2015 hunting season was a great year for our family. Although it started off not so good. I have not hunted the last 2 years due to various reasons (new job and such) and my daughter who is 6 1/2 has never been hunting so the week leading up to our departure on Friday was busy and exciting. Until that Wednesday. My wife was loading up the RV when she stepped out wrong and busted up her ankle bad. Luckily it was not broken but a bad sprain and could not put much weight on it and had to wear a boot so no hiking around for her. We almost canceled going but decided that was a dumb idea. Much more fun to camp than sit at home. So our new plan was for me to hunt the mornings solo and to take the family out road hunting in the afternoons a few days.
For the most part, the first few days were uneventful but I was seeing deer every time I went out. All does though. And strangely 90% whitetails. In years past it was the complete opposite and usually muley's. On Wednesday night on our road hunting evening we decided to drive out to an area we have never been. We followed the main road to some side roads all the way up to where we could not go any further. A really neat area. As we were headed back out I spotted a muley doe up on the hillside so I got out to just take a look around. After about 5 minutes I see movement a few yards away and see the biggest mule deer doe I've ever seen. I thought it was a cow elk at first. Huge ears too. I watched those two for about 10 minutes and they then walked off. I told my wife I wanted to come back in the morning as it was a good spot to hike around.
The next morning we all piled into the Jeep and headed back up there to the end of the road. No other vehicles around
. The end of the road sat in sort of a bowl with high ridges so we decided that I would hike up while my wife and daughter hung out in the Jeep. I hiked up to the top of the ridge, sat and watched the sunrise come up. I sat just below the top facing west with great views. In the distance across the bowl on the other ridge I hear turkeys making quite a bit of noise for about a half hour, than I hear what sounds like 20 coyote's making a big racket. As I am enjoying my views, out comes a muley buck across on the other ridge about 250 yards away. I put the bino's up and see two points on each side and can't see a third. This deer stood there for 15 minutes and I could not put a third point on it
. While I'm looking at it I am trying to get my wife on the radio to see if she can see it but the radio's decided not to transmit at the worst time (new radios on the Xmas list). I hear a truck in the distance and the deer turns around and trots off. At that point I hike back down to my wife and find out from her vantage point she said she thought she saw a third point on the buck
. So I decided to go after it as it did not seem spooked.
I hiked up the other ridge paralleling the last direction I saw it traveling. I get to the top and scan the other side for about 10 minutes to no avail. On the other side there was a gulley down than back up to a flatter area so I go down slowly (very dry and crunchy) and up the other side. As I reached the top I look left to the clearing and look for movement. As I look right, I see movement coming around a brush pile about 80 yards away. I see that it is a buck with a whole lot more points. I did not need to put up the bino's to see that it was at least a 3 point. At that point I put my gun up to my shoulder and the deer is just staring at me and I noticed that this was not another muley but a whitetail buck. I put the crosshairs on its chest and touched off around. The deer drops right there
I walk up slowly to him as he was taking his last breaths. Holy cow I think to myself. I just shot my first whitetail and its is a beautiful one. It has red hair on top and redish antlers. I get on the radio (now the damn thing works) and tell my wife. I'm pretty sure I heard her without the radio
.
I get the deer down to the Jeep and my wife and daughter were really excited. This was my daughters first experience and at this point she was having a good time. I had decided to gut it out near the Jeep so my daughter could get that experience. She did pretty good but started to cry. (Now I felt bad). So I sat down and talked with her about what this all means and asked her why she was crying. She said she was not sad that the deer was dead or that I shot it, she was just grossed out. I told her that it was ok and that it is not bad to cry about that and that it can be sad but a good thing. This deer will feed us and will be a great first and lifetime memory. She fully comprehended that and I think she has come away with a really positive experience.
All in all a great trip and I am really happy that my daughter was able to be apart of it on her first hunting trip ever.
Some pic's. 6x6 Whitetail
Tony
