Hirshey's Hunts 2018

[hirshey]

It had been agreed that evening that Dan's feet needed a break, so Derrick, Jeff and I would assemble a plan for the three of us to hunt together the next day while Dan took the day off. We planned to gain the large peak near camp to facilitate glassing our basin, and then continue on the razor ridge towards yesterday's basin. The morning arrived, and once the fire was roaring and coffee was poured, I was getting restless waiting for my companions to be ready; at this rate, the daylight was going to beat us to the top of the drainage. I told them I'd meet them up where I could actually do some good glassing, and took my leave. Although we each took different routes up, we all arrived at the same glassing spot at just the right time in the morning. We were about to continue our trek when Derrick exclaimed, "THERE HE IS!"

[jstone]

Your stories are better than any hunting show.!!!

[hirshey]

Plain as day with your bare eyes was a beautiful buck about 700 yards away stepping into our basin. He paused at the rim, surveying for possible danger. Immediately the plans for pursuit started to develop, but the complexity of the situation increased when out stepped ANOTHER big buck! 

[hirshey]

We were developing a plan of attack as the excitement level increased yet again: TWO MORE great, legal bucks followed the same path as the first two. They all disappeared into the sub-basin where the bucks had been fighting on opening morning.

"We have ALL DAY to make this stalk, let's make it count..." I started. "Let's go back down into the bottom of the basin, up that sub-ridge, and take opportunities to glass as necessary until we find where they all bedded."

We all agreed that route gave us the best chance for success, so we commenced our 4 hour trek to make it happen. 

[hirshey]

The wind was just right for our first look into the terrain. We all pulled up our binoculars, eager to lay eyes on the bucks we'd seen a few hours prior. Our first attempt at finding the animals came up empty; we retreated out of sight and gained a little more elevation. The plan was to continue this pattern of movement until we found our targets, but didn't have to wait for the old saying "third time's a charm", as Derrick motioned that he'd found two of the bucks. He talked us into their location, and we noted they were the smaller pair out of the four bucks we had seen. Derrick was excited by the sight nonetheless. "I'd be happy with the larger one of those bucks, maybe we should just make a move on that one". We assured him that we still had the large portion of the day to turn up the other two bucks. We changed position one more time before Derrick's eyes continued to do solid work; the two large bucks were bedded roughly 50 yards up and to the left of the others. We ranged the group, finding that about another 80 yards would put us in unquestionably lethal position. The plan was still for Jeff and Derrick to take the bucks. After a little excited discussion, I agreed I'd consider taking one of their rifles for a follow-up shot if the larger of the second group of bucks gave me an opportunity, but I knew this was not a reality. We snuck into position and Jeff handed me his rifle. "I want you and Derrick to get Power Couple status! You HAVE to shoot one of those two bucks!" We argued back and forth, and Jeff continued to insist that I take his rifle to make the shot. He reminded me that he still had a deer tag for Idaho, and I did not. I shook my head, incredulous, and finally consented. "YES!!!" Jeff whispered. What an incredible friend to offer me this opportunity.

The plan was to get into a comfortable shooting position and wait for the bucks to stand up naturally. I left Jeff's rifle behind a large boulder to test out a log as a rest. The position was uncomfortable at best, with the seated position requiring a large portion of abdominal work to pull off due to its uphill slope. Not a good idea. I tried to move back over the same time Jeff and Derrick passed me the rifle. "This isn't a good spot!" The movement of the rifle caught the closer buck's attention; he stood up. 

[hirshey]

I slid over, getting into the shade of an adjacent fir tree. "SHOOT" I thought. This wasn't ideal. Derrick was resting over the large boulder that had been our cover. It wasn't tall enough to stand behind, but too tall to sit. Not the perfect rest. I moved into the prone position. We were too far away to communicate for a 1,2,3 SHOOT to be realistic. Both large bucks were standing. "Are you ready?" Derrick and I both asked each other. The bucks moved through the timber, rarely visible at the same time. "When you get a good shot, Derrick, you take it. I'll work with the rest".

[JBar]

Dont you dare stop typing!!!

[hirshey]

The sound of Derrick's shot rang in my left ear. I took a breath in, and slowly released as the crosshairs found their position on my target buck. The percussion of the gun was followed up with the THWACK every hunter likes to hear in return. "You got him, Kari! Good shot! Derrick, you missed. Shoot the one that's broadside." "That's not the one I was shooting at." "That's the one I hit." Boom! THWACK! I put another round into my buck to assure his quick demise. Derrick realigned with his target and shot again. Another miss. The chaos of the drainage faded as the only remaining buck lay still. We confirmed my buck was dead, and worked to search for any additional blood and track the other the bucks for another opportunity for Derrick. Jeff worked the slope low as Derrick and I took the ridge the bucks used to depart. Alas, our continued effort lost its fire as the day grew long and the tracks disappeared into a rock scree. It was evident these bucks had abandoned the area entirely. We agreed to make it back to my buck before it got dark. Part of me felt a huge amount of sorrow/guilt for how this scenario had played out. I was the ONLY ONE not supposed to get a deer this year... how did it end up that I was the only one with one down? 

[jstone]

I was waiting for that to. Get in the heat of the moment.

Good night all

[hirshey]

We worked across the rocky slope as I continued to apologize to Derrick, and he continued to say that it wasn't my fault, and I should be happy. Jeff and Derrick wanted me to be happy. That reminded me... where was Jeff?

I pulled out my InReach as we arrived at my buck.
Derrick was pulling out the camera to get a few photos with me and my animal.

"Derrick! Take my InReach! Jeff found your buck!"

[hirshey]

I quickly thrust the device into Derrick's hands after hitting the "navigate" button to Jeff's last message location.

"Hurry! You don't have much daylight left. I don't think we can be quiet enough with both of us going. I'll start on my deer, you go."

[hirshey]

We had left our packs down the hill for the final portion of the stalk on those bucks, and Jeff had brought them partway back up to my buck before he continued searching for the animals that had eluded Derrick's attack. I worked my way to them, and carried them uphill to the bench where I intended to dress my buck. I grabbed my headlamp and hiked back up the hill to my prize. Carefully, meticulously, I worked my buck down the slope laden with boulders and downed trees, cautious not to let him freefall. I was mid-effort in an attempt to get my buck over a large log suspended in the boulders when a shot rang out. YES! One more. YES. The last light was failing, my buck was on flat ground finally, and I had taken a quick self-timer photo with my buck with the aid of the flash, and had started boning out my animal when I heard a shout; I knew Derrick had to come back to my location irregardless of the outcome; his bag including his headlamp was with me.
"YO!" I shouted in return. Derrick emerged, and I asked the burning question. "Did you get him?"

"NO, it was a long shot and I missed." My heart sank. "But you should see the path I had to take to get to Jeff!"

I leaned over to look at his phone, and saw a photo of him smiling, holding the antlers of his beautiful Washington mule deer.

[hirshey]

Deer (hunters orange taken off for photos for any internet warriors. You’ll see we have it in other photos) 

[JakeLand]

Nice!!! Great bucks and story! More

[hirshey]

Derrick had taken the InReach and left my position. The navigation point was more difficult to follow than he had expected, and he soon took to simply hiking the direction he thought it had tried to take him. Miraculously, Derrick intersected Jeff's position. The buck had stayed at Jeff's location (he had circled back around to roughly 400 yards downhill of my buck) huffing at him. Derrick arrived with minutes left of daylight, and put his crosshairs right behind the buck's shoulder. With Jeff's coaching, he steadied his breath and pulled the trigger; the buck dropped in his tracks. "YES!" Derrick exclaimed. (A fairly significant reaction, for any of you fortunate enough to know Derrick ) As it would stand, Derrick's first shot hit the buck in the spine, and the second stilled his breath. Similar distance to earlier in the day, but a much different result!