Trevor Garn (aka Trevor) shared in the forum........

"CO Buck 2017 - Thanks to the pre-rut starting a little early, I was able to get this nice buck that started hanging with some does. Just barely tops my best buck score wise.

My brother and I were hiking and crested a small hill and saw this buck with his does at less than 100 yards, broad side. My brother knew my goal and told me to shoot him, but I hesitated as I wasn't sure he would reach my goal. He was definitely the biggest buck we had seen so far, but I was hesitant. He gave us a couple minutes to judge him and then he started walking away. At that point, I could see his small extra point and realized that he was wider than I had given him credit for.

So at that point, I decided I was going to shoot him. However, he was walking straight away and towards the cedars where the does were already heading into. I moved a little further up hill to get a better view, hoping he would present a broad side view before slipping into the dense cedars. He stopped behind some brush and then turned slightly angled away, however, he was still behind the bush. There was a small opening before he was in the trees and I knew I needed to take my shot when he stepped through that opening. I was ready and he stepped into that opening just as I had hoped and I shot. Down he went. I heard my brother mention something about him getting up, but I couldn't see him. As he was only about 150 yards, I decided to sprint to where he was hoping to see him if he was wounded and trying to slip away over the ridge and out of sight. I ran to the bush where I thought he was behind, only to find nothing. I was frustrated.

Then I heard my brother behind me say, we've gone too far.... here he is. I ran right past him, with in 20 feet. I had misjudged where he was and he moved a little from when I shot and in my intense focus on where I thought he was, I ran past him. He was laying dead in some short sage, so that had hidden him a little, but we both got a good laugh about that. I think after I shot, he turned and took a couple steps and then fell dead, so he was a little out of the path of where I had last seen him.

He is 29 1/4 inches wide and rough scores 178. It was a great hunt and glad I could spend it with my brother and dad."