Introduction

[Snowcap]

I thought I'd finally introduce myself as I've been quitely reading in the background for 4 years now. This coming season will be my fifth year rifle hunting and 3rd year with a bow. Hunting as become more then a hobby, but an addiction and a passion. I'm in the bush every weekend, during hunting season or not. I scout year round putting hundreds of kilometres on my boots, trying to learn as much about my local mountains as possible.

Now for the joke..

Two men went bear hunting. While one stayed in
the
cabin, the other went out looking for a bear. He soon found a
huge bear,
shot at it but only wounded it.

The enraged bear
charged toward him, he dropped his rifle and started
running for the
cabin as fast as he could. He ran pretty fast but the
bear was just
a little faster and gained on him with every step. Just as
he
reached the open cabin door, he tripped and fell flat.

Too close
behind to stop, the bear tripped over him and went rolling
into the
cabin.

The man jumped up, closed the cabin door and yelled to his
friend
inside, "You skin this one while I go and get another!"

[caddisguy]

Welcome Snowcap and thanks for the joke... had me a good chuckle.

What kind of game have you been chasing in these 5 years rifle hunting and 3 years bow hunting and how have you been making out? Tell us a hunting story, successful or not... if that isn't too demanding :)

[albravo2]

Welcome to the fray! Some great folks on here and a lot of experience and skill shared on these pages.

Glad you came out of the shadows.

[HarryToolips]

Welcome!.......

[Snowcap]

Thanks for the welcomes! my first year I was being mentored by some family friends that Like to stick to the roads and after a season of hardly seeing anything and very long hours of driving cut blocks I decided it was time to strap on my boots and start pushing bush. I hunt solo 95% of the time and have been teaching my self since I started.

I was able to harvest my first big game animal my second season, a 2x2 mulie. I have harvested my two deer every year since then, last year being my personal best with my first successful big game bow hunt, and my first black bear. The last two years I have been hunting elk extremely hard with no luck, but a couple close encounters with some legal bulls has got me hooked. I have pretty much every big game animal within an hours drive so I usually hunt the open seasons accordingly. As for a story I guess I can share my first big game animal with my bow.


September 1st 5:00am

the alarm goes off and I make the mistake of shutting it off and laying back down and telling myself 10 more minutes. What feels like 30 seconds later I wake up in a panic, looking over at the alarm it's 6am and the sun is rising fast. Luckily I had my gear waiting at the door for me ready to go from the night before, I hop in the truck and head up the hill. Making good time I hit dirt by 6:30am, I hadn't shot my bow for a month or two so I pulled over to let a couple arrows fly just wanting to make sure I was still shooting straight. Everything checked out okay and I was on my way after a few minutes, it was a very wet and foggy morning and I had a feeling the hunting was going to be good

Not even 2 km on dirt I had a small group of mule deer cross the road in front of me, all does. Round the next corner and there's another group of mulies standing 15ft in the trees staring at me, all does. This is good, the cold weather has got the deer moving. A couple kilometres of logging roads later I spot some white bums up ahead, about 200 yards down the road. cool a heard of elk! I pull over and watch them for a bit as they make there way across the road and Into the ditch on the other side. Once they crossed the road and I confirmed they were all cows I continued on my drive, suddenly a bull comes up from the ditch and crosses the road. I could tell he relatvly small maybe 3x4 but defiantly had some mass. As I start getting closer the elk start looking a lot like mule deer, it wasn't until 75 yards or so that I realized they were in fact mule deer and all of them were very large bodied, so that small bull I was watching was actually a big mulie buck.

. I had lost sight of him now and could only see 4 does on the road. I pulled over at 75yards and was able to creep out of the truck unnoticed. I hugged the tree line and figured out a game plan. I started heading into the trees in a straight line 90* degrees from the road, not closing distance on the deer but gaining elevation to create an ambush. Once I felt I was deep enough in the trees, I started slowly walking towards them. Step... Listen.. Another step... Listen. After what felt like an hour of sneaking up where I had expected the deer to be I See movement about 40 yards directly in front of me, the trees are so thick all I was able to catch a glimpse of was her hoof, that's it just a shiny hoof. I instantly froze, after listening for a few moment I figured the deer where unaware of my presence and where making there way in my direction, perfect. I dropped to my stomach, now cold and soaking wet from the damp grass I was able to get a better view. I counted two does and two un-identified bodies. I crawled over to a small stump that I was able to kneel behind, giving me a better shooting position but only about 6 yards of shooting lane. I sat there waiting patiently listening to the deer getting closer and closer, I caught the glimpse of an ear twitching right in front of me, only about 8-9 yards, I wasn't then until is started focusing on the area that I started making out some other parts of deer. Now with the whole group working 10yards of me I know the buck has to be close, I turning my head slowly scanning the surrounding area and that's when I locked eyes with a doe standing to my left at 6 yards. damn, I knew I was busted. We had a starring competition for what felt like 5 minutes, she suddenly bolted. The other deer seemed very confused at first but eventually followed her farther into the bush. I sat still and listened to them trot away, hoping that maybe, just maybe the buck would cross my path. Eventually I got up and made the walk of shame back to the truck.

Pulling up to the spot I had be scouted all summer that I knew held a nice buck, I'm seeing fresh tracks in the muddy road. Perfect. Not even 5 mintues into my hike I spot a two mulie bucks 80ish yards away. Game on. I drop to my hands and knees and start the very slow painful process of closing the distance, I crawled into a small valley and the Bucks disappeared over the knoll, I slowed my pace as a started to crest the ridge coming out of the valley. I popped out a little closer to them then I expected, they were both feeding and totally unaware of my presence. I was able to get a good look at both of them, one being a perfect 2x2 with a nice dark brown coat. The other one was a 3x3 with some small nubs and some character. I guessed them to be at 50 yards, My max limit I feel comfortable shooting at. With limited cover in front of my I was unable to close the distance any further, and with the deer slowly grazing away from me I was forced to act fast. I waited tell they both had there heads down and pulled back, The 3x3 had moved into a poor angle that would have resulted in bad arrow placement so I decided to take the 2x2. I set my 50 yard pin right behind his front shoulder. I don't think I have ever felt an adrenaline rush like I did in that moment. It was actually happening, I was actually about to take my first deer with a bow. I had to sit back down, I was shaking so much I couldn't hold the pin steady. I had to take a breather and tell my self to calm down. When I stood back up the deer luckily hadn't moved, this time I was ready. I pulled back again, set my pin behind his shoulder and waited for him to take a step forward to open up the vitals. He stepped forward and I released, the arrow flew through the air and hit the dirt right behind his back. I instantly dropped to the ground. There's no way I just missed, the shot felt good, I was steady, I was confident in my shot. I peaked back over the crest and both bucks were alerted and confused, luckily both looking the opposite direction of me. I grabbed another arrow and this time, I did what I should have done at first and reached into my pack and grabbed that really expensive range finder I bought for a reason. I peaked over and hit them at 44 yards. Knocked another arrow and stood back up, aimed and let one fly. He jump and bucked his back legs. I watched him run with a river of blood following him, not even 15 yards and he dropped in his tracks! Buck down! I couldn't believe it! I was so excited that i had just dropped my first deer with a bow! I left him to sit for a couple minutes while I jumped around all excited. I still couldn't believe it as I walked up to him

All in all after waking up late, I had seen 15 deer, three being legal bucks, making two stalks on two different groups, I had a deer down by 730am, gutted and skinned hanging in my garage by 10am. Pretty successful opening day and probably the most exciting moment yet. It's a day I'll never forget.

[boilerroom]

Fantastic and a big congrats! I'm betting you have thought back on that moment a hundred times and re-lived that excitement a few moments after you saw him drop.

Cheers,
BR

[Goose]

Great job, and great story, congrats!

[srupp]

Welcome..great obligatory first post joke.
Well written encounter story..
The site is what you make it...certainly the ecperience is here...
Cheers
Steven

[caddisguy]

Thanks for putting that write-up together Snowcap. Very descriptive to my minds eye and a great feeling for a Monday morning. Excellent job on your first successful bow hunt and thanks again for taking us there.

[wideopenthrottle]

nice job and thanks for the story

[two-feet]

Greetings! Nice story.....