*Straight of of the hunting journal*
From Elk to Deer
September 12th, 2009
I was a bit burnt on being hosed by other hunters on just about everything we did for elk so I decided that I wanted to get the hell away from people. I figured I’d spend a day in Vail and see if I couldn’t shoot a deer. I was still going for two point or better.
When I had my stuff from camp packed I headed to my grandma’s and said goodbye to her. I also called **** ******* to see if they had taken the fire danger signs down and was relieved to hear that they had.
When I got to my dad’s house I got my bike and gear ready, including my pack board and game bag. I planned to just bone it out if I got one.
I also chose a route before I went to bed. I’d go in the **** gate and head up the ************. From there I’d go up the **** and go on the **** to the bear hole. Then I’d head up to the nursery, over to the buck hole, then back to the mainline and out.
I felt pretty good about my chances at a buck somewhere along that 20 mile all day trip. I set the alarm for 4:45 and went to sleep.
Buck Down!
September 13th, 2009
I got up, threw my gear in the truck and was out the door by 5:00. About 45 minutes later I was topping off the air in my tires and grabbing breakfast in Rainier.
After a drive from there I was pulling into the **** gate. I was elated to see that there were no other rigs there, but that elation quickly turned to rage when I saw that the employees had put up.
“Active Forest Operations – NO HUNTING”.
Unf***ingbelieveable. . . I skipped out on my last day of early season elk hunting, drive three hours, and this is what I get? Disgusted, I decided to try the gate at the ********* and just go up the ****. I drove over there and what do you know? Another sign! The last chance was the ********* **** gate., and thankfully there was no sign there. Not all was good though, it had been daylight for 20 minutes already and there was a truck there already.
I couldn’t let this stop me. I got my bike and gear and started the ride in. It wasn’t long before I got to the big hill on the mainline and saw the other hunters. They were on foot, and I stopped to talk with them. We BS’d all the way up the hill until I decided to hurry up and get up to the clearcuts before all the deer had fed in. Apparently these guys had hunted deer in there before, but they were out for elk today. I fed them a little bit of my knowledge but hardly anything. I also told them before I left that if they got something, I’d help them pack it out.
I started looking harder for deer when I hit the ******* **** entrance as always. Rather than going out to the flat, though I might see a few deer, I figured I’d head towards the ***** clearcut.
Before I got there though, on the second hill on the left, only about 75 yards from where I shot my spike last year, was a spike quartered away at 65 yards. Then, a doe scooted up the hill as the spike walked around the knob. I kept riding and before I got too far down the road, I stopped to look back at them. I was surprised to see three deer standing there, and the deer I thought was a doe was actually another spike! Two spikes and a two point. I rode back to the other side of the hill and last I’d seen they were just walking around it. I snuck up to the top, hoping to have a shot down the other side at the two point, but they had already gotten out of range. Rather than pursue them through a clearcut I just headed back to the bike. I also saw a doe and two fawns making their way to the timber.
I went towards the ***** clearcut but didn’t see anything in the deep draw to the left or the hill to the right. Initially I didn’t see anything so I started to walk down the road. I almost always see deer along the timberline in the bottom.
I’d only made it about 50 yards down the road when I spotted a deer between the upper and lower roads feeding. As usual, the morning sun shining on his side gave him away. I pulled up the binos and saw that he was a spike, but also spotted a two point feeding up behind him.
It was so steep below me that I wouldn’t have a chance to get into range. I had to go back and drop down through the timber. When I slipped into the timber I discovered that there had been a bunch of trails conveniently cut and flagged. At first I thought surveyor trails, but they weren’t lines of sight. The trail went exactly to where I wanted, and I was able to put a good 50 sneak out into the clearcut and popped up over the knob. I was expecting to have about a 40 yard shot, but there was nothing there. I snuck further down the little finger ridge incase they fed the opposite way, but there was nothing.
When I got back to the road, the two hunters were up top and had apparently seen the whole thing. They said they saw deer running to the timber in the bottom. I find it hard to believe that I had spooked them, the wind was perfect and I was perfectly quiet. They must have silhouetted themselves which is easy to do there when you look into the cut, and spooked them. As I was sitting there BSing them we saw what looked like a fawn also hitting the timber.
Rather than walking all the way back to the Y to go check the upper clearcut, I just cut straight up the hill. As soon as I crested it the hill I saw a face staring at me about 200 yards away in the deep grass. He had me pinned so there was no way I’d be able to stalk right up to him. Instead I walked at about a 45 degree angle to the right as though I didn’t see him or didn’t care. I couldn’t believe he was still there when I hit the road about 100 yards away. I could tell he was a shooter, easily a two point. I walked down the road keeping an eye out to the left. Eventually I got down there and spotted the hide quarters of the buck out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed the rangefinder and ranged him at 54 yards.
I took one more step forward and could now see him perfectly broadside now facing to the left. Still facing down the road I drew back, then turned to face the buck. I drew a bead and released the string. The arrow flew true but right before it hit him he ducked and started to turn to the right. When the arrow struck it entered high in the shoulder and came out where the neck meets the body. I knew it wasn’t the greatest hit, but the buck whirled and only went about five yards and stood there. The arrow was still in him, but I thought it may have caught a good artery and he was going to go down right there. Unfortunately after what seemed like a few minutes, though likely only a few seconds, he slowly walked off out of sight. After ten legitimate minutes I decided to go check on the blood, and I figured since he had stopped already he’d be down.
The blood trail was unlike any I’d ever seen before, just a solid line of blood. The deer was nowhere in sight so I figured he was down. I went ahead and started following the trail. It led a full 150 yards until he reached the reprod, still with a great blood trail the whole way. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t down yet. There were bubbles in the blood so I thought I might have caught the wind pipe a bit.
Now second guessing myself, I decided to wait and let him go for a little while. I took some video, shot some pictures, and texted for a bit to help pass the time. After 20 minutes I decided I’d better keep on him. I remembered back to stories I’d heard of people seeing elk with arrows healed over through their neck.
I followed the still great blood trail about 100 yards into the reprod. He got down into some thick stuff and it wasn’t long after that that I walked up on him. His head was down but he slowly picked it up and looked at me. I considered putting another arrow in him but decided he was already on his last leg and he may get up and run again if I shot him again. I just backed out and gave him about 20 minutes to expire.
After that time I went back up to him and checked him out. He was my second biggest buck with a bow, next to the whopper two point I had taken in *****’s apple orchard, though that wasn’t much of a hunt and hardly counted.
After some photos I got him gutted and started the boning process. It went pretty smooth. I got the hind quarters, front shoulders, back straps, and tenderloins. I got it loaded into the game bag and strapped onto the pack board. When I had all my gear together I hiked out of there and back to my bike.
I had to take a break on the ride out because the load on my back was killing me. When I’d lean forward on my bike it would pull the weight up onto my shoulders no matter how I adjusted the straps.
I had everything in the back of the truck by 12:30, and after a quick stop at a mini-mart for ice was headed back to my house with the meat cooling in the back.
*End of entry*
First picture - The blood trail, bubbles in the drops on the top leaves.
Second picture - Myself and my buck.
