Viking's 09 hunting diary

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming - Day 4

With my antelope buck in town at the butchers, it was time to switch to mule deer mode.  Jeff had seen a pretty nice 24" 4 point the day before, so we headed out to the breaks and started working the bigger draws.  We spotted a few deer feeding down towards the dry creek so we hurried down to intercept them.  We got there just a bit late and a doe spotted us.  We worked though the creek bottom and I came around a corner and there was a 4x4 and a doe hiding in the bottom in front of us.  They spotted me as I ducked back around the corner.  They trotted off, but not too far.  Soon we found the doe up just above the bottom watching for us.  Jeff then said "there's the buck" seeing the tips of his antlers through the brush.  He stayed down in the little narrow dry creek bed, hiding just out of sight and range, watching the doe for clues to where we were.  They finally had enough of us and got out of there.  We hiked quite a few miles and didn't really see much else for deer that hike.  Jeff then went after antelope and I continued looking for deer.  I worked two different drainage's and discovered that looking for mule deer bucks in the hot weather is a lot like fishing for big trout in a creek.  They were hiding in the littlest shady cut banks along the dry creek beds sometime in places you'd never think a deer could fit.  I came around the corner of one dry creek bed and saw a deers tail and hind quarters 20 yards ahead of me.  The creek bed was only 3 feet deep and probably 3 or 4 feet wide.  I could see the tips of an antler and it looked like a decent buck.  I was going after any branched antlered mule deer, so this looked good.  I stood there not able to move any closer, hoping that he would stand up some time in the next few hours and give me a shot.  After about 15 minutes I felt the wind change directions... He will smell me any second now, maybe I'll get a shot before he runs.... NOPE.  As soon as he smelled me he was gone, he ran out about 200 yards and stopped broadside, a decent 3x4 about 20" wide.  Oh well.
I found another deer in a big dry bed tucked way back in a cut bank, I made a stalk, but it jumped up and left the area when I was 18 yards away and still couldn't see his head to know he was a buck, a small 2 point.  A long hard day of hunting ended with a few close encounters, a lot of miles walked, sore feet and darn near heat exhaustion.  A perfect day of hunting if you ask me!

[bowhunterforever]

Awsome read,pics, and whopper lope with a bow,Congrats. Are you gonna go after whities around your place again or waiting until late season?

[SSG Brower]

great great story about the six point.

[robb92]

Great stories and thanks for posting the pics!!! Good luck getting the 6x6!

[EastWaViking]

Awsome read,pics, and whopper lope with a bow,Congrats. Are you gonna go after whities around your place again or waiting until late season?

I may go out tonight and try one more evening this week.

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming - Day 5

I walked the lower part of the drainage Jeff and I had seen the 4x4 in the day before.  I saw a lot of cows and antelope, but no deer.  I went for a little drive on the three wheeler and jumped a small three point just behind the bike in this picture.  I hunted the area he was in until dark and only saw a few does and fawns.  Jeff went after antelope this day first because he had two tags burning a hole in his pocket.... He filled them both!  He got a nice doe and a smaller buck.  Now he can concentrate on what he was after, a big mule deer buck. 

[Austrian Hunter]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Can't wait to hear the rest. 
That's some amazing country there, unbelievable that deer and antilope can live there. 

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming - Day six

Jeff and I decided to go back to the drainage we had seen the decent four point in two days earlier, but this time we would split up and work the little finger draws and side canyons.  I headed up the first draw and it soon ran out, so I hopped over to the next and then to one more.  This one was a bigger drainage with a cotton wood tree every half mile or so in it.  I dropped into the dry creek bed and started up.  After about a quarter mile I rounded a bend and could look into the next bend... there was the back half of a deer!  The wind was perfect and the body looked bigger than a doe.  I started to crouch down and the buck looked up.  It was a small 4 point.  I froze and he soon gave the "all's clear" signal with his tail and went back to feeding.  I crouched lower and waited.  He was about 50 yards from me, and slowly fed up and out of the bottom.  I waited until he disappeared over a little hill, then started my stalk.  I got up to where I last saw him and could see a big cut bank in the creek bottom, I then saw he was headed there to bed down for the day.  I backed up and circled around so I could come in from above him.  It was already hot and only 7:30 in the morning, there was no wind (a rarity) and the grass was super crunchy and noisy.  I figured I had all day if I needed it, because he was not going anywhere.  I took a step then would wait for the slightest breeze to half conceal the noise of the next step.  I moved about 15 feet in the half hour between 7:30 and 8:00.  I noticed that the sun was still low in the sky and soon my shadow would be breaking over the lip of the bank, possibly spooking him.  I can't go much further until the sun gets higher in the sky and my shadow becomes shorter...oh well, I have all day, I thought to myself.  A slight wind picks up and I manage one more step, then I look and can see the tips of his antlers.  He has not bedded down yet and is getting a few more bites of grass from the creek bottom floor right in the middle of the bend.  In front of me there is a small V shaped cut eroded into the lip of the bank, he will walk right in line with that in just a couple more steps, giving me a possible shot.  I range the clump of sage that I saw through the V, at 40 yards, my maximum range.  I realize I won't have to wait all day long after all, I just need to take one more step to get in position to shoot.  I look at the ground ahead of me and think, "just one more step...how many times have I heard someone say that, and then end the story with, "but a twig cracked, and the big one got away"?  I knew this step had to be perfect, and silent.  I picked a spot where the grass looked the least noisy and put my toe down first then slowly put the weight down on the rest of my foot.  Perfect, silent and he still had no idea I existed.  I looked up, he was now broadside in the V.  I crouched down as low as I could without moving my feet, and drew the bow back, then slowly raised back up, put the 40 yard pin on him...my longest pin, the pin I have only shot at targets in my back yard with.  He turned his head towards me and I release the trigger.  I saw the arrow slip right through the middle of the little V in the bank and disappear right behind his shoulder.  He jumped and trotted up a little hill.  I grabbed my binoculars and looked, bright foamy blood pouring out from behind the shoulder on the opposite side!  I knew I had him.  He disappeared over the hill then popped out about 180 yards further up the creek bottom, he wobbled a bit and then collapsed.  My Wyoming hunt was over.   I couldn't be happier with the stalk, and placement of the shot.  He's just a small 4x2 (or 5x3 depending on how you count) but he is a trophy to me.  

[pinetree]

Trophy in my book.  And GREAT Story !!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks !!!!!!!!!!

[Gobble]

Congrats EAWAViking!

Nice buck! Any deer with a bow is a trophy

[EastWaViking]

Wyoming - Day 7 & 8

Jeff and I worked an entire drainage taking up the majority of the day.  We made a stalk on a small 3 point but a herd of cows kept messing us up.  Jeff passed on a small buck at 43 yards and a close doe later in the day.  We worked a couple more small areas before dark.  No luck.  Jeff got up early the next morning a put in a quick hunt before it was time to pack up and head home, seeing a few more deer.  We filled 4 of our 5 tags and had a great time in Wyoming, as usual.    We stopped in Kaycee and bought a couple souvenirs at Chris LeDoux's father-in-law's store, "the Rusty Spur", it was fun talking to him about his son-in-law.  They are putting in a nice memorial park and a big bronze statue of Chris on a bronc, right in the center of town, a fitting tribute to Kaycee's favorite son.

I'm already looking forward to the next time we head back to Wyoming!

[Clipboard guy]

It's hard to get back into the swing of things after being out of the mainsteam for a week.  Looking forward to a return trip! 
It would be nice if a guy could have a set of eyes in his feet once in a while.

[EastWaViking]

that was a good sized snake!   

[boneaddict]

Just discovered your thread.  Love it.  Just read the 6x6 story on the first page and commend you.  Rivetting tale and also a "good" ending.   That is what its all about.  Now I need to keep scanning to see if there are any more stories. 

[EastWaViking]

Day 14

Finally got to go back out and look for the 6x6 this evening after work.  I saw lots of deer, had a little 4 point broadside at 34 yards, saw several of the bigger bucks, but not the 6x6.  I will likely get out one more evening before the early season is over.   If I don't see him, I will probably hold out until the rut... probably.