Poke 'Em
Well-known member
I guess I'll give the whole story. That's the Yellowstone River. I shot this buck on Thanksgiving night when the temp was well below 0°, but when I started to track him, I could tell he hadn't gone down quickly, and there wasn't snow in the forecast, so I came back the next morning.
Where I'd shot him was on a cornfield along the Yellowstone. The next morning, I picked up the blood trail and began following him. I followed him for a ways, found a couple of places where he'd bedded down throughout the night, but he'd always gotten back up. He was going through a narrow corridor between the river on his lift and an open field on his right. I was finding blood every few feet. After about 1/4 of a mile, the track suddenly disappeared. First I continued on in the direction he was going thinking I'd pick the blood trail back up. No dice. Then I thought maybe he'd doubled back, so I went back the direction I came from hoping to pick up a second blood trail. Still no dice. Finally, I went back to the spot I'd lost the trail. He'd kind of gone around in circles right there, and I kept looking around, but couldn't find anything. I was at a total loss, when I looked to my left, saw the frozen river, and thought, "surely he didn't cross the river." I went to the ledge, looked out and saw nothing. Then I looked straight down.
Turns out, when he got near the end, it looks like he started getting delirious (hence the going around in circles), and got a little too close to the edge.
The river was frozen, but not that frozen. There was no way I was going down there. And it was about a 10-12' drop straight down to the river anyway. I tried calling a buddy to help me get him out, but he was out of town. So I got a rope and a come-along. I got the rope around an antler, chained the come-along to a tree, and hoisted him out of there. Of course, his antlers quickly dug right into the bank, so it was a tedious process of lifting him a few inches with the come-along, then running back and getting him turned right so he wouldn't get caught in the bank. Took a couple of hours to move him twelve feet...
Where I'd shot him was on a cornfield along the Yellowstone. The next morning, I picked up the blood trail and began following him. I followed him for a ways, found a couple of places where he'd bedded down throughout the night, but he'd always gotten back up. He was going through a narrow corridor between the river on his lift and an open field on his right. I was finding blood every few feet. After about 1/4 of a mile, the track suddenly disappeared. First I continued on in the direction he was going thinking I'd pick the blood trail back up. No dice. Then I thought maybe he'd doubled back, so I went back the direction I came from hoping to pick up a second blood trail. Still no dice. Finally, I went back to the spot I'd lost the trail. He'd kind of gone around in circles right there, and I kept looking around, but couldn't find anything. I was at a total loss, when I looked to my left, saw the frozen river, and thought, "surely he didn't cross the river." I went to the ledge, looked out and saw nothing. Then I looked straight down.
Turns out, when he got near the end, it looks like he started getting delirious (hence the going around in circles), and got a little too close to the edge.
The river was frozen, but not that frozen. There was no way I was going down there. And it was about a 10-12' drop straight down to the river anyway. I tried calling a buddy to help me get him out, but he was out of town. So I got a rope and a come-along. I got the rope around an antler, chained the come-along to a tree, and hoisted him out of there. Of course, his antlers quickly dug right into the bank, so it was a tedious process of lifting him a few inches with the come-along, then running back and getting him turned right so he wouldn't get caught in the bank. Took a couple of hours to move him twelve feet...
