Alpine Respite

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It has been a busy year. But my relief the past few months has been scouting and hunting an early rifle deer tag here in my home state. Last year, I royally screwed the pooch in the same area, (which you can read about here) and have spent countless hours since that time thinking about what I should have done differently.



On that hunt, I located 3 bucks that I felt were pushing 180”. Therefore, I decided to burn my points and hope that at least one of them would survive. I spent a good bit of time this summer trying to locate one, and just finished packing out my last load of camp today. I have a bull tag opening Saturday, so I figured I’d try to get this up before things get even busier. This tale is short but sweet, and I’ll get it finished within the next day or so.

 

[Dsnow9]

Yes!

 

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My first scouting trip of the year took me back to that same spot on July 15th for 3 days. I arrived to my campsite at the same time as a significant thunderstorm. I was able to glass for about 5 minutes before setting up the tent and taking shelter for a few hours, and immediately picked up a small buck bedded. At least there were bucks!


The new (to me) Hilleberg Enan worked great, thanks @BlakeA! Alpine lightning storms have a way of making one feel as insignificant as humanly possible, which was frankly an appropriate rewelcoming to a season of alpine deer hunting.

 

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The next morning brought a few cows feeding through timberline, a bedded moose, and finally the forky from the night before plus a doe. I’d lie if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed, but there was still lots of exploring to be done.



Ptarmigan near the summit


Unfortunately I am reticent to post any of the pics from that morning due to recognizability, but I summited the peak in front of me and traversed two basins over glassing all the way.

The CO classic: hikers unwittingly bumping massive herds of elk around the alpine


That late afternoon, after looping back and while trudging back down the peak towards my camp 2k ft below, I caught a glimpse of velvet tines below me.

 

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I am extremely lucky that the wind was fairly strong and in my favor, as I had walked unknowingly within 100 yards of 3 bedded bucks. I knew none of them were the same as the year before, but the 4x4 looked decent, with a recognizable shallow back R fork.

 

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After a 15 minute polaroid session, I scrambled to pack up my stuff as another huge thunderstorm rolled in at my back. After sneaking into a rocky gully, I jogged and scrambled down to my tent to shelter again for the evening.

The next morning, I was able to relocate the bachelor group.

 

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With some bucks located at my plan A spot, I felt it was time to knock off some other basins on the map, even though I had looked at them in past years without success. The tag deserved due diligence, and it allowed me to spend some days in some beautiful places. In lieu of landscapes, here are some highlights of the next couple trips.

One of my favorites, the mariposa Lilly


Some elk scouting for a friend


A deadhead first for me

 

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Fast forward to Labor Day weekend. Backpacked in, got served a healthy dose of humble pie on the first night’s glassing session, but patience was rewarded after about 7 total hours staring at the same slope between the evening and next morning.

The bucks grey coats were fully in.

 

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[Addicting]

Those are some great photos but my legs and lungs hurt just looking at them.

 

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Another highlight of my Labor Day scouting trip was a near collision course with a bull moose while bouncing around my glassing knob at 7 am. He was definitely perturbed that my tent was in between him and where he wanted to go.

 

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On Friday night after work I packed in, mostly in the dark, to my tent which I had left set up from the weekend before. Alarm set for pre dawn, I was ready to go at first light, anxiously waiting to see if and where the bucks would appear. After about 45 minutes of glassing, I picked up a mile deer white butt patch off to my left, nearly level with my tent elevation, about 650 yards away, this was significantly lower down (by almost 1k ft) from where they had been spending the summer, but it’s an area I’ve seen bucks before.

It was the narrow but tall 4x4 I had seen the previous week, but I did not see his wider friend with the shallow back R fork.

Photo of the first buck I saw opening morning, the week prior.

 

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Now a caveat to the stalk is that this was my first time using a rifle instead of a muzzleloader for alpine deer hunting. So I knew that I had a lot of leeway in terms of what and “opportunity” was, but also I was constantly encouraging myself to be aggressive. I knew there was an archery hunter and another early rifle tag holder in the area. Not competition necessarily, but I wasn’t going to sit back and watch deer for 5 days and not do anything about it.

Knowing that those 2 deer had been inseparable all summer, I determined to get closer while they were still up and feeding, as I could shave off 300+ yards in less than 10 minutes by getting to a rocky knob of Krumholz trees that could put me in position for a shot.

They fed behind a small patch of tall spruces, I watched for 10 minutes, they did not come out, took a quick pic through the binos to cement their location in my mind, and I hustled. This would be the first time I have ever stalked bucks without the intent of getting above them in their midday bed.

 

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Simultaneously as I got to the knob, the narrow buck comes squirting out into the open to the R of the trees, stotting, then walking, constantly looking back into the trees. There was no way they winded me, I assume he saw me poke up over the knob? I was still slightly disappointed I had been busted, but maybe there was another hunter? I really wasn’t sure what had happened, but I ranged him…225.

Suddenly my eye caught a glimpse of grey moving behind the trees. The other buck was following his friend, with the narrow 4x4 looking back at him almost asking “why am I in front?” And clearly hesitant to move without knowing what his friend was doing.

The wide 4x4 stepped out on the same trajectory as his buddy. They had calmed, but clearly still intent on moving left to right, and not feeding, but moving away from perceived disturbance.

I was on a steepish downhill slope that would not allow for a prone setup. I leaned back against a stump, tried putting my backpack in front of my as a front brace, but it wasn’t tall enough. I was contemplating whether I should force the issue or see what they do. Be aggressive I thought. I clipped my trekking poles together with the quick stix system i bought a couple years ago but have never actually used for a shot. Adjusting the poles, it was the perfect height, and the stump I leaned my back against stabilized my rear brace. Another range: 244.

I settled my breathing and shot as the wide buck was maybe 2 steps away from a patch of small trees and brush.

 

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Quickly relocating him through the scope, I saw him lower his head like a charging bull, do a kind of accelerated forward crouching forward run for about 10 yards, then crash and begin to tumble. He tumbled at least 50 yards downhill and got hung up in some weathered spruces. I could see a bloody red tine heaving as he took his last breaths.

Buck waypoint was where he was last seen when I began the stalk. Waypoint on the bottom is shooting location. Line is the shot. Waypoint top center is where he was found.


Picking my way over to him took less than 10 minutes.

 

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Hung up



Dragged/tumbled down to more level ground and accessible shade.

 

[Dsnow9]

Nice work man!

 

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Butchering revealed a complete pass through. Hornady CX 120 gr.

 

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Velvet coming off all too easily by the end of the field dressing.


Whole deer load down off the steep stuff

 

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First load out was some of my camp, rear and front, goodie bag, head, and gun. Buoyed by creek beers I had stashed the week prior.


2nd load the next morning with rest of camp and the last 2 quarters.


Done.