We aren't very far out of hunting season and already most topics on here involve arguements and whining so I figured I would change gears for at least one thread.
2012 was a good year for deer! Heading into the season I had one goal, and that was to shoot a deer with my grandfathers model 94 winchester .32 spcl. He passed away last thanksgiving and I thought it would special to get some blood on his rifle! I worked up a good load and practiced all summer, with the peep sight a deer vital sized balloon was not safe within 300yds!
My first outing was opening weekend of muzzy season when I accompanied my boss who had a muzzy tag. It was his first year muzzy hunting in quit a few years so his standards were not very high. Right off the get go we got on a bachelor group of bucks with three legals so we set to work on a game plan. It was a pretty simple plan, dog them from a distance until they bed down then get the wind right and shoot one. All was going well until the side by side came mobbing down the ridge (no road) and blew them out! These two tards would ride up to the edge of the canyon glass for a second and repeat process down the canyon! All the while yelling to each other along the way! Well we looked for those deer all morning with no luck. We decided to go try a different spot so we started up the canyon back to our side by side that was parked ON THE ROAD! Next to the road about a 1 1/2miles from our rig there is a shallow sage finger that runs right up to the road and ends and all be danged if those bucks weren't laid up in it! We bumped them and they ran up that finger but stopped short of crossing the road and he put a great 140yd shot on the biggest of the three! Just a 3pt but we were both happy to have one down within 15miles as the crow flies from our houses. The best part is that after about a 6 or 7 mile day I can call him a road hunter because that buck to 3 or 4 steps before dying and he fell literally on the side of the road.
Rifle season came and I found myself once again in the company of my two buddy's Dan and Ryan. My standard for this hunt was any legal buck I could put a killing shot in with the .32spcl and I didn't have to wait very long because the very first canyon we entered Dan and I jumped a little whitetail buck. It was a 185yd broadside trotting shot and he went down without a fuss! We got up to him and Dan wanted to poke his head up over the next hill to check a little eyebrow that sometimes holds deer so I dropped my pack and gun and ran up there with him and out comes 2 nice whitetails! Boom down goes another whitey 150 yds from mine! Done by 7:30! Little did we know that ryan had had a good day also by putting a great shot on a little muledeer buck! Well back in camp with our three bucks the guys that camp across from us didn't do so bad either. All 4 had tagged out as well so we had a 7 deer pile up!
With our bucks out of the way I set out to fill my second doe tag and it took about 10miin. Put a good stalk on a fatty and one more shot from the .32 at 40yds and I was done. With another day and a half to hunt we called our wives (who had late palouse tags so weren't hunting the general this year) and told them to jump in the car and get down here! Sunday morning came and right off the bat we spotted a group of does so I took the girls and Dan entertained my 5month old son Wyatt. Well the does dissapeared on us but the 3pt muley stuck around and one shot from my wifes .270 and buck number 4 was down. I never even got to look at it when I spotted a group of deer with 2more legals in it so off I went with Dans wife and 4hrs later and over 500yds on our bellies through a tilled field nicole put the hurting on another 3pt! That evening they doubled on their second doe tags!
Idaho was tough this year for us. We all shot bucks but nothing of the caliber that we are accustomed to taking out of that area. I passed up many many bucks and actually ended up shooting a meat buck on some state land on the way home. I have no kill pics from that trip. However my new 14x17 montana canvas wall tent was the most amazing thing ever! A big step up from the 12x12 with 4ft walls we have been cramming into for a lot of years!
Last hunt of the year was late palouse. I had a co-worker and his 2 boys and a buddy with a buck tag. Phil shot his buck first morning and the boys hunted hard to get their first deer the last evening right at dark!
Grand total for my year I was able to take part in 17 deer kills and 6 elk! I see meat in my sleep!
Muzzy elk season is a blurr of deboning that I will let my brother tell.
