Welcome Gents,
I've been planning this year's high elevation hunt for a couple months now (waiting all year) & ended up scouting/hoofing it in where one of my favorite movies was filmed featuring De Niro, Walkin, Cazale. I thought it would be cool to share the adventure as I would absolutely recommend anyone considering it to make the jump!
I arrived at the hike in spot Monday the 14th (day before season) so I could get roughly 3.5 miles in to camp w/ enough time to scout before dark. I planned for a 4 day camp w/ roughly a 65lb pack weight, some of the contributing extra weight included camera equipment. Trekking poles at this weight were a necessity, but it only marginally made the hike in better with the added smoke & heat. I hit the same area last year & it was flooded & raining at a peak of about 40 degrees during the day. This week...it was blistering hot, at around 10am I ended up just wearing my hunting vest as my only top.
I used google maps to scout areas that had openings where I could glass for deer, being that I hiked roughly 50 miles last year in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to find countless rubs/scrapes, but the brush was too dense to move without causing alarm. This year I decided I would let my eyes do the work. Once I setup camp & went to the first spot I marked on OnX & saw very little sign on the way in. Something I find interesting about deer is they don't typical leave droppings on trails, but bears don't seem to care. This area is dense w/ wild blueberries so the bear scat isn't in those faux cow patties, but in massive dog like blueberry mounds.
I looked at the area in question & it looked promising in the sense of remoteness w/ unlimited food, but the sign out in the open was still limited. I decided it was good enough for opening morning & went back to camp to have some mac n cheese. Tuesday morning I switched into game mode & headed to the same spot at around 630am. It's important to note my camp was setup about 500 yards from the destination, but it was solid brush to get there. I was also walking directly into the wind with a light mist in the air, it had rained that night.
Within about 45 mins of sitting & glassing I started to hear snorting & thumping, beautiful good size doe was bouncing in & out of the brush. She was being chased by a beautiful young 4 point buck. At this point I could tell he was a buck, but at about 60 yards I couldn't tell if he was legal. I pulled out the binos very carefully as she started to circle around behind me to get a smell, easily within 30 yards. When she trotted off he decided to do the same.
Doe -
Buck-
I may get some heat for this but I couldn't pull the trigger. He was clearly a legal 4 point, but easily 20lbs less than the doe he was chasing. All this work to take a young buck trying to get a whiff...I decided to let him grow a bit. After a bit of waiting I hiked in towards the brush where I had marked another clearing. It was around 11 am now & I was sitting in a small clearing that showed lots of sign. After a bit I started to hear snorting again & another young buck (2 point) was jumping out the thick like something was chasing him. There was so much bear sign I assumed it was a large bear or another buck. I was downwind again & he came within 15 yards to sniff me out while I filmed.
Tuesday was the only relatively cooler day & the only time I would see any life over the next couple days. The smoke rolled back in & the temperatures picked up. I climbed to the top of one of the ridges/mountains to see if there was any sign..but no luck. I ended up hiking out Thursday afternoon with a very sore body! Easily one of the best times to think & soak in all that makes this country beautiful.
Below are just some shots from the trip, enjoy!
