TARA’S BACKCOUNTRY BUCK

“Nature was calling, and so I went.”

So writes Tara Nielsen Kaplan of rural Whatcom County, who shot a 29¾-inch-wide four-point mule deer buck 9 miles deep in the wilds of Northcentral Washington during midOctober’s rifle season.

While Nielsen Kaplan grew up walking timber sales with her dad and had tagged along on her husband’s hunts beforehand, three kiddos and running her own business took up most of her time until 2021, when the “itch” to get a hunting license couldn’t be kept at bay any longer.

“We knew this buck was up there,”Nielsen Kaplan writes. “We spotted him last season [2021], but I didn’t get the opportunity to place him in my scope crosshairs. We waited an entire rotation around the sun to return to this sacred spot, a grueling four-hour uphill hike into the burns and the wild. We rose above the skyline and it was as though all the stars were aligned – the perfect spot to set up camp.”

“The rest is, well … quite a story, but here he is. My first buck! Shot him opening day in Okanogan County with my Springfield Armory Creedmoor 6.5 at 350 yards. A rare-sized buck for that region, who just happens to be a collective of a beautiful gene pool!”

Last fall was odd for the area, with few deer lower down in October’s warmth, leading to speculation the herd was up in the heights of the Pasayten and Sawtooths.

“We only saw bucks of large caliber; not a doe in sight,” Nielsen Kaplan writes. “Every single day, without fail, we were presented with a stag social, if you will.”

She states that the phrase “creatures of habit” could be applied to these wilderness bucks.

“Applied patience, sheer will, determination and favorable winds were just a few factors to this high-country hunt,” Nielsen Kaplan adds.

Congratulations! –NWS