ardrhi
Member
I talked my cousin (Devin) and his brother-in-law (Luke) into joining me on the kind of hunt that Randy features in his show. We started out backpacking through private land, but it is signed up for the Access Yes program so anyone could have had the same plan. Even though we ended up getting the bucks on public land (2 were on federal and one was on a landlocked 640 of state), we didn't seek out public land because the whole mix - private and public - is open for anyone to walk in. The smallest antlered buck was actually the oldest. We did encounter a few other hunters back in there (mostly on horseback), but most of them were moving too fast to notice the bucks. Devin spotted the buck on the left from 2,000 yards and stalked to 400. Luke and I spotted the middle buck at 1,500+ yards after sundown and we couldn't close the gap before dark. He was feeding down toward some very distant fields, so we hoped he would feed back up the next morning. We had no choice but to head back to camp. When we met up with Devin at camp we found out he had his buck down.
I volunteered to help Devin and let Luke go after the buck we had located at dusk. Devin had hiked back to camp in the dark and wasn't sure how to get back to his buck without climbing to his lookout and then retracing his stalk. When we got to the lookout, we noted the irony that a cow moose was now feeding right where his buck had been when he first spotted it. It wasn't long before we heard shots in Luke's direction. Sure enough, that big buck returned up the same trail, right to where we found him the night before. This time Luke was in the right place at the right time.
Devin and I kept watching the moose just to give us something to do as we hiked to retrieve his buck. We were still over 1,000 yards away when the moose disappeared. I'm not sure why I tried so hard to relocate the moose, but suddenly there were two deer feeding where she had been. I thought I saw antlers, so I closed the gap without wasting time to count points. Years of archery hunting makes closing into rifle range seem easy. Before long we three were all aching beneath heavy packs of meat and bone.
I got home a day earlier than planned. It was lucky I did. My daughter got asked on a date to homecoming, which now writes off the weekend that I was going to take her hunting. I was thoroughly exhausted, but it wasn't hard to find enough energy to take my little girl hunting. I knew a young buck that was pretty dumb, but had probably survived 3 days of general season in one of my secret spots. This spot looks difficult to access, but it can actually be done with about an hour of relatively easy hiking if you're willing to go around. I did my part, she did her part, and dad and daughter had a great morning.
I volunteered to help Devin and let Luke go after the buck we had located at dusk. Devin had hiked back to camp in the dark and wasn't sure how to get back to his buck without climbing to his lookout and then retracing his stalk. When we got to the lookout, we noted the irony that a cow moose was now feeding right where his buck had been when he first spotted it. It wasn't long before we heard shots in Luke's direction. Sure enough, that big buck returned up the same trail, right to where we found him the night before. This time Luke was in the right place at the right time.
Devin and I kept watching the moose just to give us something to do as we hiked to retrieve his buck. We were still over 1,000 yards away when the moose disappeared. I'm not sure why I tried so hard to relocate the moose, but suddenly there were two deer feeding where she had been. I thought I saw antlers, so I closed the gap without wasting time to count points. Years of archery hunting makes closing into rifle range seem easy. Before long we three were all aching beneath heavy packs of meat and bone.
I got home a day earlier than planned. It was lucky I did. My daughter got asked on a date to homecoming, which now writes off the weekend that I was going to take her hunting. I was thoroughly exhausted, but it wasn't hard to find enough energy to take my little girl hunting. I knew a young buck that was pretty dumb, but had probably survived 3 days of general season in one of my secret spots. This spot looks difficult to access, but it can actually be done with about an hour of relatively easy hiking if you're willing to go around. I did my part, she did her part, and dad and daughter had a great morning.
