So it was the morning of 10/25/14. My dad and brother had drove down the day before from the northern part of California. My little brother had been bugging my dad to hunt with me for awhile now and we finally made it happen with getting them their tags and permits to hunt G-10 (Camp Pendleton) and having the rifles sited in. They got in late and after catching up with them we ended up hitting the sack knowing we had to be up at 3:00 a.m. to be at the warden office by check in of 4:00 a.m.. With only a few hours of sleep we got up and headed on base to get checked in to hunt. We drove to our spot we were checked in for around five o'clock. It was still dark out so we took a little nap until we could just start to see around six or so. After climbing up a steep and slippery hill to the top we started heading along the top of the ridge. (yes I know ridge lining isn't the smartest thing to do) but it was the best vantage point we had with a steep drop off on both sides. After moving and glassing and moving and glassing we had got about a mile in. My dad liked a point because you could see two different canyons. so he posted up there as me and my brother continued going along the ridge. We hadn't gone 25 yards from my dad when I looked over the ridge to me left into one of the canyons and glassed real quick to see nothing so I focused my attention to the canyon to my right and as I was looking my brother whispers from behind me "don't move". So I turn his way to have him frozen looking at me but pointing down into the canyon with his eyes. I glanced down to see this beautiful wide racked big body brute standing on a small finger not 50 yards away from us. When my brother had whispered to me the buck had turned his head to look up and see us. I said "what are you doing? shoot it! didn't have the time to really coach my little brother. so the buck took off quartering away and bouncing/running away deeper into the canyon. My brother shoots from the standing and misses so I drop down to the prone. Didn't even have time to take my pack off for a rest. I got him in my sights then boom another shot from my brother in the kneeling and dust kicks up right in front of the buck. My brother shot right over him. I couldn't let this magnitude of a buck get away. Well when the dust came up in front of the buck it scared him and he turned broadside and started running broadside. I put the cross hairs right in front of him and squeezed off. by that time the buck had just jumped over a steep drainage and was starting to climb to the top. So I shot. 150 yards away which really looked about 300 yards in the tall steep canyons. He fell backwards and landed right in the drainage head first. I thought for sure he would have broken off a few tines. I immediately felt bad for shooting the buck that was suppose to be my brothers first buck. He understood and was just glad one of us got the buck and he didn't get away. We got down to him and saw how big he really was. The work began we cut down a old burnt piece of brush and tide him up so he was hanging upside down and me and my brother carried the buck 1 1/2 mi back to the truck while my dad carried the rifles and packs. I wont ever forget this hunt and my brother and dad got to see the whole thing go down. This has been a amazing year for me. I have had the chance of taking my first 4x4 blacktail up in A zone and a nice 275 lb boar with the weatherby vanguard that I won in the beginning of the year. Two weeks prior to this hunt I put my other little brother on his first buck nice wide mulie in D-10 the buck dressed out weight 190-200 lbs. Story and pics of his buck is to come.. hell of a first buck. I'm all tagged out this year with this buck being my second 4x4 ever. Now its time for ducks/geese, dove, and possible some turkey.
