Season isn’t over man. I thought you were going to the bitter end.
SwaggyD
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2022
- Messages
- 1,699
I could do the same thing with my elk tag. What seasoning you using?
perma
Well-known member
True…..
You guys sound like a bunch of quitters!
Just sayin…
Back to some real hunting stories. Friday night after a pool day with my daughters, we hosted a couple friends from TX/LA on their drive to Montana for a deer hunt. They brought some amazing duck and dove gumbo. We ate it all!
I then tucked the girls into bed and started driving around 900pm. I made good time on the drive and was at my camping spot and truck ready to sleep by 11:30.
I had the heater going for a minute just to warm everything up a little bit, and laid back, turning my headlamp off.
Somehow I just have bumped the bed light. The bed of the truck is great for sleeping but not the in and out. I got out, fixed the light and then looked up. I spent the next 20 or so minutes just looking at the stars and the silhouette of the cliff I had to climb in a few hours.
Just sayin…
Back to some real hunting stories. Friday night after a pool day with my daughters, we hosted a couple friends from TX/LA on their drive to Montana for a deer hunt. They brought some amazing duck and dove gumbo. We ate it all!
I then tucked the girls into bed and started driving around 900pm. I made good time on the drive and was at my camping spot and truck ready to sleep by 11:30.
I had the heater going for a minute just to warm everything up a little bit, and laid back, turning my headlamp off.
Somehow I just have bumped the bed light. The bed of the truck is great for sleeping but not the in and out. I got out, fixed the light and then looked up. I spent the next 20 or so minutes just looking at the stars and the silhouette of the cliff I had to climb in a few hours.
The morning started off rough, a quick 200 vertical foot scramble over a hundred yards or so and it was time for some rock climbing.
I made it to the top and set up to glass. That’s when my rifle poked me. Wtf!
I spent the next five minutes pulling cactus and glassing the big flat in front of me. I wanted to make it to the top of the ridge asap but didn’t want to potentially blow out deer in the flat. As I glassed for deer. I looked up on the ridge and saw the moon rising.
No deer on public. Lots on private. I covered ground quickly and made my way up.
I made it to the top and set up to glass. That’s when my rifle poked me. Wtf!
I spent the next five minutes pulling cactus and glassing the big flat in front of me. I wanted to make it to the top of the ridge asap but didn’t want to potentially blow out deer in the flat. As I glassed for deer. I looked up on the ridge and saw the moon rising.
No deer on public. Lots on private. I covered ground quickly and made my way up.
I got to the top of the ridge and found a shed in the real steep section.
I found a great spot to glass back down into private and watch them work up into the piñon and juniper on public.
The rising sun and moon played some tricks on my phone. The deer were doing their part. So I glassed back over the ridge to check out a bunch of country even further in. I was slightly relieved not to turn something up.
I looked back over expecting to see the deer almost to public and they were running in all directions. Two guys had snuck down onto private and were trespassing, sneaking in on the deer. The lone decent buck took off deeper onto private. I was pissed, but instead of shanking my pack or something I decided to splice some throwline in my pack to lower my pack off the cliff on the way out. It’s a good stress reliever for me.
I realized at this point that I left my knife at the other glassing point. Went back and grabbed that real quick and continued to glass till the afternoon, picking up tons of does but was not able to find the buck. They eventually appeared just before sundown and were working towards the area I hiked in. I made a b-line to the cliffs in hopes that they would make their way across. They did not make it before last light but got a cool pic.
Then climbed down the cliff and back to the truck after last light. I jumped in the truck and headed off to my plan b.
I found a great spot to glass back down into private and watch them work up into the piñon and juniper on public.
The rising sun and moon played some tricks on my phone. The deer were doing their part. So I glassed back over the ridge to check out a bunch of country even further in. I was slightly relieved not to turn something up.
I looked back over expecting to see the deer almost to public and they were running in all directions. Two guys had snuck down onto private and were trespassing, sneaking in on the deer. The lone decent buck took off deeper onto private. I was pissed, but instead of shanking my pack or something I decided to splice some throwline in my pack to lower my pack off the cliff on the way out. It’s a good stress reliever for me.
I realized at this point that I left my knife at the other glassing point. Went back and grabbed that real quick and continued to glass till the afternoon, picking up tons of does but was not able to find the buck. They eventually appeared just before sundown and were working towards the area I hiked in. I made a b-line to the cliffs in hopes that they would make their way across. They did not make it before last light but got a cool pic.
Then climbed down the cliff and back to the truck after last light. I jumped in the truck and headed off to my plan b.
Attachments
Wyhunter
Well-known member
Thats pretty cool country. Reminds me of southwest Idaho. It seems like people are willing to trespass a lot these days. Bummer those assholes pushed them out. Keep it up! You'll turn something up.
I did. I texted the dwm but he never responded. My guess is he had a lot bigger fish to fry since they didn’t kill anything.
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duckhunt
Well-known member
Slice it thin against the grain, it will be more tender.
D
Deleted member 52098
Guest
After a stern lecture, I will be attempting to fill the tag in the next 33 hours... after my 11 am meeting
I have basically removed anything from my pack that will not be useful in essentially glassing and walking dark timber / deadfall.
Til the bitter end, let's see how this goes and how quick I can draw and shoot if I bump something and get an ethical shot
I have basically removed anything from my pack that will not be useful in essentially glassing and walking dark timber / deadfall.
Til the bitter end, let's see how this goes and how quick I can draw and shoot if I bump something and get an ethical shot
D
Deleted member 52098
Guest
Work was in the way more than anything, but I guess that's an excuse too haha
Wyhunter
Well-known member
Paying bills is overrated... hunting is more important. Get out there!
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D
Deleted member 52098
Guest
Got back to camp at 1 pm and grabbed my neighbor. He was smiling from ear to ear. He spotted 7-8 elk this morning, but only ever got a solid shot opportunity on a spike, so no elk down. But just before the wind shifted and snow storm moved in, he backed out. I grabbed him, got to the turnoff, chained up and we headed up to the base of where he hiked this morning - which a plan to go around the spot they were in and get a good wind going.
I pulled up to one car space and parked the vehicle. We started hiking in snow that was about 6” when we came to a clearing and all stopped in our tracks. 4 moose, including 2 good bulls, a machine of a bull and a cow… they looked at us with utter disgust that we would disturb them and let us go well around them. Good start to an afternoon hike n hunt
To get to where we wanted, we had to employ a strategy of hiking roads and steep hillside. Hike the road laterally, ascend a steep hillside, pickup the road again, repeat. The roads were a nice break from the knee deep snow on the hillsides.
As we came to the third installment of roads, we bumped 4 deer including a really nice buck. Who stupidly turned around about 300 yards and had I held a tag, a chip shot of a shot. Bummer.
We continued on and got to our desired location, but it looks like the elk had cleared out during the storm. They could be anywhere.
We hiked out in the dark and in the snow, trying to follow our previous tracks, Including well around the moose. Which turned out to be not far enough out of the way, as the cow showed up in our tracks on the way back in the form of two glowing eyes. She bluff charged and then took off a lil ways. We uneasily hiked back to the truck as we never saw the other three.
As we approached the truck I could hear antlers clashing. About 200 yards in front of the truck, the two biggest bulls were sparring. It was awesome to watch. Just massive and majestic animals. The minute we unlocked the truck, they slowly exited and our show was over.
An 11 hour hunt is all that’s left. No elk today, but the moose and deer made it a quality day in the woods
I pulled up to one car space and parked the vehicle. We started hiking in snow that was about 6” when we came to a clearing and all stopped in our tracks. 4 moose, including 2 good bulls, a machine of a bull and a cow… they looked at us with utter disgust that we would disturb them and let us go well around them. Good start to an afternoon hike n hunt
To get to where we wanted, we had to employ a strategy of hiking roads and steep hillside. Hike the road laterally, ascend a steep hillside, pickup the road again, repeat. The roads were a nice break from the knee deep snow on the hillsides.
As we came to the third installment of roads, we bumped 4 deer including a really nice buck. Who stupidly turned around about 300 yards and had I held a tag, a chip shot of a shot. Bummer.
We continued on and got to our desired location, but it looks like the elk had cleared out during the storm. They could be anywhere.
We hiked out in the dark and in the snow, trying to follow our previous tracks, Including well around the moose. Which turned out to be not far enough out of the way, as the cow showed up in our tracks on the way back in the form of two glowing eyes. She bluff charged and then took off a lil ways. We uneasily hiked back to the truck as we never saw the other three.
As we approached the truck I could hear antlers clashing. About 200 yards in front of the truck, the two biggest bulls were sparring. It was awesome to watch. Just massive and majestic animals. The minute we unlocked the truck, they slowly exited and our show was over.
An 11 hour hunt is all that’s left. No elk today, but the moose and deer made it a quality day in the woods
This right here! I was probably a little hard on him but, I’m not sorry that he is back out there giving it his all for the last day and a half of the season. He might become a hunter after all!
PLAN B
I headed to my other spot Saturday evening and stopped by to see some new friends from California that got a nice buck opening day. It was some awesome conversation and went over some ideas and plans for the next few days to help them out a little bit.
I made it to the trailhead around 11pm I believe and set up my sleeping arrangements real quick and was out for the night. I woke up to a 4 wheeler or side by side and thought that was strange and my alarm should have gone off already.
Turned over to see 4am on my phone. DANG, how deep are they going? I woke up about 30 minutes before first light as the whole hike I planned to do usually held a fair amount of deer.
Every ridge I came over, nothing. Not even a doe. I keep hiking and make it about half way up the ridge when I finally see the first doe of the morning in a spot I know well and where I expected them to be. I pan around and pick up four bull elk about 800 yards away. At that point I had an elk tag for about a week and change later. Figured I would watch them for a bit and see if they fed back to where I had seen bulls go in previous years.
Then they spooked. There is no way they saw me, I am making this hike harder by hiking off the side of the ridge. I look up about 300 yards in front of me and see two pumkins standing there with their 6’ tall tripod. Right out on the 2nd most visible point in this area. It also explains why the deer never worked out of the aspens this morning close by.
I ended up hiking by them and talked to them for a minute. They were nice guys, just got there that morning. Asked if they had seen anything and they said a few does working into the trees at first light. They definitely got busted because the deer in that area feed out at first light, not back into the trees.
I covered another 1000 vertical feet or so and got up to the highest glassing point vantage that I have spent many hours on. I check the does on the snowy face and there are six of them. No bucks but I picked apart every tree skirt and gap I could find. Panned around to check my second most frequently deer sighting spot and there is another ten deer. 2 forkies. WTF! Where are the bucks, it is mid November and I am a couple hours into my second morning and have now glassed up over 200 deer. Only one “mature” buck on the private on day one. Probably 3.5 years old.
Lots of 1.5 year old deer around with their little forks but that’s about it for antlers. I know nw Colorado had a lot of winter die off but this area wasn’t hit hard and almost every doe has one or two fawns. Either the later dates have really done some damage to this area or I was having the roughest deer year I have ever had in this unit.
I don’t have many pictures. I spent hours picking apart aspens and dark timber. The other guys lefts around 9 am. I see one other guy across the drainage. Around 11am I was pondering different ideas and where I could go next. Which areas should I go to? This area has sheep run through it heavily in the summer and depending on where the sheep/dogs have been lately this will drastically alter the deer hunting. Usually I have intel on the sheep but didn’t get any this year.
I talked to a friend that was trying to help a new hunter find and elk. Gave them some spots to check out and then asked about deer. He had hunted with his nephew the season before. They never saw a mature deer and ended up shooting a forky. He said some elk hunting friends had bumped a couple big bucks in another spot. And than was pretty close to where the California guys got their buck.
This other spot is a rough one. It starts out with a river crossing and then about an 80 foot face that is close to vertical. Trekking poles and very close, careful steps are required.
I made the decision to bail out of here, meet my friend and grab a pair of waders because I didn’t bring mine. With a 3 day max hunt I wasn’t planning on heading into this spot because it can be a rough one. And I had to be ready to go to work at 6am on Tuesday.
I cleared that face and started glassing. I instantly picked up some does way above me. They ranged at about 500 yards angle compensated but it was steep so seemed a lot further. I sat down with my tripod and glassed. A big forky and a bunch of does.
I decided that I just got here and wasn’t going to shoot a forky till Monday. I jumped from ridge to ridge and glassed. I kept picking up does and no bucks. Then I got thrown for a minute when I glassed up two different guys on their phones in green thirsts. One laying under a bush about 300 yards from me and the other was on the ridge above me skylined.
I decided that I didn’t want to be in a shooting gallery and go up the canyon between them. So I jumped to the next ridge over.
I come over the ridge and out of the corner of my eye I see a fawn move through some junipers. I step back when she clears and move quickly to the next clearing I can see. Doe, doe… scope caps open and shooting sticks out… fawn, doe, I pick my head up. Giant buck, by the time I settle on my cross hairs he is lip curling and chases the doe off behind the bush. A game of cat and mouse ensued for the next minute or two and then they just vanished.
I decided that since sunset was soon I would jump to the other side of the ravine and glass this whole hillside till they came out to feed and they would be within 300 yards. It also gave me more terrain to glass for the evening.
Again, no photos because I didn’t take my eyes off the binos. I was on a mission to find an antler tip or a different buck bedded under a juniper somewhere. Picked up 7 different groups of does with no visible bucks.
Just before sunset the does finally started to move. I keep checking each group to see if a buck has appeared. The furthest of the 7 groups I’m focusing on is 800 yards away. It is about ten minutes left till last light and a group of does crest the ridge 250 yards uphill from me.
I set my rifle up on the tripod and set the binos on the rifle now that my bino mount is pulled. And then my dreams come true. A nice buck, nothing amazing but nice. Looks 3x3 from head on. I am losing sight of the does working down and don’t want to miss the opportunity on this buck. It’s about 3 minutes to last light. I line up, 250ish yards. The deer is walking down hill and quartering hard to me. I decide I will lose a little meat and punch the front shoulder because I hate trying to follow a blood trail at night. Boom…whoomf.
I headed to my other spot Saturday evening and stopped by to see some new friends from California that got a nice buck opening day. It was some awesome conversation and went over some ideas and plans for the next few days to help them out a little bit.
I made it to the trailhead around 11pm I believe and set up my sleeping arrangements real quick and was out for the night. I woke up to a 4 wheeler or side by side and thought that was strange and my alarm should have gone off already.
Turned over to see 4am on my phone. DANG, how deep are they going? I woke up about 30 minutes before first light as the whole hike I planned to do usually held a fair amount of deer.
Every ridge I came over, nothing. Not even a doe. I keep hiking and make it about half way up the ridge when I finally see the first doe of the morning in a spot I know well and where I expected them to be. I pan around and pick up four bull elk about 800 yards away. At that point I had an elk tag for about a week and change later. Figured I would watch them for a bit and see if they fed back to where I had seen bulls go in previous years.
Then they spooked. There is no way they saw me, I am making this hike harder by hiking off the side of the ridge. I look up about 300 yards in front of me and see two pumkins standing there with their 6’ tall tripod. Right out on the 2nd most visible point in this area. It also explains why the deer never worked out of the aspens this morning close by.
I ended up hiking by them and talked to them for a minute. They were nice guys, just got there that morning. Asked if they had seen anything and they said a few does working into the trees at first light. They definitely got busted because the deer in that area feed out at first light, not back into the trees.
I covered another 1000 vertical feet or so and got up to the highest glassing point vantage that I have spent many hours on. I check the does on the snowy face and there are six of them. No bucks but I picked apart every tree skirt and gap I could find. Panned around to check my second most frequently deer sighting spot and there is another ten deer. 2 forkies. WTF! Where are the bucks, it is mid November and I am a couple hours into my second morning and have now glassed up over 200 deer. Only one “mature” buck on the private on day one. Probably 3.5 years old.
Lots of 1.5 year old deer around with their little forks but that’s about it for antlers. I know nw Colorado had a lot of winter die off but this area wasn’t hit hard and almost every doe has one or two fawns. Either the later dates have really done some damage to this area or I was having the roughest deer year I have ever had in this unit.
I don’t have many pictures. I spent hours picking apart aspens and dark timber. The other guys lefts around 9 am. I see one other guy across the drainage. Around 11am I was pondering different ideas and where I could go next. Which areas should I go to? This area has sheep run through it heavily in the summer and depending on where the sheep/dogs have been lately this will drastically alter the deer hunting. Usually I have intel on the sheep but didn’t get any this year.
I talked to a friend that was trying to help a new hunter find and elk. Gave them some spots to check out and then asked about deer. He had hunted with his nephew the season before. They never saw a mature deer and ended up shooting a forky. He said some elk hunting friends had bumped a couple big bucks in another spot. And than was pretty close to where the California guys got their buck.
This other spot is a rough one. It starts out with a river crossing and then about an 80 foot face that is close to vertical. Trekking poles and very close, careful steps are required.
I made the decision to bail out of here, meet my friend and grab a pair of waders because I didn’t bring mine. With a 3 day max hunt I wasn’t planning on heading into this spot because it can be a rough one. And I had to be ready to go to work at 6am on Tuesday.
I cleared that face and started glassing. I instantly picked up some does way above me. They ranged at about 500 yards angle compensated but it was steep so seemed a lot further. I sat down with my tripod and glassed. A big forky and a bunch of does.
I decided that I just got here and wasn’t going to shoot a forky till Monday. I jumped from ridge to ridge and glassed. I kept picking up does and no bucks. Then I got thrown for a minute when I glassed up two different guys on their phones in green thirsts. One laying under a bush about 300 yards from me and the other was on the ridge above me skylined.
I decided that I didn’t want to be in a shooting gallery and go up the canyon between them. So I jumped to the next ridge over.
I come over the ridge and out of the corner of my eye I see a fawn move through some junipers. I step back when she clears and move quickly to the next clearing I can see. Doe, doe… scope caps open and shooting sticks out… fawn, doe, I pick my head up. Giant buck, by the time I settle on my cross hairs he is lip curling and chases the doe off behind the bush. A game of cat and mouse ensued for the next minute or two and then they just vanished.
I decided that since sunset was soon I would jump to the other side of the ravine and glass this whole hillside till they came out to feed and they would be within 300 yards. It also gave me more terrain to glass for the evening.
Again, no photos because I didn’t take my eyes off the binos. I was on a mission to find an antler tip or a different buck bedded under a juniper somewhere. Picked up 7 different groups of does with no visible bucks.
Just before sunset the does finally started to move. I keep checking each group to see if a buck has appeared. The furthest of the 7 groups I’m focusing on is 800 yards away. It is about ten minutes left till last light and a group of does crest the ridge 250 yards uphill from me.
I set my rifle up on the tripod and set the binos on the rifle now that my bino mount is pulled. And then my dreams come true. A nice buck, nothing amazing but nice. Looks 3x3 from head on. I am losing sight of the does working down and don’t want to miss the opportunity on this buck. It’s about 3 minutes to last light. I line up, 250ish yards. The deer is walking down hill and quartering hard to me. I decide I will lose a little meat and punch the front shoulder because I hate trying to follow a blood trail at night. Boom…whoomf.
I wrote to much on that last one so I’ll keep it short. Buck disappears but the does stay close. I sneak a bit closer to see as the light is dropping fast. Then I see a nice 4x4 some out of the ravine with some does. Lip curled and changing the does.
Is that the same buck? He isn’t hit. I don’t think that’s him, perfectly broadside at 200. I did not take a shot because I heard the whoomf. I get to where the deer was standing and there isn’t a drop of blood. I cover the ridge and surrounding downhill areas for over an hour and didn’t find a drop of blood. My heart sinks, I missed the shot, the whoomf was the soft dirt, and I let that buck walk. I was bummed but knew I made the right decision.
I ran through everything in my head. Was my rifle off? @MtnElk carried it for me on the way out of the elk hunt so I wasn’t sure how the hike went with that big antler. My only opportunity to check zero before this hunt was a quick trip to a local 50 yard indoor range and it seemed ok.
My confidence in the rifle was not where it needed to be. Working to much to get range time and getting this tag off the returned list made my schedule even worse. Averaging about five hours of sleep a night the week before the hunt. That’s when it clicked. Rifle is zeroed at 100 and I aimed straight cross hairs. I knew I aimed a little low when I pulled the trigger but the change in distance must have put it right between his legs and gave him a haircut.
I hiked out and crossed the river analyzing everything that went down. Went to eat some dinner in town with my parents and then stop by and talk to the guys from California about our plan to come in from two directions and meet in the middle.
I drive back down and sept by the river in the back of my truck.
Who knows what letter plan we are on but I’ll finish out the last day of my 3 day deer hunt this weekend. Plan was to go right back in where I went out the night before and catch them coming back up the hill. It was an any legal deer kinda day because I had to be home in time for work Tuesday morning.
Is that the same buck? He isn’t hit. I don’t think that’s him, perfectly broadside at 200. I did not take a shot because I heard the whoomf. I get to where the deer was standing and there isn’t a drop of blood. I cover the ridge and surrounding downhill areas for over an hour and didn’t find a drop of blood. My heart sinks, I missed the shot, the whoomf was the soft dirt, and I let that buck walk. I was bummed but knew I made the right decision.
I ran through everything in my head. Was my rifle off? @MtnElk carried it for me on the way out of the elk hunt so I wasn’t sure how the hike went with that big antler. My only opportunity to check zero before this hunt was a quick trip to a local 50 yard indoor range and it seemed ok.
My confidence in the rifle was not where it needed to be. Working to much to get range time and getting this tag off the returned list made my schedule even worse. Averaging about five hours of sleep a night the week before the hunt. That’s when it clicked. Rifle is zeroed at 100 and I aimed straight cross hairs. I knew I aimed a little low when I pulled the trigger but the change in distance must have put it right between his legs and gave him a haircut.
I hiked out and crossed the river analyzing everything that went down. Went to eat some dinner in town with my parents and then stop by and talk to the guys from California about our plan to come in from two directions and meet in the middle.
I drive back down and sept by the river in the back of my truck.
Who knows what letter plan we are on but I’ll finish out the last day of my 3 day deer hunt this weekend. Plan was to go right back in where I went out the night before and catch them coming back up the hill. It was an any legal deer kinda day because I had to be home in time for work Tuesday morning.
The Final Day
I was up early on Monday and got across the river and up the steep face pretty quickly. I started working towards the area that the deer fed back up into the hills from private. I was about 250 yards from where I wanted to be when I saw a doe take off from my left. I still had about ten minutes till shooting light.
I got my tripod out and started glassing. 20-30 does and little tiny forkies. I kept panning back and forth. The deer were all feeding up the other face about 250 yards away. And then I saw him. The buck from the night before. The young 4x4 was working his way around, chasing does and feeding. I popped the binos off and set the rifle on the tripod.
It was a game of cat and mouse for a while as they were all feeding with heads down or he was blocked by does. Then he worked out onto a face that gave me a clear shot. I racked one, calmed down and shot.
Miss… none of the deer moved and he is fine.
The shot looked high.
Boom…
Miss…
WTF!!!!!
Boom…
Miss…
I took the rifle off the tripod and checked my turrets and reference marks on my scope. Took some deep breaths and calmed down as much as possible. Set the rifle back on the tripod and tried to slow my breathing as much as possible.
Boom…
Thwack!
The buck jumped, and was noticeably hit. He did not look good. He also didn’t move. I was worried he was going to bline for private so I racked another one.
Boom…
Miss…
Ok what the heck is going on. I put another round in case he started to move but decided I should just stop shooting. I think it was mostly mental but plan to but a serious number of rounds down range on Monday and Tuesday before my elk hunt.
He laid down so I took the advantage to cover some distance to get within about 80 yards. There was no clean shot without blowing our shoulders so I started to heat up some peak biscuits and gravy as he expired.
When I could tell he was dead I went up to get him and drag him back to my eating spot so I wasn’t cutting the buck up in clear view of everyone down on the private.
He was a younger deer so I decided to just keep the bone in and loaded up my load cell with meat to check weight. It didn’t seem that bad so I loaded all the meat and the head on my pack and started the hike out. The pack weighed in at just over a 100 lbs. most of the hike wasn’t bad at all.
I knew I had the steep face coming up and I was considering dropping the meat and doing two trips on the face. I got sucked down a spot that looked good but was really messed up.
At this point I couldn’t go back up and down was feeling really sketch. Was constantly fighting the slip. Almost down, I saw a cool rock.
The face doesn’t look like much but the photo is very deceiving. I made it to the bottom finally and then did the next steep face and the river. Just slow and steady. Got back to the truck and loaded the meat into the cooler. I grabbed some food in town and then headed back to Denver. I was at home with my daughters by mid afternoon and back to Dad duty.
Lots of miles, lots of vertical, didn’t track any of it or take many photos. I was on a mission and the lack of bucks around turned the hunt into a full on mission from sun up to sun down. I had a great time, pushed myself and met some new friends. I also came home with some tasty meat! Those big old bucks are over rated
.
I was up early on Monday and got across the river and up the steep face pretty quickly. I started working towards the area that the deer fed back up into the hills from private. I was about 250 yards from where I wanted to be when I saw a doe take off from my left. I still had about ten minutes till shooting light.
I got my tripod out and started glassing. 20-30 does and little tiny forkies. I kept panning back and forth. The deer were all feeding up the other face about 250 yards away. And then I saw him. The buck from the night before. The young 4x4 was working his way around, chasing does and feeding. I popped the binos off and set the rifle on the tripod.
It was a game of cat and mouse for a while as they were all feeding with heads down or he was blocked by does. Then he worked out onto a face that gave me a clear shot. I racked one, calmed down and shot.
Miss… none of the deer moved and he is fine.
The shot looked high.
Boom…
Miss…
WTF!!!!!
Boom…
Miss…
I took the rifle off the tripod and checked my turrets and reference marks on my scope. Took some deep breaths and calmed down as much as possible. Set the rifle back on the tripod and tried to slow my breathing as much as possible.
Boom…
Thwack!
The buck jumped, and was noticeably hit. He did not look good. He also didn’t move. I was worried he was going to bline for private so I racked another one.
Boom…
Miss…
Ok what the heck is going on. I put another round in case he started to move but decided I should just stop shooting. I think it was mostly mental but plan to but a serious number of rounds down range on Monday and Tuesday before my elk hunt.
He laid down so I took the advantage to cover some distance to get within about 80 yards. There was no clean shot without blowing our shoulders so I started to heat up some peak biscuits and gravy as he expired.
When I could tell he was dead I went up to get him and drag him back to my eating spot so I wasn’t cutting the buck up in clear view of everyone down on the private.
He was a younger deer so I decided to just keep the bone in and loaded up my load cell with meat to check weight. It didn’t seem that bad so I loaded all the meat and the head on my pack and started the hike out. The pack weighed in at just over a 100 lbs. most of the hike wasn’t bad at all.
I knew I had the steep face coming up and I was considering dropping the meat and doing two trips on the face. I got sucked down a spot that looked good but was really messed up.
At this point I couldn’t go back up and down was feeling really sketch. Was constantly fighting the slip. Almost down, I saw a cool rock.
The face doesn’t look like much but the photo is very deceiving. I made it to the bottom finally and then did the next steep face and the river. Just slow and steady. Got back to the truck and loaded the meat into the cooler. I grabbed some food in town and then headed back to Denver. I was at home with my daughters by mid afternoon and back to Dad duty.
Lots of miles, lots of vertical, didn’t track any of it or take many photos. I was on a mission and the lack of bucks around turned the hunt into a full on mission from sun up to sun down. I had a great time, pushed myself and met some new friends. I also came home with some tasty meat! Those big old bucks are over rated
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elkfanatic
Well-known member
Congrats on a successful hunt!! Could be your action screws are loose or scope rings and bases might have loosened up. I have also had a scope go bad on a hunt for unknown reasons. Hope you get it figured out!! What suppressor are you running?
