Happy new year everyone!
I forgot to post this until now. The last months of 2016 were a bit crazy so I guess it just didn't cross my mind. Maybe it's better this way. Now that hunting season is over for most of us, I know a lot of you welcome a good hunting story! It's a bit of a long one but here it goes!
In mid November I got my biggest blacktail to date! My goal was to get a mature blacktail in the timber this year. Thanks in a large part to knowledge I've gained from Steve Isdahl (proguide66 on the forum here) and his Blacktail Hunter app, I was eventually successful! I got this guy in the snow, in the big timber, up the mountain just like Steve loves! As a young and self taught hunter, the app has been extremely helpful to me.
I scouted all summer and hiked many kilometers during the pre season. I still have a lot to learn about these deer and my area but I pretty quickly knew there were some big deer running around the spot I had been scouting. A few large tracks had given away their presence. After our big trade show in early november I was able to take off a couple of days and get into the woods.
When I woke up in the truck early on the morning of november 15, I was a bit worried I may not see any deer up and about because it had been a very bright full moon the night before, and cloud cover was light when I went to sleep. As I got out of the truck I realized it was snowing lightly which raised my spirits.
I was in the trees before first light. Once I could see a bit, I did a short can-call sequence. I sat for another 15 minutes. Suddenly I saw movement across the hill about 25 yards away. A spike buck! I had told myself I would pass if I saw a smaller deer. So I let this little buck walk.
I continued to hunt all morning in the trees. By 1 pm, I was at the one camera I had up the mountain. I checked the card and saw I had two different bucks on cam. A young two point from a few days earlier and a more mature buck from 2 weeks earlier. This had me excited as these were the first bucks I had on camera.
By this time it has cleared and the sun was shining, but there was a nice thin layer of new snow on everything. Perfect for seeing fresh tracks! I decided to hunt along a creek into an area I hadn’t had the time to check out yet. After an hour or so I came across tracks. I knew these had to be from earlier the same day. Now I was really excited. The tracks looked like a doe or smaller buck. I followed them, slowly, calling once in a while as I went. They seemed to amble around for a while like a feeding deer would. They then crossed a small creek and went down a short steep hill. At the base of the hill I saw a clearing with grass poking through the snow.
I was getting a bit tired by this point and knew I had a long hike back to the truck. Instead of skirting the edge of the clearing like I should have, I followed the tracks through the clearing to the far side. I was still walking with Steve’s “toe-heel technique” to try to make my crunches in the snow sound like a deer. Suddenly I was looking at two very fresh new sets of tracks. One was small like a doe's and the other was bigger, like a good sized buck! I turned my head to the right and couldn't believe my eyes. About 15 yards away with her head stuck in a bush, feeding, was a doe. She was facing away from me. I was surprised because, I hadn't been as quite approaching as I probably should have been. I guess the can calling really does put them at ease! I thought, "that buck must be right near by", So I moved towards a tree and knelt down. I quietly chambered a round and got ready. I did another can call. Right away I saw movement. A buck’s head appeared. Looking right in my direction. He must have been bedded or standing behind a bush. I could see he had good mass in has rack.
I already had my rifle shouldered, probably my first mistake. I was searching for him in my scope. The scope was wet from moving through the snowy brush. I knew the thermals were still moving up hill, right towards the buck from me. Finally I found the white patch at the top of his neck. I thought "this is my only opportunity" So I slowly started squeezing off the shot. A split second before the trigger broke, he started to move. Then the shot went off. Everything went so fast after that, I don't remember exactly what happened. The doe and buck went opposite directions. The doe uphill and the buck downhill. I was kneeling there quietly in the snow, already regretting the shot. I had a bad feeling about it. I knew from previous successful neck shots that if I hit him where I meant to, he would have gone down where he stood. I was playing everything back in my head. What I remembered is the buck dropping his head and moving sideways, a split second before the shot broke. Looking at the scene without the scope, I could see that there were also some fairly heavy branches in the way of the shot. I was hoping I had missed him cleanly.
At the time, sitting there wondering what had happened, I thought he had started moving because he winded me. In retrospect, I think he was moving to get a better look at me. In fact I don’t think he saw me at all, I suspect he was looking and listening for the source of the can call. So, had I waited longer, I probably would have had a better shot opportunity a moment later.
I waited a few minutes longer, then walked quietly over to where he was standing. I saw no sign of blood or hair. I was somewhat relieved. I decided to follow his tracks downhill a ways to make sure I found no sign of blood.
I decided I would do do a can call before starting to move, just in case he was still near by. I started to move very slowly along his tracks. I had only gone about 30 yards from where I shot when I saw antler tines moving on the downhill side of a large old growth log less than 20 yards from where I stood. For the second time within 30 minutes, I knelt down and shouldered my rifle. I didn’t have the can call handy, so I made the best estrus doe bleat I could with my mouth. Again, the deer reacted immediately. He strutted right out from behind the log. Sure enough, it was the same buck, seemingly unscathed and undeterred after our first encounter. The doe he was with must have been in heat. He seemed very eager to go back in her direction. This time I had a perfect broadside shot. I aimed and slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle barked and the buck jump up and backwards, downhill. He was out of sight instantly. This time I was very confident I had made a good shot and the buck’s reaction confirmed it.
Again, I sat still, replaying the crazy last hour. I felt extremely lucky to have gotten a second crack at this buck and grateful that I hadn’t wounded him with my first shot. It was now only a few minutes before sunset. I layered up, got my headlamp out, had a snack and drank some water. After about 20 minutes had passed since my second shot, I moved slowly to where I could see over the log the buck disappeared behind. I saw blood downhill of the log. I moved another few yards and saw the blood trail became very heavy.
Now I knew he was not far away. I was tingling with anticipation! I moved slowly along, thankful for the snow which made tracking very easy. I found him about 40 yards from where I shot him, piled up in the heather, amongst some small hemlocks. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I couldn’t quite believe it. After all that I had been through that day and the unlikely series of events that had unfolded within the last hour, here he was! A magnificent timber blacktail.
Remembering Steve’s advice on photo taking, I quickly propped up my cell phone on my pack to get a self timer of myself with the buck. I snapped a couple of other photos and then started working on cutting him up.It was only after a few minutes into dressing that I noticed something strange on one of his tines. On closer inspection, it was a .30 caliber hole! My first shot had hit him in the antlers when he lowered his head. This made the whole situation even weirder. I just couldn’t believe he would come back so quickly after being missed, let alone hit in the antlers. He must’ve had a terrible headache!
Continued below in the first comment! (post was too long and had too many photos )
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