birdman27
Well-known member
Fall is generally busy for me with work (trips for hop harvest, etc.), and with California's somewhat early seasons where I like to hunt it can be difficult to find time to get out there. This year was no different in that regard. What was different, was this year I had two new hunters who asked me to help them out! I will get to their story after mine. With those new hunters, I only had a day and a half to try to get my first California deer in my fourth season in state. Prior to that, I hadn't been hunting since my last deer at 16 years old in Nevada, 15 years ago!
In August, for my birthday, I went up to Chico with my wife to reminisce about how we met and visit some friends. I was able to sneak away one day with my buddy to do a little scouting and explore a couple new areas to try to find something we felt was really huntable. After a couple mile hike, we thought we had found a spot. This is the first time in these four seasons that I was able to scout somewhat effectively, even if I didn't find a target deer, I did find a target area.
Fast forward to this prior Thursday (9/20) and I was able to sneak out of work a little early and make the run up to Chico. While the initial plan was to get up there in time for a night hunt, my buddy had been sick, so we took it easy and did a BBQ with some friends from back east. Then we got up super early to make it to the trailhead in time to get to our spot before sunrise. We split up, I went east and he went west. I found a rock outcropping with some good views and sat until the sun hit me, hoping to catch something moving. Unfortunately, that was a bust, but I was able to get in a short little walk before meeting up with my buddy and found a couple of does. I must side note here that this was a pretty good start for me, as I seemed in the previous years to have found places that either had few deer or those deer had already migrated because of the weather, so finding some right off the bat was nice. Back to story. Met back up with my buddy and we made a game plan. We were going to slowly work out way up a couple of miles and 1000 feet. We saw a good amount more does and one possible buck on the run. We then worked our way back down, at one point coming within 25 yards of an uncaring spike buck (who will make someone very happy next year once he forks...). That evening, we went out to a new area down a little ways that looked like it had deer a month ago, and decided to leave it on the list for later.
The next morning, the plan was to be in before dark again, this time with me on a different rock pile and my buddy working through the dark timber we found all the deer in the prior day. I got in there nice and early, but did manage to spook a deer on the way. Took a short nap until I could see things, then got to serious glassing. Right at shooting light, I heard a lot of cracking branches to my right, so I made sure to look over there occasionally. A few minutes later, I see a deer trying to slip over the saddle in that direction. He spots me (maybe 75 yards away) and freezes. I can see some antlers over his ears, but from that angle I could not verify a fork (which makes a legal deer in CA). Finally, he shifts his head and I can see the fork. Game on! I move to get into position for a shot, but it takes a lot longer than it should. Luckily, I dont seem to spook him and finally get into position. He is head on, but at that range, with a solid rest I feel confident I can get it in his boilermaker. I take a couple practice squeezes of the trigger to calm down, check he is clear behind him, get settled on his chest and BOOM!
The next thing I know, I have thrown another bullet in the chamber and am trying to get back on target as I see a deer take off bounding into the woods. What?!? How could I have missed at that range? I decide to settle in for about 20 minutes to let things calm down and let him bed in case he was wounded. At this point, I am beating myself up. I should have gotten a better rest. I should have let him turn broadside. I should have let it get lighter. Etc, etc, etc. Finally, after the allotted time, I go down the backside of the rockpile and start working over to where he was standing. After clearing the rocks and looking into the trees, I finally look over to the spot and wouldn't you know it, there he was dead on impact. He had fallen behind the one tree between me and him, and I hadnt been able to see him. My buddy and I had decided if we heard a shot in the others direction, we would slowly start working back towards each other on the main trail. Well, I was far too pumped up, so I basically ran down the trail in his direction until I found him, then we got to work gutting and gilling (and skinning). A 1.5 mile hike later, he is in the truck. My first harvested animal in 15 years. He isnt the biggest buck, but he is probably the one I have worked the hardest for and I am glad to have had the opportunity to harvest him.
When I bought my rifle two years ago, I decided to start out using non-lead ammo, since I knew that was coming down the pipe. Reading a lot of horror stories about copper ammo, I was slightly worried. However, I was able to recover the bullet from this animal (another first) and it performed great.
In August, for my birthday, I went up to Chico with my wife to reminisce about how we met and visit some friends. I was able to sneak away one day with my buddy to do a little scouting and explore a couple new areas to try to find something we felt was really huntable. After a couple mile hike, we thought we had found a spot. This is the first time in these four seasons that I was able to scout somewhat effectively, even if I didn't find a target deer, I did find a target area.
Fast forward to this prior Thursday (9/20) and I was able to sneak out of work a little early and make the run up to Chico. While the initial plan was to get up there in time for a night hunt, my buddy had been sick, so we took it easy and did a BBQ with some friends from back east. Then we got up super early to make it to the trailhead in time to get to our spot before sunrise. We split up, I went east and he went west. I found a rock outcropping with some good views and sat until the sun hit me, hoping to catch something moving. Unfortunately, that was a bust, but I was able to get in a short little walk before meeting up with my buddy and found a couple of does. I must side note here that this was a pretty good start for me, as I seemed in the previous years to have found places that either had few deer or those deer had already migrated because of the weather, so finding some right off the bat was nice. Back to story. Met back up with my buddy and we made a game plan. We were going to slowly work out way up a couple of miles and 1000 feet. We saw a good amount more does and one possible buck on the run. We then worked our way back down, at one point coming within 25 yards of an uncaring spike buck (who will make someone very happy next year once he forks...). That evening, we went out to a new area down a little ways that looked like it had deer a month ago, and decided to leave it on the list for later.
The next morning, the plan was to be in before dark again, this time with me on a different rock pile and my buddy working through the dark timber we found all the deer in the prior day. I got in there nice and early, but did manage to spook a deer on the way. Took a short nap until I could see things, then got to serious glassing. Right at shooting light, I heard a lot of cracking branches to my right, so I made sure to look over there occasionally. A few minutes later, I see a deer trying to slip over the saddle in that direction. He spots me (maybe 75 yards away) and freezes. I can see some antlers over his ears, but from that angle I could not verify a fork (which makes a legal deer in CA). Finally, he shifts his head and I can see the fork. Game on! I move to get into position for a shot, but it takes a lot longer than it should. Luckily, I dont seem to spook him and finally get into position. He is head on, but at that range, with a solid rest I feel confident I can get it in his boilermaker. I take a couple practice squeezes of the trigger to calm down, check he is clear behind him, get settled on his chest and BOOM!
The next thing I know, I have thrown another bullet in the chamber and am trying to get back on target as I see a deer take off bounding into the woods. What?!? How could I have missed at that range? I decide to settle in for about 20 minutes to let things calm down and let him bed in case he was wounded. At this point, I am beating myself up. I should have gotten a better rest. I should have let him turn broadside. I should have let it get lighter. Etc, etc, etc. Finally, after the allotted time, I go down the backside of the rockpile and start working over to where he was standing. After clearing the rocks and looking into the trees, I finally look over to the spot and wouldn't you know it, there he was dead on impact. He had fallen behind the one tree between me and him, and I hadnt been able to see him. My buddy and I had decided if we heard a shot in the others direction, we would slowly start working back towards each other on the main trail. Well, I was far too pumped up, so I basically ran down the trail in his direction until I found him, then we got to work gutting and gilling (and skinning). A 1.5 mile hike later, he is in the truck. My first harvested animal in 15 years. He isnt the biggest buck, but he is probably the one I have worked the hardest for and I am glad to have had the opportunity to harvest him.
When I bought my rifle two years ago, I decided to start out using non-lead ammo, since I knew that was coming down the pipe. Reading a lot of horror stories about copper ammo, I was slightly worried. However, I was able to recover the bullet from this animal (another first) and it performed great.
