CoryTDF Idaho 2018

[Pathfinder101]

Thanks everybody. There is more to come but i'm going to let Pathfinder101 take it from here.

Great writeup Cory.  I am apologizing in advance.  It's going be a little while before I can get mine written up.  I am swamped here at work.

First, I have to apologize for taking so long to write this up.  Work, obligations, blah…blah… most of us are probably in the same boat after hunting season ends and we have to make up for time spent in the mountains so I’ll spare you the “haven’t had a spare moment” sob-story.
I’ll pick this up after CoryTDF killed his buck and we (mostly he) humped that thing out in one load when I got caught over 3 miles from camp with nothing but a daypack to help him.  To be fair… most humans would have not packed a mature mule deer buck into one backpack and humped the thing out (3 miles uphill) in a single trip. 

[Pathfinder101]

The next morning we were up and at it early, stoking the little wood stove in the wall tent with enough fuel to motivate us to roll out of our racks and get going.  I have used my wall tent a dozen times in foul weather and never had a leak, but I guess it just hit its expiration date this fall, because I woke up to rain water streaming down the frame and onto my sleeping bag and into a sizable puddle on my cot.  After firing up the stove and spreading out everything I owned, Cory graciously offered to brew up some coffee in a backpack propane stove cook-system that he was testing out.  I had gone all-out at the Dollar Store and spent big on a high-quality hazelnut coffee, so Cory packed some into his cook system and fired it up.
As we cobbled together enough dry gear to hunt in that morning, the coffee suddenly made a sound unlike any that I have heard coffee make up to this point in my life.  We both turned our attention to the pot just in time for it to literally explode in our curious faces.  I have never seen a coffee-bomb before, and I can tell you that it was quite the experience.  Luckily, nothing really hit any skin, but we, our gear and a fair portion of the inside of the wall tent were suddenly coated with brown water and coffee grounds.  I’m still not completely clear as to what happened, but I believe it had something to do with “venting”.  Whatever the cause, I attribute our success later that day to the constant, strong hazelnut cover-scent that we exuded for the remainder of the day.

[Pathfinder101]

Despite the wet night and the late start, we hit the trail as soon as the rain let up and the sky began to clear.  As we made our way down the trail we wound through a 3 year old burn and patches of thick timber.  Just as we rounded a bend at the edge of a large burned area about 2 miles from camp we all spotted a white tail.  The tail was attached to a young 4 point whitetail buck who ran a few yards, stopped, looked at us, pranced a few more steps and looked again the way that young bucks do. Surprised as we were to find a whitetail at over 6,000 feet, we stopped and evaluated him. My sister had a deer tag and we tried to convince her that she should take him.  He was trotting and looking at us intermittently through matchstick timber at a couple of hundred yards though and she didn’t feel comfortable with the shot so as he disappeared into the timber we started putting our packs back on when we noticed a white rump several hundred yards above and behind where we had just jumped the whitetail.
Further inspection with binos revealed a herd of about 8 mule deer that included a decent 3x3 that was slightly separated from the group and standing at a little over 300 yards.  While we were trying to convince my sister to set up for a shot on him, we continued glassing the herd.  I noticed a deer that had its head obscured by the timber, but looked to have a huge body.

[Pathfinder101]

“Hey, look at the deer to the top left” I said “His butt looks like its 3 feet wide…”
We all turned our attention to the deer and the more we looked, the more we became convinced that it had to be a mature buck.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we got a look at his head.
All four of us had different reactions simultaneously. 
“Holy &^$!... That’s a good buck… Mark, you need to shoot him!” Cory said
“Well, he’s OK…” said my brother in law who had just killed a 28” wide 170 class buck a few days before and didn’t think his deer was worth taking to the taxidermist (making his opinion suspect at this point).
“I don’t think I can hit him from here” said my sister (who was still looking at the 3 point and didn’t realize we had spotted another buck).
I honestly didn’t think the buck was that big.  I couldn’t see what Cory was worked up about.  He looked like a cookie-cutter 20 inch 4x4 to me.
Then, as if the gods of chaos had not already had enough to say, a loud clear bugle sounded from what seemed like was only a couple of hundred yards away.  In the direction we were headed. 
And so, for the next several minutes (with the deer thankfully oblivious to our presence) debate ensued.  Cory (since he had already filled his deer tag) wanted SOMEONE to kill that buck.  He kept urging one of us to get a rifle out of a pack and get ready for a shot.  Finally, the buck turned sideways in the sun and I decided that he might be bigger than I was giving him credit for.  About this time Cory was hissing through his teeth “WHY THE %^$#! IS YOUR RIFLE STILL IN YOUR PACK!!!???  SHOOT THAT DEER!

[Pathfinder101]

Realizing that it was the next-to-the-last-day of our camp and that we were unlikely to see a better buck, I got the rifle out and started getting set up for a shot.  Cory gave me a range of 402 yards and I punched the numbers into my ballistics calculator, getting a setting of 23 clicks that I set on my scope.
“OK guys, I’m going to shoot” I said, took a breath, centered the crosshairs on his shoulder and squeezed off (what I thought was) a perfect shot.
“High.  Over his back.” Cory and Shawn both said, almost in unison.  I was perplexed (and I still am), but I didn’t have time to think about it, so I dialed the turret back 5 clicks and found the buck in my scope again.  He had run a few yards farther, but was stopped broadside, not sure where we were.
The second shot hit him perfectly where I was holding, and he ran a few yards before collapsing and sliding a few yards down the steep burn. 
“Give me your deer tag” Cory said, pointing in the direction that the bugle had come from a few minutes before.  “You guys get over there and try to find that bull. I’ll gut your buck and get him down to the trail.”
Now, that’s a buddy.

[Pathfinder101]

We took off down the trail in the direction of the bugle, but soon found ourselves encased in thick fog.  I set up on a bench and watched a couple of trails for about an hour before I heard noise above me.  It was Cory coming down the trail.
We decided that with all the fog our time would be better spent packing out my buck, so we hiked back up to where Cory had stashed him in the burnt timber.

[Pathfinder101]

When I first got a look at my buck, I realized that Cory had been right.  He was a better deer than I had originally judged him.  What had thrown me off was that his enormous body size made his rack look relatively small.  We guessed him to be well over 300 lbs.  He was old too, with a big roman nose, a grey forehead and missing teeth. 
After a photo session (Cory had found a bathtub sized crater that was perfect for posing -and butchering- him), we got to cutting him up.  I managed to get his backstraps and neck meat in my pack.  We agreed that I would get these back to camp while Cory boned out the quarters and I would come back with my full-sized meat pack to split the remainder of the load, so I hoofed it back to camp.

[Pathfinder101]

 After getting my pack (and lighter backup rifle) I started back down the trail.  Halfway back, I saw Cory slogging in my direction with what looked like a really heavy pack.
“You’re kidding me.” I said when he got within earshot.  “You’ve got all 4 friggin’ quarters in there…don’t you?”
He shrugged. “Well… I got done quartering him and I figured… I’ve got nothing better to do… I left you the head and the cape”
After fruitlessly trying to convince him to leave half the load in the bushes by the trail so I could pack it the rest of the way, we parted and I made it back to my buck.
There, in the depression where we had quartered him up was my buck’s head and cape, neatly folded.  On top lay a small airline-sized bottle of Jack Daniels.
I cracked it open, thanked God for mule deer, good friends and out-of-state-tags and drank a toast surrounded by burnt timber, fog and the scent of blood and sweat. 

[Elknut1]

Success is sweet! I enjoyed the read guys! Thanks!

  ElkNut/Paul

[Karl Blanchard]

Solid work gents! Thanks for sharing!

[CoryTDF]

Finally @Pathfinder101 got his part written LOL. Such a fun hunt and great memories for sure!

[Pathfinder101]

Finally @Pathfinder101 got his part written LOL. Such a fun hunt and great memories for sure!

Finally had some time this weekend.   No out of town/state rifle matches for the kids...

[elkboy]

Pathfinder, you won the lottery when it comes to hunting partners! 

[Pathfinder101]

A couple more pics

[Pathfinder101]

This is the depression Cory found that he hid my mule deer in.  He propped it up so it would rigor-mortis in a good position for photos.  then he was worried that someone would spot it and shoot it, so he completely covered it with brush.  When he walked me into it we were 10 yards away and I still couldn't see it...