I consider this year an overall success tho we came out lighter than we went in.
We hit the trail head early weds morning and 6 short miles later we arrived at the spot we would call camp. We prepared the site for the tent and as I am inside setting the center pole on my SL5 I hear "Rian, get out here! There is something running across the hillside!" I fly out and my partner points up on the hill and said she just saw something brown moving through the brush. It steps into view and I can immediately tell its a buck and quickly hop behind the rifle. I make a 4 on the left side but just a 2 on the other..
She ranges him at 397 and I take rest. Once the buck stops and looks around I get a good look at him and know he isnt quite what I am after. I put my partner behind the rifle and tell her she can go ahead and shoot but there are much larger bucks and if we take him our hunt is going to get cut short. She decides to pass and we watch the buck most of the rest of the day. He walked into 250 and then began feeding for about the next 45 minutes before bedding down just up the hill. A group of hunters with stock came down a couple hours later and lost a horse down a drainage when part of the trail gave way. They were able to get the horse out the bottom and around to the trail, but it was quite a sight to watch. The horse looked pretty beat up once they got by camp. This commotion did get another buck to get uneasy and move a bit but it was also small and not even close to worthwhile shooting.
Thursday was the best day for deer numbers. Weds was a wet and miserable mess for us, but Thursday morning brought clear skies and the deer seemed to approve of the weather change. We spotted 9 bucks this day but again a number were smaller. I spotted a buck at about 1000 yards at first light that caught my attention. He looked to have a frame that was worthwhile but was directly below the rising sun and still in the shadows. This wreaked havoc on my eyes and glass, making it very difficult to judge whether or not it would be worthwhile heading his direction. He ended up making the timber before I could ever see just what exactly he was. I was having a hard time going for just him as there were a number of deer moving around us and it was hard to say what else was going to pop up. As the day progressed we came across a decently heavy 3pt that I was going to give my partner the chance to shoot but it wasnt able to come together. He was at close range and knew we were there. He boogied before we could get settled on him. We saw another party with stock later this day as well and one of their horses appeared lame and was hobbling on 3 legs. Is this a common occurrence or were we just batting 1000 by chance? Anyway, we closed this day out seeing deer steadily throughout the day but just weren't seeing the nice bucks I'd hope to see.
Friday was the exact opposite of Thursday. We didnt see a single deer all day. It was crazy how things changed. They just plain were not moving. More hunters and hikers started moving in as the day wore on as well. We ended up calling it later that evening and hiked out. We had a blast and certainly could have come out with some meat.
Looking forward to reading others stories as you come down from the backcountry! Hopefully someone got to pull the trigger!
