"Double Drop Tines"
Written by Leroy Quintana
Featured in Summer, 2006 issue of Trophy Hunter Magazine

Wow! What a hunting season 2005 was! During the third rifle hunting season my youngest son, Jason, my oldest son, Jeremy, and I were hunting together in southern Colorado.

On the first day of the season, which was on a Saturday, we did not see a lot of game. Then on Sunday we saw a herd of deer at sunrise. Jason was able to get a three by three buck, and was very happy to have filled his tag. I usually only hunt on the weekends, but this year Jeremy talked me into going on Monday, the third day of the season.

That morning we saw a few two- and three-point bucks, but nothing I wanted to take. I kept telling my sons that I wanted a trophy buck. Of course I was joking with them, unaware of what would happen in a few days. I figured I would give it another day or two to see if we would find anything bigger. On the way home we spotted a really nice four by four buck, but he did not give me a chance to get a good shot. We went home and I was thinking maybe I would not get anything just because I was being so picky.

We were not able to go hunting again until Thursday. Early that morning we were driving up a small side road where there had been a forest fire a few years before. We were driving to the spot where we had seen the four by four buck a few days earlier, when all of a sudden we saw some does running out of the timber. We stopped the truck, got out and walked to a good vantage point. A while later, about twenty more does came out of the timber, followed by a real nice buck. Jeremy said, "Dad, that buck is at least a five by five." I decided to not let this one get away. I brought my 7mm up to my shoulder, found him in my scope and squeezed the trigger. After the shot my son Jeremy yelled excitedly, "Dad, you got him!" The big buck went about twenty yards and fell to the ground.

As we were walking up to him, we were amazed and surprised to see that he was much more than just a five by five. This buck had eight points on one side and nine on the other, with double drop tines! We had never seen anything like it before. I was happy that I was able to harvest something this nice. Looks like I was able to get the trophy buck that I had been kidding my sons about all week long. The deer gross scored 229". It was nice to be able to spend time with my sons and to be able to get the buck of a lifetime.