This season was incredibly frustrating. every weekend was 60 degrees and sunny.
My partner and I saw some deer, but not the numbers we are used to seeing. We actually saw more hunters than normal as well. All this combined to us getting super frustrated and we almost gave up.
Well...my partner gave up, but i just got lucky. Well, i passed on a few spikes and a forked horn and my boss let me have the last three days of the regular season off work. So wednesday 10/29 i went out alone. It ended up being 65 degrees....i could of been wearing shorts and sneakers. I went to three clearcuts and saw two does. now i was getting pissed. I decided to go to one more spot beforing going home. went into a walk-in unit and as i was on my way over this little noel to look down into this unit, i heard something break. I knew something was in there and i spotted a buck in the bottom. He was looking at me. i got out the rangefinder and he was dead on 250yds away. I got a rest on a stump in front of me and blasted him in the chest. I saw his left side of his body go limp and he hobbled around the hill (10yds) and dissapeared.
now the work began.....this is the first deer i've had to get out by myself....and i've been sitting behind a desk for 5 years now so i was wondering how this was going to work out. I walked back to the truck, grabbed my pack, and headed back down after him. Now i'm down there standing on a stump wondering where the hell he is cuz he was standing right here when i shot him and i didn't see any blood on my way down. I look to my left and he was laying 5ft away from me.....scared the crap out of me. Now i was stoked because i didn't get one last year and it felt nice having some meat on the ground.
So this is my first time packing and wasn't quite sure about what to do but i had an idea. I gutted him and cut his lower legs off right below the backstrap and hauled those out. i was actually back to the truck and it only took me 1.5 hrs to do that. the upper half is a different story. I skinned er out and cut the backstraps out and got the front shoulders and head; grabbed my gun and binos and headed back up. bout 1/2 way back i was ready to puke. needless to say i got er all to the truck in like 4 hrs.........second half took much longer. I was damn proud of myself and it made the hunt that much more exciting. I know you all think i'm gay for writing this up, but i wanted to share my story for this year. It's not the biggest deer, but it's one i will probably never forget. What a frustrating year, but you just never know what will happen. All i can say is...don't give up.
