kennyj
11-15-2009, 12:32 PM
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_036.jpgLast week I took my youngest daughter Erika on her first hunt to the mainland.
She has had her hunting license for a few years now and she still isn’t sure if she wants to shoot a deer or not, but she loves to camp and hike and if the opportunity arose we would see what happened.
We headed to an area I haven’t hunted before, but have wanted to check out. We were after mule deer. We spent a day finding a nice place to camp, cutting firewood and deciding where we would go in the morning. We saw lots of wolf tracks in the snow on the road, and not many deer tracks. We figured there must be some deer around if there’s wolves here, so we planned to hunt our way up the mountain.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_107.jpg
The next morning, our first day hunting, we drove a little ways from camp and parked the truck. We walked slowly to the end of an old road that cut along the south facing side of the ridge we wanted to hunt. Then we started hiking up the hill.The area had been selective logged years ago on the lower part of the hill. There was lots of juniper and fir up higher, It was cold and the ground was frozen .As it got steeper I put Erika’s 30-30 on my pack so she could use her hands to climb. We got to the top and hadn’t seen much sign so we built a small fire to warm up and toast our sandwiches. It was awesome. I’m going to do that more often.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_046.jpg
We started slowly hunting our way along the ridge, still not seeing much sign. We came to a draw that cut over the ridge and started heading down. It was steep and gravely and a little noisy heading down. At the bottom of the slide there was a bunch of fresh tracks in the snow. I signaled Erika and pointed them out and she worked her way over. At this point I chambered a round and turned my scope down to 4 power.( I had left it on 9 since the range) Doh! If I hadn’t noticed it might have cost me a buck.
We stayed close together and started following the tracks (one big set and some small ones) and worked our way into the draw. The fir timber was fairly thick. Suddenly a doe appeared across the draw about 40-60 yards away. ’’Doe” I whispered and grabbed Erika’s arm and pulled her closer so she could see it. She crouched beside me.” Watch for a buck” I said, and the words were barely out of my mouth when a buck appeared. I threw up my gun and looked for an opening in the branches had a quick look and said “plug your ears”.
Boom!
The buck and doe took off down the hill. The whole thing took about 5 seconds max.
I couldn’t believe it. We headed over to where he was standing and found his tracks but no blood. The shot felt good but it was through some branches so I was worried my bullet might have deflected. We spread apart a little and I stayed on his tracks and started follow them down the hill. Still no blood on the snow. A little ways down I saw the doe bolt from my right below me. I got my gun up but the buck wasn’t following her. I whispered to Erika to swing over to the right and head down around some trees that were blocking our view.
“There he is” she said. That’s what I wanted to hear. We slowly approached the buck and made sure he was dead, then did a little dance and a little hugging. Not a monster but I was very happy with him. Nice mature buck, and awesome to have Erika there to share the excitement.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_033.jpg
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_112.jpg
She has had her hunting license for a few years now and she still isn’t sure if she wants to shoot a deer or not, but she loves to camp and hike and if the opportunity arose we would see what happened.
We headed to an area I haven’t hunted before, but have wanted to check out. We were after mule deer. We spent a day finding a nice place to camp, cutting firewood and deciding where we would go in the morning. We saw lots of wolf tracks in the snow on the road, and not many deer tracks. We figured there must be some deer around if there’s wolves here, so we planned to hunt our way up the mountain.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_107.jpg
The next morning, our first day hunting, we drove a little ways from camp and parked the truck. We walked slowly to the end of an old road that cut along the south facing side of the ridge we wanted to hunt. Then we started hiking up the hill.The area had been selective logged years ago on the lower part of the hill. There was lots of juniper and fir up higher, It was cold and the ground was frozen .As it got steeper I put Erika’s 30-30 on my pack so she could use her hands to climb. We got to the top and hadn’t seen much sign so we built a small fire to warm up and toast our sandwiches. It was awesome. I’m going to do that more often.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_046.jpg
We started slowly hunting our way along the ridge, still not seeing much sign. We came to a draw that cut over the ridge and started heading down. It was steep and gravely and a little noisy heading down. At the bottom of the slide there was a bunch of fresh tracks in the snow. I signaled Erika and pointed them out and she worked her way over. At this point I chambered a round and turned my scope down to 4 power.( I had left it on 9 since the range) Doh! If I hadn’t noticed it might have cost me a buck.
We stayed close together and started following the tracks (one big set and some small ones) and worked our way into the draw. The fir timber was fairly thick. Suddenly a doe appeared across the draw about 40-60 yards away. ’’Doe” I whispered and grabbed Erika’s arm and pulled her closer so she could see it. She crouched beside me.” Watch for a buck” I said, and the words were barely out of my mouth when a buck appeared. I threw up my gun and looked for an opening in the branches had a quick look and said “plug your ears”.
Boom!
The buck and doe took off down the hill. The whole thing took about 5 seconds max.
I couldn’t believe it. We headed over to where he was standing and found his tracks but no blood. The shot felt good but it was through some branches so I was worried my bullet might have deflected. We spread apart a little and I stayed on his tracks and started follow them down the hill. Still no blood on the snow. A little ways down I saw the doe bolt from my right below me. I got my gun up but the buck wasn’t following her. I whispered to Erika to swing over to the right and head down around some trees that were blocking our view.
“There he is” she said. That’s what I wanted to hear. We slowly approached the buck and made sure he was dead, then did a little dance and a little hugging. Not a monster but I was very happy with him. Nice mature buck, and awesome to have Erika there to share the excitement.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_033.jpg
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Deer_09_112.jpg