Hunting Wife
Well-known member
First time sharing my own hunting story. I had not been out yet this season, waiting for the weather to cool off a bit. Part of what I love about going out is the crisp morning air, frost or snow on the grass and that smell that cool fall days have. Mostly this has been missing so far this year, but yesterday looked like the "best" weather we were likely to get so Hunting Husband and I set out. I have a hard time not shooting the first legal deer I see most years, and my goal was to prolong my time afield a bit this year so I decided I wouldn't shoot anything in the morning and we would see how the day developed.
We started seeing whitetail bucks within 15 minutes of starting our hike. Hunting Husband spotted two bucks coming out of a field. A smallish 4 pt and a forkie, who proceeded to spar and goof around. I wasn't ready to be done yet, so we continued on.
The sky was very gray and visibility wasn't terrific. We glassed and walked, but didn't see much. I was fine with that, since we had not yet gotten to the big coulee I really wanted to hunt. We slowly crested a rise that gave us a look over a jumble of hills and coulees. We glassed the hillsides we could see, then stepped forward to see a little more, and I caught movement off to my left. I kneeled and checked with the binos. A doe - good sign! She was about 200 yds, walking along the hill opposite us, so we waited to see who might be with her. Shortly, here came a smallish 4 pt up out of the bottom, tongue lolling and nose curling. I think he was the same one we had passed a few minutes earlier. They stopped on the crest of the hill opposite us, then dropped over the top into the next draw. We waited a minute then Hunting Husband, having the height advantage for peering over things, stood up to check the bottom of the little coulee the deer had just come from. He gasped and whispered loudly "You have to shoot this deer! " We had forgotten the shooting sticks that morning so he sat so I could rest across his backpack and I waited until a large bodied buck walked slowly up the trail the other two deer had taken a few moments before. I consciously decided not to look at headgear. If Hunting Husband was excited, I know better than to second guess. The buck crossed the hillside and paused at a fence and I squeezed the trigger. The sound and jump told me it was good. He ran out into a flat on top and stopped, with another smaller buck behind. I couldn't see much of him, just a lot of points against the sky.
A few seconds later, he ran back down the hill and stopped almost where I shot him the first time, blood pouring but taking his time about going down. One more in the neck ended it, and I wondered what had just happened. Hunting Husband was thrilled. "That's a good buck! " he laughed, as we started heading over to where the buck lay.
There were a lot of points alright! 6 on each side to be exact. Not the oldest deer I've ever taken but certainly the biggest. I may have failed at my goal of prolonging my time in the field this year - a grand total of 45 minutes deer hunting for me this season - but to have a beautiful buck there on the snow dusted junipers, with a chill in the air and the sun coming up, I was happy.
We started seeing whitetail bucks within 15 minutes of starting our hike. Hunting Husband spotted two bucks coming out of a field. A smallish 4 pt and a forkie, who proceeded to spar and goof around. I wasn't ready to be done yet, so we continued on.
The sky was very gray and visibility wasn't terrific. We glassed and walked, but didn't see much. I was fine with that, since we had not yet gotten to the big coulee I really wanted to hunt. We slowly crested a rise that gave us a look over a jumble of hills and coulees. We glassed the hillsides we could see, then stepped forward to see a little more, and I caught movement off to my left. I kneeled and checked with the binos. A doe - good sign! She was about 200 yds, walking along the hill opposite us, so we waited to see who might be with her. Shortly, here came a smallish 4 pt up out of the bottom, tongue lolling and nose curling. I think he was the same one we had passed a few minutes earlier. They stopped on the crest of the hill opposite us, then dropped over the top into the next draw. We waited a minute then Hunting Husband, having the height advantage for peering over things, stood up to check the bottom of the little coulee the deer had just come from. He gasped and whispered loudly "You have to shoot this deer! " We had forgotten the shooting sticks that morning so he sat so I could rest across his backpack and I waited until a large bodied buck walked slowly up the trail the other two deer had taken a few moments before. I consciously decided not to look at headgear. If Hunting Husband was excited, I know better than to second guess. The buck crossed the hillside and paused at a fence and I squeezed the trigger. The sound and jump told me it was good. He ran out into a flat on top and stopped, with another smaller buck behind. I couldn't see much of him, just a lot of points against the sky.
A few seconds later, he ran back down the hill and stopped almost where I shot him the first time, blood pouring but taking his time about going down. One more in the neck ended it, and I wondered what had just happened. Hunting Husband was thrilled. "That's a good buck! " he laughed, as we started heading over to where the buck lay.
There were a lot of points alright! 6 on each side to be exact. Not the oldest deer I've ever taken but certainly the biggest. I may have failed at my goal of prolonging my time in the field this year - a grand total of 45 minutes deer hunting for me this season - but to have a beautiful buck there on the snow dusted junipers, with a chill in the air and the sun coming up, I was happy.
And 45 min? That's being in the right place at the right time.
