Hunting Wife
Well-known member
I see and hear a lot of trepidation from women about solo hunting. I’m sure there are a variety of mental hurdles depending on the individual, but I wonder sometimes if it’s just fear of the unknown more than anything that keeps women from venturing out on their own. Thought maybe a story about my deer hunt this year might help? I’ll preface this by telling you there is no giant trophy at the end, no exciting suspense-filled storyline. Just an average hunt that I happened to do on my own, with all the usual ups and downs.
The forecast was for snow showers in the morning and single digit temps, with clearing in the afternoon, so I figured the deer would be moving early and probably again once the snow stopped. I drove out to one of my spots that would work well with the predicted winds- the terrain is steep and deep coulees with a few cottonwoods in the bottoms and some stubble on the tops and at the bottom of the hills, a couple of miles away.
I arrived before light so I could hopefully glass up some deer before they left the tops. It didn’t take long to find a herd of mule deer with a small 2 pt and a mid-sized 4 pt in the mix. I had been out 4 days previously and hadn’t seen any bucks that got the heart pumping, but this is my last weekend to hunt so my standards for a shooter were on the downward slide and an average buck for the freezer was looking pretty appealing. The herd was lined out and on the move, dropping into the top end of the next coulee over from me. Seeing no other deer, I decided I better get moving if I was going to try to intercept this bunch.
I dropped into the coulees and proceeded to follow the group for a couple of miles, over ridges and down cuts. They were moving fast and I just couldn’t quite catch up with them....I would crest a ridge just in time to see them crossing the next one. About that time, it started to snow and visibility dropped off. I decided to switch strategies and start slow hunting the thicker brushy draws where I figured deer would be trying to get out of the snow. Turned up a bunch of little bucks and does, but it was still early and I thought I could do better if I kept looking. Had a coyote walk right up to me at one point. I kind of get a laugh at the look on their face when they realize you are there.
I decided to sit and glass for a bit since walking in the squeaky snow was proving to be frustrating. The snow stopped and the clouds lifted a bit, and it didn’t take long before deer started moving out into the open to feed. More does and little 2 points were visible in little groups all around me. I figured as long as glassing was productive, I would stay put to see if anything a little bigger showed up. I sat for about 20 minutes before I noticed a pretty large group of deer heading across the stubble top upwind of me about a quarter mile. There were several does, a couple more little bucks, and three medium framed bucks that are pretty typical of what I see at this spot. I thought at this point, one of those guys would do nicely if I could catch them. I needed to move because they were headed for a cut around the corner from me. The hill I was sitting on was steep, so I pushed off and slid to the bottom, then ran down about 400 yards to cut the distance. There was a cliffy point at the end of the ridge and I thought they should be walking down the opposite side I was on, and if all went well we should meet at the end. As I got close to the end, I started walking slowly, looking ahead for an ear or head because I knew that when I found them, they were going to be really close. The squeaky snow was excruciating, but I was afraid if I stopped, they would cross the bottom of the coulee around the corner from me and I would never see them.
I took one more step and a doe head was visible just coming out of the cut, no more than 50 yards in front of me. I sat down and got my rifle on the shooting sticks. I think she could hear me, but only gave me a brief glance and kept walking. Two more does filed out, then a medium framed 3 point buck followed. I wasn’t sure what other bucks were in the group, so waited to see what would happen. The buck looked at me and decided I was cramping his style. He started twitching his tail and walking toward me. He stopped and destroyed a bush, all the while pausing to look at me repeatedly. I felt fairly certain he had decided he was going to come kick my butt for some reason. When the bush was adequately thrashed, he continued walking my direction, but starting to circle downwind. No other bucks had shown themselves, so I figured I better hurry up or get busted and miss out altogether. One shot as he quartered to me, and he ran about 40 yards before falling and then rolling down the hill until he landed in a brush patch.
He’s not a monster, but is a pretty buck and gave me an interesting experience. Can’t say any other deer has ever acted like that when it saw me!
I got him gutted, and was contemplating how I was going to get him out now. The truck was a couple of miles away, and getting back to it made it clear I wasn’t getting him out that way. It was steep and slippery with all the snow, and I cliffed out a couple of times and had to find different routes. Looked at the GPS and it seemed like going out the bottom and across some ag fields for about mile would be the only option. Ten miles driving later, I parked at the best extraction point I could find, took the game cart and started back to my waypoint. All together, it was about a mile and a half to get him to the truck. I could get the game cart to within a half mile of the deer. Which meant a half mile drag. Couldn’t get good enough traction in the snow to pull him whole, so he had to come out in 2 pieces.
Dragging was easy on the snow though. Got him to the game cart and loaded up. He was damn heavy, and the game cart wasn’t super helpful. I still learn something every year, and this year I learned that it’s easier to just drag it all the way if you have good snow.
Hunting Husband came out after he got off work to see how I was doing, and because he knows I would be out there all night before I called for help. Not going to lie...I was tired and the temp was falling fast. He helped me get it the last quarter mile or so and into the truck.
So there you have it...a real account of a woman’s solo hunt. The extraction was the biggest PIA I’ve had when I’ve been alone, but you just find a way to get it done. There isn’t some right or wrong way to do everything, no one is keeping score. All you have to do is get out there and figure out ways of doing things that work for you and get you the end result you need. And if you get in a bind, you can always call for help. Even the guys do that!
.
The forecast was for snow showers in the morning and single digit temps, with clearing in the afternoon, so I figured the deer would be moving early and probably again once the snow stopped. I drove out to one of my spots that would work well with the predicted winds- the terrain is steep and deep coulees with a few cottonwoods in the bottoms and some stubble on the tops and at the bottom of the hills, a couple of miles away.
I arrived before light so I could hopefully glass up some deer before they left the tops. It didn’t take long to find a herd of mule deer with a small 2 pt and a mid-sized 4 pt in the mix. I had been out 4 days previously and hadn’t seen any bucks that got the heart pumping, but this is my last weekend to hunt so my standards for a shooter were on the downward slide and an average buck for the freezer was looking pretty appealing. The herd was lined out and on the move, dropping into the top end of the next coulee over from me. Seeing no other deer, I decided I better get moving if I was going to try to intercept this bunch.
I dropped into the coulees and proceeded to follow the group for a couple of miles, over ridges and down cuts. They were moving fast and I just couldn’t quite catch up with them....I would crest a ridge just in time to see them crossing the next one. About that time, it started to snow and visibility dropped off. I decided to switch strategies and start slow hunting the thicker brushy draws where I figured deer would be trying to get out of the snow. Turned up a bunch of little bucks and does, but it was still early and I thought I could do better if I kept looking. Had a coyote walk right up to me at one point. I kind of get a laugh at the look on their face when they realize you are there.
I decided to sit and glass for a bit since walking in the squeaky snow was proving to be frustrating. The snow stopped and the clouds lifted a bit, and it didn’t take long before deer started moving out into the open to feed. More does and little 2 points were visible in little groups all around me. I figured as long as glassing was productive, I would stay put to see if anything a little bigger showed up. I sat for about 20 minutes before I noticed a pretty large group of deer heading across the stubble top upwind of me about a quarter mile. There were several does, a couple more little bucks, and three medium framed bucks that are pretty typical of what I see at this spot. I thought at this point, one of those guys would do nicely if I could catch them. I needed to move because they were headed for a cut around the corner from me. The hill I was sitting on was steep, so I pushed off and slid to the bottom, then ran down about 400 yards to cut the distance. There was a cliffy point at the end of the ridge and I thought they should be walking down the opposite side I was on, and if all went well we should meet at the end. As I got close to the end, I started walking slowly, looking ahead for an ear or head because I knew that when I found them, they were going to be really close. The squeaky snow was excruciating, but I was afraid if I stopped, they would cross the bottom of the coulee around the corner from me and I would never see them.
I took one more step and a doe head was visible just coming out of the cut, no more than 50 yards in front of me. I sat down and got my rifle on the shooting sticks. I think she could hear me, but only gave me a brief glance and kept walking. Two more does filed out, then a medium framed 3 point buck followed. I wasn’t sure what other bucks were in the group, so waited to see what would happen. The buck looked at me and decided I was cramping his style. He started twitching his tail and walking toward me. He stopped and destroyed a bush, all the while pausing to look at me repeatedly. I felt fairly certain he had decided he was going to come kick my butt for some reason. When the bush was adequately thrashed, he continued walking my direction, but starting to circle downwind. No other bucks had shown themselves, so I figured I better hurry up or get busted and miss out altogether. One shot as he quartered to me, and he ran about 40 yards before falling and then rolling down the hill until he landed in a brush patch.
He’s not a monster, but is a pretty buck and gave me an interesting experience. Can’t say any other deer has ever acted like that when it saw me!
I got him gutted, and was contemplating how I was going to get him out now. The truck was a couple of miles away, and getting back to it made it clear I wasn’t getting him out that way. It was steep and slippery with all the snow, and I cliffed out a couple of times and had to find different routes. Looked at the GPS and it seemed like going out the bottom and across some ag fields for about mile would be the only option. Ten miles driving later, I parked at the best extraction point I could find, took the game cart and started back to my waypoint. All together, it was about a mile and a half to get him to the truck. I could get the game cart to within a half mile of the deer. Which meant a half mile drag. Couldn’t get good enough traction in the snow to pull him whole, so he had to come out in 2 pieces.
Dragging was easy on the snow though. Got him to the game cart and loaded up. He was damn heavy, and the game cart wasn’t super helpful. I still learn something every year, and this year I learned that it’s easier to just drag it all the way if you have good snow.
Hunting Husband came out after he got off work to see how I was doing, and because he knows I would be out there all night before I called for help. Not going to lie...I was tired and the temp was falling fast. He helped me get it the last quarter mile or so and into the truck.
So there you have it...a real account of a woman’s solo hunt. The extraction was the biggest PIA I’ve had when I’ve been alone, but you just find a way to get it done. There isn’t some right or wrong way to do everything, no one is keeping score. All you have to do is get out there and figure out ways of doing things that work for you and get you the end result you need. And if you get in a bind, you can always call for help. Even the guys do that!
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