This story was given to Snake River Hunting by Michael Kapus.

"I took this buck during the late modern firearm season in Eastern Washington, 2011. All fall I tried to convince my buddies to take off of work and go whitetail hunting with me. They all had excuses as to why they couldn’t go so I went without them. I took a week off of work, packed my gear and hit the woods alone.
I had been hunting four days without seeing any deer before I found a good scrape line. Thursday evening I found the main scrape in a finger of trees between a clearing and logging road. The finger of trees was connected on one side to a patch of timber with three more scrapes in it. I came back Friday morning before sunrise and set up on the edge of the clearing with a view of the main scrape and timber. I sat all morning and watched two groups of hunters walk the road within ten yards of the main scrape without noticing it. At this point, I had seen more hunters than deer. At noon, I got up to stretch, eat lunch and mill around a bit. I then set up under a different tree with a better view of the clearing. As the sun set, I watched two does run up and down the scrape line. I heard a buck wheeze in the timber but he never stepped into view. After dark, I slipped out trying not to spook any deer in the area.

I slept in Saturday morning and caught some college football games on TV. Around one o’clock, I gathered my gear for one last evening hunt before my 2011 deer season came to an end. I arrived to find two other groups of hunters already leaving from the area I was going to hunt and one more hunter still hunting. Nevertheless, I slipped into the same setup as the night before and waited for sundown.
I got settled in at three o’clock. It started to snow by three thirty and snow sideways by three forty. Being my last night to hunt for the season, I decided to stick it out. Right before dark, I caught a deer walking the scrape line just inside the trees. I raised my .30-06 and watched it through my scope trying to pick out antlers from the tree branches. Once I determined that he was a legal buck, I squeezed the trigger. I lost sight of him after the shot and the snow was still coming down hard so I started to close the 120 yard gap immediately. I didn’t want to risk losing his tracks after dark. I made it about half way across the clearing when I spotted him again. He started to run and I hit him once more broadside before he piled up.

It wasn’t until I walked up to him that I realized how big he truly was. I thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to take a buck like this during a solo hunt on public land. My friends now wish they would have gone with me."

Great write up and great buck Michael! Thanks for shareing with us!