Nimrod
12-03-2016, 04:26 PM
Our 10th annual Nov deer camp was a blast again
This was Nov 19th the morning of day one, Buddy had been there for a few days and saw deer at the bottom of this block we used to hunt years ago. This old block has 10 to 15 foot replants and is very thick but it had recently been brushed so at least we should be able to walk through( we thought) but still couldn’t see far. We knew there were does feeding on the edge at the bottom and going into it for cover.
The plan was to drop me off on the upper FSR walk down through the bush to this block and work the upper left edge going down. Hunting partner was going to go back down the main then back in to the bottom of the block. When I got into the block I was surprised how difficult it was to walk through the brushed aspen and maple stems. In places it would be waist deep so I got out and up onto a cedar fir ridge that ran down beside the block. It was pretty open so I slowly still hunted down, lots of sign in there then came to a nice diagonal ridge that edged into the block. I walked along it until the block came into view, from here you could see down onto a bench I used to hunt years ago, liking the vantage I hung out for a while.
Then out to the right at about 120 meters in the middle of the block on a semi open ridge though the lattice of 15 foot larch I see him, walking slowly up hill. Bino’s up instantly see the mass and clearly ID 4 points. This was one of those scenes where everything goes into slow motion, from when I saw the deer to when he would be out of sight was about 10-12 seconds. When I knew it was a shooter was around 4 seconds, through the bino’s I saw a 2 foot branch free window he was walking up to but one step past and he would be gone in the thick stuff.
Had to take a standing shot to clear all the wood, being on the edge of a hill the only rest was a 10’ fir tree out in front of me, toes below my heels I had to lean out and thumb the trunk while resting the gun on my hand. Looking past I can see him approaching the window but the muzzle wasn't clear of the fir branches, right when I clear the muzzle just had enough time to aim steady ,he steps into the window and fire….. to the second, at the shot he drops out of sight...
I rip over there through the nasty gully and there he was, needed a finishing shot but wow walking up to him was quit a moment… like Lightning in a bottle. first shot was a Classic high shoulder shot, 270 140g Ballistic tip hit the upper shoulder blade, spine and opposite shoulder blade but didn’t exit. Texted my buddy who had heard the shots, took him a while to get up there, when he got there as any good buddy would do he flung a few choice superlatives my way.Took us a while to commit to the drag out which ended up being an epic, those waist deep bush piles were nasty, multiple wipe outs for both of us.
He was an older deer, cartilage was pretty thin and more yellow that white, but super healthy. We figure sometime in the fall he had a tussle with a cougar as he had scared up scabbed over parallel scratches around his neck and what looked like a bite mark on the back of the neck.
I'm always in awe handling a fully mature Mule deer buck...such a privilege.
This was Nov 19th the morning of day one, Buddy had been there for a few days and saw deer at the bottom of this block we used to hunt years ago. This old block has 10 to 15 foot replants and is very thick but it had recently been brushed so at least we should be able to walk through( we thought) but still couldn’t see far. We knew there were does feeding on the edge at the bottom and going into it for cover.
The plan was to drop me off on the upper FSR walk down through the bush to this block and work the upper left edge going down. Hunting partner was going to go back down the main then back in to the bottom of the block. When I got into the block I was surprised how difficult it was to walk through the brushed aspen and maple stems. In places it would be waist deep so I got out and up onto a cedar fir ridge that ran down beside the block. It was pretty open so I slowly still hunted down, lots of sign in there then came to a nice diagonal ridge that edged into the block. I walked along it until the block came into view, from here you could see down onto a bench I used to hunt years ago, liking the vantage I hung out for a while.
Then out to the right at about 120 meters in the middle of the block on a semi open ridge though the lattice of 15 foot larch I see him, walking slowly up hill. Bino’s up instantly see the mass and clearly ID 4 points. This was one of those scenes where everything goes into slow motion, from when I saw the deer to when he would be out of sight was about 10-12 seconds. When I knew it was a shooter was around 4 seconds, through the bino’s I saw a 2 foot branch free window he was walking up to but one step past and he would be gone in the thick stuff.
Had to take a standing shot to clear all the wood, being on the edge of a hill the only rest was a 10’ fir tree out in front of me, toes below my heels I had to lean out and thumb the trunk while resting the gun on my hand. Looking past I can see him approaching the window but the muzzle wasn't clear of the fir branches, right when I clear the muzzle just had enough time to aim steady ,he steps into the window and fire….. to the second, at the shot he drops out of sight...
I rip over there through the nasty gully and there he was, needed a finishing shot but wow walking up to him was quit a moment… like Lightning in a bottle. first shot was a Classic high shoulder shot, 270 140g Ballistic tip hit the upper shoulder blade, spine and opposite shoulder blade but didn’t exit. Texted my buddy who had heard the shots, took him a while to get up there, when he got there as any good buddy would do he flung a few choice superlatives my way.Took us a while to commit to the drag out which ended up being an epic, those waist deep bush piles were nasty, multiple wipe outs for both of us.
He was an older deer, cartilage was pretty thin and more yellow that white, but super healthy. We figure sometime in the fall he had a tussle with a cougar as he had scared up scabbed over parallel scratches around his neck and what looked like a bite mark on the back of the neck.
I'm always in awe handling a fully mature Mule deer buck...such a privilege.