Rocksteady's 2014 Outdoor Hunting Escapades...

[rocksteady]

Since I have received a bunch of supportive PM's, asking me to continue documenting and posting my hunting escapades and adventures.

I will comply, however, if I start getting crapped on from people, that May cease...

So, to continue on from my post of the 2nd of January where I came face to face with a cougar while out coyote hunting....

After I got back to the truck and calmed the nerves, ii decided to be brave. Loaded the rifle, grabbed my video camera and tripod and snuck back over to the edge of the cliff, to try to get some footage. I have never mived so carefully or slowly in my life. Betcha it took me ten minutes to go 20 yards from the truck to the cliff edge.

I ever so cautiously, slowly peeked over the lip of the cliff, expecting to see tge cat

[Rackmastr]

This is gonna be good!!!

[rocksteady]

Nope, not to be seen, that concerned me, cause it was no where that I can see it, so WHERE is it??

After sitting there peeking around for another 5 minutes, finally the cat stood up, it had been laying in a huge juniper bush 40 yards away from me, but I could not see it....it slowly came out of the juniper, wandered off sidehill, away from me, then angled downhill (much to my relief) it went down another 50 yards and laid down beside the head of the roadkill, that it had buried, for a later meal.

I eventually got to a spot where I felt safe, as well as could get some video. I set up the video camera on the tripod and recorded a bunch of footage. When the cat would face away, ruining the footage, I would give a squeek on my rabitt call, to get its attention. I will download all of the footage to Youtube shortly.

After getting good footage, I had to come up with a plan... Pretty simple, back out, buy tag, wait for 2 days for the tag to be valid, come back in. I figured this cat was within 100 yards of the highway, so chances are no one would find his tracks and run him with dogs, lots of roadkill where the cat was, and nothing disturbing it.

The next 2 days were painful, I wanted to check on it so bad, but did not want to scare it out of there.

Finally, Saturday came along. I snuck in again in the late morning (did not want to go in there in poor light)....It had snowed a skiff overnight, with my binos, I could see cat tracks all over the place, but no cat.... A good sign, but after 30 minutes, I still could not see the cat, so I backed out again and went looking for yotes down the road...

[MB_Boy]

OKAY!!!! MODS!!! Shut er' down.....it's been an hour now!! :tongue: Let's nip this in the bud right now. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:













<EDIT> Hahaha........maybe Rock is just a slow typist as we posted at the same time! Sorry Rock!! :wink:

[rocksteady]

About 3 hours later, I snuck back in, BINGO... Cat is laying right beside the roadkill head that I had seen it on 2 days ago.I Laid down right at the very lip of the cliff with Gun, Binos, Spotting scope and Tripod. Stared at the cat for about 15 minutes (with spotter), trying to igure out if I should take it or not...I glassed the surrounding timber a bunch to ensure that there was no kittens, if it were a female.

Finally, all systems were go. I was confident in the shot. The cat was about 90 yards away, laying straight up hill, facing me, but 100% slope. I dropped the bipod to get a steady rest, lined up on the very front of the chest, slipped the safety off and squeezed the trigger.

[rocksteady]

Cat jumped straight in the air, did a 180 turn and ran downhill onto the swamp flats, I quickly sent another round at it, hitting it just behind the last rib. It fell and was strugggling to get up, I put another between its shoulder blades and it was done.

I sat there or 10 minutes and just glassed the cat.. NO movement... Went back to the truck, grabbed my camera and put the binos etc all away... Very carefully made my way down the cliff/slope, always keeping on eye on the cat. I was sure it was dead, but did not want to risk going hand to hand with it. Eventually, I got to lay hands on it... WOW.... Cut my tag, checked its gender (female, with no boobs) and started taking pics... Being this was my first cat, I wanted to document it for later..... Bad luck bites me later, the next day...

Hiked back up to the truck, I knew I had to get creative to get this thing out of the bush..I had made a deal with my wife, I could kill a cat, but not just for the hide...SO I gotta get this thing up the 150 yard slope by myself to the truck.....Off to town I go, dig up every piece of rope I could scrounge, including borrowing some from buddies..Then I head back, it is now getting dark, so out comes the headlamp.... Put every piece of rope together, tied it to my bumper and over the bank I go... You guessed it... 50 feet short, so I dragged the cat that distance... wow, talk about a grunt.... Finally got it tied off, back up the hill again. Got in the truck, crossed my fingers that no ropes broke or cat got wedged and backed up 40 yards.... Rolled ahead til I could see slack in the rope, drove up to the edge, jumped out and retied the rope... Repeated this about 4 or 5 times, til the cat finally cleared the lip of the cliff...Now I had to get it into the truck, by myself, after going up and down that hill 2 or 3 times...I was sacked at that point, but a bit of stubborn effort got her loaded... Finally, relaxation....

Drove home, off loaded in the garage and started the skinning process.

[rocksteady]

I am by no means the greatest skinner, for taxidermy, so I did what I could, skinned it all out except for the paws and head... Rackmaster is gonna help me with the rest. Thanks Trev....

Butchered the meat and put it in my beer fridge (lost 1 front quarter to bloodshot), cleaned up a bit, had a cold beer and crashed....

The next day, I delivered the meat to my butcher buddy, who is gonna make me smoked cougar hams (yummy)....

Got all my hunting gear washed up and grabbed my camera to download pictures... I knew I had about 50, so should be a nice one or two, I thought.... Put the memory card into the card reader on the computer..... "Cannot access, corrupt card".... Tried numerous times, still nothing... :(

Got it CI'd on Tuesday morning, now its all froze up and waiting for the finishing skin job...


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/Mobile%20Uploads/20140105_124150_zpsa79c6ef5.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140105_124150_zpsa79c6ef5.jpg.html)

SELFIE!!!!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/Mobile%20Uploads/20140107_091733_zps3dc21c55.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140107_091733_zps3dc21c55.jpg.html)

[rocksteady]

I have no idea what she weighed, but heavy, could be the belly of meat in her deer gut that made it worse...

Once I get the head skinned out I will do some measuring of the skull....

I never thought a cougar could have as much fat on her belly, chest, butt etc.... Probably 2 inches deep all over her.... Like a deer...


So, here is the disclaimer... My first cat, female (dry), not a boone and crockett, but done without dogs or anyone helping, so I am pretty satisfied with it... I know a lot of the hardcore cat hunters with dogs will scoff at the accomplishment, but that's fine. A lot of us do not have the time, effort, space, $$ to keep dogs for the exclusive purpose of running cats/bears...



A teaser for my next post....

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/Mobile%20Uploads/20140109_143759_zpsd50d9b48.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140109_143759_zpsd50d9b48.jpg.html)

[bighornbob]

Great job on the cat and keep the stories coming.

The memory card problem can be caused by just pulling out the memory card without first telling the computer to eject it. You can pull it out 100 times with no problems then the next time they are corrupted. I know you can fix some of the problems quite easily while other ones are pooched.

BHB

[d6dan]

Awesome Mike!.:-D Congrats on a hunt of a lifetime and glad to see your back in the saddle. Great story and pic's although I think the cat looks better. :wink:

[rocksteady]

Awesome Mike!.:-D Congrats on a hunt of a lifetime and glad to see your back in the saddle. Great story and pic's although I think the cat looks better. :wink:

Can't say I disagree with you... Once I find out all my pictures were gone, I had to a selfie to send to my Dad, and needed something there for scale...like my head.. :)

[rocksteady]

So, I have been looking for coyotes for the past couple Weeks, very poor results.. Saw a pair on about day 3 or 4... Was walking to the edge of the frozen river to check for tracks... Simple rookie mistake, left gun in truck... Get 40 yards from the rig and here is a coyote looking at me... Run back to truck, grab my gear, by the time I got back, they were moving..missed at about 325 yards. Other one was already 600 by then...

Have had zero luck calling...Only ones I see are in the open...

Found a single set of wolf tracks on the river a few days ago...wonder if thats why the yotes are not responding....

Anyways, yesterday coming home, I drove through the city effluent fields... The one pictured above, came out of the timber to the field just as I came Around the corner..jump out, load, lay down..it stops at about 100 yards quartering away.... Bang....Superspins...

First time I have ever had a yote do the spinnorama.. When I checked I hit it back a bit, front of rear thigh, out just behind front leg, but did not hit heart/lungs... Had to do a follow up... Jusr a young dog, but I am not picky... Hopefully things will pickup..

[Jagermeister]

Congratulations on taking down a cougar without the aid of hounds. That's not a accomplishment many will be able to duplicate.
I like the picture of the "dog", especially the light in the eyes. Kind of eerie.

[Big Lew]

Thanks for stepping up, putting us back on track, and posting your great story and your pictures. Do you think that there's any way a technician can retrieve your pictures from the card? I feel your disappointment. It really makes your heart sink. I only have a very few pictures of the first several days when I rode my bicycle from Fairbanks to Chetwynd because of camera problems. They were taken with a spare 'throw away' camera. Like you, it's highly unlikely I'll ever be in the same scenario ever again.

[coach]

Great stuff, RS! Congrats on the cougar. That's a hell of an accomplishment without dogs. Have you taken your memory card to any camera or computer experts to look at? It sure would suck to throw it away and find out later there's a way of getting those pics off it.

Looking forward to to the rest of your season.

[rocksteady]

I dont believe so... I viewed the pics on the camera, when I tried to download with a card reader, it was corrupt, when I put it back in the camera... Corrupt... And no pics..

[Rhyno]

Right on Mike, congrats. As others have mentioned quite the accomplishment without dogs....I promised my self I would buy a tag every year, you never know when you are going to run into one!

Bummer about the picts, hope they can be retrieved....try bring it the the place by save on, the got all my files back when my computer died.

[rocksteady]

I dont see it as a huge accomplishment "I can kill.cougars without dogs"... It was right time, right place, karma dumped it in my lap and fortunately the plan worked... Would have been a whole different story if the cat had jumped on my carcass, at our first meeting... She was tempted, I know that..

[Blainer]

Thanks for the share.
Shame about the pictures, good looking cat!

[DawsonCreedmoor]

Congrats on the cat!

If the pictures are important to you, they may not be lost, a quick google search shows there are programs and people who can get them back.

[srupp]

Great job on the cougar........good write up also...made my week....cougars!

cheers

Steven

[sawmill]

Way to go Rock!Body mount or rug?

[shallowH2O]

Nice job keep the stories rolling!

[rocksteady]

Way to go Rock!Body mount or rug?

Just a tan and hang for now... When I can afford it, a rug...

[rocksteady]

Great job on the cougar........good write up also...made my week....cougars!

cheers

Steven

Thanks... A compliment from someone of your stature is much appreciated... :)

[Salty]

Good stuff RS! I love to see more obscure hunts... cougar without dogs is right there. I've been waiting for some snow out here to get out for a few hail mary attempts for a cat as well. Actually this makes me think just get out there anyway you never know. Interesting she was camped out on that road kill. Real interesting..

[kennyj]

Nice cougar! Looking forward to your thread.
kenny

[RiverOtter]

Nicely done RS, love it when a plan comes together......

[dingdongdenny]

live on the wrong part of the province. Wish i could do some pred hunting but not much on the island.WELLL SOME BUT WOLVES ARE MUCH HARDER TO TARGET.

[dana]

Good job on the preds.
You potentially can get a program to recover those the pics. My son has used several programs and had success. Recover My Files is one that comes to mind.

[cfree]

Thanks for sharing. I did see some tracks last year but no actual sightings. I will have to add a cougar tag this year and hopefully get lucky.

[BiG Boar]

Great thread so far. Hope the rest of your season continues the same way! Predator hunting is a lot of fun. Great job on the cat. Even with dogs, cat hunting is not "EASY". I always buy one of every tag I know I'll have a chance of coming across just for situations like that. That must have been an antsy couple day wait!

[Sitkaspruce]

Great to see you come back to the posting side Rock!!!!

Awesome start to your 2014 season!!! Great cat and the first yote of many!!!

What are you shooting Mike???

I really like cougar meat, have had the hams smoked, had the loins roasted and baked and had some sausage. All good!!!

Congrats again and THANKS FOR POSTING!!!!

Cheers

SS

[rocksteady]

When I am targetting yotes, I use the .243 with 75 grain V,Max, but for the cat I was using 100 grain Winchester XP3 {or something like that), missed the heart by an inch....

Its one of those Savage 111 package deals... Around $400 to my door for the complete package... Good deal... Have used it on numerous yotes, as well, taken new Hunters out and they smoked Whiteys like a hot knife thru butter.... Accuraccy beets speed, anyday...

[Andrewh]

nice story so far, looking forward to reading more.

Correct me if I am wrong. I am pretty sure your pics are still on the card, if they were 'written over' then ya they are gone but it seems to me just an error message is popping up in front of the pics not allowing access. Shouldn't be too hard for a computer/camera savy person to get around the error message. I would make a good effort to get the pics, should pay off as the pics didn't just 'disappear' they are just blocked.

Good Luck!

[hunter1947]

Nice cat mike glad you come out in the open regarding your cat ,,don't matter what the sex it is they all eat game animals,,congrats buddy nicely done...

[sawmill]

Can the tannery colour the hide so as to cover up its spots?:twisted:
C`mon,somebody had to say it :mrgreen:

By the way,I love the .243,got my buck again last season with mine,sweet fast caliber.

[markt308]

great share RS! keep it up my man

[budismyhorse]

Very cool mike! Congrats.

Hey you shouldn't have a problem getting photos back just whatever you do don't add or delete anymore off the same card! Simple program download off the Internet and your laughing.

Believe me .... I deleted my daughters first Christmas photos .....so I know a thing or two about getting them back! It was life or a slow painful death for me that night;)

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Right on Mike!!!
I, too, want to take a cougar without hounds even though I friends who run hounds.
Had my chance and blew it with bow in hand...but no tag in pocket.

Looking forward to the rest of your year if it's anything like your elk hunting diaries.

Congrats!

SSS

[rocksteady]

Still cant retrieve the pics..... But...

Had cougar ham for dinner....it was excellent....

[scottwh]

Nice cat and great story! Looking forward to more of your adventures! I would sure like to shoot a wolf(s) :)

[hunter1947]

So its just not me that has senors moments younger people do this as well LOL..

[rocksteady]

Time to revive this.

Wrenched on a couple vehicles for too long, therefore no turkey or gopher season.

Applied for leh. Nada..

Been hair-straight-back with fire season. Had 10 days off since July 7th.

Still workin,, no cams, no licks, probably no archery opportunities, so will have to suck it up til rifle season. Then hopefully a change in the weather and I can walk away from work for a couple Weeks, chasing wapiti...

Will keep you updated, pics and stories to follow, as they happen...

[rocksteady]

Turned 49 a couple Weeks ago, gotta hunt my arse off before I become too old to get off my couch....feeling incredibly old after this fire season. Spent the last 2 month s sleeping in tents, eating foodwith 200 of my closest friends, showering every 5 Fays...


Tired, tired, tired.....til I hear my first far off bugle, then it's go time....

[luckofthedraw]

Happy belated. Get some rest quick.... lots of hunting to do.

[wsetter]

Not sure if you have attempted plugging in the camera directly to your computer and downloading them that way. If the computer won't read the card but you can view the pics on your camera you should be able to pull them off that way. Awesome story, One Can never have to much rope.

[Rackmastr]

Happy Bday you young bugger!!

Cant wait to see how your season goes this year, and as 'old' as you say you are, you're a go getter and I know you'll make it happen this year again!

Good luck and send me a text if you ever need a hand with packing!!!

[Sitkaspruce]

You should be able to buy what ever you want after this season....or do you take some in time off?? Thats what I always did, earn to to hunt with.

Looking forward to your season updates.

Good luck

Cheers

SS

[greybark]

Hey RS , great to the point writing style and great story . Am stuck at home during the archery Elk season for various reasons and this story picked up my spirits .
Cheers

[rocksteady]

Spent the last 2 days mounting a winch, roof rack and Safari basket on the roof of the Rav.

Finally took a breather, went to the range and confirmed the accuracy of the Brute...30-06 with nasty handloads.

Went for a scout for 3 hours... 1 fresh elk track, 1 WT doe with fawn and a slob of a black bear..

Only 2 more days til rifle, then I will go gung ho.

[rocksteady]

Opening morning..cool damp, went to a walk into one of my favorite elk areas. Nothing seen, nor heard, minimal elk tracks, lots of black bear sign. Then it rained on me, then it snowed on me, so after I was cold and wet. I decided to do some road scouting.

I always have the habit of shooting the first legal WT buck that I see, so last night, I decided it has to be a 3 or better and close to a road....

So I drive down this other main road and, viola, buck standing there looking back over his ass at me... Binos up, hmmmm 4 point, 80 yards from the road. I get out, load up, just start to aim and he hippity hops off 30 yards parallel. A slight whistle, he stops dead and looks at me. I had grabbed a small larch tree as a rest... Got the crosshairs on him....bang,flop..perfect fatal neck shot.

Having technical difficulties with photobucket...will post once I get that figured...

[rocksteady]

http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_084724_zps9c50d84e.jpg.html?filters[user]=10589301&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

[rocksteady]

http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_084724_zps9c50d84e.jpg.html?filters[user]=10589301&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

[adriaticum]

Looks good to me nice 4x3.

http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_084724_zps9c50d84e.jpg.html

[Dannybuoy]

Nice eater , when you said hippety hop I was expecting a mulie . :-D

[deadlyshot19]

Nice freezer filler! Also nice cat earlier in the year, nice to read these stories! :)

[rocksteady]

Looks good to me nice 4x3.

http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_084724_zps9c50d84e.jpg.html

I will to post some others...it is a 4 by 4

[Salty]

Nice opening day 4x4 rock and even home for lunch time. lol Gonna concentrate on elk for the next while I presume?

[Rackmastr]

Boom! Good job buddy

[adriaticum]

I've missed rocksteady. Jelvis was getting out of control there for a while.

[835]

Freezer is fill'n up man!

[coach]

Nice buck, RS! He'd look good beside that new Bone cooler!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_084724_zps9c50d84e.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_084724_zps9c50d84e.jpg.html)

[rocksteady]

Now you say it! He's already at the butcher, so can't make that pic happen.

I WILL do that WHEN I kill my elk.

[rocksteady]

I've missed rocksteady. Jelvis was getting out of control there for a while.

I really was not trying to offend the old nutbar, but he just pushed too many of my buttons that day. I did apologize, but got some shitty pm's from members and took a few steps away from the computer for a while.

[d6dan]

Nice Mike.. :-D Keep'em coming...

[Rhyno]

It's almost been 2 weeks man, where's the update:-D

[Ddog]

mike has an update
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d167/DDOGGY/IMG_1832_zps7dd4fb2e.jpg (http://s35.photobucket.com/user/DDOGGY/media/IMG_1832_zps7dd4fb2e.jpg.html)

[MOG]

Wow,

what a year so far great work mate. Do want to hear the story!

regards,

Mog

[Rackmastr]

Awesome stuff! Can't wait to hear the story!

[Rhyno]

Nice one Mike! You have to be one of the most consistent killers of elk out there!

[caddisguy]

If you still have that memory card from the cat hunt in tact (has not been formatted) I should be able to recover those pics for you, if the pics did in fact get saved. It is likely the filesystem is corrupted. I can just make a low level clone of the card onto a hard drive, then repair the filesystem. Failing that I can likely still extract some data without actually mounting it as a filesystem. Let me know if you want to mail it over. I'll send it back once I've cloned it and get working on the filesystem repair / data recovery.

[MB_Boy]

Very nice elk Rocksteady!!! :-D

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Nice elk Mike!! But your story sucks!:-D

SSS

[rocksteady]

The dead elk you see is NOT mine... I was the hunting partner guide/sherpa on this one...

I had spotted a bunch of elk WAY up the mountain, had been glassing them for 4 days trying to figure out how to get them and even harder, how to get them out...

Finally, a hunting buddy convinced me we should go up after them, as I knew at least one, maybe 2 or even 3 were legal 6 pointers... MISTAKE #1....

So we gathered our gear after he got off work and started hiking striaght up in the 26 C heat, heading for the alpine.... Mistake #2

Finally after 5 hours of hiking/seating we got close enough that my buddy peeked over the destination reference boulder and there was bulls about 200 yards away.... I was still dragging my arse up teh hill when I heard the shot.... I get to teh top, he says he shot, elk fell down...

We hike over through the slide alder and a beautiful 6 by 8 lay in a heap. MISATKE #3... Its now 8:00 pm....

We get to using the gutless method field dressing the beast, we finally finished that about 1:00 am....

Attempted to get some of our friends to come help, but cell phone battery was pooched MISTAKE #4.... I shut my cell phone off before we started hiking, but failed to shut off the GPS function, so it kept running the whole time we were hiking...killing the battery....

After we did the butchering, we moved the meat about 150 yards downhill from the carcass and left teh meat in the slide chute. We hiked about 100 yards to the timber and tried to start a fire... Mistake #5 Brand new Bic lighter, but something in my pack had depressed the trigger and drained the fluid..... Gathered a bunch of pitch, as well as crushed one of my bullets and dumped the gun powder onto the pitch etc and with the sparker from the Bic, WE HAD FIRE!!!!

Pretty restless, sleepless night, two of layed out beside the 12" diameter fire, taking turns feeding it, as we woke...Had a lovely dinner of 1 granola bar and 2 Pop Tarts between us...

Got up around 6:30, hoisted teh packs and started heading down the mountain.... We finally arrived at teh trucks at 6:00 that night...


LESSON learned, I am never doing that again..... With all of the mistakes i noted, each one of them could have been bad news....

Went to bed at 7:00 that night, woke up at 7:00, had 1 cup of coffee, fell asleep on the couch, woke up at noon, had some pizza, fell asleep again, woke up around 5:00, had some supper and went back to bed again....

One of the most satisfying (happy for my buddy to get his 1st 6 point bull elk), but most difficult and physically demanding adventures I have ever been on..... Took me 2 or 3 days to recover from the aches, pains, cramps, bruises...

I have never fell down so much in a 24 hour period in my life.... But like I say, NEVER again.... I thought goats were hard to hunt, alpine elk are even more work..

[MB_Boy]

I guess we never stop learning no matter where we are and what we think we know?!?!?! Hahaha. :mrgreen:

[835]

if you are not going to do that again can you pm me directions to the mtn? lol!
I'll give it a go!

Nice Bull Rock!
keep'em Rollin'

[Stone Sheep Steve]

That's the way to do it!! Making memories is what it's all about!!

You will forget the pain and do it all over again. Hunting is to men what childbirth is to women....we're both genetically programmed to forget the pain just to keep the population going! :mrgreen:

SSS

[GoatGuy]

Hahahaha awesome story.

[LBM]

Nice looking bull to bad the picture wasn't better. So sounds like 11 1/2 hrs packing meat out for the 2 of you how many trips back and forth is that.

[Everett]

That will teach you to let a young guy have bullets in his gun. At least you have one hell of a story to tell your Grandkids about they way you used to do it back in the day.

[Seeker]

That is one of the better stories I can remember reading! Wow! Next time make a pact before leaving.... you carry the bullets!! Well done!

[nano]

Nice bull, congrats to the both of you!

[rocksteady]

A sad day... Elk season 2014 goes into the books with an uncut tag. This has only happened twice in the last 19 years. Not from lack of trying. I have hunted harder, logged more miles, climbed more mountains than I ever have, but no tag cut...

I have seen over 50 different bulls, seen my share of great sunrises and sunsets, so all is not lost..

Once I get some time I will post some of the awesome memories...

Bring on Sep 10, 2015... Can't wait...

[HuntNmemories]

wow, sounds like you guys had a hard but successful hunt!!

[rocksteady]

So my season ended but it was not over yet...

My youngest daughter, 22, came for a visit in September and said she would like to go shoot guns (never shot one before in her life).. Took her out for a few hours shooting paper and the wigwag metal gong. Started her off with the .22 then moved her up to my 6.5 by 55..

SHe was so excited, that when she went home, she registered for her PAL and CORE. They occurred on back to back weekends and she aced them both.

She finally got time off from work and came over in the doe season, we hunted for a couple days, but the does were so skittish, that she could not get a decent shot..

Fast forward to the last weekend of the season, she gets time off, comes over and we go for a little road hunt on Friday afternoon. Its pouring rain, but we still see 5 bucks. The last one she was dead on, safety off, about 150 yards, ready to shoot and boing! he took off...

The next morning we wake up to almost a foot of snow and -12 C. Left the house at 07:30, decided we would just go for a little road hunt in an area that I kknow really well, and if there were too many road hunters, then we would walk some ridges and check out a bait station that I built a couple days earlier..

We get off teh pavement, drive for a km, here is a herd of 50 elk standing in a cutblock about 50 yards from us that we sat and watched for 5 minutes.. She had never seen elk up close and personal like that.

We drive another 500 metres down the main road and see a doe bouncing across the fields... There were already tracks on the road we were driving in on, so I decided we would back up and and take the right fork, which was untravelled and skirts the edge of the grasslands field, hoping there would be other deer in that area, where the doe had come from....

We drove down tehre a hundred or so yards and my daughter tells me that she saw a deers tail flick... I glass, can't see anything, but there is a 10 ft high Douglas fir tree in my way... Putt putt the RAv for another 20 yards. Glass again...Sure enough, there is a deer standing broadside at about 70 yards... I glass and finally make it out to be a buck (no idea how big), because of its dark antlers I had a hard time seeing bone at first.

I tell her to get out and shoot it... She gets out, loads up the .243, grabs another Fir sapling as a rest, taking her time, making sure to get a really good sight picture... Told her to take the shot when she felt comfortable...I was watching the deer in the binos when she shot, saw it hump and lunge, teh way a hard hit deer does, and it runs off into heavy timber...

I told her she hit it, not sure how bad, so we will take our time getting all of our clothes on and slowly track it.. We know where he went, we have a foot of fresh snow, so tracking will be fairly easy.

We get to where the deer was standing, I find a clump of hair but no blood... Uh-oh!!! I am thinking brisket shot? We follow it a few more steps, 3 tiny specks of blood, couple more steps, 3 more specks, I can see where it has bounded down the hill into a gulley, leaving huge scrape marks in the snow and dirt... I am totally focused on looking for blood that my daughter says "Um Dad, he's right there"... I look up, she points and here is her first ever big game animal on the ground dead.... Hi fives and hugs were flying !!!

WAlk down to it (it ran 40 yards after she shot it), grab its antlers and pull its head out of the snow... Cute little 4 by 4...

Drug it up to the road on the far side of the gully, drove the Rav around. Took a bunch of photos, showed her how to field dress a deer, loaded it in the Rav and were on our way home by 08:30....

A very proud day for me, definitely the highlight of the 2014 season, as I have always had the passion for hunting, and am thrilled that my daughter now wants to be part of it.... SHe is already asking when do we apply for LEH????

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/20141129edit_zps6aa22888.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/20141129edit_zps6aa22888.jpg.html)

[rocksteady]

When I gutted it I found out why tehre was no blood trail.. Perfect broadside heart shot (SHe shot 80 % of the top part of the heart right off) No pumper workin, no blood trail, it just pooled up inside him and drained out when he fell over...



http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/DSC00165edit_zps387f70e7.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rocksteadyrifle/media/DSC00165edit_zps387f70e7.jpg.html)

[Rackmastr]

Good stuff man!!!

Drove past your office today saw the Rav there and was wondering how you made out at the end of the season.

[rocksteady]

Good stuff man!!!

Drove past your office today saw the Rav there and was wondering how you made out at the end of the season.

Trying to get all my home chores tidied up in the next week or so, then I can go hardcore for coyotes, and hopefully wolves...

[Rackmastr]

Trying to get all my home chores tidied up in the next week or so, then I can go hardcore for coyotes, and hopefully wolves...

Ya you bet! I'm currently working on finding a good spot for a wolf bait this year. I've got a good assortment of scraps in the freezer.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Sweet!! There's nothing like the feeling when a daughter follows into a father's footsteps like that!!

congrats to you both!!

SSS

[Rhyno]

That's awesome Mike! Congrats to your daughter and her proud dad on a great buck!

[Sitkaspruce]

Great job and congrats to both of you!!!

Thanks for posting!!

Cheers

SS

[Salty]

Right on Rock that'd make my season too

[hunter1947]

Mike nice read and nice to see that your daughter got into hunting I love to hear women get into hunting I find that they are good shots when it comes to shooting there rifles the ladies that I know that are into hunting are more relaxed when finding the game animal they want to shoot and when it comes to squeezing the trigger I like your daughters thoughts on finding a tree to have a rest for the rifle.

Its nice to hear that you Mike and your daughter now have a bound when it comes to hunting this is good father and daughter hunting together yes Mike you do have a new hunting partner nice to hear

A big congrats to your daughter getting this nice WT buck the deer is a dandy for her first wish I was as lucky as your daughter was when I got my first deer it was only a spike deer I will be looking forward to seeing pictures of the animals your daughter gets next year if the sun gods are good to her ,,, a big congrats to you Mike doing your part to make this happen ,,all the best to you and your family over the holidays..

[Getbent]

That is awesome...thanks for the year of posts and congrats to you and your daughter