Viking's 09 hunting diary

[Austrian Hunter]

Cool story Clint,
Awesome buck!  I hope you get another chance at him.  30 plus deer per day, man I just love your area.   

[EastWaViking]

Day four.  Hoping for amnesia...

Tonight I went back to the same spot I was last night, hoping... actually more like wishing that the big bucks would have a bad case of amnesia.  No such luck.  I had 15 does fawns and small bucks all around me, and even had one doe come in feeding right behind me... even closer than the buck was last night, maybe 6 feet away and down wind!  Go figure, one night they can't smell me at 6 feet, another they do at 50 yards.  Anyways I left the deer pretty much undisturbed at 8:03 and on my way out saw three or four more deer coming out of the woods, they all looked like nice bucks.  They are now waiting an extra 20 minutes  before coming out, just after shooting hours.  I even think I saw one of them wearing a wrist watch.  

Tomorrow I will probably take one of my kids out and sit behind our place and "hunt"

I did kill a few minutes while I was waiting snapping a couple pictures. 

[EastWaViking]

Day Five -Fall is in the air

I didn't go out last night, so I was anxious to get out there tonight.  I ended up playing with the kids a bit longer than I had planned so I got a late start.  There were a few deer already in the field at 6:15, I spooked a small buck and two does, but was able to crawl about 150 yards down the fence line and not spook another small 3 point and a spike.  They ended up bedding down.  I was in a slightly different place than the prior 4 nights... between where I sat night two and night three.  I was standing at the base of an aspen tree right beside the barbed wire.  About 6:45 the deer really started moving, the cooler weather had them active earlier than the previous nights.  I saw several does and fawns and a couple more smaller bucks working their way across the field.  One spike with eye guards fed to within 25 yards of me.  I looked to the north and saw more deer coming they were all branched antlered bucks and a couple decent ones including the one I passed on opening day.  They saw the spike right near me and came running in!  One 4 point about 16 inches wide (a pretty darn nice buck) came walking right towards me.  I thought, he's not going to.... yep, he did the same thing the 6x6 did...but even closer!
He came to within 4 or 5 feet of me!  I could have taken an arrow out of my quiver and reached out and tapped him on the nose.  I thought for a second or two about trying to draw  (now that I have permission to shoot on that side of the fence)  and I probably would take him later in the month.  But he came is so fast I probably really couldn't have drawn, even if I wanted too.  I just watched him through squinted eyes  (that is an important tip, squint your eyes when you are in close contact with a deer, that way they won't spook if you blink)  He ate a bit of the tall grass on the edge of the field, then nibbled the little aspen that looked as if it had been trying to grow for years but keeps getting eaten back.  Then he wondered off.  There were at least 10 to 12 bucks in the field, none of the real big ones.  Then...at 7:45 the big ones started coming out.  I saw three big bucks heading my way but it looked like they would cross about 100 yards south of me, so I carefully crawled down the fence line, trying not to spook the 20 some deer in the field less than 100 yards away from me.  I managed to get down to where I thought the bucks would cross and light and time ran out on me before they got close.  I stood up crouched and walked away not spooking them even though they were only about 60 yards away.  The cool weather really has them active, maybe I will still see the 6x6 again after all!  One more night, tomorrow, before I hang it up until I get back from Wyoming.

[Caseyd]

Good luck tomorrow!!

[pinetree]

What a great adventure.  I am just down the road from you in Spokane Valley.  Headed out this morning and hope I get to see half the number of critters that you are seeing !
Thanks for your stories, they are great.

[EastWaViking]

Day six

An evening about like last night, without the super close encounters...other than this porcupine.  A few does in range 9 or 10 bucks, one 4 point fed to withing 50 yards.  The most interesting thing was I heard what sounded like a "come here deer" call.  Instantly the biggest buck, a nice 4 point lifted his head and ran towards the sound, looking like he was ready for a fight.  It was a fawn bleating, the buck looked around to see if something was after it.  When everything looked ok, he went back to feeding.  Maybe a deer call in the early season would be good to have!

Now it's time to switch gears and start getting ready for Wyoming!  I leave Friday, I'll post more stories when I get back.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Great looking antelope!

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming-Day 1  

Jeff and I traveled from Spokane to Billings MT.  We stopped in Livingston and ate at "Mark's In & Out" a little drive inn from the 50's -- good cheap food.  The highlight of the day (besides seeing the first antelope of the trip somewhere near Deer Lodge) was shaking the hand of one of only 5 remaining survivors of the USS Arizona who was also checking into the motel in Billings.  They don't make them like that any more.

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming - Day 2

We left Billings and stopped in Sheridan Wyo for our archery licenses and ORV permits.  We then headed to Gillette and stocked up on supplies.  Soon we were pulling into our favorite camping spot, "the windmill"  We had a visitor we called Betsy, Bertha, or Bessy depending on the wind direction and how bad she stank that day (dead cow).  We quickly swapped out our street clothes for our camo and had a couple hours to knock the spot and stalk rust off of ourselves.  I saw several groups of antelope but nothing close enough or big enough, but it was great to be back in Wyoming!

[Austrian Hunter]

Cool, can't wait to hear the whole story, ohh and by the way your beef is absolutely awesome

[EastWaViking]

Sweet! Glad you like it!  Please stand by...

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming - Day 3

Our first full day of hunting.  Jeff headed East towards the breaks  for Mule deer, I headed West to the dry creek bottoms for Antelope.  I got to the first drainage and dropped in.  I worked my way towards the first group of antelope I saw, there was nothing in it that I was looking for, but you never know who will come along and try to steal the does away from the smaller bucks.  I was able to get within bow range of a small buck about 13" tall he had 4 or 5 does with him.  I played around with him for a half hour or so, then moved on to try to find a group with a bigger buck in it.  There were a couple small mule deer bucks also in that first drainage.  I walked to my favorite part of the drainage, the area where I killed both my doe and my buck last year, and I got a doe there a few years back.  There were no antelope anywhere!  The wind had really picked up and it was getting real hot, I think most of them were getting out of the wind.  I decided to move to another area where we saw a big group  the day before while driving in.  I snuck down to the drainage and saw them, there were around 50 antelope, small bucks, decent bucks, does and fawns.  I looked closer and saw one buck that I thought looked "pretty good".  I worked my way closer and soon was within 100 yards from them.  As I snuck down the drainage I turned a corner and there right in front of me was a sleeping doe mule deer.  She was only 15 yards away, she opened her eyes and I froze... she looked towards me and then fell back to sleep.  I backed out of sight and settled in... I can't go forward because I'll spook the doe and she'll spook the antelope.  I waited and watched.  The antelope looked like they might start working their way down wind from me, I quickly went back down the drainage to stay upwind.  They then went back and some of them bedded down.  This is going to be a long wait.
A couple hours later the main group was still mostly bedded down, a small buck and a few does stared feeding back towards me.  I once again worked my way back down the drainage to keep the wind in my favor.  It was now about 90 degrees and I had been crawling back and forth, up and down the drainage for almost 3 hours, I thought of the hunting commercial that says "patience should be rewarded, not tested" Well, I was plenty patient on this stalk, maybe this will work out.  The main group of antelope were back on their feet and I decided I should try to get in range before they fed off and the whole stalk was wasted.  I worked my way back to the corner where the mule deer doe was... she was still sleeping.  I backed up and came up with a plan.  I got about 30 yards away from the doe, out of sight of her.  I picked up a couple dirt clods and threw them on the bank above her.  She stood up and looked up the hill away from where I was.  After a few minutes she walked off and a couple other does nervously went with her.  I then quickly worked my way around the bend where the deer had been and closed the distance on the antelope.  I then had to crawl through the shallowest part of the drainage between the two groups.  There was no room for error, I had to stay real close to the ground and hurry because the small group was now down wind from me but about 100 yards away.  I didn't want to chance them smelling me in this heat.  I got through the tough section and rounded a small bend... that was as far as I could go.  There was no more cover to get any closer to the main group containing the biggest buck.  They were 80 yards away and I set up behind the best cover I could find, two sage brush plants on the edge of the drainage.  I would wait here and see what I needed to do next.  I then glassed the biggest buck, he was better than I thought he was, he was big enough that there was no doubt I would take him if given the chance.  It wasn't long, maybe 10 minutes, and he decided the splinter group was getting too far away...time for him to go retrieve his does.  He started walking right towards me!  I thought, "this might just work out".  He kept coming, I ranged him between the sage brush at 48 yards, he was coming fast!  He was now within 30 yards and it was time to draw.  I got as low to the ground as I could and pulled the bow back, he was right behind the sage plant.  I figured he would stop at the rim of the drainage and I would have a shot at him within 20 yards.  He didn't stop, he trotted down into the drainage to my right, I spun and shot as he started up the other side... he was down a couple steps later!
He was 14 yards from me when I shot.  I stood up and grabbed my camera and took a picture of part of the main group that was still standing there trying to figure out what had happened.  I walked over to the buck and knew I had just taken what I had came here for.  A real nice Pope and Young buck.  I have not scored him yet, but he is 15 inches tall and pretty heavy.  He will push the 80 point mark, I believe.  I was excited to say the least, but I then thought... 3pm day one and I am done antelope hunting...  I kind of felt sad, because that is my favorite hunting of all.   Time to get him gutted and to the meat processors fast, it's dang hot out here!

[BLKBEARKLR]

Nice Lope.

But I am loving that 3 Wheeler that brings back a lot of memories...

[markts]

Great hunt and buck, looks like a decent one standing in the herd on the right of the pic. Congrats. Mark

[EastWaViking]

Yes, that was the second biggest buck, about 14" - 14 1/4" I was trying to decide what to do if he came by, luckily I never had to figure that one out.