on any makeup for the pictures. I told her not to worry though, everyone will look checking out her rack lol

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12,059
TheHardWay
One more....

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Good work and great buck. Thanks for sharing
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dahlmer
Wow, what a beautiful buck.
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derekp1999
"dahlmer" wrote:Wow, what a beautiful buck.
+1
It's awesome that CO has a muzzleloader season where you can get a velvet clad brute like that.
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Thats a great buck! Congrats to your wife!!
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What a great buck!!!!!!!!
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:thumb Great looking buck! Congrats to your wife!
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MuleyMadness
Sweetness, that's a dandy for sure. Congrats to your wife. Awesome.
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BOHNTR
Congratulations to the Mrs..........that's a great buck!
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BIG R
ONGRATS.BREAT BUCK 10sign:
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ABert
Okay, I'll admit it. I was checking out the rack! lol

Congrats to the young lady!
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Mularcher
Great buck congrads!!
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Congrats on a great buck Mrs. HardWay!!!!! 10sign: 10sign: 10sign:

Bill
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Shedfreak88
I've always wanted to go to CO and hunt velvet bucks with my muzzleloader. Congrats to your wife that's an awesome buck for sure!
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congrad very nice buck: with the smoke pole no less

V/R
M. Bird
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TheHardWay
Well we ended up stripping the velvet because she wanted me to euro it for her. We weren't crazy about the idea of cutting the antlers off to preserve the velvet, and then reattaching.
I also scored it at 173 1/8 gross.
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What a RACK!
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