mdunc8
Well-known member
It's been a pretty disappointing fall since I've been stuck behind a computer trying to finish my dissertation before Thanksgiving. I managed to track down an antelope, but have only been out for two half-day hunts on the archery and rifle openers otherwise. My oldest son, who just turned six, has been asking to go hunting with me for the last year or so. I don't have any good deer spots within four hours of town, so I was trying to come up with a game plan relatively close to town.
A few years ago, I coerced Randy into flying out to meet with a few of my classes at the university where I was teaching in Virginia (thanks again, Randy). A student I had never met came up after Randy's presentation to introduce himself and ask about fishing opportunities around his family's "cabin" where they spend a few weeks a year vacationing. Being that Randy is a walleye snob, he directed the student to me for suggestions. He stopped by my office the next day, we chatted for a bit, and I think I've only spoken to him once since. After I moved back to Montana, I took my GPS with me on an afternoon of fishing to see if I could find his place. I quickly learned that his family's "little piece of property" was actually several thousands acres with much of it being river bottom filled with muleys and whitetails. Chasing muleys in eastern Montana is probably my favorite hunt of the year (this is the weekend I actually go out every year...), so I never pursued his family's place as a hunting opportunity. However, when Charlie started getting interested in hunting, I thought I might be able to use my cute, little kid as a bargaining chip to get access. I didn't want an easy hunt necessarily, but it would be nice to have a little more control over the experience than I might have hunting public around here or even out in eastern Montana. It would also be nice to have enough animals around to keep him interested. However, we do a ton of fishing, hiking, and camping and he's never had a problem keeping himself entertained when critters are scarce, so I'm not sure that would have been an issue either way. I emailed the student for his dad's contact information, which he gladly forwarded. I sent his father an email asking if it would be possible for me to take Charlie out for a day or two on his ranch to try and find a doe. He got back to me within a couple days and said he'd be happy to have us and that he would make sure we'd have the place to ourselves, so we could do whatever we wanted. I thanked him and mentioned that I'd like to bring Charlie over for a day during the summer to do some chores around the place in exchange. He liked the idea and told me to let him know when we'd like to head over.
Fast forward to November...after talking with the neighbor who looks over the property when no one is around, Charlie and I had set aside the first weekend in November for our hunt. The week of the hunt was awfully snowy around these parts, so I was a bit worried how easy it was going to be for us to get around the property. I thought about pushing the hunt back a week to let the snow settle a little bit. However, with my dissertation deadline looming, I was worried some unforeseen conflict would arise on campus and prevent us from hunting this year. So we braved the icy roads and made our way over to the ranch the afternoon before we were set to hunt. We did some scouting and got a feel for how easy it was going to be to get around and then headed to the town nearby for some burgers and Charlie's first Buck Hunter experience. After he emptied my wallet, we drove back towards the ranch and setup camp in the back of my 4Runner for the night. I'm not positive but sleeping in the vehicle might actually be the highlight of the trip... We awoke about an hour before daylight to nearly another foot of snow on top of the 8-10" that had fallen two days earlier. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we set out through the snow. I broke trail while Charlie did his best to wade through the thigh-deep powder. He was having a blast and never complained as we climbed about half a mile to the top of ridge to position ourselves at the head of a draw where the deer come to bed after leaving the fields along the river. We finally made it to the top a few minutes after shooting light but the deer didn't read the script. There were plenty of them, but they remained in the fields down by the "cabin" where they were off limits. Although there were a pile of them, nearly all were muleys. I only had permission to shoot a doe (didn't bother asking about shooting a buck) and my tag was only good for whitetails, so it was starting to look like this was going to actually take a little bit of work rather than a canned freezer filling trip I was half expecting. However, that was fine by me since we had two days set aside and Charlie was having fun. When we decided the deer weren't going to come to us and we got our fill of the small herd of elk about half a mile away (didn't think to ask for permission for elk...), we decided still-hunting would be our best option.
We dropped off the ridge and relocated to another part of the ranch where there are a few small wheat patches that usually hold a few deer. We quickly ran into about 15-20 muleys with a couple nice bucks mixed in. As we continued back to the wheat fields, a lone whitetail doe popped up about 50 yards in front of us. Before I knew it, Charlie was hidden behind a juniper scrambling to get his ear muffs on. Fortunately, the doe stopped about a 100 yards to check us out one last time. I guess that's one of the benefits of hunting unpressed animals...I was able to sneak around a tree that was obscuring my view a bit and make a solid shot. At the sound of the rifle, Charlie ran down behind me just in time to see her expire. After a few high fives, we made our way up to her, snapped a few pictures, and got to gutting. It's probably been 7-8 years since I've gutted an animal. I forgot how much it sucks. However, we were only a quarter mile from the vehicle, so I figured I'd try drag her out to leave as little of a mess as possible.
I couldn't have imagined this experience going any better. We actually got to hunt rather than sit inside a blind on the edge of pivot. The conditions provided some entertainment but didn't make things too difficult for us. Charlie was seemingly unphazed by the shot and kill, which was a welcome surprise. He was happy to help with the gutting and was genuinely interested in learning about the anatomy. AND I have whitetail in my freezer for the first time in nearly a decade. Even if I don't make it out another day this year, I can be happy with how this fall unfolded. We're already planning our hunts for next year and he's counting down the days until his 10th birthday when he gets to put his Buck Hunter experience to use.
A few years ago, I coerced Randy into flying out to meet with a few of my classes at the university where I was teaching in Virginia (thanks again, Randy). A student I had never met came up after Randy's presentation to introduce himself and ask about fishing opportunities around his family's "cabin" where they spend a few weeks a year vacationing. Being that Randy is a walleye snob, he directed the student to me for suggestions. He stopped by my office the next day, we chatted for a bit, and I think I've only spoken to him once since. After I moved back to Montana, I took my GPS with me on an afternoon of fishing to see if I could find his place. I quickly learned that his family's "little piece of property" was actually several thousands acres with much of it being river bottom filled with muleys and whitetails. Chasing muleys in eastern Montana is probably my favorite hunt of the year (this is the weekend I actually go out every year...), so I never pursued his family's place as a hunting opportunity. However, when Charlie started getting interested in hunting, I thought I might be able to use my cute, little kid as a bargaining chip to get access. I didn't want an easy hunt necessarily, but it would be nice to have a little more control over the experience than I might have hunting public around here or even out in eastern Montana. It would also be nice to have enough animals around to keep him interested. However, we do a ton of fishing, hiking, and camping and he's never had a problem keeping himself entertained when critters are scarce, so I'm not sure that would have been an issue either way. I emailed the student for his dad's contact information, which he gladly forwarded. I sent his father an email asking if it would be possible for me to take Charlie out for a day or two on his ranch to try and find a doe. He got back to me within a couple days and said he'd be happy to have us and that he would make sure we'd have the place to ourselves, so we could do whatever we wanted. I thanked him and mentioned that I'd like to bring Charlie over for a day during the summer to do some chores around the place in exchange. He liked the idea and told me to let him know when we'd like to head over.
Fast forward to November...after talking with the neighbor who looks over the property when no one is around, Charlie and I had set aside the first weekend in November for our hunt. The week of the hunt was awfully snowy around these parts, so I was a bit worried how easy it was going to be for us to get around the property. I thought about pushing the hunt back a week to let the snow settle a little bit. However, with my dissertation deadline looming, I was worried some unforeseen conflict would arise on campus and prevent us from hunting this year. So we braved the icy roads and made our way over to the ranch the afternoon before we were set to hunt. We did some scouting and got a feel for how easy it was going to be to get around and then headed to the town nearby for some burgers and Charlie's first Buck Hunter experience. After he emptied my wallet, we drove back towards the ranch and setup camp in the back of my 4Runner for the night. I'm not positive but sleeping in the vehicle might actually be the highlight of the trip... We awoke about an hour before daylight to nearly another foot of snow on top of the 8-10" that had fallen two days earlier. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we set out through the snow. I broke trail while Charlie did his best to wade through the thigh-deep powder. He was having a blast and never complained as we climbed about half a mile to the top of ridge to position ourselves at the head of a draw where the deer come to bed after leaving the fields along the river. We finally made it to the top a few minutes after shooting light but the deer didn't read the script. There were plenty of them, but they remained in the fields down by the "cabin" where they were off limits. Although there were a pile of them, nearly all were muleys. I only had permission to shoot a doe (didn't bother asking about shooting a buck) and my tag was only good for whitetails, so it was starting to look like this was going to actually take a little bit of work rather than a canned freezer filling trip I was half expecting. However, that was fine by me since we had two days set aside and Charlie was having fun. When we decided the deer weren't going to come to us and we got our fill of the small herd of elk about half a mile away (didn't think to ask for permission for elk...), we decided still-hunting would be our best option.
We dropped off the ridge and relocated to another part of the ranch where there are a few small wheat patches that usually hold a few deer. We quickly ran into about 15-20 muleys with a couple nice bucks mixed in. As we continued back to the wheat fields, a lone whitetail doe popped up about 50 yards in front of us. Before I knew it, Charlie was hidden behind a juniper scrambling to get his ear muffs on. Fortunately, the doe stopped about a 100 yards to check us out one last time. I guess that's one of the benefits of hunting unpressed animals...I was able to sneak around a tree that was obscuring my view a bit and make a solid shot. At the sound of the rifle, Charlie ran down behind me just in time to see her expire. After a few high fives, we made our way up to her, snapped a few pictures, and got to gutting. It's probably been 7-8 years since I've gutted an animal. I forgot how much it sucks. However, we were only a quarter mile from the vehicle, so I figured I'd try drag her out to leave as little of a mess as possible.
I couldn't have imagined this experience going any better. We actually got to hunt rather than sit inside a blind on the edge of pivot. The conditions provided some entertainment but didn't make things too difficult for us. Charlie was seemingly unphazed by the shot and kill, which was a welcome surprise. He was happy to help with the gutting and was genuinely interested in learning about the anatomy. AND I have whitetail in my freezer for the first time in nearly a decade. Even if I don't make it out another day this year, I can be happy with how this fall unfolded. We're already planning our hunts for next year and he's counting down the days until his 10th birthday when he gets to put his Buck Hunter experience to use.
