Sorry about the blurry picture earlier, I forgot I had a Photobucket account. Here are a couple better ones.
I had been hunting this area hard for a few years without any success, but it is the type of country where deer can get big and I knew if I kept hunting it hard then one day it would pay off. It is really rough country and has low deer densities but it seems like every year I hear of someone seeing a big one in the area. On opening morning I was set up behind the spotting scope as the sun was coming up and I spotted this deer walking over the top and into another drainage while it was barely light out. I only saw him for about 10 seconds and only got to see him going straight away. I went after him but the wind was wrong and I was worried about bumping him so I backed out. I hiked back in there late in the afternoon and set up on a good vantage point hoping to see him come out of his bedding area for the evening but he never showed himself. The next morning I wanted to be set up on the same vantage point as the sun was coming up so I left my vehicle about an hour before daylight to make sure I could get there in time. I was able to spot all the same deer from the previous morning but not the big buck. There were other hunters nearby driving all over on the other side of the drainage and I heard them shoot three times and was worried they had found him. The three hunters weren't even wearing orange so I was hoping this deer wasn't taken by some guys that don't even follow the law. All the deer I saw seemed to be bedded down for the day so I started walking back to the pickup trying not to bump the other deer. I was cutting across a steep draw off the main drainage and I spotted him laying down in the bottom staring right at me. He was quartering towards me so I put it on the front of his shoulder and shot and he got up and was out of sight right away. I could see into the bottom where the draw ran into the main drainage but I never saw the buck come out there so I was pretty confident he went down. I got a hold of my dad and told him where I was and to bring the frame packs. As I waited for him I had my rifle ready in case the buck was still alive and tried to leave the draw. After about an hour my dad showed up and we found the buck laying about 15 yards from where I shot him. After four hours and a good hike with heavy packs we had him back to the pickup.