Shooter
09-07-2008, 06:03 PM
Well yesterday was the opener for deer rifle season here on the Island and Me and 5-Spike both had our youngan's out bright and early for the big day. It was an absolute gorgeous day out but very little seemed to be moving around at all. And with the little guys there it was pretty much impossible to get out and pound some honey holes on foot to find some critters. So save for our best day Grouse hunting in a very long time here on the Island we came home empty handed on opening day. That's ok because it just made us more determined to get out earlier and pound some holes on foot today.
Day 2:
We were up a half hour earlier to our area and shot right up to the alpine in the dark. Unfortunately we saw absolutley nothing moving and very little sign where we were so we didn't stay there too long.
On the way back down to lower ground we stopped at (undisclosed location) and decided to walk in to a beauty little spot we have been watching for a couple years and walk in to some real nice holes.
I still had my 2 boys with me Dan (Popper on here) and Erik. Dan is a junior hunter and Erik is a VERY avid spectator until next year. So me and my boys walked around one side of an area while 5-spike walked in a different side to another very nice little draw.
Me and the boys walked in and sat on a little bowl with a Draw coming down into it for awhile and again came up empty handed so headed back to the truck. Now I can see the trail where 5spike walked in on for most of my walk down but can't see around the corner to where he is.By the time we got to the truck and saw that he wasn't there and he hadn't even started down the hill yet I decided he must be watching some animals. I figured if he was watching a buck I would have heard the shots by now and being that my son has a doe licence I thought he was probably watching a doe waiting for us. Yes we forgot our 2 way radios today:sad: So we started up the trail to meet up with him and see what was up. Well about half way up to him we heard the shots, and started running. That's about all I am gonna say on this one.... 5-spike can tell the rest of this story..lol:-P He made a great shot.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010074.jpg
So we get him out and loaded up and start to head down the mountain and we decide we are going to check another great little Overgrown road out that overlooks a real nice little Valley. Well we get out and and I start to walk down towards the end of the valley to get a look at the draw at the end and 5-spike climbs up the bank to look down into the valley where we were. Well I got about 25 yards down the road when he whistles at me and makes the universal symbol for a buck on his head and points down the hill. I jumped up the bank where I was and took a look down but could'nt see it at all so I ran back to where 5-spike was and got a look at it. A real nice looking buck was having a go at a little tree probly 250 yards down the valley bottom. His a$$ was pointing at us and really didn't give us any shot so I ran down the road a little further untill I was directly up the bank from him and then took a peek over. At this point he had put the make on me and was looking over his back at me up the hill close to 200 yards away. At least from this angle he was quartering away. I was out of breath from my jaunt down the road and my jump up the bank so I took a second to collect myself and got down to a knee and delivered a shot. I watched thru my scope and 5-spike watched through Bino's as the buck fell right there and rolled on to his back. When I saw him stop moving I let a victory hollar out and turned to hop off the rock I was on top of. As I landed I rolled my ankle over pretty bad and went straight to the ground. It hurt like hell but after rolling on the ground like a girl for a couple minutes figured I better pull myself up and walk it off as my 2 boys were coming down the road with 5-spike and could now see me.lol
After I walked it off for a minute I took my glasses back out and looked for me Deer. HE WAS GONE!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. He was hit goo and he was hit hard to pile him over on his back like that. And we both saw him stop moving. Well adrenaline again made me stop thinking about my ankle and started the climb down the valley to where he was supposed to be. I went right to where he was. Could see fresh tracks all around there. But no blood. I circled a little bit. Then a bit more. Then.... a spot of blood. about .5 an inch in diameter real small. I circled that again and found another drop about half the size of the first. I couldn't believe it. It didn't look like a fatal hit.But I now had a direction of travel to look in. So I moved down the very small ridge he was travelling on and about 5 feet further I found a BIG smear of blood. YES!!!! I looked up and about 8 feet further under the ferns he was laying. It was a hell of a drag out on one leg but we made it. And it was only 11:30 with 2 bucks down.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010075.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010080.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010082.jpg
So our day is done right???
Nope you forgot that I said my son is also a junior hunter. Now that we are at the bottom of the mountain we have a little spot that we have bee seeing some doe's in and decide to take a 2 minute little detour down a side road. Well as we get halfway down we decide to get out and look over the banks on either side. 5-spike and my boys went up one side and I tried to hobble up the other side well I was halfway up when 5-Spike loudly whispered at me "Troy!!! Get down! Doe!" Well I hit the dirt and looked back at him for directions and he was pointing straight past me over the bank. As I Wiggled my way up I saw the doe totally unaware that we were there. So I got my son up the bank a little further down than me and he set up on a stump. He made a great shot at about 70 yards and dropped the doe in her tracks.
Yup. So that was our day. Only managed to get three in the truck but hey the season is still early. Don't wanna cut all the tags too soon.
Day 2:
We were up a half hour earlier to our area and shot right up to the alpine in the dark. Unfortunately we saw absolutley nothing moving and very little sign where we were so we didn't stay there too long.
On the way back down to lower ground we stopped at (undisclosed location) and decided to walk in to a beauty little spot we have been watching for a couple years and walk in to some real nice holes.
I still had my 2 boys with me Dan (Popper on here) and Erik. Dan is a junior hunter and Erik is a VERY avid spectator until next year. So me and my boys walked around one side of an area while 5-spike walked in a different side to another very nice little draw.
Me and the boys walked in and sat on a little bowl with a Draw coming down into it for awhile and again came up empty handed so headed back to the truck. Now I can see the trail where 5spike walked in on for most of my walk down but can't see around the corner to where he is.By the time we got to the truck and saw that he wasn't there and he hadn't even started down the hill yet I decided he must be watching some animals. I figured if he was watching a buck I would have heard the shots by now and being that my son has a doe licence I thought he was probably watching a doe waiting for us. Yes we forgot our 2 way radios today:sad: So we started up the trail to meet up with him and see what was up. Well about half way up to him we heard the shots, and started running. That's about all I am gonna say on this one.... 5-spike can tell the rest of this story..lol:-P He made a great shot.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010074.jpg
So we get him out and loaded up and start to head down the mountain and we decide we are going to check another great little Overgrown road out that overlooks a real nice little Valley. Well we get out and and I start to walk down towards the end of the valley to get a look at the draw at the end and 5-spike climbs up the bank to look down into the valley where we were. Well I got about 25 yards down the road when he whistles at me and makes the universal symbol for a buck on his head and points down the hill. I jumped up the bank where I was and took a look down but could'nt see it at all so I ran back to where 5-spike was and got a look at it. A real nice looking buck was having a go at a little tree probly 250 yards down the valley bottom. His a$$ was pointing at us and really didn't give us any shot so I ran down the road a little further untill I was directly up the bank from him and then took a peek over. At this point he had put the make on me and was looking over his back at me up the hill close to 200 yards away. At least from this angle he was quartering away. I was out of breath from my jaunt down the road and my jump up the bank so I took a second to collect myself and got down to a knee and delivered a shot. I watched thru my scope and 5-spike watched through Bino's as the buck fell right there and rolled on to his back. When I saw him stop moving I let a victory hollar out and turned to hop off the rock I was on top of. As I landed I rolled my ankle over pretty bad and went straight to the ground. It hurt like hell but after rolling on the ground like a girl for a couple minutes figured I better pull myself up and walk it off as my 2 boys were coming down the road with 5-spike and could now see me.lol
After I walked it off for a minute I took my glasses back out and looked for me Deer. HE WAS GONE!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. He was hit goo and he was hit hard to pile him over on his back like that. And we both saw him stop moving. Well adrenaline again made me stop thinking about my ankle and started the climb down the valley to where he was supposed to be. I went right to where he was. Could see fresh tracks all around there. But no blood. I circled a little bit. Then a bit more. Then.... a spot of blood. about .5 an inch in diameter real small. I circled that again and found another drop about half the size of the first. I couldn't believe it. It didn't look like a fatal hit.But I now had a direction of travel to look in. So I moved down the very small ridge he was travelling on and about 5 feet further I found a BIG smear of blood. YES!!!! I looked up and about 8 feet further under the ferns he was laying. It was a hell of a drag out on one leg but we made it. And it was only 11:30 with 2 bucks down.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010075.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010080.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee38/tnlpinkney/P1010082.jpg
So our day is done right???
Nope you forgot that I said my son is also a junior hunter. Now that we are at the bottom of the mountain we have a little spot that we have bee seeing some doe's in and decide to take a 2 minute little detour down a side road. Well as we get halfway down we decide to get out and look over the banks on either side. 5-spike and my boys went up one side and I tried to hobble up the other side well I was halfway up when 5-Spike loudly whispered at me "Troy!!! Get down! Doe!" Well I hit the dirt and looked back at him for directions and he was pointing straight past me over the bank. As I Wiggled my way up I saw the doe totally unaware that we were there. So I got my son up the bank a little further down than me and he set up on a stump. He made a great shot at about 70 yards and dropped the doe in her tracks.
Yup. So that was our day. Only managed to get three in the truck but hey the season is still early. Don't wanna cut all the tags too soon.