Mountain Hunter
09-27-2013, 12:07 PM
After reading the thread on successful hunt posts I thought I would share this story about a friend who harvested his first mule deer buck last week.
We backpacked a few kms in to a remote valley and setup camp, unfortunately it started raining by 3 am and did not stop til 4 pm the next day. So, we picked a good vantage spot below the snow line, drank coffee and watched the slides. In the photo below (left slide) we did see a spike buck and a larger bodied buck (didn't get a look at the antlers) get up midday and head into the timber, I guess they didn't like the non-stop rain either.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/01slides_600x800_.jpg
When the rain stopped we headed up to the back of the basin. It started clearing but was cold and wet.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/02upperslopes.jpg
The sun came out in the late afternoon and we could start glassing the alpine basins.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/03pass_800x600_.jpg
In the evening we spotted three deer high up on a ridge, they were a small 2 point, a small 3x4 and a decent 4 point. As darkness descended we spotted a dark grizzly above camp heading down towards our tents so we left early to make sure it didn't get into camp. We had food hanging in tree but didn't want to get in to camp at dark and stumble into a curious bear. When we got back to camp there was no sign of the bear and had an OK sleep.
We got up early the next morning and headed back up to the ridge where we left the bucks feeding the previous night. Sure enough, the largest buck was only 75 meters away from where we left him the night before. We watched him feed across the slope by himself until he bedded down around 9 am. No signof the other two smaller bucks but we kept our eyes peeled for them in case they busted us on the stalk.
We headed up a gully to the north of him, and as the sun warmed up the slope causing upslope winds we worked our way across and down towards his bedded location, it took us little more than an hour to get up there but as we creeped across to his bed he was nowhere to be found? We headed further south and looked into the next basin but nothing, so we slowly headed back down to near his last known location and wandered down a bit in the open timber. It was looking hopeless when I glanced over and saw my buddy raise his rifle, and 'bang'. The buck was feeding through the openings when he walked out across below him. It was around a 80-90 yard shot and the buck went down instantly. Then the hard work of deboning out the deer and packing him off the mountain took the rest of the morning. After an afternoon rest we packed up and headed down the trail to make the truck by dark, good thing for the few beers we left in the creek!
My buddies first ever mule deer buck!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/04deer_text_800x600_.jpg
The pic below shows our approach (black line) and where we shot from (end of the arrow) down into the opening below where the buck was feeding.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/05_slopes_800x520_.jpg
We backpacked a few kms in to a remote valley and setup camp, unfortunately it started raining by 3 am and did not stop til 4 pm the next day. So, we picked a good vantage spot below the snow line, drank coffee and watched the slides. In the photo below (left slide) we did see a spike buck and a larger bodied buck (didn't get a look at the antlers) get up midday and head into the timber, I guess they didn't like the non-stop rain either.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/01slides_600x800_.jpg
When the rain stopped we headed up to the back of the basin. It started clearing but was cold and wet.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/02upperslopes.jpg
The sun came out in the late afternoon and we could start glassing the alpine basins.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/03pass_800x600_.jpg
In the evening we spotted three deer high up on a ridge, they were a small 2 point, a small 3x4 and a decent 4 point. As darkness descended we spotted a dark grizzly above camp heading down towards our tents so we left early to make sure it didn't get into camp. We had food hanging in tree but didn't want to get in to camp at dark and stumble into a curious bear. When we got back to camp there was no sign of the bear and had an OK sleep.
We got up early the next morning and headed back up to the ridge where we left the bucks feeding the previous night. Sure enough, the largest buck was only 75 meters away from where we left him the night before. We watched him feed across the slope by himself until he bedded down around 9 am. No signof the other two smaller bucks but we kept our eyes peeled for them in case they busted us on the stalk.
We headed up a gully to the north of him, and as the sun warmed up the slope causing upslope winds we worked our way across and down towards his bedded location, it took us little more than an hour to get up there but as we creeped across to his bed he was nowhere to be found? We headed further south and looked into the next basin but nothing, so we slowly headed back down to near his last known location and wandered down a bit in the open timber. It was looking hopeless when I glanced over and saw my buddy raise his rifle, and 'bang'. The buck was feeding through the openings when he walked out across below him. It was around a 80-90 yard shot and the buck went down instantly. Then the hard work of deboning out the deer and packing him off the mountain took the rest of the morning. After an afternoon rest we packed up and headed down the trail to make the truck by dark, good thing for the few beers we left in the creek!
My buddies first ever mule deer buck!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/04deer_text_800x600_.jpg
The pic below shows our approach (black line) and where we shot from (end of the arrow) down into the opening below where the buck was feeding.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/05_slopes_800x520_.jpg