targetpanic
Well-known member
We headed out West from Massachusetts in 2018. Wedecided after that trip that we would return in 2020. We kept planning and purchasing our preference points along the way. We drew our NR deer permits as expected thisSpring.
As the hunt got closer and we kept an eye on the weather we knew we were in for a totally different hunt than last time. This year we would start the hunt with 10" of snow on the ground and temps of NEGATIVE 8 degrees for a low, warming up to 72 degrees by the end of the week!!!! Our first setback came when we went to pick up the rental and they informed us that the 4x4 truck we had rented was totaled the day before in the snowstorm and we could have a 2wd truck or a big 4wd SUV...neither of which was acceptable. We found another company that had a 4x4 truck and we were back in business and on the road. It was snowing and windy for our trip from the airport to where we were hunting but we made it without issue.
Day 1 was cold and windy with occasional snow squalls. We started in the area that Shawn and I had tagged out in 2018. Shawn saw 1 nice 2X3 but decided not to shoot him this early in the trip. Wendy and I found a beautiful glassing knob and sat for a few hours without seeing any deer. Around 9:30 I caught a deer in my binos and then another and another. All together there were 5 deer that I could see and I could tell that 3 of them were bucks from 900yds away. I broke out the spotter and saw that 2 of them were shooters with a big 4X4 and a little smaller 4x4 in the group. We made a move to close the distance but lost the deer down in the timber. I looked up on the ridge and saw that 4 of the deer including the 2 biggest bucks were feeding up on the ridge above where they were before. The only problem was that we could not close the distance any more and they were still 520yds away. I got a good rest on my pack, dialed the scope for the distance and looked at the sight picture...it was pretty damn good. I thought long and hard about shooting but just couldn't do it. It was just too far. After 10 minutes the biggest buck walked up and over the ridge and out of my life. The others milled around for another 10 minutes before heading the same way. I took a picture of the smaller 4X4, 2X3 and big doe through the spotting scope.
We were frozen and had a long walk out of the drainage back towards the truck. We got to where Shawn was going to pick us up and I started glassing the area around there. I located 5 does and another shooter buck just as Shawn was pulling up. The buck disappeared into a fold in the landscape. We hopped in the truck to warm up and eat a sandwich. We made a mistake here...we really should have stuck around and went after that deer as it wasn't all that far and he was on public ground...but instead we left the area to go check out some new country.
That afternoon we hunted a new area and it was OK at best. We ended the deer seeing over 20 deer in the woods including 3 shooter bucks plus a ton more on private property.
as expected this
As the hunt got closer and we kept an eye on the weather we knew we were in for a totally different hunt than last time. This year we would start the hunt with 10" of snow on the ground and temps of NEGATIVE 8 degrees for a low, warming up to 72 degrees by the end of the week!!!! Our first setback came when we went to pick up the rental and they informed us that the 4x4 truck we had rented was totaled the day before in the snowstorm and we could have a 2wd truck or a big 4wd SUV...neither of which was acceptable. We found another company that had a 4x4 truck and we were back in business and on the road. It was snowing and windy for our trip from the airport to where we were hunting but we made it without issue.
Day 1 was cold and windy with occasional snow squalls. We started in the area that Shawn and I had tagged out in 2018. Shawn saw 1 nice 2X3 but decided not to shoot him this early in the trip. Wendy and I found a beautiful glassing knob and sat for a few hours without seeing any deer. Around 9:30 I caught a deer in my binos and then another and another. All together there were 5 deer that I could see and I could tell that 3 of them were bucks from 900yds away. I broke out the spotter and saw that 2 of them were shooters with a big 4X4 and a little smaller 4x4 in the group. We made a move to close the distance but lost the deer down in the timber. I looked up on the ridge and saw that 4 of the deer including the 2 biggest bucks were feeding up on the ridge above where they were before. The only problem was that we could not close the distance any more and they were still 520yds away. I got a good rest on my pack, dialed the scope for the distance and looked at the sight picture...it was pretty damn good. I thought long and hard about shooting but just couldn't do it. It was just too far. After 10 minutes the biggest buck walked up and over the ridge and out of my life. The others milled around for another 10 minutes before heading the same way. I took a picture of the smaller 4X4, 2X3 and big doe through the spotting scope.
We were frozen and had a long walk out of the drainage back towards the truck. We got to where Shawn was going to pick us up and I started glassing the area around there. I located 5 does and another shooter buck just as Shawn was pulling up. The buck disappeared into a fold in the landscape. We hopped in the truck to warm up and eat a sandwich. We made a mistake here...we really should have stuck around and went after that deer as it wasn't all that far and he was on public ground...but instead we left the area to go check out some new country.
That afternoon we hunted a new area and it was OK at best. We ended the deer seeing over 20 deer in the woods including 3 shooter bucks plus a ton more on private property.
as expected this
