ihuntelk
Member
Finished my honey-do's Monday morn and made a crash trip to Northern Wyo for my deer tag. I was hoping to get there in time Mon eve to glass some bucks as they left the badlands to some of the private ag fields. I was going to hunt all day Tuesday and Wednesday but wanted a good place to start the next morning. I parked the rig at 5:30 and took off as fast as I could go to a good glassing location 1 mile away. Sun was supposed to set at 6:08. I saw several small herds on the drive in - including 5 bucks with a 22" forkie!
I snapped a few quick pics of a few deer and some of the cool scenery on my way in.
Found a bachelor bunch of 3 spikes hanging together with 1 doe. Maybe someone dropped all of them off at the daycare?
This guy with the GNARLY dropper was the boss.
Cool deer trail up the canyon wall. There's actually a Chukar partridge in the middle of the pic just under the trail and left of the t-post.
Here's the big draw I needed to cross to my glassing knob.
Few scenery pics
Cool deer beds were everywhere in this big canyon.
I'm about halfway to my knob and I glass the top end of this canyon. I can see a sagebrush with antlers on each side of it, framed perfectly in the rock behind them. This buck was in the exact same bed as a buck I found during the archery hunt. Too far to see him from here, but he's bedded just under the red-band on the far hillside.
I closed the deal and peaked up over my last ridgetop. He was still bedded 143 yards away. I set up the video camera on the tri-pod and hit record. I settled into my rifle laying over my pack and waited. Sun then set and filming light was going quick so I tried to get him to stand up without blowing out of the country. About then a cottontail ran across the ledge above him. He stared it down for over a minute. Finally I pulled out the predator hunting tactics and started squeaking and then sqwacking. He finally stood and then immediately fell back down.
I looked at the timecode on the video and I recorded 28 minutes of him bedded. I killed him at 6:18 so I really only got to hunt 20 minutes before I found him.
I love hunting these guys on their terms out in this country. I had bowhunted this unit about 10 years ago and 3 days this season. This was my first time with a rifle. It won't be the last. Really contemplated shooting him, but decided if I did I could leave a day early for the elk hunt.
Elk still trump deer in my book so off I go for a bonzai Wyo elk hunt!
-Cade
www.HuntForeverWest.com
I snapped a few quick pics of a few deer and some of the cool scenery on my way in.
Found a bachelor bunch of 3 spikes hanging together with 1 doe. Maybe someone dropped all of them off at the daycare?
This guy with the GNARLY dropper was the boss.
Cool deer trail up the canyon wall. There's actually a Chukar partridge in the middle of the pic just under the trail and left of the t-post.
Here's the big draw I needed to cross to my glassing knob.
Few scenery pics
Cool deer beds were everywhere in this big canyon.
I'm about halfway to my knob and I glass the top end of this canyon. I can see a sagebrush with antlers on each side of it, framed perfectly in the rock behind them. This buck was in the exact same bed as a buck I found during the archery hunt. Too far to see him from here, but he's bedded just under the red-band on the far hillside.
I closed the deal and peaked up over my last ridgetop. He was still bedded 143 yards away. I set up the video camera on the tri-pod and hit record. I settled into my rifle laying over my pack and waited. Sun then set and filming light was going quick so I tried to get him to stand up without blowing out of the country. About then a cottontail ran across the ledge above him. He stared it down for over a minute. Finally I pulled out the predator hunting tactics and started squeaking and then sqwacking. He finally stood and then immediately fell back down.
I looked at the timecode on the video and I recorded 28 minutes of him bedded. I killed him at 6:18 so I really only got to hunt 20 minutes before I found him.
I love hunting these guys on their terms out in this country. I had bowhunted this unit about 10 years ago and 3 days this season. This was my first time with a rifle. It won't be the last. Really contemplated shooting him, but decided if I did I could leave a day early for the elk hunt.
Elk still trump deer in my book so off I go for a bonzai Wyo elk hunt!
-Cade
www.HuntForeverWest.com
