bmack
Member
I had the opportunity to do a different hunt than I've ever done before, accessing some private land east of Denver. My friend's family owns some property along a creek bottom that checkerboards for several miles.
They'd killed some nice bucks in the previous years and had seen a couple nice 180" + bucks this year.
The late season started on Dec. 1st and I figured it would be a fun late season hunt.
Opening morning the plan was to help out my friend Tony's 13 year old cousin Jake. He'd never killed a buck before and we were planning on changing that. The temps were unusually warm with highs in the 60's. The old jeep we had as our transportation was nice in this weather!
We found a nice buck opening day and asked Jake if he was interested? An immediate "Yes" and the plan was in place. We got right in on the deer as the cottonwood chocked creek bottom provided some great cover.
At 180 yards Jake patiently waited for the bedded buck to stand. Once he did the young man made a hell of a good shot. He's a stoic 13 year old not showing much emotion during the entire process. We had to poke at him pretty hard to get a smile.
Casey (First Lite), Me (KUIU), Tony (Sitka Gear) and Jake (Wranglers). Lol.
He would later say he was "smiling on the inside". A great experience all around and one hunt we won't soon forget.
No action the next several days. With not much ground to hunt our options were limited. So, we enjoyed the scenery and kept looking. A big cold front was coming and I was hoping that would mix things up.
To say it got cold was an understatement. Below zero temps and snow got the deer moving around.
The jeep isn't ideal in this weather!
Finally found a decent buck who was rutting hard and chasing does all over. Actually pretty fun to watch. We had to door knock 2 places to get permission and to our surprise they gave us the green light.
About 2 hours later with frozen hands I took this nice buck. He's my best buck as I'm not much of a deer hunter. This was my first rifle deer hunt and killing him in these conditions was a treat.
Probably won't do a hunt like that again. Too limiting in that area. I'll roll the dice on public land all day long. But, a good time none the less.
They'd killed some nice bucks in the previous years and had seen a couple nice 180" + bucks this year.
The late season started on Dec. 1st and I figured it would be a fun late season hunt.
Opening morning the plan was to help out my friend Tony's 13 year old cousin Jake. He'd never killed a buck before and we were planning on changing that. The temps were unusually warm with highs in the 60's. The old jeep we had as our transportation was nice in this weather!
We found a nice buck opening day and asked Jake if he was interested? An immediate "Yes" and the plan was in place. We got right in on the deer as the cottonwood chocked creek bottom provided some great cover.
At 180 yards Jake patiently waited for the bedded buck to stand. Once he did the young man made a hell of a good shot. He's a stoic 13 year old not showing much emotion during the entire process. We had to poke at him pretty hard to get a smile.
Casey (First Lite), Me (KUIU), Tony (Sitka Gear) and Jake (Wranglers). Lol.
He would later say he was "smiling on the inside". A great experience all around and one hunt we won't soon forget.
No action the next several days. With not much ground to hunt our options were limited. So, we enjoyed the scenery and kept looking. A big cold front was coming and I was hoping that would mix things up.
To say it got cold was an understatement. Below zero temps and snow got the deer moving around.
The jeep isn't ideal in this weather!
Finally found a decent buck who was rutting hard and chasing does all over. Actually pretty fun to watch. We had to door knock 2 places to get permission and to our surprise they gave us the green light.
About 2 hours later with frozen hands I took this nice buck. He's my best buck as I'm not much of a deer hunter. This was my first rifle deer hunt and killing him in these conditions was a treat.
Probably won't do a hunt like that again. Too limiting in that area. I'll roll the dice on public land all day long. But, a good time none the less.
