2012 Washington Blacktail Buck

2012 has been a good year for blacktail hunting the weather was drier and had a few clear days to hunt intermixed with storms, which has made for excellent hunting. When the weather clears and the rut is going the blacktail woods is the place to be. I hunted two days all day in the area I had been scouting all year lots of nice deer but they were still locked down the rut hadn't kicked in. Moved locations and started walking into a clear cut when I spotted a doe. It was very overcast and dark so I couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe so I waited for at least an hour finally it light enough to identify the animal as a doe. Moments later another deer appeared with his head low and grunting and began chasing the doe away. I didn't get my hopes up yet, but I felt confident it was a buck. I followed the pair of deer as they crossed a road and starting climbing a small rise. I was looking at the bigger of the two deer and had a hard time identifying antlers on his head. Looking at the photos you can see the background brush is the same color as his antlers. Finally he moved his head a little and I could see a glint of light coming of his antlers. I quickly took aim and shot and he dropped in his tracks. He's an old two point roughly 18" wide and close to that tall with one little eye guard. He weighed over 200 lbs. I weigh close to 200 lbs. and this deer is bigger than me. My Dad and I dragged him out after gutting him and by 9:00am we were at the truck with the buck.  Thanks dad for all the help and my wife for giving me the chance to fulfill a dream I have had as a young kid.  And I want to thank all my family and friends for all the advice and input to help make this possible.