Been a long time since I've posted, although I do stalk here continually, but thought I might share this one.
If there was ever a hunt where everything fell into place, it was this hunt.
Started out on our private property outside Goldendale second morning of the season, and glassed across the canyon. A truck from across canyon drove out from up on top, and three guys got out and started to push through an oak flat on top.
I saw that two large bucks bedded 200 yards halfway down the canyon slope and they had those guys pinged, they picked up and started to easily move off. Those guys up on top had no idea these bucks were there. The bucks were near 600 yards out, too far for my wheel house.
I watched them for two hours as they picked their way across the canyon bluffs before they finally both bedded down. I watched them a bit more, then planned my stalk. Had to move across 700 yards of open slopeland using whatever brush and draws that I could use as cover. When I arrived at the rocky knob across where these bucks were, I found they'd both fallen asleep for a morning nap. Ranged them at 400 yards even. Carefully, I set up my position using my pack as a rest and touched the shot off.
First shot went wild, but the second shot rang true and tipped him right over.
Then I started to see just how ugly the pack out was going to be, through bluffs and scree slopes. lol
But getting back to it,
1: If those guys in the truck weren't there, they wouldn't have pushed those bucks off and they never would've been in range.
2: Those bucks just being there in the first place.
3: They just happened to bed down in the only place in the canyon where there was a corresponding knob on my side making it a doable shot. If they'd bedded down anywhere else, they would've been 550 yards+ and I never would've tried a shot.
4: The 700 yard stalk across open ground, I figured they'd have spotted me during the approach.
5: 400 yard shot is doable, but still starting to stretch the field.
And it all happened to fall in place.
It was a good thing too, because we never saw another legal buck the entire season.
