MIL720
11-30-2010, 05:04 PM
November 22nd, first light I find myself out hiking up a ridge at -23c. Gotta keep movin to stay warm. The snow was fairly crunchy and I was jumping alot of deer, but not getting a look at many of them.
After about an hour and a half i decide it is too loud in this snow and start to head down. About half way down I hear what sounded like a grunt. I stand there and listen this over and over. This deer is having a hard time breathing.
I decide go and try to get a look at it and finally do catch up to it enough see that it is a decent 4x4 and he's not doin good. I try to slow stalk for about an hour, but he just stays ahead of me far enough to not allow me a shot through the timber.
enough of this, I'm gonna dog him hard till either he gives up or I give up. Well he went straight to the to of the mountain and to the bottom of a big rock face. It was here I finally saw blood in his tracks and knew he was injured. He went up over a little hill and down the other side..Thank god, he's going downhill again.
I start to climb the hill, look up, and there he is. Facing me at about 6 yards I put 1 in his neck and he goes down...finally after three and a half hours I caught up to him.
I went up to take a look at him and was surpised at what I saw. He ran himself to a dead end. 40 foot cliff on the other side..He had 2 choices, jump or come back at me...anyway, i took a look at him and found tha someone earlier the day had shot this guy in the back, just below the spine and just above the vitals...
Now dont get me wrong, this is a decent buck, but if he hadn't been injured, I would have let him walk. Wasn't what I was lookin for, but ethically i know I did the right thing by knocking him down and tagging him to end my season...
Pics to follow...
After about an hour and a half i decide it is too loud in this snow and start to head down. About half way down I hear what sounded like a grunt. I stand there and listen this over and over. This deer is having a hard time breathing.
I decide go and try to get a look at it and finally do catch up to it enough see that it is a decent 4x4 and he's not doin good. I try to slow stalk for about an hour, but he just stays ahead of me far enough to not allow me a shot through the timber.
enough of this, I'm gonna dog him hard till either he gives up or I give up. Well he went straight to the to of the mountain and to the bottom of a big rock face. It was here I finally saw blood in his tracks and knew he was injured. He went up over a little hill and down the other side..Thank god, he's going downhill again.
I start to climb the hill, look up, and there he is. Facing me at about 6 yards I put 1 in his neck and he goes down...finally after three and a half hours I caught up to him.
I went up to take a look at him and was surpised at what I saw. He ran himself to a dead end. 40 foot cliff on the other side..He had 2 choices, jump or come back at me...anyway, i took a look at him and found tha someone earlier the day had shot this guy in the back, just below the spine and just above the vitals...
Now dont get me wrong, this is a decent buck, but if he hadn't been injured, I would have let him walk. Wasn't what I was lookin for, but ethically i know I did the right thing by knocking him down and tagging him to end my season...
Pics to follow...