willyqbc
10-01-2006, 05:49 PM
Well we headed out from town this morning with our sights set on a first buck or first bear for Sammy99 (my wife). It was me, my little guy and Sammy and we were all looking for a nice walk somewhere. We checked a couple areas at first light but it was so dry and void of sign that nowhere really looked promising so I decided to head down a little road that lead to some nice benched areas. Well we didn't get to the end of the road where i wanted to park when a Sam says "THERES ONE"....I immediately start scanning the treeline about 200 yards out to find the deer she's seen but don't see anything...."where" I say..."right there...but its only a doe". As she points I look directly in front of the truck and HOLY CRAP ITS RIGHT THERE 50 yards away! ( I hate it when that happens):lol: and I quickly tell her "GET OUT IT'S A BUCK!!!" As she gets out and gets loaded he moves off the back side of a ridge that rings the block but instead of going straight away he starts going around the block allowing me follow his movements and get us into position for a shot. I get to a spot where i think she'll have a shot and tell her to lay prone on the road. She gets down and sets up for the shot and out he comes...I tell her to "take him if you got him".....BOOM!! The deer humps up and starts to reel backwards behind the slash pile he's just come from and out of site. We go for a quick look bejhind the slash pile and when he's not lying there we just head to the truck for a coffee to give him time to expire. Cup of coffee done we headto the point of the hit and find good blood immediately, as we begin to follow the trail the good blood continues...dark rich blood, some with tiny bubbles in it....good sign I think to myself! About 50 yards down the block we see a deer bounding to the treeline, there originally was a doe with him so we assume its her as the deer was moving very well for a deer that we assumed had been hit hard. After 150 yds and nearing the treeline I begin to get a little concerned, he's still bleeding good and i figure he should be down by now. Right at the tree line I find a tiny amount of gut material in a spot of blood.....UH OH!!! Time to get out! We pull up stakes and head to town to leave him time to stiffen up. We give Swamper a call back in town to bring in a couple more sets of eyes for the recovery. By the time we get back out its about 3 hours after the shot. After followibng the blood for a couple hundred yards into the timber we find a spot where he had stumbled and gone down, then 15 yards farther on a spot where he had bedded down. Now not finding him in his bed after leaving him for 3 hours I'm getting concerned...add to that the fact that the blood dries up after the bed and I'm getting REALLY concerned. So with four bodies searching we sfan out in all four directions from the last blood....about 30 minutes later I hear swampers girlfriend yelling that she's found him but he's still alive (she has no rifle). We all got hell bent to her location and the buck is laying there, still alive but so weak he was unable to even lift his head. Sammy put one in his coconut and it was all over!! All in all a good lesson in tracking and perserverance learned by both Sammy and my little guy! A big thanks to Swamper and Cathy for pitching in and helping us come up with a happy ending!!
Heres a picture and the video will be up in the video section soon!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/sams_deer_2.jpg
Chris
Heres a picture and the video will be up in the video section soon!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/sams_deer_2.jpg
Chris