redthorn
11-18-2009, 10:25 PM
Well, after much time in the bush, I finally got mine for the year, and I doubt I'll do much better for a while. I chased Elk and moose with my brother and cousin for most of the early season, and have been tryng hard with the bow on Sumas lately for a deer. Decided that I'd try with the rifle again, and headed for the hills...
I took the day off on Tuesday and went up with a young guy who'd never been hunting. We met at 6:30 and headed out after having some breakfast. Got to the gravel road shortly after that, and stopped, prayed for success, and headed up. The plan was to do a few hikes and then teach Aaron to shoot targets in the afternoon. We were driving along a dozen or so km in, when we come around a corner and I see to does. I say "Deer" and he says "Sweet" but doesn't slow down, and so then I tell him to stop the truck. He does, and I bail out and watch the does bail over the bank and down into the swamp. I take a few steps forward, and this guy steps out into the middle of the road and walk of to the side. He pauses like how he always does in my dreams; Broadside.
All I can think about is the antlers, but I take the 80 yd shot. I can see the impact, and he crowhops and is down the bank and into the swamp as well. We hoot and dance around for a second or two, and then head up the road to see the blood. And the blood is there, along with some nice tracks and some of the lungs. I tell Aaron to pull his truck up and off the road, and I chamber another shell and head down the bank. The trail is well defined and short, and I come around a stump and unde the vine mples and see this.
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/redthornboards/PB170001.jpg
I am ecstatic, and I whip out the cell phone and call up my brother because he better get out here as the deera are rutting bad. And I told him as nicely as I could that I had a nice 4x4 Blacktail. He get's stoked and heads out from Chilliwack. Then I grab the antlers and lift the head out of th ferns and find he only hs 3 on the far side. Doh! I already made the call.
Aaron and I take a bunch more pics, and even though he has never hunted, he is pumped. So much for teaching him the traditional wy of hiking for the deer. But he swears he'll be hunting next year. Why wouldn't you if it looks that easy?
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/redthornboards/PB170007.jpg
We took him home late that night after hunting the rest of the day and only seeing 3 more deer, one spiker, one doe, and one too fast to check out. He was a brute for a valley deer. Must be mostly Blacktail(the rack, tail and rump, and area) but I suspect he has some muley genes too by the ear size.
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/redthornboards/PB170012.jpg
I took the day off on Tuesday and went up with a young guy who'd never been hunting. We met at 6:30 and headed out after having some breakfast. Got to the gravel road shortly after that, and stopped, prayed for success, and headed up. The plan was to do a few hikes and then teach Aaron to shoot targets in the afternoon. We were driving along a dozen or so km in, when we come around a corner and I see to does. I say "Deer" and he says "Sweet" but doesn't slow down, and so then I tell him to stop the truck. He does, and I bail out and watch the does bail over the bank and down into the swamp. I take a few steps forward, and this guy steps out into the middle of the road and walk of to the side. He pauses like how he always does in my dreams; Broadside.
All I can think about is the antlers, but I take the 80 yd shot. I can see the impact, and he crowhops and is down the bank and into the swamp as well. We hoot and dance around for a second or two, and then head up the road to see the blood. And the blood is there, along with some nice tracks and some of the lungs. I tell Aaron to pull his truck up and off the road, and I chamber another shell and head down the bank. The trail is well defined and short, and I come around a stump and unde the vine mples and see this.
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/redthornboards/PB170001.jpg
I am ecstatic, and I whip out the cell phone and call up my brother because he better get out here as the deera are rutting bad. And I told him as nicely as I could that I had a nice 4x4 Blacktail. He get's stoked and heads out from Chilliwack. Then I grab the antlers and lift the head out of th ferns and find he only hs 3 on the far side. Doh! I already made the call.
Aaron and I take a bunch more pics, and even though he has never hunted, he is pumped. So much for teaching him the traditional wy of hiking for the deer. But he swears he'll be hunting next year. Why wouldn't you if it looks that easy?
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/redthornboards/PB170007.jpg
We took him home late that night after hunting the rest of the day and only seeing 3 more deer, one spiker, one doe, and one too fast to check out. He was a brute for a valley deer. Must be mostly Blacktail(the rack, tail and rump, and area) but I suspect he has some muley genes too by the ear size.
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv278/redthornboards/PB170012.jpg