dave_83golf
12-08-2011, 10:57 PM
Well, as December 7th came to a close, I came to the realization that my 2011 hunting season had all but come to an end. Its 9:30pm and I had just arrived to my hunting partners truck. Kinda late to be arriving I know. But 6 and a half hours previous, I had finally found an animal that I wanted to pull the trigger on.
My season was relatively erratic. Early season brought slow deer hunting in our usual spots, and the Rut of October/November brought some promise. I passed up around a dozen 4 points by the time mid November hit. I hoped that trend would continue as I had about 15 days I could hunt between mid November and December 10th.
After a successful Rosie hunt (Boone and Crockett October 2nd) and a nice 5x4 whitetail in November, I wasn't in any desperate need of the Mule deer meat, but I always find a place for it.
Anywho, back to the deer hunt. Here in the Kamloops area, as I am sure many of you know, the weather did not really cooperate in the final 2 weeks of the season. The snow, what was left of it, was hard and crunchy, Any form of stalking was nearly impossible, and to be quite frank, the presence of legal bucks seemed to be nearly non existent...But they were there... We had evidence of them on trail cams, and a quick glance here and there. After two weeks of terribly frustrating time in the bush, I set out for what would be my final full day hunt of the year... A sad but rewarding day, regardless of the outcome, as my season was full of great memories with amazing friends, and lots of time for self reflection amongst the trees...
We set out at 6:30 for a spot that our trail cams showed a couple of different 4 points making a few appearances here and there.. I saw my first buck in 3 days of hunting, a 3 inch spike, that only increased my frustration. At around 11am, my hunting partner (ShowtimeBC) and I decided to change things up... We headed for an area, neither of us thought would be successful, but given the erratic nature of the season, we figured we would at least road hunt to the spot, and worst case, come back to where we were....
We arrived to our destination about 30 minutes later, and exited the truck. As we flung our packs over our backs, and got ourselves organized we spotted a doe 7-800 yards away. We decided that we would stay here for the afternoon and try our luck, Hell, we knew the area like the back of our hands... Why not give it a go...
After about an 45 minutes of hiking across a cut block, slowly and methodically checking the areas I know hold deer, I made my way into the heavy timber. I spotted 1 good buck, that I still don't know for sure if he was a 4. I believe he had a small legal 4th point, but I couldn't confirm it, and given the way the previous 2 weeks had gone, its likely that if I could have confirmed it, then he would be hanging in the shed....
10-12 small bucks and does later, we head back for the truck taking two separate routes. I made it back to the truck first, and removed my gear, and glanced up at the hillside that we had previously seen the doe. I scan with my eye, and see something that looks like it could be another deer. Bino's up; sure enough, its a doe. I glass slowly and hear ST approaching from behind me. I turn and say "there's another doe on that ridge line" ST and I, longtime friends and hunting partners, stand side by side, binos stuck on this lone doe. Almost in pure synchronization we say something to the affect of "THERE'S A SHOOTER" As this massive body steps out from the trees. After some frantic fumbling and excitement at the pure size of this deer, we devise a plan. By the time we make our way down through the draw, some 800 yards from the truck we find ourselves in the general area of where this Mule stood. Its approaching 2:30, a little less than 2 hours of shooting light remain, and a steep ravine, that would be totally impassable with a deer dragging behind us. We come to the conclusion that if we do manage to track this guy down, then we are gonna be here til the wee hours getting him out. Neither of us cared. It was about the thrill of the chase at this point...
ST is going to circle around the backside of the treeline and I am going to stay up top and glass the surrounding areas to see if I can pick out any movement. Just as ST strolls away I said, "40 minutes or so?" He nodded, "see ya then"
Not 10 minutes later some noise from ST's direction gets my attention and a doe comes absolutely flying from the trees. I jump into position fairly certain I knew what was going to happen next. Barreling from the treeline comes this mass. I don't even have a chance to get my cross hairs on him, let alone remove my safety, and he cuts hard right into a low lying area, and at this point everything slows down.... kinda..... I jump from my rest and drop everything but my gun. I find myself sprinting across the middle of the cutblock in an effort to cut him off. "He's F$&^ing gone" I think to myself. Breathing heavily and trying to contain myself I get to the ridge line. No sign of him, or the doe. Then, as the slow motion really starts to kick in, he and the doe pop their heads up at about 25 yards to my left. They turn away from my and move another 15 yards or so. I'm trying to control my breathing, and he turns just enough for me to take a shot off the shoulder into his boiler room. The doe makes her way up the hillside, and I wait with baited breath in anticipation of the bucks next move. I try to put myself into a position where I can shoot again, regardless of the direction he goes. At this point, all I can see is his head. Hes looking left and right.... I know I've struck him with a kill shot just by the way he was acting. He moves about 20 feet to the left and falls to the snow covered forest floor. I let out a yell of excitement and relief. 5 minutes later, I was absolutely elated, but still trying to catch my breath. ST appears over the hill... He had the buck in his sights at the bottom of the hill as well, he just couldn't get a clear shot through the trees.
After taking a few pictures and getting the dirty work out of the way, we halved him, and started the long, journey out of the trees. 6 and a half hours later, finding ourselves back at the truck, without an ounce of extra energy to spare.
As always, I've gotta thank Showtime BC, for his help... I feel like this is more our buck, than it is mine. As when it boils right down to it, he did just as much, if not more work than I did...
So, Thanks Buddy!
Sorry for the long winded story.
Hope everyone had a memorable 2011, and all the best in 2012...
Happy Holidays!
Dave
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My season was relatively erratic. Early season brought slow deer hunting in our usual spots, and the Rut of October/November brought some promise. I passed up around a dozen 4 points by the time mid November hit. I hoped that trend would continue as I had about 15 days I could hunt between mid November and December 10th.
After a successful Rosie hunt (Boone and Crockett October 2nd) and a nice 5x4 whitetail in November, I wasn't in any desperate need of the Mule deer meat, but I always find a place for it.
Anywho, back to the deer hunt. Here in the Kamloops area, as I am sure many of you know, the weather did not really cooperate in the final 2 weeks of the season. The snow, what was left of it, was hard and crunchy, Any form of stalking was nearly impossible, and to be quite frank, the presence of legal bucks seemed to be nearly non existent...But they were there... We had evidence of them on trail cams, and a quick glance here and there. After two weeks of terribly frustrating time in the bush, I set out for what would be my final full day hunt of the year... A sad but rewarding day, regardless of the outcome, as my season was full of great memories with amazing friends, and lots of time for self reflection amongst the trees...
We set out at 6:30 for a spot that our trail cams showed a couple of different 4 points making a few appearances here and there.. I saw my first buck in 3 days of hunting, a 3 inch spike, that only increased my frustration. At around 11am, my hunting partner (ShowtimeBC) and I decided to change things up... We headed for an area, neither of us thought would be successful, but given the erratic nature of the season, we figured we would at least road hunt to the spot, and worst case, come back to where we were....
We arrived to our destination about 30 minutes later, and exited the truck. As we flung our packs over our backs, and got ourselves organized we spotted a doe 7-800 yards away. We decided that we would stay here for the afternoon and try our luck, Hell, we knew the area like the back of our hands... Why not give it a go...
After about an 45 minutes of hiking across a cut block, slowly and methodically checking the areas I know hold deer, I made my way into the heavy timber. I spotted 1 good buck, that I still don't know for sure if he was a 4. I believe he had a small legal 4th point, but I couldn't confirm it, and given the way the previous 2 weeks had gone, its likely that if I could have confirmed it, then he would be hanging in the shed....
10-12 small bucks and does later, we head back for the truck taking two separate routes. I made it back to the truck first, and removed my gear, and glanced up at the hillside that we had previously seen the doe. I scan with my eye, and see something that looks like it could be another deer. Bino's up; sure enough, its a doe. I glass slowly and hear ST approaching from behind me. I turn and say "there's another doe on that ridge line" ST and I, longtime friends and hunting partners, stand side by side, binos stuck on this lone doe. Almost in pure synchronization we say something to the affect of "THERE'S A SHOOTER" As this massive body steps out from the trees. After some frantic fumbling and excitement at the pure size of this deer, we devise a plan. By the time we make our way down through the draw, some 800 yards from the truck we find ourselves in the general area of where this Mule stood. Its approaching 2:30, a little less than 2 hours of shooting light remain, and a steep ravine, that would be totally impassable with a deer dragging behind us. We come to the conclusion that if we do manage to track this guy down, then we are gonna be here til the wee hours getting him out. Neither of us cared. It was about the thrill of the chase at this point...
ST is going to circle around the backside of the treeline and I am going to stay up top and glass the surrounding areas to see if I can pick out any movement. Just as ST strolls away I said, "40 minutes or so?" He nodded, "see ya then"
Not 10 minutes later some noise from ST's direction gets my attention and a doe comes absolutely flying from the trees. I jump into position fairly certain I knew what was going to happen next. Barreling from the treeline comes this mass. I don't even have a chance to get my cross hairs on him, let alone remove my safety, and he cuts hard right into a low lying area, and at this point everything slows down.... kinda..... I jump from my rest and drop everything but my gun. I find myself sprinting across the middle of the cutblock in an effort to cut him off. "He's F$&^ing gone" I think to myself. Breathing heavily and trying to contain myself I get to the ridge line. No sign of him, or the doe. Then, as the slow motion really starts to kick in, he and the doe pop their heads up at about 25 yards to my left. They turn away from my and move another 15 yards or so. I'm trying to control my breathing, and he turns just enough for me to take a shot off the shoulder into his boiler room. The doe makes her way up the hillside, and I wait with baited breath in anticipation of the bucks next move. I try to put myself into a position where I can shoot again, regardless of the direction he goes. At this point, all I can see is his head. Hes looking left and right.... I know I've struck him with a kill shot just by the way he was acting. He moves about 20 feet to the left and falls to the snow covered forest floor. I let out a yell of excitement and relief. 5 minutes later, I was absolutely elated, but still trying to catch my breath. ST appears over the hill... He had the buck in his sights at the bottom of the hill as well, he just couldn't get a clear shot through the trees.
After taking a few pictures and getting the dirty work out of the way, we halved him, and started the long, journey out of the trees. 6 and a half hours later, finding ourselves back at the truck, without an ounce of extra energy to spare.
As always, I've gotta thank Showtime BC, for his help... I feel like this is more our buck, than it is mine. As when it boils right down to it, he did just as much, if not more work than I did...
So, Thanks Buddy!
Sorry for the long winded story.
Hope everyone had a memorable 2011, and all the best in 2012...
Happy Holidays!
Dave
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