sdurango41
10-14-2014, 04:24 PM
Once again we took off from the island for our much anticipated mule deer hunt in 5-13. No moose tags drawn this year for the whole group.
We hunted in one of our usual haunts on the first morning and not even 20 minutes into the hunt I catch movement at the treeline of the slash I have had success in before. Throw the binos up and see bone right away. Nice tall fork and he doesn't even know I am there. So I drop down and work my way over to a pile of pine trees. I pop my head back up to see where he is and he is looking right at me from about 175 yards. I am thinking how did he hear me let alone see any movement??? I scan the area all around him in the event he has a buddy or two lurking around that are bigger. I don't see any other deer and now it is decision time. We are in day one (minute 20) of a week long hunt. It is forecast to be warm to hot all week and I took a nice 4 point out of this area last year. I opt not to drop it and instead decide to grab the video camera and catch him on camera. I get the camera out and begin to video him when I hear a loud crack off to my right and behind me. I turn and low and behold there is another buck trotting across the slash more or less in my direction. Camera down and gun up I am ready. I take a look at him in the scope and see that he is a nice 3X3 but not a big one. Once again the thought process of warm weather and day one enter my mind. Once again I drop the gun and grab the video camera. I make a couple of calls on my deer stopper and he stops in his tracks and poses for the camera. Had it been day four or five that would have cost him but I let him walk. After meeting back up with my hunting partner it turns out he had seen the 3 point just before me and he spooked in my direction. We continue to hunt the rest of the day and end up seeing about 17 deer by days end. A pretty good day for day one.
We continue to hunt over the next few days with numerous deer sightings and several buck sightings but not the 4 point that I was hoping to take. On day 3 my dad took a nice big fork to ensure that there was blood on the ground and meat in camp.
We had checked out several other areas throughout the week and on day 5 for the afternoon hunt we decided to go hunt a spot that we chased several bucks around last year. It was a 3 year old slash that had been pushed into a timbered area surrounded by grasslands. Having hunted it last year I decided to go around the timbered area and enter the slash from above. No use in walking into the slash from the bottom for all to see and smell. I dropped into the slash from the top as planned and as quietly as I could. I moved into a spot that I thought would give me a great vantage point only to find that if anything walked out near the bottom I would be hard pressed to get a shot off. So I decided to sneak a little further over towards to middle and then drop down into the slash about 50 yards. I arrived at my spot and got set up for the late afternoon sit. I could see the bottom of the slash and in some places 30 or 40 yards into the timber. The one problem was that the fireweed that had been sparsely spread throughout the timber was now covering the entire area and was close to shoulder height. Not much I could do about it now. I continued to glass the entire area waiting for the sun to sink in the sky and the deer to begin to move. I just finished glassing the bottom of the slash when I caught a movement off to my left. I threw up the binos and immediately see a set of antlers and a deer face heading towards the slash. Right in from off those antlers and face was another massive set of antlers cruising through the tops of the fireweed. I knew right away that both of these bucks were respectable and definitely shooters. I moved a couple of feet to my left to get a rest and to wait for them to move into the slash. I waited ... and then I waited some more and no deer???? Now my mind is racing...did I make some noise getting into position??? No I was quit as a field mouse... did they decide to stop just back from the edge of the tree line and wait for darkness.... What should I do. Should I make a move or should I wait them out??? No sooner had all of these things run through my mind they stepped out of the fireweed and into view. Two nice four points. One..... much bigger then the other. That is the one I want. I wait for the shot to present itself but both deer had stepped behind some more fireweed and pine trees. Damn!!! Come on step out!!! Then I notice that there is a slight breeze and it is blowing partially in there direction. Damn!!! It is now decided that whichever buck steps out is going down. Out steps the smaller of the two and bang off goes the 30-06. I see him jump from the impact and I know I have a good hit. Little did I know that both deer were going to run full tilt right at me. Wow is all I can say when I see the bigger of the two bolting my direction. He is a monster with great big wide bases. I move from him to the buck that was shot and he runs about 60 yards and goes down. I rush over to ensure the job is done and drop one more into him to finish him off. Once that is done I continue to watch his big brother run across the slash and into the timber. My hunting partner arrives a few minutes later and the work begins. I am really happy with my deer but would have loved to have dropped the bigger one. I can't begin to wonder if I had waited a little bit longer would the big guy have stepped out for a shot? Next year we will be in the same spot and hopefully he is still around.
It was a great trip with four deer taken for the group and many, many encounters everyday. A couple of great bear encounters as well.
looking forward to the next trip into the woods. That trip will be with my 11 year old son.https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pNGZBRaHyqo/VD1cd2gxDBI/AAAAAAAAEfc/O0l5AFf8lUM/w632-h843-no/P1400297.JPG
We hunted in one of our usual haunts on the first morning and not even 20 minutes into the hunt I catch movement at the treeline of the slash I have had success in before. Throw the binos up and see bone right away. Nice tall fork and he doesn't even know I am there. So I drop down and work my way over to a pile of pine trees. I pop my head back up to see where he is and he is looking right at me from about 175 yards. I am thinking how did he hear me let alone see any movement??? I scan the area all around him in the event he has a buddy or two lurking around that are bigger. I don't see any other deer and now it is decision time. We are in day one (minute 20) of a week long hunt. It is forecast to be warm to hot all week and I took a nice 4 point out of this area last year. I opt not to drop it and instead decide to grab the video camera and catch him on camera. I get the camera out and begin to video him when I hear a loud crack off to my right and behind me. I turn and low and behold there is another buck trotting across the slash more or less in my direction. Camera down and gun up I am ready. I take a look at him in the scope and see that he is a nice 3X3 but not a big one. Once again the thought process of warm weather and day one enter my mind. Once again I drop the gun and grab the video camera. I make a couple of calls on my deer stopper and he stops in his tracks and poses for the camera. Had it been day four or five that would have cost him but I let him walk. After meeting back up with my hunting partner it turns out he had seen the 3 point just before me and he spooked in my direction. We continue to hunt the rest of the day and end up seeing about 17 deer by days end. A pretty good day for day one.
We continue to hunt over the next few days with numerous deer sightings and several buck sightings but not the 4 point that I was hoping to take. On day 3 my dad took a nice big fork to ensure that there was blood on the ground and meat in camp.
We had checked out several other areas throughout the week and on day 5 for the afternoon hunt we decided to go hunt a spot that we chased several bucks around last year. It was a 3 year old slash that had been pushed into a timbered area surrounded by grasslands. Having hunted it last year I decided to go around the timbered area and enter the slash from above. No use in walking into the slash from the bottom for all to see and smell. I dropped into the slash from the top as planned and as quietly as I could. I moved into a spot that I thought would give me a great vantage point only to find that if anything walked out near the bottom I would be hard pressed to get a shot off. So I decided to sneak a little further over towards to middle and then drop down into the slash about 50 yards. I arrived at my spot and got set up for the late afternoon sit. I could see the bottom of the slash and in some places 30 or 40 yards into the timber. The one problem was that the fireweed that had been sparsely spread throughout the timber was now covering the entire area and was close to shoulder height. Not much I could do about it now. I continued to glass the entire area waiting for the sun to sink in the sky and the deer to begin to move. I just finished glassing the bottom of the slash when I caught a movement off to my left. I threw up the binos and immediately see a set of antlers and a deer face heading towards the slash. Right in from off those antlers and face was another massive set of antlers cruising through the tops of the fireweed. I knew right away that both of these bucks were respectable and definitely shooters. I moved a couple of feet to my left to get a rest and to wait for them to move into the slash. I waited ... and then I waited some more and no deer???? Now my mind is racing...did I make some noise getting into position??? No I was quit as a field mouse... did they decide to stop just back from the edge of the tree line and wait for darkness.... What should I do. Should I make a move or should I wait them out??? No sooner had all of these things run through my mind they stepped out of the fireweed and into view. Two nice four points. One..... much bigger then the other. That is the one I want. I wait for the shot to present itself but both deer had stepped behind some more fireweed and pine trees. Damn!!! Come on step out!!! Then I notice that there is a slight breeze and it is blowing partially in there direction. Damn!!! It is now decided that whichever buck steps out is going down. Out steps the smaller of the two and bang off goes the 30-06. I see him jump from the impact and I know I have a good hit. Little did I know that both deer were going to run full tilt right at me. Wow is all I can say when I see the bigger of the two bolting my direction. He is a monster with great big wide bases. I move from him to the buck that was shot and he runs about 60 yards and goes down. I rush over to ensure the job is done and drop one more into him to finish him off. Once that is done I continue to watch his big brother run across the slash and into the timber. My hunting partner arrives a few minutes later and the work begins. I am really happy with my deer but would have loved to have dropped the bigger one. I can't begin to wonder if I had waited a little bit longer would the big guy have stepped out for a shot? Next year we will be in the same spot and hopefully he is still around.
It was a great trip with four deer taken for the group and many, many encounters everyday. A couple of great bear encounters as well.
looking forward to the next trip into the woods. That trip will be with my 11 year old son.https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pNGZBRaHyqo/VD1cd2gxDBI/AAAAAAAAEfc/O0l5AFf8lUM/w632-h843-no/P1400297.JPG