We all came home with meat in the freezer....my son got a little ancy and shot a nice doe on the first day after telling me he was going to hold out for a nice buck...but at 20 yds and one 100gr partition through the heart his hunt was over.
He was camp pest the rest of the week
That same day I rattled in 6 deer, 5 does and one spike. I was holding out for a good buck so I passed on them all. The next few days were slow as no bucks were spotted but lots of does. Come Wednesday we decided to try another spot where my uncle missed a big one at 20 yds (we still haven't let him live that one down
) as were driving in my cuz yelled deer and then buck! So we stop and jump out, the buck takes off and I grunted out of instinct then the buck stops broadside at 50 yds with a 8" tree running his vitals, then my cuz raises his rifle and touches one off and the deer does a flip and runs 10 yds and goes down. We start towards the deer and he gets up and runs again but doesn't make it another 5 yds and is down for the count.
Wed afternoon we try out another apot and come across a doe acting wierd...she started to spook and i grunted at her then she kept moving back and forth like a shooting gallery duck at a carnival. After about 5 min of this i heard a grunt fron the timber behind her so i get ready thinkin the buck is coming out. She decides to head towards him
so we move in to get a look but there too fast and disapear so we back out so we dont spook them out of the area..that night my boy is getting homesick and ready to be home so I told him I'll shoot the first deer I get a chance so we can head home...its the longest he's been away from home and didn't want to burn him out for later trips.
Thursday morning we head back to the same spot and try to rattle...my boy was tired and wanted to sleep in the truck so me and my buddy head up and get settled to rattle...after 15 min I catch movement to my left...a doe, then another doe then a buck! I get my crosshairs up and I have a big doe at 90 yds between 2 trees looking straight at me so I decide to pass on the shot and the deer start running off so I rattle again and hear come the does back but still no shot. I finally got my buddy's attention and he sees them just as they run off. We make a plan and he heads down below them and I head straight at them, I no more than make it 30 yds and a deer runs out in front of me so I throw up my gun and settle the crosshairs and fire...it kicked its back legs and took off...I walked up to the last place I seen it and there was a blood bath...looked like a 5 gallon bucket was thrown in the snow...easy trackin to say the least..."she" only went 15 yds and as I walked up to her I couldnt believe the ground shrinkage
it ended up being a 4th deer I didn't see the first time and the big doe I thought I was shooting at ended up being a little toehead...oh well meat in the freezer and boy was that good eating
on my way back to camp there was a spur road to the right about halfway back and as we pass we both look down the road and there's a real nice 120" buck standing 50 yds down the road. My buddy had a tag still and I step out real quiet and walk to the corner of my truck bed and can see part of his back leg through the trees and he's trying to get his gun loaded but didn't push the top bullet all the way down in his internal mag and it tried loading 2 shells
well the buck had enough by the time he got one loaded and was gone. He was pretty bummed out. After that ordeal we went back and hung and skinned mine, had a bite to eat and then decided to go out and drive some roads lookin for a deer for my buddy. After 3-4 failed attempts at does my friend was beyond frustrated, he still had the buck on his mind. It was 4 pm and had about 30 min left of light and I told him don't stress out in 15 min I'll find you a doe to put your tag on, he laughed and said ok let's go. On our way back to camp I spotted 2 does, I told him walk around to my side and stand off in front of my door just off the road and you will see them. He walks over to the edge of the timber and sees them and throws his gun up and fires and has his deer down finally! He was pumped to finally get something on the meat pole! We're all finally tagged out and Friday morning decide to take a drive around the farmers fields, my cuz said there's quite a few deer down there.
Here's a few
And here's a few other pics
My first Moose sheds
All in all we had a blast...got to hunt with some family that has been in the making for 20 years. Some reason or another we have never been able to hunt together. Now we're going to try and make it a yearly trip to Idaho. I didn't get the buck I was hoping for but we all got meat some great eating venison in the freezer and couldnt have asked for a better week with my son, buddy and 2 cousins and uncle. I'm already planning next years trip!
